bike riding with my dog

Hi everyone, I'm very grateful for this dog forum. Our lack of knowledge of dogs and their psychology and training has made our past history with pets not very good. I'd like to do it right this time since we now have been given a dog (puppy?) whose name is Halo. I've been reading, watching videos, and have downloaded this site's dog obedience class. I know the importance of the walk and exercise of dogs, but am limited in walking very far. Fortunately, I am able to ride my bicycle and enjoy doing this. Almost from the beginning I would take Halo on my bike rides down our 1/2 mile road and back. She always ran and trotted right alongside me and seemed to love it. I thought that she was getting good exercise and we were able to spend this time together. The problem now is that she pulls and drags on her leash when we begin our rides. I've tried encouraging her to continue with me but it's really getting difficult, so something's wrong. I don't know what, though. I've wondered if maybe the run is too strenuous for her, she's a mixed breed, part beagle but a smaller size, but when we get to the end of the road and turn back she runs so fast that I have to work to keep up with her. Am I stressing her out? Should I stop our rides completely? What's going on? Can anyone help me with this? Thanks!

Okay, I don't have much experience in training a dog to heel next to a BIKE, but I DO know that for normal, on ground heeling, if they're pulling, you stop. I know this sounds so agonizing on a bike, but it will help. If you feel tension on the leash, stop. Especially since she loves it so much! When you stop, you're taking away the fun. She can't have fun if she's pulling on the leash. Once you get slack in the leash, start up again. Then stop as soon as you feel a tug, and so on. When you're riding along great, be sure to PRAISE, and let Halo know she's doing the right thing.

Ive never brought my dog ona cycle walk either because she doesnt really like bikes so I dont know if this advice will work or not.

Does your dog heel when your not on the bike. If not then I think it might help to teach her to heel when your walking normally and then she might heel when your on the bike.

The waY I know to teach your dog to heel is to walk the other way the minute you feel a tug on the leash and I doubht you could do this on the bike.
I suppose you could practice this with her and when she begins to heel try her on the bike again and hopefully she will trot nicely beside your bike.

Good luck x

Whoopee! Today went really good on our bike run. Yesterday I got her a choke chain because I'd read that a regular buckle type collar shouldn't be used when you're training your dog. At first there was her usual stopping and holding back but I continued and gave her sharp tugs on the leash. And, whoopee! she took off beside me. What a nice ride it was. We got back and she was nice and tired and I was happy. Thanks for the good advice.

what you read about collars is wrong I have to say. A buckle collar works fine, you should not have to use sharp corrections anyway. Do what was said before about just stopping when she pulls. This way you are not hurting her. You have to be careful with using choke chains or she might start finding the bike rides unpleasant. As you can see I don't like using them or any other "instrument of pain" on dogs. Dogs can be trained very well without using them and you don't have to hurt your dog. PLEASE stop using the choke chain. I know they seem like they work nice and fast but they are not actually teaching the dog anything except to be scared to move to fast. I'm not mad at you or anything, you didn't know there was anything wrong with using choke chains but I think they are completely unnecessary.

how old is halo?
i find with pups, when they reach about 12-14 months all prior training goes out the window for a little while and they make you wonder what happened, harry AND mac went through at the same time. lol i'm glad i'm not raising them.

you'll get good training advice here, but also, when she pulls, if you ride faster to keep up, its just reinforcing it. think about whats Halo's thinking "running and pulling is fun, it makes them ride faster so i can run faster and pull more and have more fun"you have to make her relise that pulling won't get you going anywhere, it will just make the ride stop completley

Her stopping and pulling was only at the beginning of our ride in the driveway. When I gave her some quick pulls on the leash, with the choke chain, she complied quickly and the rest of the ride was wonderful. She didn't pull at all and I think she enjoyed the rest of the ride very much. I don't want to hurt Halo and will be very careful to see that she is not in pain, but it seems to work. I hope that as we continue the rides I won't even need to use it anymore. I just want her to know that this is what I want her to do. Thanks for the replies. I'm trying to learn along with my puppy.

I'd be getting a springer bike attachment. Leashing a dog next to a bike isn't always the greatest idea.. Running a dog on a choke chain is a worse one.

(sigh) I guess I'm back to square one. I thought things were going well, but if I'm going about it the wrong way then I need to learn what's best for Halo. I don't have the basics like heeling and other commands mastered with her yet, but I thought we were doing well with the riding. I'm going to keep on reading and trying to understand "how dogs work". Thanks everybody!

Bike attachment

http://www.springerusa.com/

I dont agree with choke chains myself and think theyre unecessary when training a dog...

Dont worry choke chains aren't your only option!
Work on your heeling and it might help.
Im sure everybody will be willing to guide you in the right way and you'll end up with good results!

Personally, I use the choke chains. Not for training, (I TRAIN with the flat collar) but I use the chain for emergencies. If I'm out and about, and then for some STRANGE reason my dog suddenly goes out of control, I need the correction. (This has never happened.) We are required to get the pups used to the chains, because when they're with their blind person, the chain is required.

But I would NEVER EVER EVER put a chain on while I"m on a bike! This is a VERY bad idea. One, the dog could take off and ignore the pain...And soon would have all sorts of damage to it's throat, trechea etc...Also, it's VERY easy for dogs to slip out of a chain, and if you're on a bike, it would be VERY hard to get that dog back.

Here's my take on biking with a choke...

... in certain situations, I feel that it's perfectly acceptable. For instance - Ronin is biked, but he is biked for a purpose - to build correct muscle and train him to gait correctly. It isn't a running free-for-all, it's serious business! To make sure he stays at the correct speed to facilitate proper footfall, as well as keeping his body parallel to the bike (and therefore to discourage crabbing, and the muscle buildup that could lead to crabbing)... I use a prong to bike him. His handler uses a slip collar.

If there is no control, biking a show dog is practically useless. And when a show dog is being roadworked, it's focused on conformation, not obedience. Train a dog to stay at your side and watch you while biking will teach a dog to throw its gait off in the ring by looking at you, and discourage it from "going out" while gaiting - something that is highly desired in many breeds.

That's just my take on biking, take it or leave it.

*Edited to add*
This is the same dog who (thankfully!) is trained to walk on a loose leash, wearing buckle collar, and is a heeling maniac. The prong isn't used as a crutch, it's used as a tool - at least, with my dogs it is!

Well I dunno. I had a BC mix once who would run alongside bikes, presumably to herd them, but other than that I dunno what to tell you, since teaching my dog to heel ended up taking sharp corrections.

I am new to this forum but can speak from experience on biking with your dog. Mine are well trained and heel loose lead. I had a fall this weekend due to a covey of quail bursting out of a bush. I am okay and so are the dogs (I was running two) and I am thankful that they were not wearing anything other than flat collars(just to clarify I have no problem with prong collars).
I am going to get one of those springer attachments, I have a foot problem that is hingering my ability to walk my dogs well. I only need to bike them for a short distance (on a dirt road) to get to an area where I can let them run loose and follow me on the bike (dirt trails). That attachment looks like just what I need so thank you to whomever posted the link for springer.

NP. If you google they aren't the only one company offering attachments now.. But they are probably the most well known one..

I could never have a springer here as my roads are so small you wouldnt fit us both on the road or sidewalk

This is a bit beside the point of your original post, but how old is your dog and what breed? Most breeds should not be subjected to such heavy exercise as running along side a bike until they are full grown. That type of exercise is very hard on the bones/joints of pups.