If we were ever going to get a dog, it had to be one that could come with me when I went mountain biking.
So this is Inca. She is an 18-month-old working black Labrador and you'll see from this video she LOVES to go mountain biking with me.
She is officially a trail dog 🙌
Training a dog to ride bikes with you can be difficult but you'll see in this video, on singletrack she always runs behind me and gets rewarded for doing so. If she runs ahead, the fun stops.
I didn't start riding with my dog until she was over 12 months and even then I started with just slower, local rides over the fields to get her used to running next to or behind the bike.
Training a dog to to run with you whilst mountain biking is not easy, but it is possible. I see loads of people letting their dogs run in front of them. In fact, the most well known (Ruby the trail dog) does so perfectly. However, for me I didn't want to be in a position where Inca was running ahead and I ran into her.
We're now up to about 10 miles for a mountain bike ride in places like Cannock Chase and she's brilliant. I know she'd go further but labs suffer with their rear legs and so I'm keen not to push her too hard.
I now also feel I am doing the "follow the dog" trail at Cannock Chase justice. Although, she has to follow me ;-)
