I'm trying to teach Donovan to run beside my bike while I ride. In the catalog from the store I use for his chews, they have a spring that you can mount on your bike to hold a dog's leash, so it doesn't jerk your bike this way or that when the dog stops to sniff, tinkle, or any of the other million reasons dogs seem to need to stop while walking.
Before purchasing the spring, I thought I'd try Donovan out to see if it was even a remote possibility. Yesterday, after dropping the kids off at school, we got on the highway and headed to my sister's house (she lives out in the country) to pick up my niece and take her to work. Her car wouldn't start yesterday morning and my sister was in quite a predicament, needing to get to school for a test she was having. She called her husband at work, but he was on a 4-way conference call and couldn't talk with her. So, when she called me, I told her to head on our for school and I'd pick up my niece and take her to work.
After that, Daelyn and I stopped at the store for a few groceries. On the way home, I suggested the bikeride idea to him. He was thrilled - the thought of riding together, just him and Mom, was too good to believe. We unloaded the groceries, I donned my helmet and wrestled my bike out of the shed, we put Donovan on his leash, and started out.
It took him a little while to understand what we were doing. At first, he ran from side to side, nearly getting hit by my front tire. I finally convinced him that he needed to stay on my right. He got drug a few times when he stopped to smell the ground, the neighbor's mailbox, and to visit with the dogs on the corner. But he quickly learned that he had to keep up. He ran next to me at a fast trot.
Everything seemed to be going quite well, once he understood the ground rules. Until - - - we turned a corner. The problem was that I needed him on my right side. Holding his leash, braking with my hand, holding the handlebars, and pushing the lock button on his leash when he got too far ahead was just too much for my left hand to do all at once. I could handle all of that on the right, but not the left. We turned to the right, and Donovan, afraid I was going to run into him, accelerated to get in front of the bike and switched sides. I had to stop to get him back over to the right side again.
The next time we turned, I was better prepared. I made it slow and gradual, and Donovan followed suit. It was a short ride, only about 4 blocks, but he had to run the entire time and I was just testing the waters. He did well enough, I'll definately try again. And if next time is easier, we may be purchasing a leash spring for my bike.
All the reading I've done on border terriers says they're extremely smart dogs. I guess we'll see just how smart the next few bike rides.
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