Rollerblading?

[NBBoxer]

Does anyone else rollerblade with their boxers? I started going with Hank because when we went running, I would play out far before him. He loves going.

[Ty Ty]

I think that Im about to start doing this with tyson. I think with him pulling me on the blades he will tire out much faster, not to mention hw runs much faster than I do. I heard that you must be a very experianced rollerblader before doin this, because if the dog suddenly changes direction and you cant avoid the leash, you can be tripped up and injured. Ill let you know how it goes when we try it.

[NBBoxer]

I find the dog has much less ability to pull side to side because of the forward motion and I keep him back beside me always on the same side, unless he is out front pulling me a bit. But I don't really let him pull for long. Hank loves it.

[wiggle butt]

I use to skateboard with my dog (with her pulling), but she has gotten to strong for me to do this with her. My husband can barely skate with her anymore either. She pulls so well that we go entirely too fast.
Since then, I have started bicycling with her, and this time I trained her to run next to the bike and not attempt to pull me. I feel I have much better control over her this way.
Good luck and if you feel she might pull you too fast, try training her to run with you and not pull you.

[NBBoxer]

Yeah, I have training him to run beside me, but I can get him excited and tell him to pull then he gets out front and runs. It works very well for me having the ability to have him beside me or out front.

[Caney Creek]

I rollerblade with mine. Most of the time just with Caney though, for the same reason -- little effort for me, LOT of effort for her

Originally Posted by Ty Ty

I heard that you must be a very experianced rollerblader before doin this, because if the dog suddenly changes direction and you cant avoid the leash, you can be tripped up and injured.

That's probably true; I would consider myself an experienced rollerblader I guess. But even being experienced, the biggest thing you have to watch for is keeping the leash short so that it doesn't have the chance to trip you up. A retractable leash would be a bad idea for rollerblading with a dog; use a regular short leash.

Before I tried it I was also worried about getting pulled down, but the first time out with Caney I found the same thing that NBBoxer mentioned: my forward motion on wheels was much stronger than her ability to pull side to side. As long as I'm paying attention to where she's going I can cut her off before she gets in front of me to avoid a spill. If the dog does get in front of you though, don't try to avoid it; you're more likely to fall doing this, and possibly hurt the dog falling. Just brace yourself, keep your balance, and run right into him if you really can't avoid it. You might hurt him a little, but that's better than hurting both of you (and even falling on top of him!).

Go somewhere to practice before you get out on the road. Luckily we live on a cul-de-sac in the back of our neighborhood, so we had a big, flat, paved area with little traffic to mess around before we actually tried skating through the neighborhood.

Another one of Caney's favorite things to do (I only let her do this if we're in the cul-de-sac) is jump up in the air and grab the leash, then she bounces around with it in her mouth (me still on the other end) and tries to pull me over into the grass. If I angle myself right while she's pulling, we end up going round and round in circles before we get to the side It's funny to watch her!

[BigDies]

I used to rollerblade all the time with my Dalmatian! He LOVED it. He was a crazy fast dog though and I had to use a harness (with which he pulled most of my weight) and another leash attached to his collar that I only used for more precise "steering". He was great at it.

Diesel, however, think the rollerblades are going to eat him and is terrified of them. I would love to be able to rollerblade with him, but much more training is needed and even then I don't know that he would be very controllable once he was over his fears.