I have been exercising our dog from my bicycle for a couple of years now. It isn’t the safest thing to do — holding the leash in one hand while trying to steer the bicycle and being able to break. I’ve had a couple of dog-induced incidents in that time, so I keep looking for safer ways to do it.
Last weekend I was doing some browsing online when I came across thedogoutdoors.com — a family-run online business specializing in dog gear for active dogs and their owners. Among their gear were two different device options for bicycling safely with your dog. I chose the Walky Dog. When it arrived I installed and tried it out Friday. The below video is my very amateur recording of that event.
As you can see, it was very easy to install,and the dog enjoyed the ride with no issues. From my perspective it seemed a lot safer, easier to control. There is no way the dog is going to be able to cut across in front of the bicycle or circle around behind it. That will prevent the majority of darting danger incidents from occurring. Then having both hands unencumbered to control the bicycle made the riding much more enjoyable for the cyclist.
From the video you can tell I was tightening the Walky Dog to the seat post quite tightly — or so I thought. But when I got out on the ride, it tended to slowly rotate around the pole under the tension of the dog’s pulling on his leash. So when I got back I really tightened it tight. I recommend anyone using the Walky Dog to do the same. Just don’t use a power tool and overtighten it.
At The Rainbow 