My neighbor likes to give his dog a nice run at the end of a leash while he rides his bicycle. I cringe a little bit when I see them take off like this, but they always return in one piece.
While my concern is for his safety, an elected official in San Jose is worried about pedestrians. This after a 62-year-old woman walking along a city trail last summer got tangled in a dog leash, fell, hit her head, and later died. The dog on the leash was one of two being pulled by a bicyclist.
The councilwoman is calling a public hearing Wednesday night to find out what the public thinks about restricting bicyclists who give their dogs a run at the end of a leash while they ride.
It's the first time, at least in California, that prohibiting cyclists from riding with leashed dogs has ever been considered. The Mercury News reports that local law “mandates that owners must keep their dogs 'under control' at all times, and kept on leashes of up to 20 feet in city parks.”
City officials aren't sure exactly how to proceed on the issue, but feel compelled to do something.
Dog harness
About the same time I read about this, I received an email from Mark Schuette, an inventor down in Bend, Oregon, telling me that's he's expanding his line of dog-pulling systems to include trikes and skateboards.
I'd written about Mark's invention of a Dog-Powered Scooter a couple of years ago. Essentially, the system harnesses the dog at the rear of the scooter, behind the steering mechanism. This enables the person to steer the scooter, not the dog.
Now Mark is attaching his harnesss to two types of trikes, including a recumbent trike, and a skateboard. Dog owners buy the scooters, trikes or skateboards separately, and Mark supplies the dog-harness system.
So far, he doesn't have a harness system that would attach to bicycles and says that he probably won't go there because of problems with tipping.
Mark says he was aware of the incident in San Jose.
“The traditional way of having the dogs out front on a line is just 'out of control” for the urban environment. … I've never had a dog or human injury in customer rigs, with 1,100 sold now. My stuff is so safe it even has application for wheelchair athletes and some slightly handicapped folks.”
Mark recommends his system only for athletic dogs that weigh more than 35 pounds.
I don't know what direction San Jose might take in regulating bicyclists with dogs, but this dog harness might be an option for adults who want to give their pets a good run.
[That's not a photo of my neighbor above, but a cyclist running two dogs at Myrtle Edwards Park in Seattle a couple of years ago.]
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