My youngest daughter did this once...yup only once. Dog was really good until she saw another dog...she ran and pulled too hard, daughter fell off her bike and broke her arm. Something to keep in mind.

Vickey-MN

We walk our girl on a regular basis and she's trained not to pull-- at other dogs, squirrels, whatever-- so I'm hoping this won't be too big of a deal; 99% of the time she's really good. (Of course, there's that pesky 1% one has to worry about, haha...)

Does anyone have any experience-- good or bad-- with the different bike hardware available? There seems to be a few different options for leashing to the bike, from what I'm finding online...

Bikes are a great way to exercise once you get the trick and have a safety attachment!

I use a bike attachment to go out with my border collie. It is made by Springer. It is a U-shaped tube with a coil within to absorb a bit of tug-pulling as we go. It also has a safety release for a *major* snag. It aims the dog to the side of the bike so they can run beside you. Also he wears a harness while running to reduce any jerking risk as well.

Stay away from models that aim the dog to run behind the bike as dogs will naturally try to run beside you and in the process create tug and friction on the back of the bike as they try to outrun the attachment. Not good! We tried and returned one. My pup runs faster than I pedal as it is and he certainly didn't want to run behind me! :P

So far it has worked very well for us. No accidents and he picked up the concept of running with the bike very fast. He knows 'leave it', 'slow' and 'whooaa/stop' from running with me, which help considerably.

There always is the temptation of a squirrel or duck as we go down trails, but he has yet to knock us over or even tried - usually when we get going he is focused on running and not looking around much.

I was looking at the Springer, although my computer doesn't like the website because it seems to utilize executable code? Anyway, it looked like the best device for such a task. I saw another one that "steers" the dog alongside you, but that one appears to attach to the seat bar which seems like a bad idea. Does the Springer attach closer to the axle (is that the right term)?

Yup, it attached by back wheel.. I did call the axel, but I don't know the exact term either! It is very sturdy. I like how the attachment holds the leash up and away from the bike. The idea of getting the leash tangled around me or the bike chain would be disastrous.

I agree that some of designs out there make me scratch my head too. The steering wheel sounds like a terrible location to me. :o

I haven't been to the springer site. I shopped at amazon. The one I bought was around $60. It's not perfect, but I'm happy with it.

My DH used the Springer too! He liked using it with our two lab/husky mix dogs we had at the time..... I never would have used the Springer, but I can barely stay on a bike as it is, I didn't want to add a dog into the mix. DH, on the other hand, 240 lbs and has good balance and feels secure on the bike, so the Springer worked for him. Our two dogs were 40 & 70 lbs, incredible pullers, and they were crazy every time they saw anything. I really don't know how my husband did it! He just hoped there would be no distractions when he took a dog out on a "bike run".

But, if you have a well-trained dog who needs to run, you can't beat the Springer.

We have a Springer attachement also. We got it a few summers ago for our collie and have had a lot of fun biking with her. She loves (!) squirrels, bunnies and the like but despite normally wanting to bolt after these little critters when in our yard, she'll happily just jog along and watch the world go by when she's on the Springer. No pulling/safety concerns at all which was our priority (there's no way we could bike with her with a regular leash!).

{{!gwi}}

Hope you try it -- one thing we noticed with our dog is that when both my husband and I bike together and our dog is on the Springer, I have to ride in front because she likes to follow the bicycle in front and try to herd it! If I ride behind, then she slows and tries to wait for me. If it's just her and my husband biking, it's not an issue, she'll just go and go!

I used the Springer with my german shorthaired pointer when he was younger. It was a blast! I agree with others that when we were out on the trail he seemed to know to behave & ignore any of the usual distractions. He does know his commands though...just a matter of when he thought he should follow them or not...the brat. He is 15 now & does little more then eat & sleep.

If you get it I hope you let us know how it goes. I really thought it was a clever invention.