Riding With The Pup

[californiagrown]

Fuck all the beepers, collars, and leashes for training. Train your dog with a DHF. Put that tire squarely into his asshole a few times and he will very quickly learn to watch out for bikes and stay either behind you or well in front of you. Encourage your friends to do the same, so he knows it's everyone that he has to watch out for. I like to yell "heads up" just before the buzz - good to have audible cues.

Aside from that, keep an eye on their paws. Lots of desert riding, especially when it's hot, is really hard on their pads. If he tears a pad off it'll suck for both you and him.

Yep, wanna see a dog frantically dip/dive/duck/dodge his way off a trail? Calmly say "move-move-move" to my my dog haha. He learned through the DHF method.

[Shredhead]

I actually prefer my dog in front. I don’t like looking over my shoulder to make sure he’s there.
On wider single track and MUT’s I have him heal on my right.

Trail selection and timing are important.
I usually ride real early. I never want to be ascending a narrow trail that someone could be descending.

I’ve trained five, usually riding around with my pockets full of ham. Training a new pup is a lot easier if you have an older dog, that already does what you want.

Good Luck!

[Falcon3]

I’ve trained five, usually riding around with my pockets full of ham. ]

I’m guessing you don’t ride in bear country. Or maybe you just like to live dangerously!

My dog goes close in front on the ups, behind on the downs, and heels on the right for busier double track. He fucks up a fair amount but I usually don’t take him to busy places or ride trails I know there’s a lot of blind spots.

[Dantheman]

Took him out on a very low-traffic trail this afternoon. Did 6.5 miles and 1,000 vert which was well within what he's done trail running. He started out in front since that's how it works running. He stopped in the middle of the trail a few times so I just started saying "move it!" then buzzing his butt with the tire. In minutes I just had to give him the "move it" command and he'd stay farther ahead, and then pretty soon he just fell in behind and stayed right on my rear wheel for the rest of the climb. Going down I had to stay on the brakes a lot in order to not leave him in the dust so he definitely wasn't causing problems in front of me. He's pretty pooped tonight, probably from the faster pace.

[happytimefunbox]

Took him out on a very low-traffic trail this afternoon. Did 6.5 miles and 1,000 vert which was well within what he's done trail running. He started out in front since that's how it works running. He stopped in the middle of the trail a few times so I just started saying "move it!" then buzzing his butt with the tire. In minutes I just had to give him the "move it" command and he'd stay farther ahead, and then pretty soon he just fell in behind and stayed right on my rear wheel for the rest of the climb. Going down I had to stay on the brakes a lot in order to not leave him in the dust so he definitely wasn't causing problems in front of me. He's pretty pooped tonight, probably from the faster pace.

Care to share this low traffic dog friendly wasatch trail?

Edit to Add-Pretty sure I pulled the beta from the wasatch dirt thread. Cheers!

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[Dantheman]

Should you feed them more than normal after some solid trail time? Did 7.5 miles/2600 vert yesterday (running) and gave him an extra scoop for dinner, but I was curious if that's actually recommended.

[geomorph]

I'll give a little extra treat, but not much. I feed my pup 2 cups/day so an extra cup would be like me eating an extra thousand calories after a ride.

[Falcon3]

I'll give a little extra treat, but not much. I feed my pup 2 cups/day so an extra cup would be like me eating an extra thousand calories after a ride.

You're telling me you don't have three beers the afternoon-evening after a big ride plus a larger-than-normal dinner?

[geomorph]

You're telling me you don't have three beers the afternoon-evening after a big ride plus a larger-than-normal dinner?

I mean, I'll have 3 beers and dessert on days I don't ride.

[Dantheman]

I'll give a little extra treat, but not much. I feed my pup 2 cups/day so an extra cup would be like me eating an extra thousand calories after a ride.

He eats 4 cups per day normally.

[snowaddict91]

He eats 4 cups per day normally.

How much does he weigh again/how old is he? That sounds like a pretty decent amount, depending on the food.

Mine normally don't get extra food after a big day, but usually some sort of treat.

[Dantheman]

He's 1, 66 lbs, eats the Kirkland Nature's Domain kibble. That's how much the people we adopted him from were feeding him and we just continued it. He's pretty lean and people frequently comment on his muscle definition.

