If your dogs just can't get enough exercise and you don't live in a very cold, wet climate where you can sled, there are snowless equivalents of dog sledding. You can go carting or scootering and leave the driving to them! Mush! Mush!
Most dogs are not exercised enough, and it's often difficult for humans to get them to an area, like a dog park or beach, where they can really run around leash free. A very old means of transportation, made into a sport by the British and Europeans, is dog carting, whereby dogs power a human-steered carriage, a much smaller one than a horse carriage, on dry land.
Dog carting has recently become popular in the U.S., but even more so, is the sport of dog scootering, where, instead of a cart, your dog(s) pulls a scooter that you are riding. I'm sure the scooter is easier, especially for one dog to pull, and it's probably more fun for you -- but maybe not as practical when you are going to the market.
Fortunately, there's a super website you can use as a resource if you are curious about the sports of dog carting and/or dog scootering. It's called DogScooter.com and it provides a lot of information, how-to videos, and it sells everything you need to get started in these hot sports for you and your dog.
Here's a short YouTube video so that you can see dog scootering in action. This was taped by funfilming and it is called Dog Scootering DDA. Thank you, funfilming, for making this available.
You won't be able to do these sport on main roads, of course; you need to exercise a lot of caution. But, for short trips on back roads, these sports would be a great opportunity to save gas, exercise your dogs, and spend some fun time with him. And even small to medium dogs enjoy running; it's amazing how much energy little to medium dogs have well into dog middle age. Just put a leash on an untrained small dog and you'll know what I mean. My silky terrier used to pull me up a 60 degree incline every day!
I highly recommend the 10 minute educational video by Lisa Lipscomb called Dog Scootering 101 downloadable on You-Tube here.
Editor's Update: Amazon now has a good collection of dog scooters available here.
Photos from DogScooter.com.
That's the buzz for today!
