Cycling with your dog- Has anyone tried a Walkydog bike leash?

[Tegan]

Hi everyone,
I was wondering if anyone has tried a Walkydog or a Springer. Kali loves to go for bike rides but there aren't a lot of trails in our area that are off leash and bike friendly. We'd like a bike leash so we can go bike riding with Kali more often. Has anyone used either of those products (or any others)? We tried just riding with a long leash with Kali on a harness but that didn't work so well. We are leaning towards a walky dog mostly because I've read that the springers are rather heavy the leash tends to break free.

[Azure & Muppet]

Sort of. I did some comparison shopping between the WalkyDog and the Springer, and decided to get the WalkyDog. But I haven't been able to use it yet because I don't have a bike in working condition right now. I've seen other related discussions that might help. I'll search and post a link if I find them.

[Azure & Muppet]

Here are a couple links I found related to this topic:

http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/great-way-to-exercise-your

http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum2/topics/k9-jogger-bike-leash

Bear's Mom made a comment about the WalkyDog in this discussion:
http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/exercising-your-doodle?com...

The reviews on Amazon can also be helpful.

[Tegan]

Thanks, I could only find the comment from Bear's mom. I tried a few different searches but I guess I didn't search the right keywords =)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This discussion is very recent and is all about the Walky Dog bike attachment; lots of info:
http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/great-way-to-exercise-your

[Stella]

We have a version of the walkydog, it is the same thing just made by another company. I wrote a review on it in the leashes part of the Review section. I like it and it has worked well for us. It helps if your dog is already obediance trained - ours know the commands lets go, left, right, easy, hurry, and stop so we can direct them as we go.

[Helen&Finnegan]

Years ago, my brother had a husky that needed tons of exercise. He begged me to take the dog bike riding and he bought me something that attached to my bike - I'm not sure what it was but it was a short metal pole that attached near the kickstand (sort of instead of a kickstand) and had a short leash attached. It looked like it would work well so off I went with the husky.

The whole thing worked great for a few miles and the husky was working hard to keep up with me. I was delighted! We were living in a very urban neighborhood and I felt safe with a husky attached to my bike. The husky was very lean - not huge or anything - but a lot of people thought he was a wolf. Well, all of a sudden, the husky saw a squirrel or a cat or something and took off in the opposite direction!! He bolted! I was completely unprepared and the dog managed to drag the bike with him - the back wheel just went with the husky and I couldn't keep the bike upright! It was a disaster as I was going pretty fast when he took off! The handlebars twisted around and I was flung from the bike. The noise of the bike crashing to the ground startled the husky so he stopped but I think he could have easily kept going, dragging the bike behind him.

Needless to say, that was my first and last experience bike riding with a dog attached to my bike.

PS - I am not a light person and the feel of the entire rear half of the bike lifting off the ground made me very respectful of the strength of huskies.......

Maybe some of the new devices are better? I'd rather have something break than drag my bike down to the ground.....

[Tegan]

There's supposed to be some springs in the walky dog to prevent that from happening.... in theory the dog can pull and not pull the bike with them. I agree that I would rather have the leash or something break than drag my bike down but from the reviews I've read the Springer attachments tend to break off very easily if your dog moves a certain way. I don't think I'd be too worried about that happening with Kali though. She's amazingly good about running with the bikes and she doesn't chase anything but balls =)

[Stella]

The one I got recommended that you outweighh the dog by at least 40lb. It attaches under the seat so your whole weight is working against the dog. Hartley loves to try and chase cats and we cycled past one without disaster! I did feel him pull against the bike, but I outweigh him by enough that he wasn't going to go anywhere (and he is a big boy - 80lb!!.... not telling by how much I outweigh him!!).

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Both my daughter and my daughter-in-law use a Walky dog. One has a clutzy big lab and the other has Whippets. The love it. My daughter is not the most coordinated person in the world, she has a 70's Schwinn and uses Walkydog with her young 75 pound lab with no problems. My daughter-in-law is the most coordinated person I have ever met and she uses it mostly with her whippets, but she has walked her Doberman, my lab-mix, my Springer and little Ned - no problems. She made a utube video and if you really want to view it I could try to figure out how to access it and put the link here.