At Swinley today I came across the above combination whilst out with the kids. As the site was busy and has loads of different users on the same trails am I alone in thinking that this is a monumentally bad idea?

There were trails dogs around on the red and blue runs which were no problem at all, but this guy had a nice fluro extendable lead so that you could see what was coming straight across the trail; which was nice.

Sitting back at home I keep seeing this and my wife is wondering why I keep shaking my head in disbelief. 😀

WTF is a trail dog?

I can see your point regarding the potential to cloths-line other users. However, I took the dog out years ago (young n wasted) with a standard rope lead hooked over the bar-end. All was great until the bloomin thing decided to stop and sniff some other dogs piss. A lead that extended would have saved a lot of pain that day

A trail dog is generally any dog that is used to following a bike around a trail, whether on bike or foot. They just want to follow their leader and show little interest in anything else. That means they are under control and are not a hazard to others. Alternatively it is a fithy dog of a rider who is not under any any control at all, but I meant the latter.

Former.

People with extending dog leads should be not allowed to breed! Hate the damn things, a dog gets enough excercise on a normal length dog lead.

Plenty of the feckers along the trans pennine trail near me, which is mixed use, normally the dogs on one side and the owners about 15feet away across the other side.

They always look miserable as sin too when you ask if you can get past, between that and all the bags of poo left hanging from the trees for the Dog Sh!t fairy they get on my wick.

Is a traildog like a modern dalmation?

Essentially the dog isn’t under control if it’s on an extendable lead.

A trail dog is generally any dog that is used to following a bike around a trail, whether on bike or foot.

That’s one neat trick.

Some talented dogs out there, you know.

Trail dog =
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm5B_pyPd20[/video]

(not my vid).

Buggers apparently know all the shortcuts.

wallop – Member
Essentially the dog isn’t under control if it’s on an extendable lead.

So the owner can stop it running away, stop it biting you, pull it back towards him.
Which part of that isn’t under control?

Dogs on extendable leads are usually in charge when out for a walk. The human on the other end is there but can’t be arsed to train their dog to walk to heal or recall properly. I use them in training but for walking they are a waste of space getting a dog back at 10m distance is next to impossible plus they have a 20m potential for getting up to speed before you can think of restraint. In that respect Wallop is correct the dog is not fully under control.

Sandwich what you say is what amazed me, because you have enough trouble when on foot. When you are on a bike your ability to control the dog is reduced so much that it more danger to yourself and others that the dog would be on its own.

On my commute home on Fri I went past a guy on a full suss ‘exercising’ his dog. Twas on a popular NCN route and the dog wasn’t on a lead.

The route pops out onto a quietish road for a wee while and I heard the dog race out behind me. Fortunately there were no cars but I thought it was a fqking stupid attitude of the dog owner.

You get morons on all forms of transport but as a cyclist I’d rather not be associated with such idiots.

Just wait until you see “Endruo” dogs, they are like 12% more Gnnarrrrrrrrr!

next time i see someone using an extendable lead im going to garrote them to death with it, then use it to tie them to a tree and set them on fire. ffs

Trail dog ?

That badgers nearly caught her! ^^

Anyway, extendable dog leads can be very handy on the bike

next time i see someone using an extendable lead im going to garrote them to death with it, then use it to tie them to a tree and set them on fire. ffs

You’ll need a lot of matches, the damned things are everywhere.

Essentially the dog isn’t under control if it’s on an extendable lead.

What a crock of shit.

I don’t like them, however I would never be deluded enough to say a dog on a lead is never under control.

Only time I use mine is if I am walking one of mine and there is a high risk of livestock, as whilst he should come back (and has in the past) I prefer not to risk it.

No worries with mine and bikes though as I only walk on footpaths and don’t generally go on bridlepaths… 😆

Why the hate for an extendable lead?
People outside walking their dog instead of being inside watching Judge Rinder can surely only be a good thing.
The dog is not running around out of control biting mountain bikers. It’s on a lead FFS.

The Countryside Code
In 2004 The Country Code was revised and relaunched as The Countryside Code (Côd Cefn Gwlad in Welsh) to reflect the introduction of new open access rights and changes in society over the preceding years. The revised Code was produced through a partnership between the Countryside Agency and the Countryside Council for Wales:

Be safe – plan ahead and follow any signs
Leave gates and property as you find them
Protect plants and animals, and take your litter home
Keep dogs under close control
Consider other people

Everyone is out to do the things they enjoy so stop whining and if you’re on a shared use path just remember there might be dogs (quite legitimately) on a lead.

Keep dogs under close control, try telling that to the idiots that let their dogs run all over the taff trail, and when you come to a screaching holt, because the dog thats under control has just run out of the bushes and straight in front of you, then they say sorry hes usually quite good, im a dog lover, used to have two working dogs, and i wouldnt dream of letting them run off the lead on a bike track, especially when there are loads of fields around which are adjacent to the bloody bike tracks, and also extendable leads are ok, if the owner knows what he or she is doing, thats not usually the case in my experience, i feel sorry for the dogs when they get hurt, the owners deserve everthing they get, including big vets bills,but i will say theres good and bad on both sides, ive also seen bikers go speeding around blind corners, and through the under passes, they wouldnt be smiling if they hit my kids, all it takes in the end is common sense, but that seems to be rare these days, thats my rant over, dont even get me started about the roads ?

Trail dog

If anyone has a dog comparable to Amber, *please* strap a GPS to it and get it on Strava!

Why the hate for an extendable lead?
People outside walking their dog instead of being inside watching Judge Rinder can surely only be a good thing.

The dog is not running around out of control biting mountain bikers. It’s on a lead FFS.

