I have noticed something interesting about the relative natural speeds of people and dogs.
I noticed this when thinking about the differences between our dog walking system and our dog scootering system.
Let’s look at this from what could be the dog’s point of view…
Walking on a leash with your human is better than staying home, but the pace may be totally unnatural to the dog.
I have seen few dogs whose natural pace is as slow as a human walk (unless very old).
Even a dog’s natural walking pace is faster than most humans.
And, most dogs will trot as their most frequent pace.
Applying these observations to the dog scooter we can notice the following.
The dogs are able to pull it at their natural pace unless the rider uses the brakes to slow down.
If the dogs were made to pull the Diggler type two wheeled scooter at a human walking pace, it would be difficult to keep the scooter upright, just as riding a bicycle too slow makes it more difficult to balance.
When the dogs are able to pull the scooter at their natural pace, which would be their walking or trotting pace, it becomes pretty clear as to why we have a greater range than walking with a leash.
We just get there faster, so we can now go farther.
Keep in mind this is most often traveling on unpaved paths or trails with little traffic.
So, back to the dog’s point of view, this is great action partly because they can do it at a pace that is natural to them.
I believe that it is also great action for the dogs because they are working at pulling the loaded scooter.
Dogs working sure seem to get joy and satisfaction from working.
This is a very valuable training insight to keep in mind.
Most humans can’t keep up with a dog’s natural paces and therefore are not really with their dog when the dog is operating at its natural speeds.
Good thing most dogs are so accommodating.
But, when pulling the scooter, the rider is right there with the dogs in their natural motion, and I think they like that.
It seems to reinforce their pack instinct, and since you’re right there, it reinforces your participation in your pack.
Keep in mind that by this time in our story, these dogs are skilled athletes and asking them to operate at human speeds would not be very enjoyable for them. (IMHO)
I hope you have found it uniquely interesting to try and look at this dog activity from what could be a dog’s point of view!
I would greatly appreciate any feedback in the comments on this as I have not seen this concept of relative speeds mentioned before.
