My New Toy

[DaChief]

I have an 8 year old, high maintenance dog. Her entire life consists of a few mile walk in the morning, sleep a lot during the day, then a couple more miles in the evening. Over the last year these walks have been getting slower and shorter. She gives me that look when we head for home. So...... my new toy:

 

[GregK]

I don't quite see how your new scoot will benefit your dog.
Unless, of course, her name is Evil Kinevil?

 

[DaChief]

I don't quite see how your new scoot will benefit your dog.
Unless, of course, her name is Evil Kinevil?

She runs beside me while I cruise holding the leash. She used to take long bike rides with me so she picked it back up real quick. She loves it but doesn't care much for the FL heat:shock: if she gets too tired I will just drag her :twisted:

 

[ShiftKicker]

Nice new wheels! May you be able to run your dog off her feet with your new toy. Unless, of course, the wheels are for the dog- then we need to see some more pictures.

I have a dog of 7 yrs old who is not impressed with my slow shamble either. You know it's bad when your older dog keeps looking back, like "Get a move on, slowpoke, we'll never get home in time for dinner if you keep that up!". Mind you, my dog always acts like she's missing dinner- even at 7am.

 

[KimT]

Oh, Bruce! I'm so happy but please be careful.

I've had to start taking Ace to a dog park because I just can't walk very far or very fast.

Florida pavements can burn you dog's feet so take precautions. Have fun and we want to see pictures of you in action.

 

[Firefighter58]

Good for you Bruce, have you tried it yet and what is the range? Be careful, it is not you but the other drives out there.
Al

 

[DaChief]

Good for you Bruce, have you tried it yet and what is the range? Be careful, it is not you but the other drives out there.
Al

I already have clocked 62 miles on it. My dog loves it but we go early morning or later in the evening when it is not as hot. It will go up to 25mph and you get around 15 miles on a charge. Needless to say, my rides are 4-5mph unless she sees something she gets excited about then she can kick it up a little. We have a good system worked out and she lets me know when she wants to stop or if she wants to go a different direction. I mostly stay in neighborhoods and avoid any busy road.

 

[ShiftKicker]

I will admit, I was kind of disappointed it wasn't for the dog to ride. I was hoping there were pictures. You would be an absolute sensation at the local park.

Bruce, how is your balance on that bike? I have a particular interest, as folks keep telling me I need a scooter and I have so far resisted (I know, I know, ridiculous and stubborn). I, too, would love to take the dogs for a run, but have not yet arrived at the pwc/mobility scooter stage yet. My husband and inlaws are also wanting to do a Bike and Barge thing in Holland in the fall, and the tour company said they had electric bikes or scooters for those who needed them (aka, me- the gimp).

 

[DaChief]

I will admit, I was kind of disappointed it wasn't for the dog to ride. I was hoping there were pictures. You would be an absolute sensation at the local park.

Bruce, how is your balance on that bike? I have a particular interest, as folks keep telling me I need a scooter and I have so far resisted (I know, I know, ridiculous and stubborn). I, too, would love to take the dogs for a run, but have not yet arrived at the pwc/mobility scooter stage yet. My husband and inlaws are also wanting to do a Bike and Barge thing in Holland in the fall, and the tour company said they had electric bikes or scooters for those who needed them (aka, me- the gimp).

I will admit, I was kind of disappointed it wasn't for the dog to ride. I was hoping there were pictures. You would be an absolute sensation at the local park.

Bruce, how is your balance on that bike? I have a particular interest, as folks keep telling me I need a scooter and I have so far resisted (I know, I know, ridiculous and stubborn). I, too, would love to take the dogs for a run, but have not yet arrived at the pwc/mobility scooter stage yet. My husband and inlaws are also wanting to do a Bike and Barge thing in Holland in the fall, and the tour company said they had electric bikes or scooters for those who needed them (aka, me- the gimp).

HI Fiona,
I have been trying to send this all morning but I am at the VA hospital in Tampa going through my intial evaluation. Every time I start to do something personal, another specialist comes in and hauls me away. Steph (Gooseberry) stopped by this morning but unfortunately all I got a chance to do was say hi on my way out the door. My wife was able to talk to her for a while and I think that was the most important thing I wanted to see happen. I will be back over on occasion so I will certainly have the opportunity to meet with her again. Now to answer your question re: balance.

I have had no issues with balance on this bike. The good thing about this one (and a scooter in general) is that your feet are real close to the ground. That means it is very easy to put one or two feet down quickly if you need to for balance.

My wife has also taken our dog for a bike ride but I mounted a bar on her bike that has a hold off arm and a spring mounted on the cable that hooks to the dog. Even though our dog is pretty strong, she had no problems with that as well.

I loop the lease onto my left wrist so I can hold grip and brake lever with full left hand. When I started out years ago on a regular bike I used a choke collar on my dog and she learned quickly not to try to pull hard. Didn't take long at all to train her and she loves her bike rides! She gives me about enough time to ALMOST finish my coffee in the morning, then she lays her head on my knee and stares at me. If that doesn't work she takes it to the next level and starts dancing. I really like this bike I have now because it runs off a big battery so no noise. It also has a good shock absorber system so it is a very smooth ride.

We had looked at the self drive barge trips in Europe as well. May still go do that one day. All the river cruises had the electric assist bikes but you do have to pedal a bit. I would go for it if I were you. I love Europe and lived in the Netherlands for 3 years. We got all the big trips (distance wise) out of the way before I retired. Iceland is left so we are looking at that now.

P.s. I tried to teach my dog Zin to ride it by herself but her paws didn't reach the handle bar. Guess I could ask the adaptive people here if they have anything

Regards,
Bruce