Every since we added a puppy to our family, we’ve been working on how to include her on our family bike rides. We’ve been using a trailer, but she doesn’t like it. She barely puts up with it when someone rides with her, but when she is alone, it sounds like we’re torturing an animal as we ride by (which I guess we essentially are).
So we decided to try the Snoozer pet rider, which was rated for dogs up to 24 pounds. Most of the front mounted dog bike baskets were limited to 13 lbs.
The reviews on Amazon were mixed, with one of the reviews noting that it was way too big for a standard rear bike rack. I would agree with this assessment. Here is the dog seat on the pink bike. The bottom of the unit is foam and is not rigid.
However, I intended from the beginning to mount it on the xtracycle, where it would have enough room. Having just gone through a provincial election, the first step was to remove a campaign sign.
I’ll note in passing that Cheri diNovo used a pic of my bike to promote her stand for better bicycling infrastructure. It was taken during our Bike the Park ride. She originally introduced the one meter passing rule as a prviate member’s bill several years ago, and it eventually got written into a bill that didn’t get considered because of the election. Hopefully it will be passed by our new government. At any rate, safe cycling has been on her radar screen for a while.
(credit: Cheri diNovo twitter feed)
Here is the dog seat mounted up. I’ve had to remove one of the folding kid seats to make enough room. It is just possible for one of our daughters to sit back there and reach around to the handlebars.
The seat comes with some restraining straps, but it is also recommended that you use a pet harness (not included).
Lucy in the dog seat. She seems to be OK with it.
It was even better once she figured out that she can lean to one side to see forwards.
Looking forward to more family bike rides with the whole crew this summer!
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