Halloween - MWAH HA HA HAAAR

Here in Australia Halloween is getting more and more popular. There was a market happening a few suburbs away and they were encouraging children, dogs and adults to come along and get dressed up for the occassion.

I bought an adult sized costume vampire cape from a discount store, and lucked out because I was charged less than it was marked for and it was $12!

It was 140 cm long so clearly too big for the Mouser. Mouser wasn't home last week because she was away going for her Green Collar (more about that next week), and Barbie refused to get up for measuring purposes. Bender ended up being the model, and it fit him pretty well.

I picked Mouser up on Thursday night and tried it on quickly. It seemed like it would do, and I added to the outfit with a medallion (which was from a bike ride I did in 2011). Then on the day I added some eyebrows.

There were a lot of other dogs there who were dressed up too, but they all admired Mouse's cape. It turned out to be just a little bit too long for her so I had to make sure she didn't stand on it as we made our way through the crowds. 

We also rode there, so I decided that I should take the GoPro and make a video. I ordered a crepe and sat down on a park bench to share it with Mouse. Then I dug into my pocket to pull out the camera, and .... it was gone!

The mozzies were biting and it was dark so after a brief search I gave up and went home. My phone number is on the back of the case so I figured that the chances were good I'd get it back if an honest person found it.

At about 5pm on Saturday I got a phone call from a strange number, so I leapt across the room to answer it. It was a lovely lady who had found it in the park! I drove there and grabbed it off her straight away. So glad and lucky to get it back!!!! 

Here is the video:

More bike trailer shennanigans!

Now Bender is a little older, he can't walk as far as he used to. He is also not allowed to go to the park and be off leash when other dogs are fetching toys, as he will run too hard and hurt his bad knee. He has had x-rays and has been diagnosed with arthritis. He has had a course of Cartrophen injections and they have helped, but he can not push himself or he will be sore. 

Our solution this weekend was to take him for a ride to a random, small suburban park in an area where not many people have dogs. I knew there wouldn't be any other dogs there playing.

Bender enjoyed wandering around the park and having a good old sniff. We practiced his recall a little, as it has become apparent that he has the worst recall of the pack!

It was raining and I didn't want the trailer get wet for Bender, so we were a bit naughty, and parked the bikes and trailer at the train station park n ride facility. It's a big no no to make use of this and not catch the train, but there weren't many other bikes around as it is the weekend after all. Bender appreciated it when we got back to the trailer and it was nice and dry. 

We managed to get to the very last night of the Maylands Hawkers Markets on Saturday night. Thanks to the Doggyride bike trailer Mouse got to join us. The only thing that was slightly unpleasant was the drizzly rain. We made it home before the worst of it hit. Here's the video.

GreyhoundAngels Pack Walk -PUPPIEZZZZ!

Yesterday I met the youngest Greyhound pup yet, little 3 month old blue girl, April. She broke her leg so instead of trying to race her, her owners decided to find her a nice home. She was a little bit taken aback by all the big dogs.... for about five minutes, then she was right in there amongst it.

For scale, Mouse is now the same size as 6 month old puppy Indi (that is her, the black with white on her face, bouncing around in the video).

We organised to meet at a nice spot by the river, which meant a nice ride for Mouse in her Greyhound-Chariot. It was 20 kilometres round trip which is the furtherest I have ever towed her, and my legs were a bit stiff this morning but it wasn't too bad.

Anyway, here is the video!

First rides in the DoggyRide Novel 10 Trailer

I mentioned in my last post that Bender and Mouse were the frontrunners in the game of 'who will ride in the trailer first'. Today we took them both out for a short 10 minute ride to a local park (about 3 kilometre round trip).

Mouse didn't want to get into the trailer in the driveway. She kept trying to get in the car. We decided that we just needed to take the plunge and shove her in.

get in you little minx!

She lied down and made herself comfortable. She seemed to do pretty well, on the way to the park she spent her whole trip lying down and just sticking her nose up through the 'sunroof'. On the way home she sat up and enjoyed the view a bit more. As she is small she is quite easy to tow.

Bender jumped right in to the trailer and spent all of his time with his head out the top enjoying the wind flapping his ears about. Bender's anxiety around keeping his pack together came through a couple of times when Nic stopped or went too far in front - he cried and was restless if she wasn't right near him.

I think if I took him out by myself he would be fine. I plan on taking him down to the local park by myself maybe a couple of times a week. It is a park that is generally not very busy so we can avoid the ball throwers and keep Bender from hurting himself and ending up a cripple.

I will be working up the distances with both of them so that I can bring them along to the local cafe strip, the river, and the fully fenced off leash park which is about 6km away.

Doggyride Novel 10 Bike Trailer - going car-light in practice

This year I got a fairly pricey birthday present. It wasn't really a present for me though, it was a gift to the dogs! It is the DoggyRide Novel 10th anniversary edition which comes complete with roof rack, kick stand and memory foam mat.

There are several places we like to go which are within the 4 - 6 kilometer from home range which is just too far for Bender to really walk to these days. It seems like a waste to load the dogs up into the car for trips like this, especially if only one is coming with me.

Sometimes I will take Barbie to people-watch at a local cafe with me and I just feel like a prat for driving the 3 kilometers and clogging up the local roads with my vehicle parked on a verge somewhere. I think if she takes to the trailer then things will be easier.

The day the trailer arrived I set it up in the lounge room with the wheels on and stand down. Mouse went to jump in straight away but unfortunately the kickstand didn't hold and folded forwards, making Mouse let out a little surprised squeak and make a hasty exit.

I took the wheels off and folded the kickstand up, and managed to entice both greyhounds to stick their front paws in, but neither went the whole hog. Barbie was the most suspicious of this contraption, and being the tallest and leggiest of the bunch it will probably be the least comfortable for her. I do think she will accept it if she sees others riding in it though, in a similar way that Mouse taught her wearing a coat was a good thing.

The biggest surprise was Bender. I decided that having a long lasting treat like a Dentastick would be the best way to get the dogs to put their whole bodies in. Bender got into the trailer, and allowed me to lure his head through the top hole with the dentastick, and sat in the trailer chewing it while I held it. It got a bit too short for me to hold so I let him take it and he stayed sitting in the trailer for the 30 secs it took to finish instead of hopping straight back out.

This video shows how far he has come - jumping in with the wheels on and just sitting there!



Mouse has also made quick progress, jumping in and settling down with the wheels on. I even zipped the door closed for a few minutes!

just chillin...

yay, she fits!

The Doggyride has quite a good leash attachment which allows the dog to be secured into the trailer with a harness, and the Wiggles Wags and Whiskers harnesses I use will work well.




Once we get to rolling I will be walking the bike with an assistant feeding the dog as we go. Then there will be a leap to short rides without the assistant, working up to the 5k ride to the fenced park a couple of suburbs over.

Barbie isn't so sure about the trailer yet, she's the only dog who hasn't hopped in!

I plan to go slowly with this trailer introduction and don't expect to be out and about towing the dogs until 2014, but there is certainly promise. If it doesn't work out I expect that the second hand market for the trailer will be pretty good - I had to import this one from the USA via Amazon as high quality pet trailers here are rare as hen's teeth and priced accordingly!