The wife and kids have been asking for one for a while and I’m starting to come around to the idea. One factor is how easy it is to take a dog out on rides. Does anyone do this and are there any recommendations for dogs that are suited to this? We’re after something small/medium.

HTH

collies* can run all day, no probs, in fact they enjoy it.
a working collie will do 30 miles in a day rounding up sheep no worries.
*other breeds of dog are available*

If you get a pup, it’ll be a while before you can take them out. I’m just starting to take my 15 month collie out and to be honest, it’s easier and more fun to run with him.

you can ride with most dogs but a few pointers:

1. build up gently on the trip length and start with the dog on the lead (or 2 together).

2. Choose your location carefully – the surface must be soft for the dogs feet and crowded places or ones were there is a high chance of fast (and ignorant) riders are bad.

3. Take plenty of water for the dog and a bowl is best for a tired dog, we use a Tazlab fold up silicone bowl. Also take snacks or a bit of his/her food (dry).

4. take poo bags and a plastic tub to put them in until you find a bin.

5. eventually you should get the stage were the dog will keep to your back wheel or just in front – remember the dog is there and take care. Have the lead ready to use in case you come across a lot of people.

6. make sure your dog has impeccable call back – everyone hates a dog that is not under control.

7. when they are experienced then you can move onto your favourite trails.

8. if wanting to go long distances with roads, cycle paths etc consider getting a dog trailer for the road sections and if the dog gets tired.

Check the Dogs Trust out… got a super black lab from them today!

Very nice to deal with.

oh and most dogs will run until they die, some are worse for it. Know your dogs limits and do not push it. And wait until it is an adult as puppies should not be exercised hard. Ask your vet for advice on when is suitable and also about joint supplements for older dogs.

A mate of mine has had a couple of collies. Not only will they run all day but you can train them to run with you on the road (well my mates did anyway). They get bored easily though and will find things to entertain themselves with if left to their own devices.

If you want a dog that will ride at XC pace be careful about researching what will cope with it long term. If you just want to ride your bike and have a mess around while taking the dog for a walk any (mature) dog will cope fine.

Took me 2 years until I was confident with my Dalmation offroad. Used the canal alot for training as they can only run in 2 directions. I avoid long rides in the dry when ground is hard as it has blistered his paws in the past.
I always do rides which cross streams, he will drink from them but doesn’t want to drink from a bowl when out.

Dont forget to chuck your poo bags in trees along with your innertubes and energy wrappers.

my lab does 10 mile rides with me off road regularly, maybe twice a week. i waited until he was 18 months old before starting, and for about 6 months kept the speed down to trotting speed (8.4 mph!) with lots of stops to let his fitness build up. he can now run (8.5mph+) the whole 10 miles now and seemingly not be tired at all.

if you run two bottle cages you can bodge an old container to carry the poo bags. take plenty of water when it is hot. he drinks straight out of the water bottle or camelbak – i just dribble the water out and he laps it. no need this time of year though because there are puddles everywhere.

i started round a local park with him on the lead to get him used to riding next to bikes – he loves it now and is quite good at singletrack.

I take our Parsons Russell out a few times a week and use one of those extending leads in my left hand for the back road sections it gives you a braking zone when he stops for a sniff/pee/dump

He has now settled in to a lope along just front and left so I get a chance when he stops .

off the lead on the canal towpath he is off the lead most of the ride .
I let him run at his pace and I try to keep up overtaking when he has a sniff around then he comes barreling past 15 secs later .

now when he sees me put the helmet on he is waiting by the door
love riding wih him

My dog can handle about 12 miles though at a slow pace , just be careful of the terrain as my dog cut a paw last time out . Also obviously shorten distances in the summer and bring plenty water with you.

2nd the vote for collies – they’re great dogs as long as you remember that they need some mental stimulation as well as exercise. People forget that as well as being able to run for miles, they can also perform vector mechanics and a bit of animal psychology while moving at speed.

Mental stimulation doesn’t have to be that complicated – I tend to walk them for a couple of hours a day, and spend some of that time training them, or setting them treat trails and so on as part of the walk.

The other thing is that they vary enormously in size – we have one which is about the size of a Springer and one the size of a small Lab. Male collies can sometimes be pretty big.

Check this out for a DH dog and tell me the dog isn’t loving it.

