Finally...Some Snow! :)

[thistlebloom]

I have a friend who used to skijor with a Newf. She did say that she went a lot of unexpected places with him, he was so strong and such a good puller.
The benefits to a kicksled is a little more stability, I can hold on to it, where skis would have me on my rear most of the time.

I'm hoping to have Larka trained well enough that there won't be any of those unplanned off road experiences.

Bee, we bike with our dogs a lot, but the only one I had to connect to my bike was the JRT. Talk about squirrel! I didn't intend for him to pull, the connection to the bike was to keep me from throttling him when he took off on some scent trail, but he could actually move the bike without assistance.

There is one trail we used to do a lot, a forest service road, and it has a long uphill section. My husband of course, always beats me to the top, and then coasts on the flat top section while I catch up. One day Mosely and I got to the top shortly after him, and when we were close, I stopped pedaling and we cruised by, I gave dh my parade wave, and tried not to breathe hard.

In the Mosely biking days I had him attached to my rack. Now I have a Walky dog setup that attaches to the seat post for Larka to use. I haven't tried her with it yet, it's not for pulling, just a way to exercise your dog and have them controlled.

 

[Nyboy]

I lots of show people put dogs on trend mill. Helps build muscle and body.

 

[Smart Red]

How boring that is for me! I can only imagine how boring it is for the dogs. Unless they have a large-screen TV in front of the treadmill with a showing of a fox hunt or coon hunt or such to have the dog racing to keep up.

 

[thistlebloom]

Since our gravel roads are snow free right now, I put the Walky dog attachment on my bike today and took Larka and Wren out for a little ride.
It worked great!
Even though Larka tends to pull laterally, she doesn't want to be very close to the bike it seems -and at one point she pulled back really hard when somebody's 3 large dogs charged their fence, my bike was still easy to control.
Pretty happy with that. Now I can get some good cardio outdoors in the fresh air, and the dogs can get exercised at the same time.

 

[thistlebloom]

My kicksled arrived a day early yesterday! So happy about the extra little bit of snow we got yesterday and over the weekend.

It's a really fun piece of equipment to have and I'm looking forward to using it a lot for whatever winter we have left this year and in the following years.

My husband suggested towing me around the "loop" behind the quad, and even though I got it for the purpose of getting exercise in the winter, it was really exhilarating being towed.

It slides so much easier than I had imagined, and is easy to use. I haven't got tight turns down yet, but the gradual turns on the roads are easy.

The two kids I tutor in reading got to be the first passengers yesterday as I gave them a ride home.

The view from the towed. It was a little sketchy holding on and operating a camera.



Next year I hope to have Larka pull it now and then.

 

[Nyboy]

Iditarod in your future some day LOL Enjoy

 

[thistlebloom]

Iditarod in your future some day LOL Enjoy

Yes, I always think it's best to start small.

 

[majorcatfish]

.. love it...

 

[buckabucka]

Fun kicksled @thistlebloom !
I would love to have a ride home on that!

 

[Nyboy]

How many miles per dog biscuit it get?