princess
|
Re:MTB and Dogs - 2009/10/06 01:31
meh, who cares about monday night football. it's not the steelers, right pontz?
so on to dogs...
i've ridden with lots of people and even a few dogs. there's a few things you should discover about your dog prior to taking them out riding off a leash. i highly encourage you to never try riding with them on a leash, though i've been known to do so at times. (the learning curve for that put me on the pavement a few times in college heights.)
first off and foremost in importance is to make sure you have your dog truly under control in the most basic sense of the experience of dog ownership. you simply MUST be the dog's master. if you think of your dog as a friendly companion, that's just great. but stay the hell off the trails and just about anywhere else in society as well. i don't know how to put it any simpler, if you cannot exert absolute control over the dog in its everyday life, you have some work to do before getting near the trails.
that said, some dogs aren't meant for the trail, or any other off leash activity. many dogs are simply too high strung. now i'll be the first to tell you that if your dog is high strung it's due to your lackings. energy is a resource like any other and it can be exhausted. it is your job to see to it that this happens for your dog, otherwise it's likely to behave wildly any chance it gets.
there is also the people friendly factor to consider. if your dog does not do well with other people or pets, keep it out of situations where it might come into contact with people and pets unless it is under your direct control. (read leash) i cannot stress enough that you need to know how your dog reacts to children. you might think that the woods are sparsely populated with people, but you're guaranteed to have problems if your dog doesn't play well with others.
also, you should master obedience before you start. if you can't get the dog to sit, lay, stay, etc. in your back yard then you have no chance of getting it to obey on the trail. a dog is out of its natural element in our homes and so it adapts. but when in its natural environment, the dog reverts to much stronger instincts which are harder for discipline to overcome.
you might think ok, so my dog isn't a bad pooch. if that's the case you'll need to start preparing for the obstacles you'll encounter in the endeavor of riding.
it is commonly said that you should wait until the dog is at least 6 months before starting it on any sort of regular exercise and at least a year before strenuous levels of exercise such as riding. i leave it up to you, but be careful with growing dogs as the joints aren't fully developed.
if you decide to take your dog on the trail, don't expect it to start off anywhere near as well as aemon did. take him for walks. start under a mile and make sure he's ok with a couple miles before moving on to running. these allow you to keep the dog on the leash and get him used to sustained exercise. you'll want the dog to be able to run a minimum of 2 or 3 miles before he has any business on the trail. when you do get out on the trail, start even smaller. the terrain takes its toll on the dogs joints and especially the dogs paws that is worse than the distance suggests. work your way up from short little mile or two rides to longer rides of up to 10 miles. after that, just gradually work him along. don't jump from a 12 mile ride to a 20 mile ride without maybe a 15 and an 18 in there.
now this is where the obedience comes in to play. i highly suggest finding some sort of temptation in your neighborhood (for aemon it was the squirrells on the golf course) and hammering home the training on resisting them. this process takes a LONG time, after all you're fighting the most basic instinct a dog has. the dog should be ready to hit the trail when you can call him off without incident or if you can issue a command that will keep the dog from chasing said distraction in the first place. for instance the command, "no squirrell" will make aemon stay and wait for me to release him before he'll chase anything.
you'll need to have a few specific commands down unquestionably before hitting the trail. the most basic is to come. you must be able to return your dog to a state where you can leash him if need be. (don't leave the leash at home. keep one in your camelback or jersey pocket at all times.) next i use a yield command to get the dog out of peoples' way. it should also be noted never to have riders encourage the dog to come near bikes. the dog should have a healthy fear of being run over. this is usually accomplished by taking the dog and actually running over it in as controlled an environment as you can create. you may also wish to incorporate commands for heel, sit, stay, etc. in the riding regimen.
you'll need to make sure that your dog can be identified if the unfortunate event of separation occurs. make sure you have a current phone number on the dog's collar. i highly recommend that it be a cell, which you carry on you while riding. don't set it to silent or vibrate.
you'll likely want to include a bit of kibble (or at least a few treats) for longer rides, say 20+ miles. but water is an absolute necessity. you need to realize that dogs will find most of their own water when the can, but a dog with a task on it's mind (keeping up with it's master) will forsake every available water source on the route if it feels it can't keep up. i usually keep a spare bottle on the bike just for the dog. i had an excellent collapsible bowl till it cracked on a single digit ride.
first aid materials are a good idea. i've not had them in the past, but am thinking that i'll be changing that in the future. simple tape and gauze should suffice for most instances, but you may wish for more or less as you see fit. if your pooch is important to you, keep in the back of your mind that worst case scenarios will require you to abandon your bike and carry the dog out. the dog usually fights this, so maybe a sedative or two in the pack isn't a bad idea, either.
i suppose i could summarize with a list of do's and don'ts but maybe i'll do that later. it's been a long bit of typing. i'm sure i probably overlooked a thing or two, but i've got most of it down for you. i can't stress enough though, that this is a serious responsibility and commitment you're looking to undertake in riding with your dog. i wish you the best with it, it is a truly rewarding experience for both dog and master.
|
. If I had a dog with me I would probably ride in the woods alone more instead of trying to coordinate a ride with fellow MTBers. Thanks.