Hi guys looking for advice – my dog is nearly two and I would like to take him on cycles with me – walking he is 90% ok but is distracted by birds or water features – I’d love to take him withe off the lead but am worried that I would lose / miss him – any advice on training for this?

Trail dogs are so 2014, enduro dogz are what you want.

Gravel hounds FTW.

Tie sausages to your saddle?

Will you be 100% in control of your dog? If the answer is no, and it sounds as though it is, then why not just walk the dog and give it your undivided attention?

You need to train a “recall” on a long training line when he’s doing this 100% take him to a place where there are lots of distractions and repeat until 100% before considering trying it off lead

Having seen what a spoked wheel and fork did to the leg of my dog when I was a kid there’s no way I’d go riding with a dog, trail or enduro or otherwise.

i bought a bear bell, its way louder than it needs to be but it clips on the dogs collar so i can hear the pooch behind me. dog leaves the trail the noise stops so i know. she gets a little distracted on slow climbs or flat sections sometimes but follows on a downhill section. i have pretty large quiet woodland near me that has good flat trails and dh stuff so good for training. not sure i would take her anywhere busy though.

can you find somewhere fairly quiet to do some training on the bike first?

Will be taking the wee beastie out this morning for a tentative wee ride thanks for the advice, re the sausages on the seat – I would unfortunately eat them before the doggie would….