The poor dog’s little legs are going as fast as it can and its poor tongue is hanging out! I don’t see a water bottle on the bicyclist or the bicycle. I don’t see the bicyclist stop and walk.

Our street is a good bit downhill, too, so I’m thinking it must be quite a strain on that little dog. When I have seen this it has always been in the morning.  I’d say around 8-ish..as temperatures are climbing.

I know that Westies (particularly young ones) need a lot of exercise and maybe this is something that is approved now. But I am afraid for this little guy, with his little short legs and the fact that this is really a breed that does better in cooler climates.  

Answer: I know exactly why you have concern. I see lots of college students riding bikes with their dogs and I worry about the safety of the dog and the rider. But, I think that you actually have two different potential problems here. One is the safety of having a smallish dog run alongside a bike and the other is that of the heat factor.

Before my dog got too old, my husband regularly exercised our Border Collie by letting her run alongside his bike.

This is not something I ever felt comfortable doing myself, but he and Makeba were quite a team. They practiced on the beach when she was young, where there was no traffic to contend with. She learned the words “slow”, “stop”, “sit”, “go”, “left” and “right”.

After we moved downtown she even learned to read lights and would get up when the light turned green.

The verbal commands made it quite safe, or at least as safe as it is for anyone to be biking around Charleston. She never pulled him in any direction other than where she was supposed to go and her ability to understand “left” and “right” enabled them to make smooth safe turns.

This level of exercise proved invaluable to us as we struggled to keep this highly active dog well exercised and interested.

However, we should factor in the little legs. When running or riding with any dog you must consider a pace and distance that is appropriate for the dog. What my husband did was to allow

Makeba to set the pace. He never went faster than she did. If this cyclist is doing this, then the pace is OK. Now to consider the distance.

Dogs will try to keep up with us until it is no longer safe for them to do so, so my instruction to my husband was that if she stopped leading, then she was too tired to go on and he must stop and rest and offer her some water. He should never pull in front of her and encourage her to keep up with him.

Now, dealing with our temperatures is a whole other ballgame. I can’t give you a specific temperature when it is too dangerous to allow this type of exercise because every dog’s acclimation and fitness levels are different, but I would think that, with our humidity levels, any temperatures over 80F might be dangerous for even a very fit dog and anything over 90F definitely would be.

Most of the dogs I see running by my house look unfit, way too hot and totally untrained. I fear that these dogs will pull their cyclist head over heels if the dog sees a squirrel or other reason to criss cross the bike’s path. Or worse, pull into a car.

Here are some tips to help someone train their dog to exercise in this manner.

Start by walking with the bike - For the first few outings, just walk (rather than ride) your bike, alongside your dog. Then you can try riding along slowly.

Only go about 1/8th of a mile at first and slowly work up to longer distances. Stay completely out of traffic!

Greenway trails and our hard sandy beaches are perfect.

Start teaching your dog the basic commands.

Don’t overdo it - Realize that you’re doing this mostly for your dog. Although you may easily endure a 30 to an hour bike trip, ten to fifteen minutes is enough for your dog.

Use a special leash – Never attach a regular leash to the bike because you cannot let go if the dog should begin to pull you into traffic or off the road. Several companies make leashes that are designed to attach to a bike so that the rider can still use both hands on the handlebars and to make traffic signals. Attach the leash to a harness rather than the collar so that there is no risk of damaging the dog’s neck if he or she pulls to hard.

Avoid extreme heat - In the warm summer months, reserve biking outings for early mornings. Besides being hard on your dog’s breathing, extreme heat is also tough for his paws on a hot pavement.

Always bring water so that if you do have to stop and rest you can find a shady spot and let your dog drink.

There are special water bottles that have a trough that folds down for the dog to lap from or you can bring a bottle of water and one of those collapsible bowls.

(Dr. Katherine A. Saenger, DVM, owns Bees Ferry Veterinary Hospital and Boarding Kennel (www.beesferry.com) and is a former board member of the Charleston Animal Society (formerly John Ancrum SPCA.) If you have questions about pet behavior or health, or suggestions for column topics, e-mail her at vetsaenger@bellsouth.net, and watch the column in coming weeks for her responses. See more columns at www.moultrienews.com.)