Training a Harley Dog

I’ve had a service dog for a whopping 24 hours. Well maybe a little longer. She’s been here two days and one actual night. But she needs to be a ride or die kind of girl. My last pooch was a black lab that was with me for 18 years before she crossed the rainbow bridge. My old black lab Mira was a Harley dog, and I need my new lady to do the same.

Ryland in the sidecar

I rolled the Electra Glide onto the carport. I figured I would try to get the old girl ready to ride after a short period of time. We haven’t been together very long, so I decided that I would not push it or force things on her. I’d like to give her some time to adjust before introducing her to too many new things.

I walked her around the bike and sidecar on her leash a few laps. With the hatch open, I asked her to step into the sidecar. I gave her a treat and praise because she lives to please her stomach. Typical dog you know. (By the way, old retired and used up Marines can be trained using this same method. Just substitute a Guinness for a kibble treat from the bag. Ask me how I know this.)

After numerous times of doing this, it was time to get her to stay in the seat while I closed the hatch down and latched it.

Checking out the cockpit

She looked around and decided that it wasn’t so bad after all. We did this over and over. Rinse and repeat. You can probably train your dog to ride too, but your mileage may vary.

It was time to move on to the next stage….. getting her to wear doggy style eye pro. Hey, a danged June beetle to the face at 65 mph is hard core when you ride a scoot. It hurts almost like a gun shot, and I’ve had them break the skin before. To my girl, this would probably put her eye out. I don’t want that, so doggles are the solution.

Doggles

She is a trooper. I had no problem getting her adjusted to wearing her eye protection. For the last step of training today was getting her in the sidecar while the Electra Glide was idling. I started the bike, walked around it a few laps, then got her settled in the seat. We repeated the lesson several times.

Almost ready to ride

At this point I ended the lesson. We had been at it for about half an hour. I chose to end the lesson on a high note, because I wanted her to associate the Harley with fun and not work.

Before I will take her out on the road, I want her to have a different harness. I ordered a tactical style dog harness off the internet and a pair of leashes. The leashes are getting bolted to the inside of the sidecar body to act as a doggy seat belt so she can be cross strapped in for safety. The tactical doggy harness will be better padded and provide multiple tie down points to keep her safe. I could have drove to the local pet store for this, but I chose to order online for two reasons:

1) I can get a better harness for cheaper online.

2) This gives us a little more time for her to bond and learn to trust me more.

So far this is working out nicely. Dogs and sidecars go together like cake and ice cream.