Dog Training Information from Sunrise Florida about Bike Safety

When You Ride Your Bike

I was up in Sunrise yesterday with a new dog training client and her Boxer who had a jumping problem and loved to run out the front door.  We resolved those problems pretty quickly and I was finishing up the lesson and planning what we would to at the next lesson and when we would return.  She had another dog issue that didn’t refer to her Boxer.  

She loved to ride her bike around the neighborhood but the local dogs loved to chase and bark at her.  She could never get in a full bike ride because of all these doggie distractions.  I mentioned that I had worked on this issue years ago and came up with some very interesting observations and suggestions for bike riders and “dog chasers”… 

Dogs love to play "tag, you are it".  In fact, this is one of the natural submissive/dominance that they naturally play as puppies to learn proper canine socialization.  When we ride past dogs on our bikes, they chase us, and we speed up, we are encouraging the idea of "tag, you are it". Here are some suggestions:

• When you are biking towards a dog or a group of dogs, slow down to a "crawl". Peddle as little as possible. Look straight ahead and move past them in a very slow, deliberate manner. The dogs should read your "non adrenalized and uninterested body language" as "I dont want to play" and ignore you completely.
• If the dog or dogs begin to chase after you, slow down and come to a stop. As soon as you have stopped moving, you have taken away the "I want to play" language from your movements. The dogs will normally slow down and approach you in a non interested manner.  They might be wagging their tails and give off a few “hello” barks.  Stand still and don’t stare at them.  They should quickly turn around and go back to where they came from.  (No fun here.)
• If the dog(s) approach you in an aggressive manner (jumping, showing their teeth, assertive barking), stop and get off your bike. Place your bike between you and the dog(s).    Do not make any sudden moves that would encourage or stimulate adrenaline in the dog(s).  Slowly back away, continuing to show an uninteresting distraction.  The dog(s) should loose interest in two to three minutes and leave.
• I have ridden my bike past a large number of dogs and have used these techniques and my bike rides have always been enjoyable.

For more information about bike ride suggestions with dogs or general dog training, please call us at (954) 424-0170 or The Best Dog Trainers in Sunrise and South Florida.

Related Posts by Categories