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Dog Scooterers


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All you folks out there who own or have used a dog scooter, maybe you could provide some feedback?

 

I was wondering what you like and/or dislike about the design and features of the different scooters you have used. Just things like the make and model you've used. What prompted you to purchase the particular you model you have? What are the design elements you would have changed/improved? What are the things you thought was a really good idea?

 

I'm rendering a scooter similar to the Rhino dog scooter design right now (see pic below). But that design may change if warranted. Any opinion is appreciated.

 

4f93_2.jpg

Edited by Newc
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Newc! You are an answer to many prayers!

 

You've probably noticed that most "dog" scooters are scooters that have been adapted to dogs. There is a scooter now, designed for dogs, as they say," from the get go", and the major difference is that the hook for the line, is attached to the front fender, which keeps it from tangling in the front wheel.

 

Unfortunately, it's about 7 pounds heavier, and does not have the great disc brakes front and back, or the mountain bike style full shocks.

 

But the main thing is how the line attaches. My dream scooter is as light as possible, with disc brakes to stop if a squirrel runs across our path, and excellent shock absorbers for my old knees. I'd love the larger wheels so we could go on and off road. You might also have noticed that they usually don't have a back fender..... You know that is a problem in our climate. Even light plastic would work, just something to keep the mud off my......backside.

 

You didn't know how ready I was for that question, did you?

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Newc! You are an answer to many prayers!

 

You've probably noticed that most "dog" scooters are scooters that have been adapted to dogs. There is a scooter now, designed for dogs, as they say," from the get go", and the major difference is that the hook for the line, is attached to the front fender, which keeps it from tangling in the front wheel.

 

Unfortunately, it's about 7 pounds heavier, and does not have the great disc brakes front and back, or the mountain bike style full shocks.

 

But the main thing is how the line attaches. My dream scooter is as light as possible, with disc brakes to stop if a squirrel runs across our path, and excellent shock absorbers for my old knees. I'd love the larger wheels so we could go on and off road. You might also have noticed that they usually don't have a back fender..... You know that is a problem in our climate. Even light plastic would work, just something to keep the mud off my......backside.

 

You didn't know how ready I was for that question, did you?

 

Hmmm.... about the line being attached to the fender. I thought of this for anti-tangling reasons..... but what I am curious about is won't that provide a means for the dog to pull the the front wheel into the direction it's traveling? Say a squirrel comes bounding across the path and the pup takes a hard turn and pulls the handlebars in that direction... or is that not really as much of an issue as I'd envision it to be?

 

What is the name brand of that from the get-go" scooter?

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Interesting question. When it's attached to the handlebar center, it pulls the entire bike, from the weighted area, albeit high on the weighted area.

 

From the fender, at actually turns the wheel.... It's like we have the "Halti", nose leash, on us! The advantage being that the dog pulls as from a sled--directly back,..not back and up.

 

Very interesting question!

 

Another thing I would ask you to think about, for my dream scooter, is where the handlebars, and deck come together, many of them have an abrupt right angle, but the off road versions, have a curved smooth transition, that allows you to hit things and bounce over them.

 

To my mind, this is clearly an advantage.

 

The Pawtrekker and it's descendants were designed for dogs from the "get Go", although I see they have changed their website copy with the new products.

 

The one with the smoothly curved stem to footplate is the "Blauwerk Downhill"

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From the fender, at actually turns the wheel.... It's like we have the "Halti", nose leash, on us! The advantage being that the dog pulls as from a sled--directly back,..not back and up.

 

I've been looking at that one myself...if does not look like the fender attachment has anything to do with the steering. It looks like it is an extension of the steering post and not attached to the front wheel at all.

 

I've been looking at the Pawtrekker Full Suspension.

 

-Gavin

Edited by Gavin
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This is the other system I've been looking at. Better control for an urban environment and untrained dogs.

 

Dog Powered Scooter

 

(And just for fun, it almost looks like there are some Indian Dogs in the second picture down. The line of people on scooters...with the woman in the blue jacket?)