Unless it’s dark with the owner on one side of the road/path and the dog on the other ime.

But if you have a light and ride responsibly knowing there are pedestrians I’m very sure they will have seen you and pulled the dog to the side.
I live next to a sustains route in North Wales with lots of dogs and bikes. Everyone respects its a shared use path and there are hardly any conflicts. When there is a problem Its just the idiotic few (on both sides) that cause them.

I had one in africa once with chilli sauce only time I ever liked a dog.

Fed up with being chased by them and the lame excusses from the owners.

Keep dogs under close control, try telling that to the idiots that let their dogs run all over the taff trail, and when you come to a screaching holt, because the dog thats under control has just run out of the bushes and straight in front of you, then they say sorry hes usually quite good, im a dog lover, used to have two working dogs, and i wouldnt dream of letting them run off the lead on a bike track

Taff trail isn’t a bike track, its a multi-purpose route cyclists don’t take precedence.

Cycle the Taff Trail – Breath the Contrasts across South Wales
http://www.tafftrail.org.uk/
The Taff Trail is a multi-purpose route for cyclists and walkers

Trail dog

If anyone has a dog comparable to Amber, *please* strap a GPS to it and get it on Strava!

Amber is a Hungarian Vizla. We have one who is only just 1 year old so just about getting to the age where he can start trail dog training. Pretty sure he would do well in elite level Enduro racing, he goes up and down anything for fun / really fast / all day!

I almost ran over a dog off a lead on Sunday. I was riding along a shared use towpath and had slowed to walking pace and just as I was passing the dog it leapt for a stick in front of me and I was about three inches from having its face go in the disc rotor.

Nothing would have prevented that on my part. A dog under proper control and on a decent lead would have.

Anyone with their dog off a lead on a shared use route is inconsiderate.

richc, Taff trail isn’t a bike track, its a multi-purpose route cyclists don’t take precedence. if you read my post properly, i didnt state it was purely a cycle route, ive cycled the taff trails for over 15yrs, and in my opinion its only the last 5yrs its getting worse with the dog owners, there is a few great dog owners, that when they hear a bike coming or see it they call their dog to one side, but they are in the minority, but like i said, if you read my post properly, theres good and bad on both sides, it all depends on what type of person you are, im very considerate when it comes to other users when on the bike or car,unfortunately, theres not many of us left, what about the bike riders who ride across the bridge at black weir, when it clearly states to dismount, thats just one point, why the rest of us get a bad rep, if cyclists want other users to respect them, then they should also follow the rules, but from what ive noticed after over 30 yrs of cycling both off and on the road, we will always get the rough end of the stick.

Hmmm. Interesting thread. I’m a dog owner and a cyclist, so see this from both sides of the fence (wall?)
Firstly extendable leads. Nopthing wrong with them as long as they’re used properly. I use mine primarily when I want my dog to be able to range around a bit and have a sniff, but also want her to be under my complete control (busy road nearby, or maybe sheep in the immediate vicinity). In truth she is trained and is fine, but sometimes I don’t want to take the risk. I agree that owners on one side of the trail with t’dog on t’other is silly, but that’s inconsiderate dog owners, not the leads per se. In truth I’ve seen way more inconsiderate cyclists than I have dog owners. Regularly get cyclists flying past me and the kids on the shared use path near me. Coming up from behind with no warning. For the most part I let my dog run free on this path as well. Why? Well because she is allowed to. If cyclists go past slowly (as they should), there isn’t an issue. Indeed, on all the shared use tracks I know it states that cyclists should always give way to pedestrians.
We could be a nation like the states with “dog parks” and all dogs on leads, but then we’d just become a petty minded society full of resentment, hatred and injustice and probably start shooting each other given the chance.
Anyway, I’ve ridden in the Peak with the trail hound (I believe that’s the correct technical term) on the extendable in areas of heavy sheep infestation. Necessary because (as pointed out above) a fixed lead + a dog = crash. Always at slow speeds mind and never with other riders in the vicinity.
Storm in a teacup, but the dog haters are no different IMHO to the bike haters who want mountain bikes banned from everything and everywhere. Most have a justifiable beef due to one or two idiots, but that doesn’t justify applying that prejudice to everyone.
Rant over, off to try and quieten down kids high on ice cream – Oh for a dusty trail… 😉

My dog’s on strava. Only garmin’d him a couple of times but he hold a few top 10s(on quiet trails).

Think he’s terry t’dawg

The difference between bike haters and people fed up with irresponsible dog owners is pretty clear, though. People who don’t like bikes don’t want them there at all. People who don’t like irresponsible dog owners just want them to be responsible, not disappear. And you should put your dog on a lead on the shared use path to avoid exactly the situation outlined in my post above where even going slowly the dog does something it wouldn’t do if it were on a lead.

Trail dogs are the ones that the owners claim are under control but are actually crapping on the trails behind them.

Trail dogs are the ones that the owners claim are under control but are actually crapping on the trails behind them

might be due to adult literacy issues, most dogs owners seem to unable to read signs asking them to keep there dogs on the lead whilst they cross the local trails or to pick up their dogs poo.

It can’t be ignorance or deliberate anti social behaviour as dog owners are the salt of the earth

Yet when they keep them on a lead they get slated here.
Not all dog owners are not the salt of the earth but then again neither are all mountain bikers.

Anyone with their dog off a lead on a shared use route is inconsiderate.

Poppycock! If a dog is trained well, you don’t even need a lead. you should have said ‘Anyone with their poorly trained dog off a lead on a shared use route is inconsiderate.’

Well the law states dogs in public places must be on a lead .