Nearly lost my pup on the road

[Pip895]

sorry to be unsympathetic but Saffi could not only have lost her life but caused the death of humans as well - you are very very lucky it wasn't worse.

I'm also sorry to hear you have RA as I know it's very debilitating - maybe you can get a dog walker in place for her as she should be having good off lead exercise safely.  Cycling may exercise her body but do nothing for her mental stimulation.

Luckily it was just a little country road going over a hump back bridge - the car accident would have been more of the prang variety - the danger to Saffi is what terrified me.  

The RA is a long term thing - I have had it since I was 5 years old - One of the driving forces for me getting a dog was that it would force me to do more exercise. Its easy to not bother when its uncumfortable but those big brown eyes force me out of the door. Because Saffi is the focus of our rides we generally spend plenty of time either stopped whilst she greets other dogs etc or ambling along so she gets a chance to explore.  She loves it and always gets excited when we get the bikes out.  We generally go cycling three or four times a week.  

[Lily Freya]

I admire you greatly.  Some people, as I said, would just give exercise their dogs in the garden or on a local green.  Saffi is very lucky to have you..............and I imagine she is a very contented little girl.

We always learn something from experiences we have had..........and I bet you have done the same thing this time.

 

[MaggieR]

 's from me,  I know just how scarey that can be and I didn't even get as far as hearing cars braking!  In my case we were walking along a disused rail track with a friend, her two sons and their dog.... all going great and I'd checked whether there was anywhere I needed to worry about. And to be honest, Maggie very rarely strays off a path.... well she did that day  And found the one set of steps along the path that went down to a road... my friends sons started to run after her and I called them back and it was all I could do to stop myself hot footing it after her, I knew the best thing I could do was stay where she couldn't see me and call... luckily she came back after what felt like an eternity but was in fact a few seconds I guess.  As my friend walks there every day, she'd forgotten about that particular route to the road.  As you say, you can do everything possible to plan for every eventuality, but sometimes things don't always pan out that way 

Really pleased Saffi and no-one else was injured, and hope you can get back to enjoying your rides without too much worry 

[JeffandAnnie]

  from me too. I know just how the "what ifs" feel. A few months ago Jeff did a bolt back towards home when we were well down the path and away from the road, and ended up on the road in front of a lady in an estate car - she was very kind and just smiled and waved while I scooped Jeff up apologetically feeling sick. I wonder if it was the same lady and estate car? She must wonder why suicidal cockers keep running out in front of her :

As others say, accidents happen however careful people are; the only way to gaurantee you dog will never get onto a road is either to never let it off the lead, or to only walk it in totally enclosed areas, with gates with no crawl-space underneath, and most footpaths don't offer that  protection

[hanandhen]

Henry went over a single track lane we walk beside every day once too, he must have scented a bunny, and he was down the bank, through the undergrowth and nearly under probably the one car that went along there that day before I could even draw breath to whistle He stays on the lead along there these days... but as puppyannie says, it's very hard to absolutely guarantee that they will never get onto a road, ever.

All's well that ends well hun, you'll know for next time.

[angie68]

So pleased Saffi is okay. Sometimes things happen and we can't control them but happily all was okay and you are both safe and the driver's were all okay.
Connie recently ran all the way back to the car when she was with her dog walker, it got stormy and started raining really heavily and something spooked her and she bolted, luckily there were no roads and she was okay. 
Angie

[bluegirl]

Lucky escape and glad you are both ok.

I've had 2 dogs that have been sound near roads and generally could walk off lead even on the busiest of roads but it takes time and patience to get to that point and is built on a clear foundation and practiced over and over again. You cant expect a young dog to be predictable and you also need to know that your dog will not budge from your side no matter what it sees. Some dogs just never seem to have that level of concentration.

[Black Red + Yellow]

Phew what a lucky escape you had.....I bet you got that hot sticky feeling when it happened

I'm afraid I've got no knowledge of biking with dogs.....are there possibly any special harnesses you could look into and have her attached to the bike on one side....I've seen huskie dogs using similar aids?

I would never walk mine off lead near a road.....I do not trust them enough not to be enticed by the smells of a rabbit or a cat....their instinct to chase might kick in and we all know dogs spot these animals way before us humans and in that split second before I could stop them, they could possibly already be in the road - and since we positively encourage them to flush game for half of the year....I can't really moan so for us, we keep them on leads

[hanandhen]

TBH I bike with Henry on his usual long slip lead looped over the very end of the handlebars and my hand on top if it, he got the idea very quickly indeed (although it was a bit hairy when we approached our first rabbit warren )

[saffysmum]

I cycle with mine too.  Like your route, the majority of mine is off-road but there are bits we have to cross or cycle along the road to meet the path.  My 2 get 2 run mad at the off-road bits but I have trained mine to heel(like they would on-lead) at the road bits.  They know they need to be sensible and trot on the left of the bike at these bits.  When they were younger, I trained them to walk at heel at these bits by stopping and putting their leashes on and cycling alon with them at heel on-lead.  If they pulled, I would stop the bike.  This took a while to understand but it got through.  I don't think you can teach 100% road safety at all as there will always be something that could distract them but you do need control.  I also used to keep my old dog on a lead the whole time.  It's just a case of taking it easy and letting go if you need too.

[Pip895]

TBH I bike with Henry on his usual long slip lead looped over the very end of the handlebars and my hand on top if it, he got the idea very quickly indeed (although it was a bit hairy when we approached our first rabbit warren )

I do something similar but I prefer to have the lead held in my hand as I have more flexability if she decides to do something unexpected - i.e. I can release her if thats appropriate or pull her away from something -  if she looks like she is going the wrong side of a lamp post for example.  She spends most of her time running along on the pavement with a slack lead  - she is much better when I'm on the bike than when I'm walking -   :005: - its probably because we are traveling at what she considers a more reasonable pace for getting to the forest. 

I haven't and wouldn't try cycling with her on busy roads - I don't much fancy a springer type thing because of the lack of flexibility - but I suppose if you had a larger dog then having it attached higher up (Hand or handle bars) would be quite dangerous.

What I do need to work on, is getting her to come right up to the bike when I call - at the mo she stands a little way off and I have to dismount every time I need to put her on the lead - a slip lead might be easier to.

[Hurtwood Dogs]

I have a Roughwear springer lead which will clip around my waist rather than the bike but to be honest, I think it encourages them to pull. I only use it for a very short bit of road work we have to do (5 min walk) which is a county lane to get to the forest and I usually stop anyway if I hear a car but Dave is definitely better on a fixed lead and Normy is just a liability whatever, she's had me off a couple of times during a moment of extreme scent She definitely is more excitable and doesn't take me as seriously for leadwork on bike but there is no way I'd want to attach her to the actual bike She's great when off lead and possibly even more focused on me because of the increased pace and novelty - Dave is the same!

[Lucianne]

Philippa I'm so sorry to read this; you must have been distraught! 

I'm so glad Saffi's fine and it turned out ok!