-Gavin

Edited by Gavin
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This is the other system I've been looking at. Better control for an urban environment and untrained dogs.

 

Dog Powered Scooter

 

(And just for fun, it almost looks like there are some Indian Dogs in the second picture down. The line of people on scooters...with the woman in the blue jacket?)

-Gavin

 

I bought the pawtrekker in March. I think that it's probably the best, a little more than I wanted to spend but well worth it.

 

It took about 2-3 weeks to get it after ordering.

If you go to Kim's site and the link to scootering there will be a not so good picture of myself and Hawk.

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Lisa, I was hoping you'd put your two cents in on this thread. When Hawk pulls to the side, do you lose control, the scooter jumping to the side with him?

 

Gavin, that is the scooter type that JD has, and he agrees that it gives you much more control in an urban environment, but I don't see it as being that good for mushing off road. I could be wrong. He had two or three dogs clipped in, and didn't have to do any work, himself.

 

Now we get back to what each person's desired environment is for scootering.

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Thanks everyone for your input.

I've never even used or seen a dog scooter in person. All of my limited knowledge comes from the research I've done in recent weeks.

 

The full suspension and a good quality braking system seems to be desirable features you've mentioned. Those type of items will add weight to the scooter. Weight was a factor in my initial design ideas... my pup only weighs about 37 lbs, so I figured a lightweight design and lower gear ratio (by using smaller diameter tires) would help her efforts in pulling a 200lb guy like me around (and reduce my efforts as well) :). Alot of the scooters I've looked at seem to have the larger breeds pulling them or even 2 pups powering them along. I kinda assumed that's what a lot of the scooters were designed for. I look at our pups as being very athletic, but not "powerful" like most of the other pulling breeds.

 

So now my question is, how do the AIDogs do, when pulling, compared to the other breeds? Am I taking too much stock in the whole weight issue? Will the extra 6 or 9 lbs that a rear suspension would add not really affect anything??

 

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate these responses.

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Thanks everyone for your input.

I've never even used or seen a dog scooter in person. All of my limited knowledge comes from the research I've done in recent weeks.

 

The full suspension and a good quality braking system seems to be desirable features you've mentioned. Those type of items will add weight to the scooter. Weight was a factor in my initial design ideas... my pup only weighs about 37 lbs, so I figured a lightweight design and lower gear ratio (by using smaller diameter tires) would help her efforts in pulling a 200lb guy like me around (and reduce my efforts as well) :). Alot of the scooters I've looked at seem to have the larger breeds pulling them or even 2 pups powering them along. I kinda assumed that's what a lot of the scooters were designed for. I look at our pups as being very athletic, but not "powerful" like most of the other pulling breeds.

 

So now my question is, how do the AIDogs do, when pulling, compared to the other breeds? Am I taking too much stock in the whole weight issue? Will the extra 6 or 9 lbs that a rear suspension would add not really affect anything??

 

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate these responses.

 

Hi!

 

We, too, were interested in a scooter. We were told by the manufacturer that the weight of the rider is, in deed, a big factor. My husband was about 200 lbs. and our dog was almost 40. The manufacturer of the scooter did not think, in his opinion, the dog could pull that much weight when you factor in the scooter too so we passed on it. This is just our two cents. We surely didn't want to hurt our pup.

 

Judy K in Michigan

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So now my question is, how do the AIDogs do, when pulling, compared to the other breeds? Am I taking too much stock in the whole weight issue? Will the extra 6 or 9 lbs that a rear suspension would add not really affect anything??

 

 

I have 2 comments... (for what it's worth)

I am told there is a woman up near Mt. Hood that runs a team of Indian Dogs as a sled team. Kim could probably supply more info on that. I think he was the one who told me that. So they are probably pretty good pullers.

 

Second, I am a big Iditarod fan, and from what I've read, once a sled gets going, each dog only pulls with less than 1 pound of force to keep it going. With a scooter, you can supply most or all of the power to overcome inertia, and then the effort required to keep you going is very little for the dog, and you can help on rough roads or when going uphill.