Don’t choose a dog breed based on the idea that you will take him riding. Choose one that will fit the rest of the family and with the kind of schedule that you have with work etc. Don’t choose a high energy dog thinking that a 3 hour ride with it per week is going to satisfy its needs. A small dog that requires less walking might in the long run give you more time on your bike! It is a bonus if you do manage to train one well enough to be fully reliable on the trail without you having to concentrate really hard the whole time. Riding with a dog is such as small part of a dogs life and your life and personally I find it a lot of hassle although sometimes I take mine with me anyway.

The best thing about having a dog is finding all the cheeky footpaths that you go back riding on at night!

[/url] Photo0559 by konadad, on Flickr[/img]

our tibetian terrier loves bike rides along the canal. took her out for a few walks first, then kids only on bikes with me walk/running! finally this week 2 kids, dog and me all on bikes (not the dog obviously, but that gets me thinking), no problem. ditto on the comments about good response to commands.,water etc. often they will try to catch up if they see you have moved along from anything too distracting. see the swans?

Mates of mine have a Lab/collie cross in the perfect mix, medium size, lab’s good nature, runs like a collie, loves to play(constantly), intelligent. Seems to be the best of both worlds, and they let me borrow him to go on mid-week rides too:)

Took my 19 month old rhodesian ridgeback out for the first time round gisburn on a monday morning couple of weeks ago.Normaly ride in the lakes but decided on gisburn because of the lack of road work involed so I didn’t have to worry about carying a lead.He was a bit giddy to start with but soon settled down.Took the 18km red and black route in his stride.As other people above have said you are best waiting until they have fully developed before you start putting the miles in.

Ref. the video above: got to love how humans need expensive bikes and all that body armour and the dog is easily keeping up and taking the rougher line.

We’ve got the springer trained to go back for anyone who falls behind and show them the route. Her brain also works so much faster than a humans on picking lines so if you want a fast line follow the dog! But you have to be careful if she goes between two trees and you have wide bars 😆

My two Collies love coming out with me, they have special glow in the dark eyes for low light conditions as well 😯

Don’t let then carry sticks.

My Golden Retriever (now sadly passed on) used to love to carry small logs. 1-2″ dia, longer the better. 3ft – 6ft long.

Problem was:
he ruined a front wheel as he stuck his stick into my wheel
he ran through a gate way but didn’t make it through actually as his stick stopped him, in comedy style. Dogs can have a shocked looking expression. I know, I saw it. 😀

Simon from Loco knows about dogs and sticks,just before it all starts heading downhill at Cwmcarn, a certain Dougie poked a stick in his back wheel, it followed the wheel around until it hit his brake hose and loosened his banjo fitting-just as well he doesn’t use his brakes much.Oh, and dogs can overheat if running whilst carrying sticks too, Dougie ended up wearing heart monitoring equipment(looked like a suicide bomb dog)until the medicals figured it out.

coatesy – Member
Mates of mine have a Lab/collie cross in the perfect mix, medium size, lab’s good nature, runs like a collie, loves to play(constantly), intelligent. Seems to be the best of both worlds

We’ve got one of those too – she’s a rescue dog. We’re just back now from a 10km run through the local forest. She’s as happy behind the bike for a few hours as she is running for an hour or playing with the kids in the garden. She’s been coming out on the bike since she was about 2, never had a lead for riding or running as she was easy to train and all my routes are away from the road. Very obedient. Need to make sure they’re exercised though.

Don’t marry her! I did cost me my house!

DO NOT get a labrador/retreiver. They are fantastic dogs but not designed to do long distances. Unfortunately they will run forever, and 10x further than they should do. If you do cycle with a labrador/retreiver they will love it until they are about 6/7 years old and then start suffering from chronic arthritis in their hips so that you will have to put them down 3/4 years earlier than you should.

Collies, spaniels etc should be fine

Edit: proof is the number of threads on here with titles like “I broke my dog”

Went out for my first ride today with Woody, faired pretty well for her first ride, stayed just in front most of the time. Looking forward to many more rides together.

http://m.flickr.com/photos/beargotsoul/5462537520/sizes/m/

Just had two lovely rides this weekend with Willow, my Beagle x Collie. yesterday over Cefn Bryn on the Gower she was always just by my rear wheel, today in the Beacons she switched between me and Mrs Ambrose’s rear wheel but was also a bit tired too, not having been out for a bike/ run for a couple of weeks.

