I use the "on by" or "leave it" command if he starts showing signs that he's interested in something and wants to stop. I use the verbal command along with a gentle little tug on the spare lead I have attached to his harness to remind him that I'm in control. It works like a charm.

Oh and I forgot to mention, since we've been biking he doesn't have those crazy spurts of pent up energy in the yard and on walks the way he used to. I don't think we can go back to life without biking, he is sooooo much calmer now it's a night and day difference. Man I should have gotten a Springer 4 yrs ago!

It's been too hot for us to bike!
Ginger and Storm were pretty good right from the start.

I swear G&S are hibernating these summer months to save ALL their energy for late Fall/Winter/early Spring!

Woohoo Dakota!!! Nikolai seems to be getting lazier in the summer (probably the heat) so while last fall and during nice days in the winter, we were able to do about 5ish miles, he's back down to about 3 before he looks at me (or hubby) like, "Ok, I'm done, just gonna put the tail down and draaaaagggg until you unhook me." We took him to the park with us to watch fireworks and I got a kinda cute video, but then some random guy stepped in between and ruined the whole thing.

I can't wait until the temp drops down here... I love biking with the dogs but the rollerblading is where we have the most fun! Unfortunately neither I or them can handle this weather! lol

arooroomom wrote:

I can't wait until the temp drops down here... I love biking with the dogs but the rollerblading is where we have the most fun! Unfortunately neither I or them can handle this weather! lol

I'd be in full gear and pads if I ever took my 2 rollerblading!

cmanding wrote:

arooroomom wrote:

I can't wait until the temp drops down here... I love biking with the dogs but the rollerblading is where we have the most fun! Unfortunately neither I or them can handle this weather! lol

I'd be in full gear and pads if I ever took my 2 rollerblading!

My thoughts exactly! LOL!!!!

Kristina, tell me that you don't go rollerblading with all 4 of them?????

Rollerblading with dogs is so much fun! I had a lab mix growing up who would go nuts when she saw the rollerblades come out and would pull me all over town. I plan on doing it with Ghost when she's old enough

how in the world do you stop when need be??? Mine so wouldn't stop!

I could go rollerblading with Ginger...maybe with Storm if I stuck close to grass...no way in Heck can I take both of them.

i cycled today with Nikki for the first time. She IMMEDIATELY took to it. i'm so proud of her not being an ounce of scared of the bike. It was a tester to see if she'd do it so i think i'm going to invest in some kind of springer contraption. It is just an amazing feeling when you see how happy she is to get to run at almost full speed! was a fantastic time! Will definitely be doing it again on days that it is cooler out

Yay! I'm glad she did well with it! I didn't get my boy into a full run next to the bike until last week and he did amazing! I think you'll do so much better with a bike attachment as it will be safer for you and probably give you more peace of mind as well as stability on the bike.

yeah i'm definitely going to get one i'm just not sure which yet. probably the walkydog one. she tired out very fast. luckily it was only in the 70's earlier. i'm definitely going to have to work on her endurance

I have the walky dog and it's awesome, but I would suggest ordering more of the rope when you get it. It's a bit short for Mya. I mean, she loves it and does great on it, but a foot or two more in length would be better. I'm going to order some extra rope right now actually!

Well this thread has me convinced! I was trying to think of good ways to exercise my pup when he gets bigger, and I thought biking sounded like a fun way but with how much he loves to pull and chase leaves blowing in the wind (he finds those more fun than squirrels even) I was sure if I ever tried I'd end up with a broken something (leg, arm, neck, whatever) from him pulling me over. But these bike leash things look like they could really help, and everyone saying how their dogs took to it so quickly has had me convinced to at least give it a try. I am getting a WalkyDog for Christmas.

I love the walkydog. It's great! This is Mya on maybe her 4th or 5th ride back from the park:



I don't ride with them for more than 10min now because it's so hot. Even in the mornings it's still 75-80 degrees in Miami! Totally looking forward to the winter for once!

