Dragging the Diva Around!

The Diva dog lives to run.  I do NOT!  I have never enjoyed running, not even as a child.  So how does one wear out a Ridgeback so she will sleep all night?  Long walks of 3+miles are insufficient as I do not walk fast enough for her.  Hmm...a treadmill?  But where would I put it?

Enter the Walky Dog attachment.  The answer to our problem, provided she can learn how to run beside the bike.  Well, THAT proved amazingly simple to teach her.  We just hooked her up and away we went! And rest assured, I do not drag her around, though sometimes, if she sees her arch nemesis, Mr. Bunny, she might drag me!

The Diva, ready to run!

We've actually been using the Walky Dog since early this year, so Shiloh is well adapted to it.  She may hate her Gentle Leader, but she adores going for a run with the bike.

 It attaches to the seatpost of a regular frame bike, though I recommend you NOT attach it to a carbon fiber seatpost as the dog can apply lateral stresses the CF seatpost may not be designed to handle.  If you ride a trike, it can be attached to a rear triangle frame member.

The mount attaches with a pair of long bolts, which I then covered with the red wire nuts to keep from tearing up my cycling shorts and my legs.  Inelegant perhaps, but it works.

The baton-like attachment has a spring loaded collar that fits over the mount fitting (sort of like on an air compressor with interchangeable fittings).  The baton does not collapse (no it is not an ASPBaton!) though it is certainly heavy enough to use as a club if you were in need of a club.  The leash part has a snap link fitting on the end, and is secured inside the baton, and is also spring loaded so if your dog suddenly stops, it has some 'give' to the line, reducing stress on the dog and your risk of crashing.

 We see all sorts of things on our morning runs.  We go by the fishing ponds, where we saw the heron fishing one day.  We go under the Troll Bridge, where the teenagers hang out to smoke, etc.  We go all the way down to the Bridge to Nowhere, and turn around.  On the return trip, somebody is usually hot and thirsty, so we stop for a few so she can cool off.

Cooling off.

 I like to keep her at a modest trot, her ground-eating pace, of around 5-7mph.  This is enough to tire her out, but not overwork her.  She is young and strong, so we generally only take one walk break on her run.  The MUP (multi-user path) we travel on, is wide and in good condition so it helps keep her nails worn down some.  Ridgebacks have big nails...

Surprisingly, I've been working with Indy to see if he could adapt to the Walky Dog and bike.  He can be skittish, and doesn't do super well on a leash and Gentle Leader yet.  But once I actually got on the bike and rode it with him attached, he did marvelous!  Wednesday was his first try with the bike, and we made it to the culdesac and back without crashing.  Today, only his second try with it, we went all the way to the pond and back!  For him, that was about a mile round trip, whereas Shiloh usually does 3.5 miles.

Now I have a house full of tired dogs!  The Dog Whisperer would be proud!