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A few bikejoring tips from ABAKAN:(this article was written for the Samoyed Club
of America working program):
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If you are interested in the possibility of running and training your dog to pull
you while you are on your bicycle, here are a few suggestions:
1. If your dog has never run in harness or never run in front of you in any capacity,
you could both benefit tremendously by doing a lot of training on foot before you begin
with the bike. To do this you will need about 10 feet of some type of line. I prefer
to work with climbing webbing(and I like the 3/4 inch or 1 inch tubular). You can make
a loop on one end and clip a carabiner(also a climbing artifact) through the loop and
then clip this end around your waist. Run a swivel snap(you can get these at almost any
hardware store or at the hardware section of most home stores) through the other end of
the webbing and tie this end in a knot as well. You will have a sort of long leash with
a carabiner through the handle end of the leash. The handle end, then, you put around
your waist and you snap the dog's harness to the other end. (If your dog turns out to be
a very strong puller, you may want to try a skijor hook up or make yourself a training
waistband out of more webbing.)
2. You can use a regular x-back harness for foot training, and you can get these harnesses
from any dog sled equipment dealer(Adanac, Never Summer, Nordykn are a few). Make sure you
get a good fit. Most harness dealers will be glad to help you with this.
3. You want to train your dog to run in front of you at the end of the line. As Lee Fishback
writes(or wrote) in his TRAINING LEAD DOGS book: "Always in front. Always in front."
You want your dog to ALWAYS run in front of you when you are training on foot. You will
want to train "out there" (meaning the dog stays at the end of the line in front of you),
whatever term you will use to begin your run(I've always used "Let's GO!", but you can
pick your term; it needs to be crisp), maybe "Whoa", and probably "Stay" in your training
sessions on foot. These are the terms you will transfer from the foot training to the
bike runs.
4. Find a low-traffic or traffic-free gravel or dirt road or county road or trail. A long
driveway(1/4 to 1/2 mile) will work as a start. Use this as your training area. As you
progress, find other areas to vary the scenery and add a change of pace.
5. After you've trained your dog to run in front of you and have trained a few basic
commands and after you feel you have developed a good working rapport, then it's time
to try the dog with the bicycle. Some dogs take to bike training without a problem
at all, but some dogs may be a little intimidated by the bicycle or unsure of your intent
when you move from foot training to training with the bicycle. You may have to start all
over again with your basic training on the bike. Don't be discouraged, just continue
with your training as you did on foot. Always in front, always in front. Train your dog
to stand out at the end of the lead in front of the bicycle; train the dog to go on command.
Keep your command training very simple at first and get your dog real solid with a few basics.
In time then, you can add more complex commands and work up a repertoire of things you can
do together on the bike.
6. As for the bike: I started off training with a 24 inch Schwinn back when Schwinn was
a real force in the bike world. My bike was a single speed cruiser bike with nothing fancy,
with a foot brake(called a coaster brake) and that was all. I trained my first competitive
three-dog sled dog team with this bike. We trained on gravel roads at speeds up to 20mph
and did quite respectably at the big race we ran relying only on this training as our
conditioning. I write this because you do not need a fancy speeded bike with hand brakes.
Your bike of choice is entirely up to you. However, I have found the single speed bike
to be more safety noteworthy than a bike with hand brakes. With a foot brake(as you have
on a single speed bike) you have your hands free to work the dog and control your line
from the bike to the dog. Again, it is up to you, though, what sort of bike you choose
to train with. There are a myriad of possibililties! You can find single speeded cruiser
bikes through several bike manufacturers. One option at the time of this writing is Phat
Cycles in Southern California. They make a very nice looking cruiser bike and also a
chopper bike for adults. They look sturdy and well made. Also Trek Bikes makes a whole
line of cruiser and bike path bikes, all with coaster brakes, some speeded and some single
speed. While I have also used a couple of 26 inch single speed Schwinn bikes, the last
two bikes I have worked with have been 20 inch kids' bikes. My most recent bicycle is a
single speed Huffy Rock-It 20 inch kids' bike that I purchased at Wal-Mart for about $35.
