V8 + Dog + Squirrel = First Crash

[Julian Alvarez]

So... backstory in an attempt to justify my bad decisions 

I've been rollerblading for the majority of my life and about a month ago decided to buy a Segway miniPro to commute to the bus stop. After getting the hang of it, I decided it was just too slow to meet my needs and a bit too awkward to carry on the bus. Fortunately, I found a better use for it. It was the perfect speed to teach my Husky to jog next to me so she can get more of a workout than our usual walks. This had been going extremely well and the Segway's balance and control made it easy to control her 'personality'. 

After doing a ton of research, I decided to purchase my first EUC (V8) and learned how to ride in a few hours. After the second day, I felt comfortable enough to ride from the bus stop and back. After a couple of weeks of riding, I was starting to feel extremely confident on the wheel. Around the same time, I had been taking my pup to the park and Segway'd around a low foot traffic area to tire her out. Again, this had been going really well and I was very proud of my girl. 

Naturally, I realized 10-11mph was not enough to get my pup running and now I had all this extra power with the V8 and I was confident in my riding abilities. I had already taken her on a short ride with the V8 around my neighborhood at a slow speed and she acted the same as on the Segway. 

After a few laps around the park on the Segway, I decided to take her on the V8 to really get her running and to tire her out (only wearing my wrist guards). She was doing extremely well and we were almost done for the day when I decided to take her around the park for a final lap. At this point she was trailing behind because she had already gotten a good workout in. And then... a squirrel ran across the sidewalk in front of us and my pup kicked it into gear and sprinted toward the squirrel which gave me a huge yank to the left going around 15mph. I held onto the leash for dear life and unfortunately overcorrected and fell off the wheel on the right side and skidded several feet on the sidewalk. Luckily, because of my rollerblade experience, I bent down when the instability hit and fell forward. My wrist guards took the brunt of the fall and I managed to escape with a sore knee cap and a scrape on my forearm. 

Lessons learned:

1. Wear full protective gear, especially when you're doing something new or have something like a dog that you can't have full control over.
2. When taking your dog on your EUC, ensure that at minimum they have a good call back in case you need to let go of the leash to save a crash. When she took off after the squirrel, I should have dropped the leash then called her back.
3. Running your dog on your EUC is a bad idea unless you're willing to put in a ton of time to train your pup and yourself. Otherwise, this is a danger to you and your pup. There were many times during training on the Segway she wanted to walk in front of me and stop, which could have resulted in getting hit if this was at higher speeds. If you're like me, you'd rather hurt yourself than your pup so you end up taking spills to avoid hurting your pup.

At some point during my fall, I let go of the leash and my pup went after the squirrel. Attached is a photo of where she ended up after I dropped the leash.

 

[alcatraz]

Are you doing ok now? How's the knee?

You don't need to hold a leash to be yanked hard enough at speed to have a crash. It's enough to be a little tired (lets say after several km of riding/playing) that you straighten your legs a bit too much and hit a bump by surprise. The combination unfortunately results in a crash.

[Julian Alvarez]

5 hours ago, alcatraz said:

Are you doing ok now? How's the knee?

You don't need to hold a leash to be yanked hard enough at speed to have a crash. It's enough to be a little tired (lets say after several km of riding/playing) that you straighten your legs a bit too much and hit a bump by surprise. The combination unfortunately results in a crash.

Everything is fine thanks for asking. I was riding the next day. I am continuing to learn the ropes with the wheel, but am glad that some of the rollerblade skills come in handy in some situations. I’m having a ton of fun with this and have since started wearing more gear on longer rides. 

[Lukas83]

On 10/15/2018 at 8:22 AM, Julian Alvarez said:

-> Where did u hide Squirrel?! 

 

Hope your wheel is ok as well... 

[sonicslp]

You're a brave man. I have two Siberian Huskies and with their speed and strength pulling stuff, I don't think I'd have the guts to ride with them. Side note, they actually caught a squirrel in my backyard over the summer and decided to play tug-of-war with it. Poor little bastard, it was not pretty.

[RockyTop]

I trained my dogs to ride beside me and they do well. I always hold the leash in a way that I can drop it. A shock collar made the training quick. I trained them to never smell the ground or pass in front of me while riding. Now they (one at a time) really enjoy their runs. 

Remember an EUC has more psi to the ground than a car and dogs have small bones. I had to jump off my wheel one time when my younger dog ran in front of the wheel. Training can be dangerous. 

Training is easier with working dogs. Training some dogs for this task might just be cruel or dangerous for the dogs. 

