The Worldwide Sport: Dog Scooter

Where there is snow, dog lovers hitch their dogs to sleds and let their dogs run.

Where there is no snow, dog lovers hitch their dogs to scooters and let their dogs run!

After work they and the dog go out the front door, hitch to the scooter and trot down the sidewalk, to the park, along the bike trail, across the soccer fields and dash back home. On weekends they load up the car and head for the trails in the countryside. Scooting along with an eager, running dog is a blast!

Why Scooter With Your Dog?
by Joseph Brown

When we first discovered scootering, what it meant to me was freedom. Suddenly we could run for miles together in any direction. This was not something we could do before. My dog was getting a workout, building strength and aerobic fitness, and we were outdoors together. Another benefit I didn't completely understand at the time was that we were learning to work together. We learned to perform a somewhat complex task together. We learned how to communicate and read each other's signals. And we built a relationship that's based on getting outdoors and having a good time.

Any Dog Can Pull A Scooter

Does your dog weigh just thirty pounds? Take a look at the photo section and see the beautiful cocker spaniel running like fury pulling her scooter. Eighty pounds? That is the weight of the German shepherds pictured to the right. Two dogs weighing 15 pounds each? Why not? See the miniature poodles in the photo section. Size is less important than you think. Little dogs can scooter. You scoot the scooter and they run in front and keep the line tight. Think of it as walking the dog with a scooter instead of a leash. Scoooter wheels offer little resistance. When you use a scooter, you can kick on the flats to help the dog maintain its speed. Run beside the scooter when going uphill. Dog Scootering exercises both you and the dog!

Does Your Dog Love to Run?

If your dog loves to run, if you can't walk him enough, if he pulls your arm off, if you would not want your mother or daughter to walk him, if driving to the dog park each night is difficult/boring/expensive, if the Iditarod grabs your imagination, try the new dog sport: dog scootering. Slip your dog into a sled dog harness, rope him to a scooter, hop on the scooter and let him run. The dog and you become a mini mushing team. You ride the scooter; he runs and pulls. Scooter dogs can run for a few city blocks or for 5 to 20 miles on back country trails. You and the dog are a team.

Dog Powered Vehicles are Alternative Modes of Transportation.

Dogs have served as transportation throughout domestication. We are familiar with the dog teams of the north. Remember also the milk dogs of Switzerland, the war dogs of World War I and the travois dogs of the plains Indians. Now with scooters, sulkies, roller blades, skiis, and kicksleds, dogs are pulling for recreation and exercise. Some dogs are pulling for work. Some people hitch a trailer to their scooter and pull their child while riding the scooter. My rottweiler pulls the laundry to the laundromat and delivers the boxed Torker scooter to UPS for shipping. A woman in Florida gave up her car and does her errands by dogs and scooter. Another woman drives her sulky to work. When she needs to carry stuff, she hooks a cart behind the sulky.

"There is no such thing as a hyper dog.
There are only exercise dependent dogs."
Kim Tinker, competitive skijorer & scooterer, Sandy, OR

"Exercise first, then discipline and then love."
Cesar Millan, Dog Whisperer, Dog Psychology Center of Los Angeles, CA

".....train the heck out of em, and have good insurance..."
El Jefe, scooterer and musician, Texas

“A TIRED dog is a GOOD dog.”
by Victoria Rose, Nanny 911 For Dogs, Salem, OR