Since both Wayne and I are having intermittant foot pain, we decided to try the bikes today with the dogs. I have a WalkyDog attachment that I have used on occasion with Ami - not as much as I would have liked, usually because it's either too hot or Archer is here.

Well, today, we took a deep breath, started with Ami on the WalkyDog on my bike and Wayne holding Archer's leash on his bike. Uh Uh. Not gonna' work, no way, no how. Little (little? he's 65# and 24" of solid muscle ) dog flits to the right, he flits to the left, he turns around and wants to play he stops in front of the moving wheel, he lunges ahead... Ami, meanwhile, is trotting ever so elegantly along side my bike.

We get about, oh maybe 200' and Wayne has had it. So we stop, Wayne needs to fix his seat, I take Archer's leash...I'm straddling my bike with Ami attached to the WalkyDog. Unbeknownst to me, a runner is approaching from behind me...Archer sees her and takes off. He's not on his prong but a harness and too much for me to control. Choice time: try to hold on and go crashing to the ground or give in to the inevitable and do more of a slumping, folding tilt into the ground. As I lay there, sprawled amongst dogs and bike, the lady asks: "are you allright?" Wayne is grabbing for Archer who still wants to go meet the runner and I'm thinking "Am I alright, you asshole, I'm 64 yrs old, arthritic from head to tail and lying in a heap of dogs and bike and you ask "am I alright" Where the fuck did you come from?!!?"

That's what I thought. Meekly, I said..."I'm fine"

After extricating myself from the mess, we agreed to go home but with Archer on the WalkyDog and Ami on the leash with Wayne. And that is where the little boy found his essence As we started off, he was a bit squirrely so I figured I'd speed up fast enough to make him concentrate on what he was doing...so he ran...and ran...and ran! And he loved it! So we passed the driveway and kept on going...past a dog...past some chickens...he ran and I pedaled. He even pulled me up a hill. And loved it...like he had found his calling.

I stopped because it was his first time out and did not want to have him drop dead from exertion. Also, did not want to stress untrained joints. But, that little/not so little dog loved it - he galloped and galloped, tongue hangin' out and flappin in the breeze. Effortlessly. I think he would have gone miles and miles and miles if I let him. It was a thing of beauty and grace.

So now, we need to buy a 2nd WalkyDog.

Where was Ami when Archer found his calling, Amy? I'm just picturing Wayne holding onto the bike for dear life while Ami tries to catch up to Archer, LOL

Artic_Wind wrote:

Where was Ami when Archer found his calling, Amy? I'm just picturing Wayne holding onto the bike for dear life while Ami tries to catch up to Archer, LOL

Ami prefers to trot... Wayne thought that was about right

I'm glad you're okay after that! But it sounds like Archer found his calling. Definitely describes the look of a happy dog who is doing something he loves.

simplify wrote:

I'm glad you're okay after that! But it sounds like Archer found his calling. Definitely describes the look of a happy dog who is doing something he loves.

Ashleigh - we were really lucky in that fall. The only casualty was that Archer stretched my Rok leash beyond the tolerance for the fabric covering and it tore apart The rubber strap is fine, just the fabric is torn. When I think back, Ami sort of broke my fall and I'm horrified to think how the arm of the WalkyDog could have impaled him but didn't. And fortunately I had a loose leash on his collar for backup because somehow in all of that, he climbed out of his harness I have a very mild, small bruise on my left elbow but that's a nothing.

And do you know? A half hour after coming home, Archer was ready to romp again!