 

With that in mind, I do not think 6-8 more pounds will make much difference at all...

Just my 2cents...

-Gavin

Edited by Gavin
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I have 2 comments... (for what it's worth)

I am told there is a woman up near Mt. Hood that runs a team of Indian Dogs as a sled team. Kim could probably supply more info on that. I think he was the one who told me that. So they are probably pretty good pullers.

 

Second, I am a big Iditarod fan, and from what I've read, once a sled gets going, each dog only pulls with less than 1 pound of force to keep it going. With a scooter, you can supply most or all of the power to overcome inertia, and then the effort required to keep you going is very little for the dog, and you can help on rough roads or when going uphill.

 

With that in mind, I do not think 6-8 more pounds will make much difference at all...

Just my 2cents...

-Gavin

Thanks for the info, Gavin!!

Judy K

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  • 1 month later...

I need to throw in my opinion as well but this time so allison doesn't come down on me I will refrain from using the word hokie :)

 

Now coming only from a mountain biking/dirt jumping/freeriding background and aspiring to be an amateur welder I have a couple thoughts on designs myself however I don't have the rendering skilz to do it on a comp but could sketch them very well.

 

Gavin is totally right about the scooter being something you can help push along plus if you watch mushers they often times push a lil too through the rough stuff.

 

As far as tie in points there are some fairly easy mechanical ideas that you can borrow from freestyle/trick bikes called gyros or rotors. It is essentially the piece that is part of the bearing races between the headset and the stem/handlebars. It allows the handlebars to 'rotate' w/out binding up the brake cable. Now since your not exactly wanting to jump this scooter busting sick air throwin tailwhips or bar spin b/c you might injur the dogs :Bwahahaha: then just borrow the swivel idea so If you can figure a way to use the idea of this to mount a swivel to the head tube that the lead attaches too you can maintain a lower pulling point if desired and the fender could swivel from left to right w/out compromising the lead and the front wheel and the dogs can pull w/out pulling the scooter left to right and you as the operator can stear. I agree w/ allison about the lower tie in point but when I reviewed the pics of the scooter that had the "fender" I will agree w/ gavin and say that it looks like the fender is welded to the head tube and not connected to the actual wheel. the lower coupling point makes sense for pulling.

 

shocks shouldn't weigh 7-9lbs especially for a rear shock. FOX and rockshox make some real sweet rear air oil shocks that weigh next to nothing. However if you were to weld it up using titanium you would have all the flex you could ever want for a supple smooth ride and it would weigh nothing at all. If folks like litespeed and merlin titanium bikes can make cross country race bikes weigh 16lbs w/ gears and wheels and stuff a scooter should weigh less. Disk brakes systems also weigh less than the average push pull brake system of yester year. Stay away from aluminium as the foundation metal because tho it is light it will beat the heck out of you b/c of its rigidness. My last suggestion would be to go get a copy of something like mountain bike action magazine or go to the local high end bike shop and spend some serious time looking at the linkage systems that fully suspended mountain bikes are running. There is a wealth of knowledge in these machines nowadays. Alot has changed.

 

Oh and one more thing...allison said something about the down tube ( the main tube that runs from the bottom of the head tube to the main platform ) A gentle sweep on the bend transition to the platform is a stellar idea. since a right angle is not only weak but very prone to snagging. I would also seriously consider a bash guard underneath the main platform with counter sunk holes and allen head screws to hold it in place. I would choose a material like lexan (like on thos live for ever cutting boards the white plastic looking material ) it's slick tough and if you had to manuever over a tree stump log or rock it would be resilient.

 

I am thinking outloud here feel free to pick any of these suggestions apart. I have been thinking about this since I saw it. It looks fun as heck! Go for it man LIVE THE DREAM and create it.

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  • 5 years later...

I still like that pawtrekker for the dog attachment. I did get the off road scooter, the "Blauwerk Downhill" and I do love it. Hooking the dog is a clumsy affair, but the bike is wonderful, and easy on lots of terrains. You can raise the platform at the back wheel, for off road, and lower it for street riding.

