dogs and bicycles

[triangleman42]

I'm fortunate enough to work at a place where I can have my dog with me at work. A lot of people here commute to work by bike and all of them use various trailers to haul their dogs in. I'm wondering if any of you have any experience with alternative methods of having your dog with you while riding a bike.

Can any of you ride a bike and have your dog stay with you, with or without any type of leash? I've seen some leashes designed to attach to your bike at the bike shops but haven't had time to really look at what makes them special. I think some of them have a springy pole and then a lead so that the dog is kept a good distance from the bike.

How far can a dog safely run on asphalt or concrete without wearing special doggie shoes? I walk her the 3.5 miles to and from work on occasion and I frequently go on longer 7 or 8 mile city walks with her. So far she's had no trouble with her pads getting worn or injured but I'm worried about the running being much harder on her feet than walking.

I'm sure that a good number of people will read this and think it is a terrible idea. Let me assure you that safety for my dog is my number one concern and I intend to take this as slow as necessary, if I even decide to do it at all. If I'm not comfortable with any part of it I'll just go the cart route.

My dog Jett is a 2 year old border collie/lab mix.

[dogstarsleddogs]

From my experiance, I have never had to bootie a dog on cement. I'd be more worried about the pounding on the joints then paw problems. Which is something I'd be on the look out for, for that distance, and frequency. I'd also watch her nail length. They can get real short real fast.
As for booties, you can make your own fleece ones real cheap. For me, I can get about 5 miles out of a fleece bootie on gravel, so it would probably be the same on pavement. Theres instructions here: http://www.uberpest.com/booties.html.
In the summer months, please, please be careful!!! Not only is the pavement hot on thier paws, its most of the time, too hot to run.
As for hooking the leash to the bike, you can use the Springer. I have no experiance with them, and probably never will. (I personally dont trust them) If your dog wont lunge really hard for anything, and you can trust her to stay by your side, it will probably work.

[Dave-W]

Sierra Trading Post has Dog Boots on sale. Half Price!

http://www.sierratradingpost.com/product.aspx?baseno=99901&CN=Ruff-Wear-Bark'n-Boots-

[MafiaPrincess]

I know people who love their springer bike attachment for their dog http://www.gearfordogs.com/pages/Springer.shtml

I wouldn't trust having your dog run beside you on a road where there is likely to be other cars.