Not for the first time, I saw some dude bicycling along with his dog on a lead running beside. WTF? Can’t he jog like a normal person? I like cycling, and I like playing with dogs, but not both at the same time.
Maybe he can jog but not as fast as the dog can run.
Yeah, this. Some dogs run very fast. Having said that, it always makes me feel uncomfortable, since a friend who did this had her dog get its legs tangled in her wheel spokes, and the dog had its leg amputated.
We had a very athletic dog that would pace alongside us, off leash, always on our right, at whatever speed you walked, ran, skated, or biked. She was awesome.
The local dog park was far enough that I usually biked. Walking would take too long, and running would require a shower afterwards.
I used to have a bike-specific leash for this. It had a metal pole extending out from the bike and then a stretchy leash so that the dog wasn’t too close and wouldn’t easily pull you over. It worked really well, actually.
I used it because sometimes, the dog wanted to run faster and longer than I wanted to and sometimes, I had multiple dogs to exercise. Five miles on a bike is a lot faster and easier than five miles jogging and the dog loves it.
He may not be able to jog, he may have bad knees or some such that prevents it
I haven’t had the knees or hips to run for many years but I can ride a bike just fine and some of the dogs I’ve had really benefited from long, fast runs. My old man Bear is long past his running days but when he was young he was so fast I couldn’t keep up with him no matter how hard I pedalled and he could run for miles. Jogging with a dog like that is just a tease for the poor beastie.
True story: About 45 years ago in San Francisco, I saw a guy board a cable car, with an Irish Wolfhound on a leash. This was the route that went from Fisherman’s Wharf to Downtown, which goes up a steep hill. The dog galloped alongside the cable car all the way to the top of the hill. (I got off there so I didn’t see what happened after that.)
I’m sure that would not be allowed today.
Of all the behavior one observes in life, this is the one that rubs you the wrong way?
I was not positive a dog would enjoy it, as well as the safety concerns (besides getting potentially tangled up or crashing, there are other bicycles whizzing along nearby). But if that particular dog loves it, who am I to judge? I myself would have more fun jogging along with the dog, but if that is not enough (like if he hypothetically prefers to run faster/longer than I am willing) then his enjoyment takes priority.
Mr.Wreks new squirrel dog, Dillon the Carolina Cur, has to be ran hard to get any benefit from excercise.
He leashes and loads the dog into his Side x Side. They ride down the county road 3 - 5 miles. He lets him loose and he runs all the way home.
Mr. Wrek reports the dog runs 24 mph.
I’ve never been around a dog with that much energy.
I knew someone who every morning would get into the tractor on his way to work the fields, and the dog would follow him down the road for as long as he felt like it. He was not tethered to anything, though.
I saw this once in a quiet residential side-street: Guy with labrador retriever. He was exercising the dog by running a toy radio-controlled car up and down in the middle of the street, and the dog chased it.