BC Daily Bike Rides

[IMarkMeanings]

Hi Everyone,

 

Sheila (BC mix) and I have been doing twice daily bike rides for the past few weeks. This wears her out really well and has almost removed the bouncing off the walls she use to do.

 

But this past week she's begun to lag behind the bike and making me have to work all that much harder to keep up a good pace. It's gotten to a point where I'm practically pulling her. A couple of times I've gotten pretty mad at her and I most definitely don't want to turn the bike ride into a negative experience for her (or me!).

 

So -- I'm not sure why she started doing this. I have two theories.

 

First: maybe she's trying to control the ride. She's naturally a very dominant dog but overall she's pretty compliant with other things. But while we're going along I can feel her pulling me back. I suspect her trying to control the ride because if I comply and go slower, she almost immediately speeds up. If I speed up, she slows down. It almost seems like a little game for her.

 

Second, maybe she's getting bored. We do the same route every time. When I use to walk my other dogs (non-BC), they acted as if every time was the first time -- even after months of going the same way every time. They didn't seem to care. I've tried going in different directions along the same road with her, but this doesn't seem to help.

 

So is she trying to control the walk, or is she getting bored? Maybe a little of both? Maybe neither?

 

I've been a little neglectful with the mental stimulation -- maybe that's a contributor?

 

I'm going to go ahead and work on a different route around our property instead of on the main (dirt) roads. I'm hoping that this will pique her interest for a while. If it does, maybe we can do this for a few weeks and then go back to the old route, and switch between the two from time to time to keep her interested.

 

TIA,

 

IMM

[iLLt3cK]

To me it sounds like she is trying to control the walk.

 

I wouldn't necessarily say drag the dog behind you but I think that you should try to keep your pace consistent the entire time so she knows who is leading who.

 

What type of bike attachment are you using to walk her with the bike?

[RaisingRiver]

First make sure she isn't injured in any way. Could be hip problems, paw pads, elbow injury, etc. This might require a visist to the vet.

 

I have a dominant horse that started to limp only when I rode her, not by herself. I heard some horses will fake a limp so they don't have to be ridden. I called a vet to rule this out. Turns out she has arthritis in all four ankles but prominent in the front. Hence carrying more then her body weight is very uncomfortable. She's now retired in the pasture.

[juliepoudrier]

I agree with Raising River--first check to make sure there's no physical reason for her to slow down. If the vet says it's all clear, then consider the boredom issue or trying to control the ride. After all, you'd feel really guilty if you were pulling her along and forcing her to go when she was in pain, if that happened to be the case. I wonder, does she do the same thing if you're simply walking her instead of riding a bike?

 

J.

[IMarkMeanings]

I'm 99.9% sure she's physically ok -- already thought of that and watched for any limping, etc. For example, if she seems a bunny or a cat she suddenly turns into a sled dog and off we go! Plus, when we're just walking (which we do for about 1/2 mile to "cool off") she's just fine walking beside me (only occasionally pulling ahead and it's easy to move her back).

 

iLL3cK - I'm tying a regular leash around my seat post. Length is about 3 ft. Long enough to keep her out of the wheels and short enough to not give her the illusion of being in the lead.

 

Thanks to all sofar,

 

IMM

[mado]

Hello , my daughter used to take Tamyr for bike rides when she wanted to wear her out fast , but it wasn't easy for her . As you said it's very tiring , because the speed is not at all natural for them , and if it's on tarmac then it just plain hurts .

She can run like lightening for hours on her own and on soft ground , but I did feel that although she's very compliant and wouldn't dream of refusing , it's not her favorite thing .

If your dog loves every other thing and is always happy to go anywhere and do anything , you might consider that she plain doesn't like it

[IMarkMeanings]

Just thought I'd give the last chapter here...

 

I'm convinced that Sheila was trying to control the pace of the walks.

 

The past couple of days' walks have been infinitely better because I made one small little change: I decided to go a tad bit slower.

 

This is mainly for me because now if and when Sheila tries to control things and pull me back, I've got enough energy and umph to counteract it just enough to "tell" her (non-verbal) that we're going to go at the pace I set. The pace also seems to appeal to her. She can either walk fast or trott and she likes to do both.

 

Plus, if she decides to pull ahead of me, it's a lot easier to slow her down with a small tug on the leash or a 'shht' or a 'hey'. She looks out the corner of her eye at the bike and slows down. Really cool. I can see her thinking.

 

So I think this problem is resolved. Sheila's happy and I'm happy and our walks are back to being a positive experience for us both.

 

Thanks to all for the helpful insight. I'm one step closer to being a decent pack leader.

 

IMM

[WyoBC]

I'm glad she's better. For the both of you!