Got a dog? Need to get around? Why not combine the two with "urban mushing"?
You may have read on our sister site, Autoblog, that PETA isn't a fan of the Iditarod dog race. What about "urban mushing"? I happen to have a couple of Doberman's, and my oldest, Ali, happens to LOVE pulling me on my roller-blades. As a matter of fact, it is just about his favorite activity in the world. When it's nice outside, I'll go ahead and let him pull me over to his friend's houses, and we'll spend some time with the other dogs in the neighborhood.
When I saw the picture above, I thought that this activity would probably be controversial. I know that some animal lovers don't believe that dogs should be working for humans in this way. I am not sure if that is true, after all, like I said, Ali loves going on our rides together. What do you think?
[Source: Treehugger]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
C\\\'est Raoul 10:46AM (3/19/2007)
It depends. If you already have a dog that spends its days sleeping on the couch. I know some of them will be happy to work for you running outside a couple of hours a day.
The huskies and such are specially targetted. Those are really bad dogs to have in town.
I know someone who has to pay someone to have her husky for walk twice a day during the day (on top of the two one hour bike runs morning and evening).
It's a bike run because that's what it takes: walking would not be an efficient enough option. This dog must run/walk over 20km/day.
This dog totally owns her owner schedule...
The pulling thing above would work nice for her.
Reply
Stephan 7:56PM (3/19/2007)
Raoul,
I also have a husky and he normally gets 5 miles a day of excersise. Whether it be run, rollerblade (he doesn't normally pull me), the beach, or the dog park. He can go all day, and will get destructive so we have crate trained him. I would HIGHLY recommend crate training to your friend. He loves his crate and spends most of his time sleeping in it. To him it is like his own den, very safe and secure.
With that said, he does love to pull me on the rollerblades any chance I give him. Unless it is hot out (for him 85+), he would pull me for longer than I could stay standing on the rollerblades (or that skateboard thing above). The problem with dogs like Huskies is they want to run so much they will literally run until they die, and people can/will abuse that.
-Stephan
Reply