What Small Dog for a Riding Companion?

every dog is different arch .

for hector , it has nothing to do with keeping up . for him it is an opportunity to exercise ( or exorcise :lol: ) the herding instinct for which he was bred .

as for the big run , one of the reasons i selected this breed was for their ability to run all day , every day . most of the running he does is downhill in the bike park , and on the ski slopes in winter . despite two fairly serious injuries at a young age , he shows no ill effects from his life of activity at age eight . mind you , he has been " trained " much like an athlete , building up distances gradually , and recognizing when he needs time to rest .

he does no pavement running . he rides in a trailer on our daily commute . the only time any one has any issues with him when riding is if they have demonstrated that they will yield to him , as in , they will allow themselves to be herded . probably all the guys i ride with have bumped his ass off the trail in a controlled manner at least once . now he instinctively knows , based on the sound of a bike approaching , or gradient , to get the hell out of the way .

he has always accompanied me on boys mountain bike weeks where he can easily rack up in excess of 200 km ( conservative estimate ) over 5 days of riding .

i don't suggest that anyone or every dog is capable of this kind of activity , but if you do your homework , select carefully and train your dog appropriately , there is no reason why the right dog can't accompany you when riding .

Hey skid,whaada you know about the larger herd protecting dogs like Maremmas and such?

Good family dogs?

no , no no stay away from the maremma .

developed to live a solitary life as part of the herd , specifically the guardian of the herd .

will develop a bond with the demonstrated alpha in a given situation , everyone else could be perceived as a threat .

given their large size , the damage they could inflict could be very serious .

granted , the only one i have first hand experience with was a dedicated sheep dog . he managed to take out several coyotes over a number of days and a cougar . sheep farmer thought he was well worth the investment .

but again every dog is different , and how you select , train and the life situation you put them in has as much to do with the dog you wind up with as the breed you begin with .

Shiba INU

She doesn't like the exposed butthole!

Code for: (It's not hipster enough)

We've decided on a whole fleet: a Boston Terrier, a Pug, and a Schnoodle. That hipster enough for you?

She doesn't like the exposed butthole!

Sleeper does.

I don't normally ride with other people when I take my dog out, and I don't do downhill runs, normally just a casual SFU lap with him where I let him get his sniff on, and am rarely out for more than an hour. He's never got in the way of anyone, and as for the keeping up comment, if I get my bike, he gets all excited and runs out to the car expecting to come along, and if I go too slow, then he will bark for me to speed up. On the whole, I think that you give good advice, but it's a generalisation and not always applicable.

Fair enough but the fact still remains most shore riding is simply too much for most dogs. A light SFU run is a different scenario.

We've decided on a whole fleet: a Boston Terrier, a Pug, and a Schnoodle. That hipster enough for you?

The name really is the deciding factor here.

The name really is the deciding factor here.

Oh dude, um, you might not let us get a dog if you knew what we were going to name it…

You live in the EV it's a given.

We had a border collie/Australian shepherd mix. What a great dog, very loyal (unless we
got tired of throwing the frisbee at the beach, then he'd find the "right" sucker to throw
it for him). The only time he got aggressive was when I picked up a hitchhiker and he nipped
his arm when he put his hand on the seat to get in, and he was very protective if he was
tied to the car and I wasn't around so I had to be careful of that. He was fine if his head
was out and someone wanted to pet him, but if they put their hand inside, it was on.

He could run and run and run, so much so that we had to be careful of overworking him or
he'd kill himself. He did develop some bad arthritis in his front and back legs. We think
it was the running on the soft Hawaiian sand chasing frisbees. When I had friends with
kids over he was really good at keeping them in one place LOL. Mine was 45lbs.

Fair enough but the fact still remains most shore riding is simply too much for most dogs. A light SFU run is a different scenario.

What kind of sissy frou frou dog do have? I have 2 dogs both in the working class of dogs and they come on every ride with me. They are super fit and heathly. I don't think you know what your talking about so…. Stop talking.

Yeah, I gotta agree. I'm not saying that you should run your dog at full speed down Ned's or WBP. But most "normal" dogs are more than capable of going for a couple hour rip. Most trail riding has enough slow sections that the dogs get lots of breaks and aren't just running full tilt the whole time.

All I know is that if I asked my dog, "Would you like to come for a rip and maybe get some arthritis in your old age, or go for a nice casual walk around the park?"

well…. he's a rider at heart and I know what he'd say.