Taking dog on bike trips ?

[Sarah]

Hi all.

After the sad and slightly unexpected loss of my old collie, Pluto, I now have a rather feisty young collie puppy. I would like to take her on some biking trips next summer, currently looking at the Hebrides, and longer term. I have offer of an old kiddie trailer to try and would consider buying a robust one, maybe a narrower one child size one, or a Bob trailer if she takes to it ok.

Inspired by this article http://www.bikepacking.com/plan/dogpacking/

Has anyone any thoughts/experiences or general comments on this ?

Cheers Sarah - and Luna

[Teetosugars]

Speak to Rich & Shona, I’m pretty sure they take (or have taken) Olive the border terrier with them, pretty here they’d pass on their knowledge.
They’re pretty damn good like that..

[restlessshawn]

Have thought about this for next summer now my dog Billy the Kid is grown up a bit, luckily he is only just over 8kg so bikepacking friendly, will have a read of that...

[benp1]

Personally I’d work up the mileage for the dog over time and have them run along side. And I’d keep the mileage down for those trips. Pulling a trailer sounds like less fun

My dog is 34kg, he’s definitely using his own strength! Haven’t done a bikepacking trip with him though, only walking and last one was a few years ago. He does short rides with me, if I was planning a bikepacking trip I’d up the rides to get him trained for longer distances

[ScotRoutes]

I assume the dog would somehow be strapped into the trailer?

[thenorthwind]

Me and my partner tried to convince her lurcher a trailer was a good idea. It was a generic kids trailer I scavenged and modified slightly.

We weren't aiming for big trips (at least initially), more just for going to the pub and to see friends (walking is so slow!).

She wasn't keen on it, but she's of a fairly nervous disposition. We didn't get further than walking slowly up and down the street (much to the amusement of our neighbours, probably). She clearly wasn't happy so we dropped the idea. We didn't want to force her to do something she would have hated. Also, she would have tried to climb out, which is obviously very dangerous. You could (and should) make it all but impossible for that to happen, but it would have made us very nervous. Not worth.

Your dog, of course, may be completely different. I've seen people having much more success than us!

So my advice would be, work up slowly, very slowly, and start small, very small. Leave the trailer in the house with familiar bedding in it. Get the dog in the trailer and walk the bike around. Short rides. Etc.

We may try a very laid back paced overnighter next summer using some of the 100s of miles of empty forestry fire roads we have not far away. The dog can run along at her own pace, my partner can ride at her pace, and I can bimble slowly along with all the kit I normally leave behind because it's too heavy. Some slow fun!

[Borderer]

We tried it in Portugal with a dog we tried to rescue there. It wasn't a success but that wasn't the dog's fault - she couldn't have been more obliging. It was just knackering for her to run alongside on the lead for long periods of time, no matter how slowly. Dogs aren't meant to run at a steady pace like that. Letting her free wasn't an option much as she wasn't very road savvy. She wouldn't have been able to run free in Scotland much either on account of the sheep.
I cable-tied a basket to the front of my bike for her instead but she just threw up over the side constantly. We didn't try a trailer but have seen some folk on cycle paths with their dogs in trailers though. I came to realise that if we kept the dog it would be a choice between her or bikepacking and I have to be honest and admit I chose the latter. She was later adopted by a German couple and went off to a hopefully happy life in Germany, so all was good in the end.

[Cheeky Monkey]

We tried it in Portugal with a dog we tried to rescue there. It wasn't a success but that wasn't the dog's fault - she couldn't have been more obliging. It was just knackering for her to run alongside on the lead for long periods of time, no matter how slowly. Dogs aren't meant to run at a steady pace like that. Letting her free wasn't an option much as she wasn't very road savvy. She wouldn't have been able to run free in Scotland much either on account of the sheep.
I cable-tied a basket to the front of my bike for her instead but she just threw up over the side constantly. We didn't try a trailer but have seen some folk on cycle paths with their dogs in trailers though. I came to realise that if we kept the dog it would be a choice between her or bikepacking and I have to be honest and admit I chose the latter. She was later adopted by a German couple and went off to a hopefully happy life in Germany, so all was good in the end.

So you weren't aware of the notorious "Hund Kebab" festivals in Germany then? Poor Fido

[Sarah]

Thanks for feedback, I will put the trailer int eh house for her to get used to after Christmas, was thinking initial short trips to the park or to walking places so sounds ok. In theory....

[johnb]

To start you put the dog in the trailer, wherever it wants to or not. Then you take the dog somewhere and let it out. Somewhere new or somewhere it loves to go. Dogs work by association. Gettting in the trailer must be associated with something good. Otherwise the dog won't take to it.

[johnb]

P.S. my dog associates the trailer with going to work. She is a gun dog and she doesn't always let me open it before trying to get in. When I first got it she was not happy at all with it but then I wasn't taking her any where interesting.

[johnb]

Got one similar to this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DOGGYHUT-XXL ... DGkDcRTHHA
Cost £72 new. Weighs 14.5 kilos and the dog 18kilos. Bought the large one, way bigger than needed. On the other hand it carries a decent amount of firewood! I use an electric bike to pull it if she's working, otherwise she runs.