Yesterday we had a glorious Spring day. Lots of zoomies, with hair on fire. It is always infectious. I am working too much, so we didn't get the scoot out, but use the Hyperdog slingshot. Fun for the dog AND me.

 

Okay, I am pumping up my tires today (after more work)! Thanks sherab.

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Well I am drooling over the idea but not sure what model. I like the front end on the Pawtrekker and the Pawtrek plus the optional mud flaps and water holder. Clearly Pawtrekker can go over the overgrown forest roads we have here in abundance. Unfortunately it's only sold outside the US. In the US there's a Pawtrec that looks very similar and is often referred to as "pawtrekker" in the US site sales descriptions but different manufacturers and the pawtrec body design is different (bent pipe by the look of it), particularly the neck and I've seen negative comments on forums where dry land mushers have "broken" pawtrec after a short period. The Pawtrekker (vs the pawtrek) also has an awesome side attachment that can be used with a pulka harness for 100% guarantee of no dog to scooter contact. Other down side is the deck - can't tell if I can get both feet on it or 1 and 1/2.

 

I like reviews for the Diggler - the burly frame with the skate board deck is apparently indestructable but frankly can't figure out why after all this time (15 years) they've given ZERO thought about the design and safety for the most important functionality- the dog attachment. As an engineer with new product development experience I have to give demerits on lack of vision for both primary function. I mean seriously! All other scooters can't such that bad to make this the top in both $ range and performance!?! I'd rather pay through the nose to import to punish the lack of vision which gets me back to the Pawtrekker.

 

I hadn't seen the Kostka line. I like that it has what looks like a longer deck for BOTH feet. Also a kick stand - a small but very useful and inexpensive feature. I like that they put some actual design thought into how to attach the dog to the frame.

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Something important to consider also- the width of the standing deck.

We got an inexpensive one from Canada http://www.belizebike.com/english/scooter.html I got the 16" toucan. Light and quick, but durable. And with the Low front end expense, I had plenty of money to add a taller stem to handlebars, and cutdown and bolt on a $10 skateboard from Walmart to make the deck comfy.

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Star and Jamacee have some mad talent. I can't go all hot rod Lincoln in my pole barn. I know my limits, but I don't want one that will "survive" the inevitable line -n -dog accident (sorry Diggler that's not a sales point) and I don't want one that will break and leave me stranded way out on some forest road. Definitely more info to fold in. Anyone do off road? In the snow also? I have easy access to forest roads and a paved rail trail.

 

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Oh- and we have the best luck running x-back sledding harnesses instead of typical ones. Made more for the task :)

Not spendy- contact Nordykin and they can help you for them.

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I love the look of the X back and so have been looking for an excuse! I think it will be good for Cake because she's so leggy and lean, I have noticed that the regular distance (Y) harnesses cause a bit of a roach (pressure) in her spine so I've gone to a Hurtta padded and really like it on her. Waki on the other hand is shaped like a marsh mellow (I adore him for it). He's boxy and powerful - my little diesel. (He's shorter and not as long as Cake already and she's 7 months old). I'm not sure if the x back will be good for his hind legs or if it will put too much pressure on. Will have to play with it a bit.

 

I've been drooling over these ManMat harnesses. Unfortunately ManMat is a Czech company and Howling Dog Alaska has apparently belatedly trademarked "ManMat" for it's harnesses so now I can't get a supplier in North America. I really like the reflective blue for Cake. Winter here can be a bit monotonous if you don't make it special and these harnesses are just festive. http://www.manmat.cz/en/products/index/2/dog-sledding-harnesses/1

 

Oh well. Let me know if you've seen X backs in hot pink. That would be my second choice.

Edited by Sherab
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We (Hawk) has the Pawtreker dog scooter. It is great and if you get a pull cord that splits in two how much more fun you will have. I got Hawks x back harness about 8 years ago and still fits him great, in fact he was in it yesterday. I ordered it from Alpine Outfitters. They show you how to size it to fit your pup and they even sew their names on it as well.

 

 

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