Well some of you know last year i had been joring with the pups on rollerblades till i had a bad experience. Today since we just acquired a mountain bike i told myself ahh what the hell lets give it a go. So i started with milo first put his harness on him and rigged the bike with the bungee etc.... Once he was hooked up he seemed to forget what to do for the first 1/8th mile but once he remembered whoa buddy hang on He did fantastic except we gotta work on the distractions i bout ate pavement once or twice when he went after dogs. once we got back i hooked lil miss Roxy up. I truly admire this lil girls heart and drive even though her lil 25lb body just couldnt pull me so i peddled most of the way. Once i get them trained individually ill try to take them both. Ill get the wife to take pics one day or video.

What happened on the rollerblades? I was thinking of doing that. I took Siku out on my bike, but my leg paid for it in the end. She was doing so well until we went past another dog. She went to see the dog, me reacting badly turned the handlebars and the tire spun on the side of my knee. It looked like I had road rash on my leg and it's still a bit more purple than the rest of my skin even though it healed a few months ago. But you're right on one thing, it was fun! lol. I think I might get one of those springer attachments and have her at my side instead of out in front of me.

Speaking of! I took out the walky dog the other day and boyyyyyy can Kody haul a$$!!!!!! I hadn't take him out on it since May because it has been so hot, but the weather is awesome now. Hubby came with us on his bike and broke a total sweat trying to keep ahead of us. It was a little scary to be going so fast, but it was fun! Mya did awesome too, but she's definitely not as fast as Mr. Kody. Seriously you guys, WOAH!!!!!!

My dad has ordered my walkydog and a harness for me for christmas, can't wait to try it out with Faolan!!

Our first winter with the Springer and doctor says no.

Val, that would be dangerous for you! Lol. I'm sure AFTER it will be lots of fun ....

I throw Bella out on the 10 foot leash tied to the front of the bike and let her loose! She's just so good at it! There's very few things that distract her from it (she's had no formal training with pulling or commands) Just the running and pulling is enough for her to ignore most things! My neighbors look at me like I'm a little crazy though .

I bladed with her a few times - I feel it's more hazardous to my health on the blades than on the bike X_X.

Hopefully I'm gonna order her an Alpine outfitters x-back harness so she can pull away!

As soon as I'm allowed to, I'm going to start roller joring with Ghost. She's finally getting old enough to do that, and she has WAY too much energy right now. I'll start slow (partly because I need to), and that will be something good for Ghost to do to burn energy.

To be honest, I'm way more scared blading with Bella than biking. Ironically - when my Pry was alive - I bladed with her no problem and she wasn't trained to ignore things. I took many a spills with her and had several sprained wrists and bumps on the head.

I chalk it up to being younger and none the wise xD.

When I was a kid I had a lab mix that loved to pull me on rollerblades. We'd go all the time, and she just loved it. I only ever had a couple of falls, but I was a total maniac on skates when I was younger. I got my first pair for Christmas when I was 9 and they were like an extension of my body until about 5 years ago when I got busy with work crap. Now I have an excuse to bust them out again

xD I was the same way with skates! I loved blading! i only took a few falls - the most noticeable was the one where I banged my head off of a curb - that kept me off the skates for awhile. But I found my old pair and that's when I started with Bella. But she's too much for the blades - that and I think I need a different pair - they're always killing my calf muscles after just like 10 minutes.

Comparing her demeanor from blades to the bike though - I'd have to say she much rather enjoys the bike - much to my pleasure. If she didn't I'd get back into blading. I'm going to work something up for her for the snow - though I haven't figured out what. Because I can't bike in the snow X_X

I am terrified of the idea of doing it with roller blades, simply because if I hit a rock at top speed it could send me flying, or get me dragged across the concrete....I have never liked roller blading, since if I lose my balance I can't really catch myself since I have wheels on my feet.

Roller blading is a -ton- of fun with a dog! If you hit a small rock fast enough it's not as detrimental as hitting a slightly larger rock that will stop your wheels. But you can always avoid those as you go if you're looking out.

