biking the dog

Question
I bike my 6 yr. old collie/husky daily for about 3 miles [some of it intense]and it keeps him in excellent condition. I am concerned that the running on asphalt could be detrimental. Is there any substance to this concern?  

Answer
Dear Jack,
You do indeed have one of the best ways to keep your dog inshape, and you are right it does keep them in excellent condition. I too am facing the same problem with my dog at this moment as I have moved from a very rural area where we were running on sand mostly, to the city where ashphalt abounds.
Yes this is a real problem. Firstly you have the lesser problem of impact on joints, from the constant running on a non giving surface like cement, there isnt much you can do about this one. Just try to run your dog on as much grass as you can.
But the big problem is wear and tear on your dog's feet. The hard surface wears nails down to the quick so your dogs feet can feel very sore. Inspect his nails if they appear too short, any signs of bleeding or slight limping with his front paws especially could mean this is occuring.
Also his pads will suffer abrasion or cracking, a hard working dog can wear these right away very quickly. You did not tell me if your dog runs happily along side your bike, or like mine actually pulls you? All this kind of damage will be greatly increased if he does pull you hard.
The other thing I will ask is do you excercise your dog attached to a collar or a harness? You really need to do this with a harness or in time you will put your dogs neck and back out of alignment especially if he does pull you.
So how can you minimise damage to your dog whilst he is doing this activity? Well there are several things you can impliment to make this safer and more comfortable for your dog.
Firstly attach your dog to your bike with something elastic, you can even use the old inner tube off of a bike. It gives a bit of a bungee effect and mimimises jarring on your dog. Then you can make your dog shoes to help combat the wear, it is easy just find some reasonably durable material. Make a rectangle that your dogs foot will fit in once you sew up the sides. Thick fleecy material works best. Get some velcro sew it to the top so you can tighten it on his foot. You can also lightly but firmly bandage his feet in elastic bandage.
Your dog won't like this at first but after a few runs he will get the idea. Super glue is also great for putting on the ends of dogs nails that are sore, and believe it or not regular soaking of your dogs feet in cool, strong, black tea hardens the pads as well. But regular use will stain the fur.
Hope this gives you a few ideas on how to improve your dogs running experience. Once you get this right it is possible to run your dog vast distances without hurting him at all.
Good Running Faye and Husky Kuul