Skijoring in the Cornell Plantations!

Skijoring

The snow and weather were great the one time we made it out skijoring this winter:

No snow... so urban scootering

This weekend Pogo was supposed to be in a dog sled race in the Wisconsin Dells, but that was canceled because our snow has melted. Annie brought her dog Summer to Madison anyway, and we borrowed my neighbors' dog Daisy and went dog scootering today around Vilas Park.

In addition, below is a photo of when I visited Annie in Naperville over winter break and went scootering with her there:

Back to health again!

I'm feeling much healthier again these days and have been doing agility training with Pogo, who has learned to push his way through a closed chute tunnel. I'm proud of him for learning so quickly (within a day using tasty treats).

I'm hoping next to teach him how to weave between my legs as I walk. I've seen videos of border collies doing that, and I think that Pogo is smart enough to learn if I'm smart enough to teach him how. He's a bit tall, but I think we can manage.

Dog sulky = Bike chariot

I haven't been able to do many dog pulling activities since mid-May, when a car accident left me in a brace with a fractured neck vertebra and broken collar bone. During that time, Pogo got exercise using our treadmill and chasing tennis balls rather than pulling me around on a scooter. I just got the neck brace (a.k.a. torture device) taken off yesterday and can now get back to dog pulling sports and boating. While incapacitated, I discovered that I can have people pull me around in the dog sulky behind a bicycle.

My visiting mom biked me to a physical therapy appointment:

Pat took me and Terra along on Madison's Ride the Drive:

We passed another dog getting a lift at Ride the Drive:

Pulling Power

I was very excited to receive my dorsal hitch dog sulky today. Thanks to Michele in Ohio for selling it to me, and thanks to Annie for bringing it to Madison. I tried it out along the Wingra bike path with Pogo (in the center), our neighbor's dog Daisy (right), and Annie's dog Summer (left). This first trial run went amazingly well, and it helped to have Annie biking ahead to motivate the dogs. All three dogs have been doing dog pulling activities like dog sledding and dog scootering, so they seemed to get the hang of it right away. I still have a lot to learn about which straps attach where and how to adjust everything properly. (You can click on the photo to enlarge it.)
Here's a video view from the sulky:


And here is Pogo helpfully hauling home a stack of library books last weekend in his wagon:

Urban scootering

I love it when Annie comes to visit from Chicago. Today was a beautiful day for scootering. Annie led the way on a bike. Summer (Annie's goldendoodle), Pogo (my Irish doodle), and Daisy (my neighbors' poodle) pulled me on the scooter on a loop around Monona Bay with little Terra along for the ride in my backpack. Yeehaw! Or should I say, gee-haw!