And - if you practice (without Faolan) just getting your balance and stopping you won't be as scared to do it! Because once you work on the speed you gain the balance from going that fast - and once you do it for quite some time hitting the rocks won't be as worrisome. And when you hit things like sticks and rocks you just auto balance yourself - so you don't often fall a lot.

Yeesh you guys, roller blades!? I can take out 4 dogs with a bike but I'm not sure I would survive even one with roller blades.

How do you stop?

Blades have a heel brake. Or I guess if you're daring you could stop like they do in hockey! xD

I know they have a heal brake but I didn't think it would stop a dog...it wouldn't stop any of mine at least. lol

haha I can see someone getting a face full of pavement trying to stop like a hockey player.

xD

The way I do it is I have a 10 foot leash with two snaps - one for the harness and one in the handle and the length of the leash has an O-ring on it and a leather stop. So I wrap the leash around my waist - secure it with the O-ring to the snap in the handle so my hands are free and just let Bella go.

She has a pretty good "whoa" for a slow down both on the blades and the bike - and the brake on both brings her to a full stop. Her Stay is getting a lot better so I don't worry so much as her randomly taking off on me when I'm not ready on the blades.

I always took the brakes off my blades growing up, plus I figure skated and played ice hockey so I was pretty proficient at the hockey stop. If you're nervous about that (and I did eat pavement a few times), there is what's called a T stop. Thats where you take one foot and place it behind the other so it makes a T shape, and you can drag the back foot to slow down and then stop. I think I'll start working on "whoa" with Ghost, too.

I was never fond of using the brake, to be honest. It always felt really awkward. I do like the T-Stops. But I always just kinda did like a half circle thingy-ma-bob. Turned my one foot out and slowed like that. Or something. I'd have to be skating to give an accurate description of my lame stop. xD

I like a "whoa" command in conjunction with braking. Belle really picked up on it quickly. On the first like 15 minutes she forgets all of her commands because she's too excited. But when we actually get going she does really well. The only thing I absolutely do not trust is having to stop and wait at intersections.

Right now we're just running a straight path with virtually no traffic (it's also decently long - like a mile from one point to another and it runs right by the house); people, dogs, other bikes and it's good for her. She's done exceptional when we have run into people, mostly kids who play ball in the grass - I need to work on her leave it or just do an "on by" because she tends to slow down to watch what's going on.

MelissaI wrote:

Speaking of! I took out the walky dog the other day and boyyyyyy can Kody haul a$$!!!!!! I hadn't take him out on it since May because it has been so hot, but the weather is awesome now. Hubby came with us on his bike and broke a total sweat trying to keep ahead of us. It was a little scary to be going so fast, but it was fun! Mya did awesome too, but she's definitely not as fast as Mr. Kody. Seriously you guys, WOAH!!!!!!

I want to do this activity with our dogs once they are old enough. But my big worry is wrecking!

Do you all do this sort of thing on a trail or somewhere you won't get run over? LOL, IDK, worst case scenarios I'm thinking of!!

If any of ya'll are near the South East parts of the states, Georgia, SC, NC, TN, etc., we have started a group for mushers! Most of us are beginners so no one needs to feel intimidated. Not much roller blading going on but we use mountain bikes, scooters, and sulkys. Check out our group on facebook! https://www.facebook.com/groups/deepsouthmushers/



Tallulah Gorge fun run with Axle and Raine pulling me.

My 2 are too unreliable to do it on blades, you guys are brave! One squirle and thats it I'd be in the bush! Unfortunatly laws are too strict where I'm at but when I get back state side more permanantly I will definatly think of getting a rig and working them. I'm not sure I'd feel safe on a scooter, maybe a bike with 1.. no more than that! lol.Love the pic!

I can't wait until I can rollerblade...

How old do they need to be before bikejoring with them? Atka pulls me our entire walk and even if I jog I'm not going fast enough for him !

at least 1 year old as their hips and joints are not fully formed until then and it can really damage them. Some teams if there is other dogs pulling will train them by their side from about 10 months old.