CyncySpyder
10-10-2011, 06:52 AM
I've had many requests for sharing information about what we use for safety & comfort while taking Teddy (10 pound Pomeranian) on the road on the back of his SpYder. & yes, its HIS SpYder (Teds Red Sled) & I'm just lucky enough to be his cheuffer (I know my place :roflblack:)
First off, most the items can be found at your local PetsMart & I'm sure Amazon.com or Ebay will have them as well. I personally like to support local retailers whenever possible, cause theres just not many Mom&Pop (or in our favorite case, its Mom&Mom) shops left & the personal attention you get from them is beyond compare of your average BigBox stores. But hey, thats just my personal opinion. With all that said, there's a little German themed town where I live called Mainstrasse Village & 2 doors up from the Cock & Bull Pub is StrasseDog, owned by a couple of wonderful ladies that are partners & they just love the Tedster, so we frequent them quite often & they can usually get some off-beat dog related items that are quite unique & useful. Last summer, Teddy really garnered even more attention than usual while wearing his "BITCHES LOVE ME" muscle shirt:doorag: Most ppl loved it, tho I did have to educate a few ignorant ppl as to the fact that, a female dog is referred to as a "bitch" & that its not always used in a derogatory term.
Anyways, the main part to Teddys riding system is a special Easy Rider car HARNESS that we picked up at Pets Mart, I think it was about $20 - $25. The big deal with this one, is that it has extra padding all around the inside to help absorb impact from any sudden/emergency braking. To be clear, it IS A HARNESS that goes around the CHEST & FRONT LEGS. PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO RYDE WITH YOUR PET TEATHERED WITH A COLLAR AROUND THE NECK. Im sure you don't want to hang your pet or possibly break their neck, but thats EXACTLY what can happen using a traditional collar. Also, another unique Quality with the Easy Rider Car Harness is that it has an elongated teather on the back of it. Traditional harnesses end at the back with the two interlocking (usually) plastic clasps that attach together & ending with the 2 metal D links to attach your lead to. Having this elongated strap allows for more freedom of movement of your PET. In Teddy's case, he has about a foot that he can get up & move around, but he can't go flying off.
Please be SMART, & learn from my experience. I already discussed not killing your PET using a COLLAR but I also caution you about trying to use a traditional harness as well. I had no-one to learn from when we first started riding together, so almost all my experience, GOOD & BAD, comes from trial & error. Teddy's Vet wisely admonished him riding with A COLLAR so we never even tried it & won't. But she said she thought he'd be ok strapped in with a traditional Harness. Mind you, I've always ran everything through Teddy's Personal Vet & got her ok before trying anything & I don't blame nor fault her for my lack of prudence. For those of you that are squeamish, you may want to skip this next part, cause Im not ashamed to admit, it had me on the side of the road. . . . . . . . . in tears.
I believe it was the last week in June & we had had just gotten his 2010 Black RT-S back from being in the shop for 30 some days. We only had it 9 days before it had to go in, so I didn't have much experience ryding it myself. Teddy took right to it, no real training involved. I had picked up a traditional harness in extra-small to fit him. Traditional harnesses have no interior padding and are nothing more than just (usually) nylon straps sewn together & for normal use & walking, are just fine to use. I picked a red one out for Teddy, so it would show up well against his jet black fur. I guess you can say, this was a day I'll never forget. It was beautiful & sunny & we were SO HAPPY to finally have his Spyder back & we decided to visit relatives that live about 30 minutes away in Milford Ohio. We took route 50 or Columbia Parkway, as its nice & scenic running along the Ohio River & going through a wonderful little city called Mariemont. I believe it was the very first planned community in the Nation, & is very Stately & Traditional with unique architecture, Huge Trees lining the streets & a wonderful center town square. The Mariemont Theater is right there off the square, and the street out front is divided by a park going down the center of the north & south bound lanes. There's a hard Z curve where the park dividing the streets ends & the 2 streets come together again. Being a new Spyder Ryder & just getting the byke back, I was really getting into the curves, even tho the speed limit is only 25 & thats all I was doing. I knew going in, Teddy was going to get tossed around a little, but figured his harness would keep him safely put. I did the first curve & could hear him shift to the left & almost immediately after I did the next curve & heard him "Flop" to the right, then I heard a loud YEALP & my heart sank. I didn't have the Teddy-cam at this time, so I couldn't see what was going on. I quickly glanced in the rear view mirror to see if cars were behind me (which they were) but the first thing I saw, was Teddy's furry little body flying helplessly through the air off the back of the Spyder, his empty harness hanging by its teather off the side of the byke. My first instinct was to slam on the brakes and to get him before he got ran over by all the on-coming cars, but if I did that, I would have been rear ended by the suv that was right behind me. I WAS PANICKED WITH FEAR! I couldn't stop & had to keep going. I immediately put on my EMERGENCY flashers and waited til the on-coming traffic had a break, & pulled into the first driveway I could.