[Julian Alvarez]

31 minutes ago, RockyTop said:

I trained my dogs to ride beside me and they do well. I always hold the leash in a way that I can drop it. A shock collar made the training quick. I trained them to never smell the ground or pass in front of me while riding. Now they (one at a time) really enjoy their runs. 

Remember an EUC has more psi to the ground than a car and dogs have small bones. I had to jump off my wheel one time when my younger dog ran in front of the wheel. Training can be dangerous. 

Training is easier with working dogs. Training some dogs for this task might just be cruel or dangerous for the dogs. 

Agreed! I don’t have the time to get into serious training and she does just fine on the Segway so I believe that’s where we will continue with her exercise.

 

1 hour ago, sonicslp said:

You're a brave man. I have two Siberian Huskies and with their speed and strength pulling stuff, I don't think I'd have the guts to ride with them. Side note, they actually caught a squirrel in my backyard over the summer and decided to play tug-of-war with it. Poor little bastard, it was not pretty.

Brave or stupid? Lol. Glad to meet another husky owner! Love my girl to death. 

[Circuitmage]

So, the same thing happened to me. I have a very well behaved dog, that I started taking on my EUC runs early on and she got distracted by some bad dogs and went into attack mode, yanked me down. I quickly realized that is a very bad idea. Anyone with a medium to large dog should not be taking them for runs on the EUC.

It's not safe for the rider or the dog.I had to be convinced after seeing posts here, and my own experiences.

 

[Julian Alvarez]

2 hours ago, Circuitmage said:

So, the same thing happened to me. I have a very well behaved dog, that I started taking on my EUC runs early on and she got distracted by some bad dogs and went into attack mode, yanked me down. I quickly realized that is a very bad idea. Anyone with a medium to large dog should not be taking them for runs on the EUC.

It's not safe for the rider or the dog.I had to be convinced after seeing posts here, and my own experiences.

 

Yes! This has turned into kind of a PSA, haha. EUC is just not conducive to this task unfortunately. Luckily we have a multitude of off-leash dog parks in the area that I am going to take her to more regularly to get her energy out. I'm going to continue to use the Segway, but take that down to a minimum. She could use the socialization anyway.

[Dingfelder]

7 hours ago, RockyTop said:

I trained my dogs to ride beside me and they do well. I always hold the leash in a way that I can drop it. A shock collar made the training quick. I trained them to never smell the ground or pass in front of me while riding. Now they (one at a time) really enjoy their runs. 

Remember an EUC has more psi to the ground than a car and dogs have small bones. I had to jump off my wheel one time when my younger dog ran in front of the wheel. Training can be dangerous. 

Training is easier with working dogs. Training some dogs for this task might just be cruel or dangerous for the dogs. 

I'd love to see how you did this training, or get a good description of it.  My mother is a top trainer and even her best-ranked dog ever, a national champion, tends to wander in front and then slow down and get in the way sometimes.  So does my dog, who she trained to a high level for years.

[RockyTop]

12 hours ago, Dingfelder said:

I'd love to see how you did this training, or get a good description of it.  My mother is a top trainer and even her best-ranked dog ever, a national champion, tends to wander in front and then slow down and get in the way sometimes.  So does my dog, who she trained to a high level for years.

Mostly quick natural to me verbal camands and quick tugs on the lease. You don’t need to use actual words. The dog does not know the difference. You just need to be consistent. I also used a shock collar as a way of definitely saying “ do not get in front of me”  The dogs were already trained to ‘heel’

(shock collars should only be used on dogs that understand who is shocking them and why. Also some dogs can not handle a shock collar emotionally. Using a shock collar on a dog that does not understand or can’t think straight in fear of being shocked or on any dog as a first response is cruel )

The dog needs to understand that right now is work time. We can play and do other things later.  

The dog makes the biggest difference. Dogs like the Boarder Collie, Australian shepherded and Brittany are not only smart but want to please their trainer. Labs and some other dogs can be  smarter but do not have a strong urge to please.  Not all dogs are equal and breads may very. I like a good old exceptional mutt but they are hard to find. 

  My dogs can also open and close house doors on command and fetch or locate known items and people or each other.

We have a few dog trainers in the family. One was a world class hunting dog trainer from Germany.  The others are mostly agility trainers.  I am just an idiot that learned a few things from them. 

‘ Doc’ Dr. Emmett Brown and ‘ Ingo’ NoBee

[Dingfelder]

Ours our Australian shepherds, so they're extremely smart.  My dog is happy to pick up things for us, but doesn't now them by name, just by our gesture to it.  He can do all the usual agility and obedience and rally stuff well, and a few tricks.  