Strava says I burned 1500 calories (which I know is a huge WAG, but it seems reasonable given the stats from the run). That's almost my entire 24-hr BMR.

[snowaddict91]

We need a doggie nutritionist on TGR. I've honestly not given much thought to feeding my dogs more on days with big efforts, but the reasoning makes sense?

[muted reborn]

This has been said here already but it needs to be amplified a bit:

Never ever let your dog run in front of you while biking. This is for other trail riders, not you.

Just because a young dog can handle a ride, doesn’t mean you are not damaging it’s joints. Be conservative on vert/distance. There will be no signs you overdid it.

[plugboots]

What? Kedar always leads. He’s 14.

[Name Redacted]

My old border collie mutt used to do 15 miles no problem, even when he got older. Blood cancer got him before joints went bad or anything. He was 12.

I can't wait till I can get our new pup out on the trail. There's few better ways to wear out a dog than behind a bike. I'll probably have to wait a year or two to really get him going though.

With my old dog, never allowed in front, I'd make a disagreeable noise and he understood right away to get behind me. He wasn't the best though. Always chasing squirrels, and deer, and elk, and even a bear once. Definitely going to need to train the new guy better. Learned a lot with the last one though.

[muted reborn]

What? Kedar always leads. He’s 14.

It's for downhill riders so they don't have to avoid hitting a dog. I've come close a few times, then the owner ALWAYS cheerily shows up a split second after a narrow disaster, having no clue of their dog's behavior. The worst ones are the ones that are small, dark, and in the shadows while they stand in trail happily looking at you as you skid into them. It's courteous to have dogs behind you.

[Shredhead]

https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=Awr9...FMfx0suvJhmFM-

Rudy’s usually in front, but I’m always climbing before anyone else. The chance of anyone descending into us is remote.




Dtm: I would plan exercising your pup as much as possible. A tired pup, is a good pup.
Feed him with that in mind and if he starts to look a little chubby, back off a little bit.

[plugboots]

I was gonna post about Ruby as well.


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[RoooR]

My dude helping me with some trailwork in the backcountry. We had a few close calls his first year of riding, but now I never worry about hitting him. Helps that he's terrified of things hitting / falling on him. I get the people saying your pup always needs to follow, but anything with switchbacks this dude doesn't even take the trail. I have yet to beat him down even a moderately winding trail.

[californiagrown]

Olly doesn't do heat. Like anything over 70 degrees and he slows waaaay down. But, man, give him a classic 50 degree gray damp day in the PNW and he is good for a few thousand feet and 10-15 miles grinning and sniffing the whole time. I think ive overdone it with him twice in his 4.5 years... it happens... ive overdone it myself about that much in the past 5 years too. He's no worse for the wear, so far.

Its pretty cool to see him get noticeably excited when he gets to turn off a rocky fireroad and start down a loamy soft singletrack. He is a good buddy to have, and a totally gassed, mud splattered dog passed out in your car on the ride home is pretty damn cute.

[panchosdad]

Simple pleasures.

[milestogo]

I had great success training my dog to heel off the right side of my back wheel. I believe that is the safest space for the dog, however I have read of some dogs getting a paw caught in spokes. We always use a Sportdog 425 collar, but once she was trained on it all i need to do is use the tone function unless she is hot on a chipmunk.

I will say though, as one of the trail managers in our area, that we really try to encourage people with dogs to ride in our less popular trail pods or early in the morning. They cause nothing but conflict at our in-town riding area, because everybody thinks their dog is well trained, even though a very small percentage of them are.

[Salvelinusconfluentus]

Dogs have the right of way at my local trail system, as they should. They give us so much for so little.

[californiagrown]

Was dogsitting my SIL's dog this weekend so i took her out for a ride with my dog Olly. She snorts and makes oinking noises when getting belly rubs so we refer to her as a pigdog. She did really good for her first time- it helped being able to follow Olly. She caught-on quick that she needed to follow me, not lead me, and that there was no time for investigating offshoot trails when on the move. Successful first day for her.

https://youtu.be/FuB8Vi5P5n0