TBC. . . . .
First off, most the items can be found at your local PetsMart & I'm sure Amazon.com or Ebay will have them as well. I personally like to support local retailers whenever possible, cause theres just not many Mom&Pop (or in our favorite case, its Mom&Mom) shops left & the personal attention you get from them is beyond compare of your average BigBox stores. But hey, thats just my personal opinion. With all that said, there's a little German themed town where I live called Mainstrasse Village & 2 doors up from the Cock & Bull Pub is StrasseDog, owned by a couple of wonderful ladies that are partners & they just love the Tedster, so we frequent them quite often & they can usually get some off-beat dog related items that are quite unique & useful. Last summer, Teddy really garnered even more attention than usual while wearing his "BITCHES LOVE ME" muscle shirt:doorag: Most ppl loved it, tho I did have to educate a few ignorant ppl as to the fact that, a female dog is referred to as a "bitch" & that its not always used in a derogatory term.
Anyways, the main part to Teddys riding system is a special Easy Rider car HARNESS that we picked up at Pets Mart, I think it was about $20 - $25. The big deal with this one, is that it has extra padding all around the inside to help absorb impact from any sudden/emergency braking. To be clear, it IS A HARNESS that goes around the CHEST & FRONT LEGS. PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO RYDE WITH YOUR PET TEATHERED WITH A COLLAR AROUND THE NECK. Im sure you don't want to hang your pet or possibly break their neck, but thats EXACTLY what can happen using a traditional collar. Also, another unique Quality with the Easy Rider Car Harness is that it has an elongated teather on the back of it. Traditional harnesses end at the back with the two interlocking (usually) plastic clasps that attach together & ending with the 2 metal D links to attach your lead to. Having this elongated strap allows for more freedom of movement of your PET. In Teddy's case, he has about a foot that he can get up & move around, but he can't go flying off.
Please be SMART, & learn from my experience. I already discussed not killing your PET using a COLLAR but I also caution you about trying to use a traditional harness as well. I had no-one to learn from when we first started riding together, so almost all my experience, GOOD & BAD, comes from trial & error. Teddy's Vet wisely admonished him riding with A COLLAR so we never even tried it & won't. But she said she thought he'd be ok strapped in with a traditional Harness. Mind you, I've always ran everything through Teddy's Personal Vet & got her ok before trying anything & I don't blame nor fault her for my lack of prudence. For those of you that are squeamish, you may want to skip this next part, cause Im not ashamed to admit, it had me on the side of the road. . . . . . . . . in tears.
I believe it was the last week in June & we had had just gotten his 2010 Black RT-S back from being in the shop for 30 some days. We only had it 9 days before it had to go in, so I didn't have much experience ryding it myself. Teddy took right to it, no real training involved. I had picked up a traditional harness in extra-small to fit him. Traditional harnesses have no interior padding and are nothing more than just (usually) nylon straps sewn together & for normal use & walking, are just fine to use. I picked a red one out for Teddy, so it would show up well against his jet black fur. I guess you can say, this was a day I'll never forget. It was beautiful & sunny & we were SO HAPPY to finally have his Spyder back & we decided to visit relatives that live about 30 minutes away in Milford Ohio. We took route 50 or Columbia Parkway, as its nice & scenic running along the Ohio River & going through a wonderful little city called Mariemont. I believe it was the very first planned community in the Nation, & is very Stately & Traditional with unique architecture, Huge Trees lining the streets & a wonderful center town square. The Mariemont Theater is right there off the square, and the street out front is divided by a park going down the center of the north & south bound lanes. There's a hard Z curve where the park dividing the streets ends & the 2 streets come together again. Being a new Spyder Ryder & just getting the byke back, I was really getting into the curves, even tho the speed limit is only 25 & thats all I was doing. I knew going in, Teddy was going to get tossed around a little, but figured his harness would keep him safely put. I did the first curve & could hear him shift to the left & almost immediately after I did the next curve & heard him "Flop" to the right, then I heard a loud YEALP & my heart sank. I didn't have the Teddy-cam at this time, so I couldn't see what was going on. I quickly glanced in the rear view mirror to see if cars were behind me (which they were) but the first thing I saw, was Teddy's furry little body flying helplessly through the air off the back of the Spyder, his empty harness hanging by its teather off the side of the byke. My first instinct was to slam on the brakes and to get him before he got ran over by all the on-coming cars, but if I did that, I would have been rear ended by the suv that was right behind me. I WAS PANICKED WITH FEAR! I couldn't stop & had to keep going. I immediately put on my EMERGENCY flashers and waited til the on-coming traffic had a break, & pulled into the first driveway I could.
TBC. . . . .