I'm thinking of telling him "left" and "right" to get him to avoid me and/or pedestrians while riding.  What do you think?

[RockyTop]

3 hours ago, Dingfelder said:

Ours our Australian shepherds, so they're extremely smart.  My dog is happy to pick up things for us, but doesn't now them by name, just by our gesture to it.  He can do all the usual agility and obedience and rally stuff well, and a few tricks.  

I'm thinking of telling him "left" and "right" to get him to avoid me and/or pedestrians while riding.  What do you think?

Right and left could be possible. I have seen hunting dogs directed into a field that way and It works for herding dogs too  ( sounds for right, left, stop, go and down)  I just think the communication would be too slow for riding. I started by training them to heel when walking with them. Use a short leash and make them stay beside you while you walk. Punish them for smelling things or letting the leash get tight. The dog must stay beside you at all times. I give a strong verbal warming and a quick tug for getting ahead of me. You must have his full attention. It is also important to let the dog know when the task has started and when you are done. Use short time intervals at first and give them play breaks in between. I use a low gentle “gooood boy” when he is doing things right. You can see the joy in his step when they get the message that they are doing it right. As time progresses the leash gets longer but he is expected to stay in the same spot beside you. When we transferred to the EUC it was noticeable that we were a little uncomfortable with the distance between us and adjusted a little for extra room. Also we taught each other that slowing down gradually is ok and means they want to rest or take a break or even “I am really interested in something can we please stop and smell things here?”  We stop and I release the heel command with an “ OK” 

PS when running a dog I think it is important to let them explore at some point in the trip. It must be frustrating to go out for a run and not be able to explore at any point.

[Alex_from_NZ]

11 hours ago, Dingfelder said:

 

I'm thinking of telling him "left" and "right" to get him to avoid me and/or pedestrians while riding.  What do you think?

This is what I've taught my border collie. Also in front, get in behind and mooch (spelling?) which is handy to help get up hills faster when I want ?

I run my girl off leash mostly so don't have to worry about the odd tug. She is trained enough to stay with me on the footpath and if there start to become too many distractions I put a running lead on her to give me time to counter balance for the pull when I stop her, she usually stops when I tell her oi though before it gets to that. She generally will never try keep pulling once she feels the tug also so I've never come off balance. 

I prefer the positive training techniques, clickers are awesome, but the dog has a lot to do with it. Border collies will do anything they can to please their master and they are built to work so it's coded in their dna to be obedient. 

She got clipped by the tire once when she ran infront of me, my fault I turned without telling her which way we were going at a fork and she was slightly ahead at the time. Dogs are tough though, she was fine and learnt from it as dogs I. 

P. S she learnt running besides a bike with me. I stopped using a leash when one night we both took the opposite side of a power pole at 20kph and it didn't end well lol. Since then no leash unless needed, and new command to take my side of any obstacle when told. 

[Dingfelder]

Thanks for the tips folks.

I'm thinking of taking my Aussie boy in public parks where leashes are mandatory.  I can also go up and down local streets where I can get away without one as long as no trouble/alarm is caused.  So I will need to adapt both ways.

[RockyTop]

3 minutes ago, Alex_from_NZ said:

This is what I've taught my border collie. Also in front, get in behind and mooch (spelling?) which is handy to help get up hills faster ?

I run my girl off leash so don't have to worry about the odd tug. She is trained enough to stay with me and if there start to become too many distractions I put a running lead on her to give me time to counter balance for the pull when I stop her. She generally will never try keep pulling once she feels the tug so I've never come off balance. 

I prefer the positive training techniques, but the dog has a lot to do with it. Border collies will do anything they can to please their master and they are built to work so it's coded in their dna to be obedient. 

So the dog is usually in front of you? And you use commands to direct her? Sounds cool! I am sure that a border collie can do it. I am just afraid I would screw it up and run my dog over. In my training my dogs stay beside me.

I agree with the positive reinforcements. It works well with Doc, my older dog. Ingo, my younger dog is more challenging. He plays much harder and takes discipline well. He is much stronger spirited than Doc ever was. 

[Alex_from_NZ]

Just now, RockyTop said:

So the dog is usually in front of you? And you use commands to direct her? Sounds cool! I am sure that a border collie can do it. I am just afraid I would screw it up and run my dog over. In my training my dogs stay beside me.

1

No, she is usually now just behind me to my right.  She prefers to run on the grass verge while i am on the footpath so unless i command her otherwise she sticks in that spot most of the time.  I started training with a clicker, so now i tend to keep clicking my fingers of my right hand at my side which she knows means to keep with me and its sort of just stuck now.  If she starts to lag behind i give a click or two and a short whistle and she gets back in position.
 