I just bought a new harness to get ready for the fall and winter. I can't wait to bust out the walky dog again. Frankie has been wiped out after a 15-20 minute walk so I haven't used the bike this summer. At least when he runs around the park in the heat, he always finds a way to cool off (like the mudhole or something )

I still have 9 months before I will be able to use it with Faolan

I've been trying to get Sky to heel (nearly) perfectly before attempting jogging or bike riding. She has good days and bad days. Today she was making me crazy! Every cat in the neighborhood seemed to be out and she loves to sit and stare at them for minutes on end. I can't get her attention away for anything!

But anyway, it sounds like I'll have to wait a few more months, anyway. Did your dogs heel really well before you tried bike riding? I guess I'd better work on "Leave It" more, too.

Personally I think walking well on a leash is the foundation to be able to many things. Frankie walks beautifully on a leash for our daily walks (it took us awhile to get there). We do structured walks and through months of practicing, he is very focused on walks. He looks as if he on on a mission to get to his spot where he is permitted to sniff around and go to the bathroom. It took awhile to be able to walk by critters, but if we keep walking he stays focused on the walk. If we stop walking, he fixates on whatever critter is nearby...cat, squirrel, bird, etc. but we are working on this.
We use the same for bike riding except we don't stop at his spot and he is fine with it because he is on the move and focused. I didn't trust biking with Frankie until I knew I could trust him on our walks. Of course he has his moments like any dog and he still needs reminders of his leash manners when he is somewhere new, so I wouldn't take him biking in an unfamiliar place just yet because he wouldn't focus.

I would try to use commands like "on by" and keep her walking when she sees a cat so she doesn't sit and fixate on them

It sounds like I need to make some changes to my leash training. Our obedience trainer pretty much told us that walk time should be for exercise, so they should only go to the bathroom or sniff when you give them permission, and heel the rest of the time. I think your method of having sniffing areas for your dog to look forward to sounds like a good one. There's a particular bush on our walk that I can never get her to walk calmly past. (I think it's because a cat likes to hang out near it.) Do you stop in the same places every day? How does that work out when you are walking somewhere new and Frankie doesn't know where the stopping areas are?

I'll give it a try this week and see how it goes. Sometimes it just gets so frustrating and feels like we'll never get this down well enough to get to the jogging/biking stage. Hopefully Sky will teach me to have more patience, lol.

We do exactly what your trainer suggested. Our sniff/potty spot is the place where I give him permission. We have a few throughout the neighborhood depending on how far we walk. I pretty much keep it the same. but I try to give him new areas to explore now that he walks well as part of our training for new places.

So no, this really doesn't work well in new places outside of our neighborhood. Frankie needs to know his surroundings so in new places I let him explore first and once he has sniffed around we go into "walk" mode. This is a work in progress and I have a feeling it will be a work in progress for a long time I'm just happy that we can have pleasant daily walks together and bike rides around the neighborhood.

Sounds like a dream come true to me! Sky really has improved a lot since I first brought her home three months ago. I guess I had unrealistic expectations about how long it would take to get her walking politely all the time. The neighbors look at me like I'm crazy since I started using the Be A Tree method. XD But I just really don't feel like getting skinned up knees on a bike ride because she gets distracted by a cat or one of the several free range dogs in our neighborhood. 9_9

Thanks for the advice, Dee. Talking about it helps me feel less frustrated.

Be patient, it will come. It took us about six months to start to get it right. Then we moved and it took another month or so to relearn it.

That's why this forum is so great....it always helps to talk about it. Especially since really "It's a Husky Thing"...others wouldn't really understand

Haha...yeah, my girls still don't know how to walk nicely on a leash unless they are already tired out! But I don't do enough training. Bad me! Though Elara is actually good on a leash in the show ring, thank goodness!

I hooked up Siku to my bike. She did really good even when we saw some squirrles, but then we saw another dog. That ended up with the inside of my knee hitting my spinning tire which took off all the skin. I didn't fall, but it looked like I had road rash on the inside of my knee and took about 4 weeks to heal. You can see see where it happened. And trying to wash it out the first day stung sooooo bad!

But I have hooked up both my girls to my dog scooter and they did great. It's nice having something you can quickly jump off if need be. And they can pull you so fast! It's a little scary!