Dogscooting is a form of train dog sport, where the dog handler is pulled by his four-legged friend on a scooter, the so-called Dogscooter. The dog sport is ideal for owners who like to spend their time outdoors and has become increasingly popular in recent years.
In the following you will find out exactly how dogscooting works, which dog breeds are suitable for it and what equipment you need in addition to a dogscooter.
In addition, we will explain how you can support your dog optimally with the right nutrition when pulling the dogscooter.
Dogscooting is when the dog pulls its owner behind it, standing on a special scooter. For this purpose, the dog is connected to the scooter with a harness and a pulling line. One or two animals can be tied up.
The dog handler's task is to steer the dog with the appropriate commands. In addition, he must of course show full physical effort, for example to drive the dogscooter safely through curves.
In most cases, dogscooting is done in the transitional period or (provided it is not too warm) during the summer months. However, a dogscooter equipped with winter tyres can also be pulled through the snow and is therefore ideal for providing a welcome change in the everyday life of sled dogs.
Although dogscooting is regarded by most owners as a pure leisure activity, there is also the possibility to take it a bit more seriously and take part in competitions.
If you would like to try your dog at dog scooting, first of all you need a dog scooter. This is a scooter that is specially designed for this form of dog sport, is equipped with two brakes and allows you to ride as safely as possible.
An ordinary scooter is not an adequate replacement for a real dogscooter and is not suitable for being pulled by a dog.
In addition to your dogscooter, you will need a sturdy dog harness of the correct size and an elastic pulling line to pull your dog in front of the scooter during dog scooting. For your own safety we also recommend that you wear a helmet and sturdy shoes.
In terms of numbers, dogs are the second most popular pet in Germany after cats. For many owners, their four-legged friend is a loyal friend and a full member of the family. In principle, this is of course nothing bad.
However, most dogs were originally bred for a very specific purpose, which can still be seen in their character and needs today. With many family dogs, however, this aspect is neglected in their keeping. The animals are not moved and occupied enough, which in the long run can even lead to behavioural problems.
Dog sport is a good possibility to avoid this and to use the family dog to its full capacity in a manner appropriate to the species.
Thus run-joyful quadrupeds can exhaust themselves with the Dogscooting for example properly, while master, and/or mistress on the Dogscooter standing always keeps the control.
Dogscooting is basically suitable for a large number of dog breeds that enjoy running. Because train dog sport is not only reserved for Huskies and other well-known sled dogs like the Samoyed.
However, your four-legged friend should be physically able to pull you behind him on a dogscooter. A Jack Russell Terrier, for example, can hardly get enough exercise, but due to its small size it is not suitable for pulling loads.
Basically, you can assume that dogs with a weight of around 20 kilos or more who enjoy running are suitable for dog-scooting. Depending on how much you put on the scale yourself including the dogscooter, this value can be a little higher.
Apart from breed-specific abilities, you should of course be aware that dog-scooting for your four-legged friend involves an effort that should not be underestimated. A perfect health is therefore obligatory for the tensioning to the dogscooter.
In particular, your dog must not suffer from joint diseases such as arthrosis or problems with the cardiovascular system. If in doubt, we recommend that you visit a vet and have your four-legged friend examined before the first ride on the dogscooter.
With animals younger than 18 months you should generally avoid dogscooting. Since your dog's musculoskeletal system has yet to develop, the worst that can happen is that too early a strain can lead to permanent damage.
Even though the tours with the dogscooter usually lead over relatively soft field and forest paths, running longer distances can sometimes lead to sore or cracked paws. This is especially true if there are many small stones on the track, for example.
For effective care of your dog's paws that have been strained by dog scooting, we therefore recommend using Bellfor Paw Protection Ointment.
The rich ointment with natural ingredients such as insect fat, beeswax and shea butter moisturises and is ideal for treating small cracks in the skin.
As important as the workload caused by dog-scooting may be for your dog, the importance of a diet that meets the needs of your dog is also very high. Because the physical strain leads to the fact that your quadruped has special needs regarding his feeding.
The regular pulling of the dogscooter results among other things in an increased energy requirement. To cover this, we recommend our gluten-free Bellfor Premium PUR Aktiv dry food with a high proportion of fish and meat as well as easily digestible carbohydrates from corn and rice.