Just now, RockyTop said:

I agree with the positive reinforcements. It works well with Doc, my older dog. Ingo, my younger dog is more challenging. He plays much harder and takes discipline well. He is much stronger spirited than Doc ever was. 

My problem is she is the laziest border collie ever.  She was meant to do agility like my previous collies but unless its rounding up things she has no urgency to her at all  

[Esper]

So, why don't you use one of those retractable leashes? At least you will get a little more of a warning before the pupper reaches the end and pulls it out of your hand.

[Julian Alvarez]

21 minutes ago, Esper said:

So, why don't you use one of those retractable leashes? At least you will get a little more of a warning before the pupper reaches the end and pulls it out of your hand.

Wouldn’t work for larger pulling dogs like my Husky. She’s broken out of several of them. Little too flimsy for my uses. 

Training is the only thing that works, but requires time and persistence that I haven’t had.

I’m personally dropping the EUC and dog combo for now, lol.

[RockyTop]

1 hour ago, Julian Alvarez said:

Wouldn’t work for larger pulling dogs like my Husky. She’s broken out of several of them. Little too flimsy for my uses. 

Training is the only thing that works, but requires time and persistence that I haven’t had.

I’m personally dropping the EUC and dog combo for now, lol.

Well?...... You could get one of those parachutes that you pull behind a boat.  Have her pull you through the air. Those things are fun!  You would still have to work on the right left thing. 

[Julian Alvarez]

49 minutes ago, RockyTop said:

Well?...... You could get one of those parachutes that you pull behind a boat.  Have her pull you through the air. Those things are fun!  You would still have to work on the right left thing. 

 I actually used to have her pull me on my rollerblades around the park, but I stopped bc her normal pulling became worse. Finally gotten her back to being somewhat normal on the leash, but Husky gonna Husky.

[Esper]

15 hours ago, Julian Alvarez said:

 I actually used to have her pull me on my rollerblades around the park, but I stopped bc her normal pulling became worse. Finally gotten her back to being somewhat normal on the leash, but Husky gonna Husky.

I know a guy on Vashon that owns a pack of huskies. He is in a wheelchair and uses them as his transport. I think there are 5 dogs and he ties them to his chair. Once in a while he gets on a bus and you can see how obedient the big dogs are. His tip when I asked him how he trains them was, he sits on their head for a minute to show dominance like other huskies do..

[Cumulus Libre]

Hey,

That doesnt sound good.. how are you now ? Still shaken up or ok?

I have an australian shepherd.. and similar experiences.. we rode together for a few weeks on leash on tarmac and all was fine .. untill he saw a cat we rode for 15mph and he accelerated to chase it.. trying to pull me off i resisted but let go eventually .. i didnt fall luckily.. on the way back we had two more encounters like that.. 

We have cats.. normally he doesnt do things like that and listens very well.. but running together like that put your dog in a high energy state and in their enthousiasm they can do unexpected things... 

Our dog understood speed up.. slow down right left.. i learnt that slowly through walking with the euc and the dog next to me... after a few days he got it...

I was lucky not to fall.. 

That was the last time i walked him with a leash on my euc..  since then we do ride together but always offroad tracks and he is ofleash.. the commando's remain the same...

he is happy i am happy we are all happy ?

 

Cheers cl

[Julian Alvarez]

50 minutes ago, Cumulus Libre said:

Hey,

That doesnt sound good.. how are you now ? Still shaken up or ok?

I have an australian shepherd.. and similar experiences.. we rode together for a few weeks on leash on tarmac and all was fine .. untill he saw a cat we rode for 15mph and he accelerated to chase it.. trying to pull me off i resisted but let go eventually .. i didnt fall luckily.. on the way back we had two more encounters like that.. 

We have cats.. normally he doesnt do things like that and listens very well.. but running together like that put your dog in a high energy state and in their enthousiasm they can do unexpected things... 

Our dog understood speed up.. slow down right left.. i learnt that slowly through walking with the euc and the dog next to me... after a few days he got it...

I was lucky not to fall.. 

That was the last time i walked him with a leash on my euc..  since then we do ride together but always offroad tracks and he is ofleash.. the commando's remain the same...

he is happy i am happy we are all happy ?

 

Cheers cl

I am totally fine. Was only in pain for a few minutes after the crash and was riding the next day. Glad you found a way to exercise your pup! I don’t think I have any off leash areas near by that I could use my EUC at. It would have to be pretty secluded bc people around here already freak out when they see Luna for some reason.