Major advice is to get pooch completely, totally and utterly livestock trained. When Willow was younger there was one evening ride when she ran after the sheep. She was cornered into a fenced off area by an ancient ewe (who was brooking no sh!t from her whatsoever!)and I had to rescue her from the old sheep. It could so easily have been the other way and my lovely dawg could well have been at the wrong end of a 12 bore, and quite rightly too.

She is now sheep, pony, cattle and dog proof. Cats cause her to twitch a bit though, so I have to make her thing where i am is a LOT more interesting than the cat.

Collie lurcher! He’s 18 months old now and will go 25 miles faster than I can. I started him off with just a mile in the park at walking pace behind the bike and built him up very gradually. He didn’t go for a proper ride till he was a year old, I would just come back and get him for a couple of miles at the end of my local rides. He loves it and I don’t think I am physically capable of tiring him out, I certainly can’t outsprint him. He’s kinda got the working dog mentality that running alongside the bike is his job and he doesn’t get distracted by other dogs or anything really when he working. If I walk him in the same woods without the bike he’ll go meet other dogs and chase anything that remotely looks like it can be eaten.

Damn this new facebook image thingy! I shall sort in a minute!

Hopefully this works.
[/url] Woody’s first ride by bear406z, on Flickr[/img]

That should be it this time!

my aussie shepherd likes to go for my tires. makes riding with her frustrating to say the least…

On the paw thing. Has anyone done anything to toughen their dogs paws? Mine loves to come out for a moderate distances (wont take her further than 10 miles), but last time out she blistered her paw. I do worry about her damaging her paws as when walked its usually only on grass.

Sky

8th Jan by carlos_fandango, on Flickr

P1000678 by carlos_fandango, on Flickr

Unsure on what you can do for the paws other than take them out on a regular basis.

Andy W, Gisburn is ideal for dogs due to the lack of road work and sheep!!

You don’t need a massive dog to go riding with, Brian is only 10KG and about a 1ft tall in his shoulders. Runs at a fair rate and enjoys bombing along. Top speed in 25mph with an average of around 8-9mph

As mentioned above choose the dog you want for the majority of the time as you’re unlikely to take them out biking more than a couple of times a week.

Brian and I enjoying a day in the summer at Gisburn.

Riding with Dogs is ace,

dont bother, it will just get in everyone’s way and you will be too busy riding your bike to control it and clear up its mess

To toughen a dogs paws just introduce longer stretches of tarmac and fireroad gradually. We used to dip them in surgical spirit when we bred and raced greyhounds.

Silly answer nosedive.

DO NOT get a labrador/retreiver. They are fantastic dogs but not designed to do long distances. Unfortunately they will run forever, and 10x further than they should do. If you do cycle with a labrador/retreiver they will love it until they are about 6/7 years old and then start suffering from chronic arthritis in their hips so that you will have to put them down 3/4 years earlier than you should.

Collies, spaniels etc should be fine

That may be the case for others, but not in my experience.

I used to run/ride with a black lab and he was awesome. He kept to a solid pace and always remained within about 10m of me (he was professionally trained though). Top dog – and doing absolutely fine now – albeit living it up close to the NZ earthquake (with my ex).

Have since taken our Springer out on several runs but the boundless energy he exudes (not trained) makes him go OTT. Hence I stopped as soon as I realised this. Not sure if it’s a “Springer thing” or the way he is. He (and his Springer mates) seem to make out they can run forever, but when they hit the wall they really do hit the wall – much like us “bonking” and being virtually unable to carry on.

Would never drink from my bottle or bladder pack – only puddles. Hence wet conditions would be the only option.

As much as I loved being out with our Springy, it’s the Lab that I would take any day. Not on a hardcore 50 miles XC session, but certainly on a 20 mile jaunt.

RE- Paw blisters

My dogs paws are like granite but they do get cut and then that can pull a flap of the hard stuff off or he chews them at home until the cut ‘skin’ has gone, nothing will stop him chewing them. I was looking at some proper police / military dog booties but I think he would just rip them off, they were £50odd.

Possibly not the best example to use but we had been winding him up all day. Normally he is a bit more restrained.