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Dog Scootering
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- Category: Sport Dogs
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Dog scootering is a sport where one or more dogs pull a human riding an unmotorized kick scooter.
It is similar to mushing, which is done in the winter, but generally with fewer dogs and with a scooter instead of a dogsled. The dogs wear the same harnesses that sled dogs wear, and are hooked to the scooter with a gangline. The gangline usually incorporates a bungee cord to smooth out the shocks of speeding up and takeoff. Most of the same commands are used, although dog scooterers tend to be more relaxed about their commands, sometimes using "right" and "left" instead of "gee" and "haw", for example.
The scooter is generally unmotorized, and has mountain-bike-style tires ranging from 16" to 26". These are not razor-type mini scooters, which would be dangerous in this sport. The scooters incorporate mountain-bike-style brakes and have a large footboard to stand on and kick off from. The scooters are occasionally called kick bikes because they are not yet largely marketed for the sport of dog scootering, although Pawtrekkers have a 'brushbow' attachment on the front to protect the dogs from the wheel and to provide an ideal pulling position for connecting the ganglines. Some of the newer scooters also incorporate front shocks similar to mountain bikes to absorb bumps better.
An alternative is to use a bicycle instead of a scooter. This is seen as a more dangerous alternative, as it is more difficult to dismount a bicycle in an emergency. This alternative sport of harnessing dogs to a bicycle is known as bikejoring.