Bikejoring for Zeus?

[Gempress]

Zeus is out of shape. His weight is perfect, but his muscle tone is lacking. The walks/jogs just aren't cutting it. He runs faster than I can keep up, and being a hound, he has insane stamina. It's just not enough of a physical challenge for him to pace along with me.

I'm thinking bikejoring would be perfect for Zeus. It's something I can do in my quiet suburb (once he's trained), and will let him run as fast as he likes. I bet he'd love it.

Any thoughts on this? Zeus will be two years old in June, so I think he's old enough to participate without hurting himself. I've done weight pull before, but never anything like this. How do I go about teaching him commands?

 

[Brattina88]

Sounds good to me, Gemp!

I'm interested in doing this, or something similar with Missy. I've been looking around and reading up on the topic. Have you ever been to this site? www.dogscooter.com
The link is a section 'How to Train' with groundwork suggestions and common comands. This is where we're starting up at

 

[wolfsoul]

I've been bikejoring for years. Currently I do it with my Belgian, Visa. Her muscle tone is great, but it was WAY better when we lived beside the lake and she swam everyday. Her legs were hard as rock. Swimming uses almost all of the muscles in the body, so it is better for building muscle tone.

I didn't really "teach" commands...just let Visa learn. If you don't turn when I say turn, you get run over. LOL. Dogs learn that very quickly. The commands she learned for biking are "turn" for right-turning, "come" for left turning or to let her know which way around an obstruction we are going, "slow" to prepare to stop, and "watch" if I want her to move over.

 

[Gempress]

I'd love to do swimming, but there are no good swimming areas nearby. And my Zeus absolutely hates water anyway. LoL, he acts like he's going to melt if he touches water.

What is a good place to get harnesses, etc. from? And by the way, your dog is gorgeous.

 

[wolfsoul]

Thanks!

I bought a race sledding harness from a local malamute breeder that I found in the newspaper. He is also advertised on the website that he buys sledding equipment from. Maybe check some sledding equipment websites and see if they have a section that tells you where you can buy their products. Otherwise you can probably find some regular walking harnesses in pet supply stores.

 

[huskymad]

Hi i have run my dogs with my bike when training them to race when not running with my rig . Now i run my young siberian husky in a tracking harness attached to a springer device which is attached to my bike frame it keeps her away from wheels & pedals , but keeps her next to my bike . The commands i taught my sibes/collies when pulling in race harnesses when on the rig were
GEE for RIGHT
HAWfor LEFT. but if the dog is running on a springer i just say to mishka turn & she will go that way.

 

[huskymad]

A pic of 2 of my dogs bikejoring ,gempress , if your going to run zeus next to your bike increase the distance gradually so he dosen't get too puffed out & too tired. just some advice mate.

 

[huskymad]

sorry gempress heres that pic

 

[JennSLK]

It's against the bylaws here. Other wise I would LOVE to do it.

 

[princess_poppy]

kl, that looks really fun, lol