Real Dog Stories Continued: We Fall Into Our First Scooter!

Once again I had been surfing the web for dog topics.

This time I had found an interesting online discussion regarding dog health, often of interest to many dog owners.

Then something caught my eye.

I noticed that right in the middle of the discussion, one of the posters mentions that he has a dog scooter for sale.

I wonder if anyone but me even noticed? I suppose I was primed for it after recently discovering dog scooters.

I contacted the poster. Actually he had two dog scooters for sale.

One was a Diggler, like in the prior post. Your dog or dogs would be pulling you.

The other was quite different to my eye. I had never seen this approach.

With this scooter, your dog or dogs were hooked into a structure next to or behind the REAR wheel.

I don’t know whether the dogs pull from that position, or whether the rider is pulling them.

It was apparently intended for side walk use or smooth trails.

At any rate, we exchanged photos and questions and soon struck a deal.

He shipped it from Cleveland, Ohio. Perhaps there is a dog scooter scene there.

Now myself and the dogs would have something new to work on and learn, starting with reassembly after shipping.

Training Time Again!

As we started to explore “Dog Scootering” there were a number of factors at play.

I must admit that the learning curve is clearer in retrospect and not so much as we were training.

Consider this: these dogs were trained in a pretty special walking system designed for a person who didn’t walk very well.

Yes, they were trained to pull in order to provide the forward motion for our operation.

Have you guessed the problem yet?

They were trained to do this at human walking speed.

As mentioned earlier, a two wheeled vehicle like a bike or scooter, doesn’t balance very easily at human walking speed. Especially on an uneven surface.

Maybe that’s what the unusual scooter with the dog hooked on the rear is about. A way to go slowly on a sidewalk where the dog’s attachment helps to balance the scooter…

So, our speed of operation was a very important aspect of the training situation.

So important, in many ways, that I’ll have a more lengthy discussion later, on human and dog speeds.

When I first hooked the dogs to the scooter, there was no negative reaction or problem of any sort.

There was also no instant success or miraculous performance.

Rather, it was the start of a gradual and steady increase in our ability to operate this “contraption”.­­ (My sister’s description!).

Notice I said “our” ability, for I also had a lot to learn.

Kuma took the longest to adjust to the speed issue. He had been walking me for a good while before Balto and was well trained at my walking speed.

Balto was able to adjust more quickly as he was still a young dog at this time.

Kuma and Balto’s performance, at this time of writing, is miles ahead of the early training I’m describing.

Patience and persistence will produce experience, which leads to results.