My neighbor’s Aussie who is a really nice dog exhibited some strong herding behavior while the owner was bike riding with her dog to get him some needed exercise. She did this the other day resulting in a catastrophe for herself.
from thebarkingcommunity.com
The dog owner, wanted to be able to get her dog a lot of much needed exercise for her Australian Shepherd. After training him to first walk well on a leash, she advanced to off leash walking. The dog is a very impressive walker, staying really close to his owner and has excellent recall.
The next step was to ride around the neighborhood on bike with the dog nearby, yeilding lots of exercise for the dog. This was working really well until the dog decided that the bike tire needed to stay in place and started nipping at it while the owner was riding. Being a very persistent dog he pushed a little too hard and caused the bike riding owner to crash, hitting the sidewalk with a lot of force.
This resulted in the owner breaking her arm, requiring surgery and either spraining or breaking her ankle too. Yikes!. I’m posting this as a warning to you that even the most well behaved dog can revert to its basic instincts and do something you might not be prepared for.
I had followed the lead of my neighbor and took Sadie around the block a few times, but after my neighbor’s crash I decided that me being on foot was a safer option.
Find out how this owner trained her dog to walk well on a leash with the help of dog trainer John Spieser and the long line dog training method.
Please write a get well comment for my neighbor Pam today. She’s having surgery to fix her broken arm. She will really appreciate the good will. Thanks.
Leave a get well for my neighbor. She’s having surgery today to repair her arm. I’ll send her your good will notes and messages.
Lana
Get well Pam! Hope you get back to dog walking soon.
I am well on my way to mending! Clancy is coming home to me tomorrow. I can’t wait to see him and, yes, I will be back to WALKING with him soon.
Responsible dog owners, remember not to fault your dog for your OWN mistakes!
Sadie says she misses barking at Clancy through the window and is happy that he’s coming home soon.
She also says she likes walks better than bike rides because it gives her a chance to sniff around. But she’s really sorry you got hurt.
If you need another dog lick she’d be happy to oblige.
Hope you’ve recovered—In October I had a similar accident with my Aussie Shepherd when bikejoring. We had worked a long time with him, apparently to no avail, to reduce his reactivity to other animals on leash. My dog saw a squirrel and veered off, making my bike skid sideways. I broke both my arms in 4 places altogether, had surgical rods and pins placed- has been a nightmare, I’m just getting back to work and I’ll probably have some permanent wrist/hand problems. I never imagined I’d get such injuries, even having a harness with a quick-release belt- it happened too fast to deploy.
Carol,
Sorry to hear about your terrible accident. Thanks for sharing your story. Maybe some others can be learn from your misfortune. I wish the best for your recovery!