Training - A breakthrough

The time is ticking down. We only have roughly 2 more months left before we head off into another great adventure. The last time we hiked the Tour du Mont Blanc together, and now we are bikepacking around Scandinavia for almost a month. Our training so far was not as smooth as I imagined beforehand. When I started looking into bike adventures with a dog, I was a bit naive to believe that training would be relatively smooth. Everyone makes it look so easy. You get a trailer and let your dog get used to it before taking small steps outside and actually riding your bike. Somehow, the World Wide Web says that that is it and all you have to do. But of course this is not it, and most of the success really depends on your dog.

I tried it this way first, and I yet ended up with a dog in the trailer that sounded equivalent to 100000 guinea pigs. She was stressed and was not feeling it.

I knew my training was going the wrong way. I started getting really annoyed and angry every time I wanted to ride my bike. And this is not how I wanted to do this. This was supposed to be a great experience for both of us, and yet neither one of us was enjoying it. I did not want to get angry at Sierra for simply not liking the trailer. So I took a few months off and pressed the reset button. I now worked with a lot of treats and an incredible amount of time and patience. After having the trailer in my apartment a few weeks, I took it outside and followed a new plan.

1. Walk your dog next to the trailer. It gives them a chance to pee and poop and warm up.
   
2. Ride the bike and let your dog run next to you. Make sure they run at a steady paste, slower to start with. Warm up is crucial before you get faster.
3. Get off, get your dog into the trailer and push the bike. Reward every few steps. Increase distance between rewards.
4. Park the bike and give your dog a break, to sniff, to pee and walk off the stress.
5. Repeat everything starting with step 1.

This takes a lot of patience from your side because, let's face it, this is not your usual bike ride. But if you have a dog that is stressed and does not like the trailer, it is better to take baby steps first before the weather gets better, and you can't your trip when you want to. For us, this was a minimum of 3 months work. So it is always good to start in early spring or even winter if the weather allows.

The breakthrough for us came after an important talk with a friend of mine, she gave me another good point that I had not really considered up until this point. And after some reflecting and thinking, she made one excellent discovery. Sierra did not want to give up responsibility. She wanted to control the situation in which she was in, which stressed her. So it wasn't necessarily the trailer itself, but a communication error between her and me. I had to make her understand that the trailer was a place where she was able to relax, and that I would take care of everything else around her. She is an Australian Cattle Dog, and giving up responsibility naturally is quite hard for her to do. But we started working on this, first at home, then on our daily walks and lastly on our bike trips. This has made a huge difference.

So next time your dog has a hard time in the trailer, look at your dog and your relationship with each other. Maybe it's not the trailer that is the stress factor for them. Don't make the same mistake I did and waste so much time trying to fix a part that wasn't the real issue.

Today was our first bike ride after working on your relationship, and it was such a good ride. She was quiet while riding in the back and even managed to lay down for a small section. Even riding past distractions, such as scooters, other humans or cars worked a lot better. It is an overall improvement and for the first time in months, I am absolutely confident, that our trip will be a success.