[bikermom]

My husband sent me this link this morning and I've been trying to learn how to post pictures, etc. I was very excited to find this thread. We've taken our oldest Yorkie Pip on the Harley with us since he was 6 months old. (born June 21, 2001). Whether or not your Yorkie will make a good bikerdog depends on temperment. Pip was always fearless, loved to ride on anything. For fun he will jump up on our wheeled office chair and I push him around the house as fast as I can. He is a sturdy little guy, very well muscled and has good balance. The noise doesn't bother him, he leans out into the wind and also leans into corners. He rides on my left thigh. We have a very secure harness system, actually two harnesses so if there ever was a failure in part of one harness there is a back up. My husband wears a clipped webbing belt (like what you'd put around a suitcase). There is a tether attached to it and also to a clip-on harness vest Pip wears (no velco). The second system is a padded harness Pip wears that is tethered to my husband's pant's belt. He likes to tell people I can fall off the bike, but Pip can't.

Pip has a whole collection of doggles, with lenses for night or day riding. When we started this in 2001 they were hard to find, only online, but Harley stores sell them now and probably even pet stores. The final piece of riding gear is his do-rag bandana. At first we didn't use that, but on one ride Pip started acting up so we had to pull over. When he got on the ground he started rolling and rubbing each side of his head on the ground back and forth. We thought maybe the wind was bothering his ears, so now he wears the bandana to protect the ears. He is very tolerant of getting dressed up to ride.

My next Yorkie Tucker is more high-strung. Noises bother him and he hates the wind, even from a fan. We don't take him because if he isn't enjoying the ride, we certainly wouldn't either. My youngest Yorkie is 3.5 lbs. She might like riding, but we will have to come up with a different system for taking her since all the doggle sizes are too big for her and she would not be tolerant of having the gear put on. Maybe a baby carrier for my husband to wear.

Pip has a lot of bike miles, he's ridden in Minnesota, Canada, Iowa, Oklahoma and of course Texas. We took him to the Republic of Texas bike ralley in Austin TX one year, but it was really hot for him. He's gone on poker runs in the Hill Country and charity rides. I'll post pictures from his trips, I posted one but when I tried to do another it said I'd exceeded my space in the album. It was only a 640 x 480 (or whatever) pixel size but I guess there isn't room for many pictures. I hate being a newbie..but hope to make some friends here that share the unique joy of riding with a Yorkie.