Diesel vs The Bike Tow Leash | 200 lb Dog Going For A Bike Ride

April 16, 2010

The skies were ominous… The roads were wet… What better time to try biking a nearly 200 pound Russian Great Dane named DIESEL!

I’m always trying to explain to people how much stability our dog bike leashes give the rider. Usually the first thing people say when I tell them the business I am in is: “You sell what?! That would never work for my dog. He/She would pull me over instantly”. The thing about the 2 dog bike leash models we sell is that they are designed with the laws of physics in mind to give the rider the most control possible while also making the ride safe for your dog. It is hard to understand this until you actually get on the bike and try it. That is why I try my best to convey this through the many videos on my website. My dog Parker is an extremely strong 75 lb Lab mix and I try to push the limits constantly with him – testing every scenario I can think of to see how well the WalkyDog and Bike Tow Leash perform.

75 lbs is one thing, but what about the largest breed on the planet – the Great Dane…. When my friend Ross first suggested we give it a try, I have to admit that even I was a little hesitant. Ross has a 170 to 180 pound Great Dane named Diesel. This dog is huge! One day he was running full out and broke a 6 inch diameter fence post off clean at the base like it was a toothpick. So anyway, I decided to give biking Diesel a try today. I figured that if I felt comfortable biking him, then there wasn’t a dog out there that couldn’t use our leashes. As you can see in the video, Diesel is actually as big as the bike so I knew that the WalkyDog wouldn’t be the best option because it wouldn’t be able to clear his back. So I decided to try the Bike Tow Leash. The Bike Tow leash does a little better job absorbing the pulls of extremely powerful dogs anyway so it was going to be my best option.

No offense Ross, but Diesel is not the best walker. He was lunging like crazy when we were taking him outside to hook up to the bike. It was all I could do to hang on. Luckily I was using my trusty EzyDog Cujo bungee leash. At this point I was really starting to have second thoughts, but once we attached him to the bike he started to calm down a bit – probably because it was so new to him. I walked next to the bike with him to get him used to the idea and then hopped on and we were off. The video above is the very first run and he did amazing. Even better was that I felt in total control during the whole ride. Ross was so surprised to see how well Diesel did and the amount of control I had, that he decided to try it out himself – sporting his stylish Newberry Automotive shirt and all. So in the end I spared myself a trip to the ER and got some great video instead. I am positive this would have never worked just trying to hold on to a normal leash. This definitely drove home for me that we are carrying the absolute best gear on the market for biking your dog. Hopefully Diesel will continue to be a guest star for The Dog Outdoors in the future. Okay – I’m done rambling now.

Filed under: Bikejoring/Dry Land Mushing,Dog Biking,Dog Gear