I modified this bike with chopper handlebars(for more comfort with my hand and arm position)
and a
stronger stem than the one that came with the bike. I really am beginning to love the
littler bikes, but you don't get as much distance or speed with the rotation of the smaller
tire. Whatever bike you
choose, you do want to be able to touch the ground with both feet while sitting on the
bike seat.
I simply wrap the same line I use for training around the stem of the bike and snap it
with the carabiner when training. There are numbers of other hookups. You can use a D-ring
with U-bolts on your handlebars to set your line up higher. You can use plastic tubing
at your front tire on the line to discourage your line from wrapping around your tire
or front forks. None of this equipment , though, will make up for mental carelessness
or lack of training on your part. (see #9 below for more on this subject)
7. If you are at all accident-prone or even incident-prone you should buy a good quality
helmet to wear when you run your dog with your bike. [Personally, I have never worn a
helmet, and have never even come close to needing a helmet while running dogs with the
bike. Maybe I am just lucky, or maybe I know my strengths. I have needed much more
in the way of protective gear when running dogs with a sled.] If you wear loose fitting
pants you also might invest in a pant clip or use a rubber band to keep your pant from
getting caught in the chain, if this can be a problem with your bike at all. Also,
you need to dress for your running conditions. You need some sturdy shoe to wear while
on the bike, and something to keep your feet warm if running in winter temps. I have been
every bit as cold when running dogs on a bike as I have ever been when running with a sled
in snow, and perhaps more so. I have trained dogs by bike in Arkansas winters when the
temps were 10 degrees and I have needed every bit of clothing I had on. I have used my
snow pacs to wear on my feet; they were the only shoe I tried in the cold that would
keep my feet warm for a whole 10 mile or so run. If you run in the winter on dryland,
you may want to buy some insulated coveralls as well, or a single piece snowsuit or
some type of one-piece coverall that will keep your whole body warm. Also you will want
warm gloves and something to keep your head warm. I have found that if I wear an anorak
with a front pouch pocket under my coverall I can put a camera or extra gloves in the
anorak pocket and they are easy to reach and can be reached quickly.
8. My suggestion also for safety is to begin with only one dog on the bike. Work with
this dog until you feel confident that you are working in synch. Then and only then add
another dog to the mix. And let your second dog also have gone through foot training with
you as well. I do not advise running any more than three dogs on a bike, and then only when
those three dogs are VERY good with their commands and can follow your commands explicitly.
9. I have found that my training goes much better when I use a quick release, attach it to
my vehicle's bumper or somewhere very solid, and attach it to my bike when we are ready
to begin our hookup. I have a webbing line(with loops at either end) I've divided in half
by tieing it to the bike stem. Half runs forward from the bike stem, and half can go
backward from the bike stem. I attach the quick release to the backward arm of this webbing
line. Then I attach my gangline (the line I will hook the dogs to) to the forward half
of the webbing line and lay my gangline on the ground out front from the bike. Then I can
hook up the dogs.
I use a regular sled dog line - a light to midweight double lead tugline and I use a double
lead neckline if running two dogs. If I'm only running one dog I can also just use the
10 foot webbing leash and simply wrap it around the stem of the bike and hook the dog's
harness at the end, just like I do when I am running on foot. With the quick release set,
then, I hook up my dog(or dogs) to the line I have set out on the ground in front,
get on the bike myself, ready the dog(s) to go with my command(You might even want to
train a "ready" command), pull the quick release and WE ARE OFF! [The quick release keeps
the dogs from starting before you are ready and keeps the dogs from dragging your bike
down the road without you.] I keep the backward webbing line - the one I attach the quick
release to - short enough so I can reach down with one hand and loose the quick release
while still holding on to the bike handlebars with the other hand. THIS IS IMPORTANT!
You don't want to get dragged from some tiny little technical mistake you made in setting
up your lines. Make your movements at take off very simple and very precise.
Keep your wits about you, use what you have built up in command training, and enjoy your
time with your dog in this activity! The rewards are great, and the pleasures are many.
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The Lee Fishback book(Training Lead Dogs) is available from several outfitters and
booksellers online.
c. 2005, Littledeer
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