Hi, my 2 year old husky, Loki, and I have been working on running with a bicycle since I got him in July. We started with little half mile jaunts and now are increasing to the 5-10 mile range. He loves to run/pull the bicycle. He used to run beside me until he broke the bicycle leash pulling too hard on it lol. So currently he runs on a regular leash in front of me and off to the side a little, which allows me to monitor him more closely. We are working on learning commands etc on our local bike path and coming along nicely. The problem we are having is that if we run bare footed (Musher's secret) his nails file down to the quick and bleed. If we wear shoes (CE Canine Experience brand) his foot rolls over when he runs so we have to take them off not too long after we begin. I wondered if he was pushing too hard to keep up, so I have been exclusively coasting for the last few weeks and the problems remain. His shoes were sized at the pet store, though I am not ruling out that they could be on the big side. Loki always is excited for the bike and generally returns to home with plenty of energy after a ride, doing yard laps after we are done followed by a quick nap. I want him to be able to have a good and safe biking experience. Any and all suggestions are strongly encouraged and greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help!


(Crossposted)

From the image, it looks like you are running on dirt, correct? you never want to bike long on concrete or pavement, it is bad on the joints.
it is odd that the nails are wearing down that fast on dirt....

i would nix those boots, does not seem it is a natural fit for the foot or the run and could cause issues down the line.
if anything i would look at dogbooties.com. $3 a booty, you lose one no big deal and they keep them running in a natural stride. this company outfits all the big dog racing teams! and they are fast. just order less then a week ago and got them last night.  been ordering from them for years.


jack with 3 on on our last hike, we lost one....

Thanks the dirt is our road. We do a fair ammount on asphalt right now because we are learning and its a 40 minute drive to get to kind of nature, and 1.
5 hrs to get to a real mountain........ we are looking for dirt roads to run on too! Ill definately see if those booties make a difference too. Boy will I be sad if $3 booties beat out my $91 booties lmap

i would be real careful running him on asphalt, it is so bad on their joints, just think about what it is doing to the nails, let alone the bones and muscle in the body with the impact. if you can ride on a sidewalk and get him to run on grass it will be so much better. or just visit some dog parks and let him run during the week and take the time to drive on the weekends.

these booties might not hold up on the asphalt since it is fabric and they will tear up, we would get holes in them walking with foot issues. they do much better on dirt and snow.

I seem to remember reading that if you don't keep your dog's nails trimmed, the quick gets farther into the nail causing them to need to be kept longer to avoid cutting into the quick when trimming. (?)

If this were true, that might cause issue during running on harder surfaces and grinding nails down too far.