How To Start Bikejoring With Your Dog

A common question we have received is “how do I start bikejoring with my dog?” So today, as promised, we are going to answer that for you!

Of course all of this information and the tips we are providing are based off our own experiences and things we’ve learned from seasoned mushers. Others may do things a little differently, and that’s okay!

Let’s dive in!

Dogs and Dog Gear

To bikejor with a dog, you’re of course going to need a dog! A dog that loves to run! You do not have to have a specific type of dog to bikejor with. We’ve seen a wiener dog mix, Border Collies, Golden Retrievers, Huskies, Labs, Malamutes, Belgian Malinois, Pointers, and several different types of “mutts”. The key is that they love to run, and are healthy enough to do it.

I’ve heard mixed thoughts on what age to start letting dogs pull. Some say as early as 6 to 9 months old is ok if you do very short runs and at a slower pace. Some say to wait until the dog is closer to a year or year and a half old when their growth plates are closed. I’d check with your vet to see their thoughts on your particular dog.

When a dog is pulling anything, you never want it pulling from its neck/by its collar. A proper fitting harness is a must. We use a few different harnesses on our dogs. We love Howling Dog Alaska harnesses, especially the highly reflective one. A lot of mushers also use Neewa X-back harnesses. It’s good to have a couple different options incase one harness starts rubbing the dog. We also use a Noxgear Lighthound harness at night over top of the pulling harness for increased visibility.

If you plan on using two dogs at the same time to bikejor, you may consider using a neckline, or a short tether that clips between each dogs’ collar. This prevents them from running off in separate directions.

Speaking of collars, we really like these dogbooties.com collars with big rings. It makes it easy to clip necklines to. The way the collars adjust also ensure the dog doesn’t accidentally unclip the collar.

Bikes and Bike Gear

Of course, to bikejor you’re going to need a bike, or something similar. We use a mountain bike for grassy/dirt trails and either a mountain bike or street bike for neighborhood runs. We also use a kickbike (aka scooter) around the neighborhood and on grassy/dirt tails. Trikes and even four wheel rigs are ok too. Regardless, make sure it has good brakes! Disc brakes seem to be the preferred braking option now.

In order to keep the dog lead from drooping down into the front tire or front brake, we recommend using a bike antenna. We have multiple antennas from Non-stop Dogwear, and they work great! You do have to remove or loosen the handlebars to install the antenna though, so once it’s on there, you’ll probably want to leave it on. We have multiple bikes and a scooter and didn’t want to mess with moving them back and forth.

For the dog lead, there are a lot of options. We use a lead with a short bungee built in. The bungee is helpful for instances when a dog might suddenly take off, the bungee provides a little time to react and lessen the impact. We use a homemade lead, but there are a lot of options out there to purchase like this one from Neewa. We have a one dog lead and a two dog lead, and an extra six foot section of lead to make them longer when needed.

Because we run a lot after dark, we also use a headlight on the front of the bike/scooter, and a tail light on the back of our helmets for extra safety measures.

Humans and Human Gear

Now for the humans. Before jumping on a bike that is being pulled by a dog or two, make sure you can ride a bike by yourself first! Just like the dogs, make sure you’re healthy and capable of the physical activity. Bikejoring is not just letting the dog do all the work, it is a team effort. Using a kickbike or scooter requires even more human effort.

As far as attire goes, athletic-type clothing and shoes would be recommended. Something you can move easily in and that is comfortable. Depending on the weather conditions you may encounter, you may want rain or wind gear. I’ve seen some mushers wear kneepads, elbow pads, and gloves, which is not a bad idea either, especially early on.

Another must - a helmet!!!!! I cannot stress the importance of a helmet enough, especially after seeing my cousin go through a terrible bike accident without a helmet. He was hit by a car, not being pulled by dogs, so I get that it is a different scenario completely. Before his accident, I never used to wear a helmet when bikejoring with Boo around the neighborhood. But now, I ALWAYS do.

In warmer weather, we wear a standard bike helmet from Mongoose that has a built-in camera mount, which has been quite useful. When it became colder out, I realized I couldn’t really wear a hat under the helmet and my head and ears were freezing. So this winter, I ordered an Outdoor Master ski helmet and it has been AMAZING. It’s so warm. I also wear ski goggles with helmets in the rain or cold.

How We Started Bikejoring

So now that we talked about the gear, let’s talk about how to actually start bikejoring. We’ll start with our story first.

I want to stress that you absolutely do not need to go out and buy a bunch of expensive gear right off the bat! Especially if you don’t know if you and/or your dog will even like bikejoring.

When Boo came to his first meteorology camp in 2020, I had never tried bikejoring before, and neither had he. But we wanted to give it a try. Blair and Q sent a harness with him, so that was taken care of. Like I said before, a good harness is a must.

I already had a mountain bike, so we used that. I didn’t have a “real” lead, so I made one by clipping two dog leashes together with a D ring. I also didn’t have a bike antenna, so I used a piece of scrap PVC pipe and zip tied it to the bike. I threw a helmet and some old volleyball knee pads on and hopped on the bike!

We chose a straight, flat road to try it on first. Of course, Boo isn’t a lead dog and didn’t really know the commands at the time, so we were just winging it. It wasn’t too bad though! We had a lot of fun.

A year or two later when we really started getting into running Boo and racing some of the BraverMountain dogs, we began investing in better equipment, and it did make a difference. But like I said, until you know it’s something you’ll be doing more, there is no need to go out and spend a lot of money.

How You Can Start Bikejoring With Your Dog

I’ve seen people start to train their dogs to pull by first putting them in harness and attaching some sort of a weight behind them, like a small log, to see if they’re interested in pulling something behind them and not get too spooked thinking something is chasing them.

I would also start teaching them commands for “go”, “stop”, “left”, and “right” before even attaching the dog to a bike. Common commands for the above words are “ready, alright” or “hike”, “woah”, “haw”, and “gee” respectively. We worked with Boo on commands by going on daily walks. When we would approach a literal “T” in the road or walking path, we would give him a command on which way we wanted him to turn, and reward him when we went the correct direction.

It is helpful to have a second human helping you, especially if you are running two dogs at a time or they’re excited to run. It can be challenging to get two dogs hooked up by yourself and be able to get on the bike at the same time. Whenever we run the dogs, one of us follows in a car to make sure all dogs and humans are safe and help is nearby if needed.

Once you have the dog and bike set up, and the dog has hopefully learned commands, it’s time to get on the bike and give it a go! Let me tell you, the feeling of pure dog power pulling you is surreal. At the end of the run, don’t forget to tell your dog how amazing they did and give them lots of pets and water!

You never know, once you and your dog give it a shot, we may see you racing at Doty’s Dusty Dog Dryland Race next year ;)

We’ve tried to keep this short and sweet, but once we get talking about sled dogs and mushing, we tend to ramble on! If you have a question about anything we talked about in this newsletter, or if we missed something that you would like to know about, reply to this email or leave a comment on the webpage and we will get back with you!

Happy bikejoring!