Yorkie and Motorcycles

[KimberlySRN]

Originally Posted by TeresaM

Welcome fellow Texan Yorkie Biker Chic!

All of ours ride with us. There are "backpack" type carriers that you can get at any pet store. It's a pouch what you strap on to the front of you and there's a clip inside to secure them to the pouch/you. They also have a drawstring to close it up snugly if needed.

You will also want to look into getting them a pair of Doggles. Protecting their eyes is very important. You know how bad it hurts when a bug hits your arms or hands. Just imagine the damage that would cause if it hit their eyes. The Doggles may take them a little getting use to but ours know it's simply part of the deal. They are available at most pet stores now too.

A good sturdy, well fitting harness will be needed. We use the step in harness for walking them, but for rides they have the "old fashion" type. I feel it gives a more secure fit.

Here's a website that sells little helmets. Aren't they just the cutest things you've ever seen!!! Dog Bike Helmet - 4 sizes in WHITE, BLACK & PINK

Hubby bungee cords a blanket to his gas tank so that Boo (10lbs) can rest his front feet on it. His backend is in the pouch. He'll stand there and lean with hubby on the turns and will poke his head around the windshield when he needs that "wind rippling through his hair" feel.

They are all use to the noise, as DH rides his bike to/from work every day. So the bike noise is associated with Daddy! And our kids LOVE their daddy. We started out slow the first time or two, riding double, DH 'driving' me with Annie. Just a 5 or 10 minute ride around the neighborhood. 15-20 mph. Then we moved onto the streets through town. We found that Annie didn't like going over 45 mph, Boo is just like his daddy...it can't get fast enough for him. Gracie Ruth and Yogi are still young and prefer to stay at/under the 45 mph.

Be prepared for A LOT of people asking questions at stop lights and wanting to take pictures. And watch them when they do the double take and nearly run off the road because they see your baby with you.

Annie was our first and truest biker. Only eating was more fun for her. Sadly she left us last March, but I have no doubt that she has hunted down and made friends with a Hells Angel so that he'll take her on bike rides up and down the golden streets of heaven.

1) Annie B. - Born to be wild!
2) Boo and DH on his VMax ready to hit the streets.
3) Gracie Ruth and Boo before G's first bike Ride. I actually ended up with her but for the sake of the picture we put them together.

I love your pictures. Very cute.

[KCKD]

We have never taken our dogs on the Harley(s)-- but I have seen a lot of dogs riding on bikes. Some appeared to be quite comfortable and safe, and enjoying the ride-- others looked to be in a very precarious position (kind of like those who have large dogs loose in the back of a pickup!). But, many bikers take safety training and follow that training, and others don't.... There are very safe dog carriers that fit on the back of the bike...

(ex-biker.... sold the bikes, in this area cars pay no attention to bikers and too many were getting killed... but do have great memories when we took the bikes to Colorado)

[darnlora]

We have 2 trikes my husband takes the 2 pom-poos on his in a carrier strapped on back seat and i take yorkies 1 in a front carrier pouch on me and the other rides in crate strapped in with seat belt..... ppl always give us the thumbsup sign when they go by us....... We have a blast we take our 4 furkids everwhere with us!! Truth be knpwn ppl actually probably thinkin' are those ppl nuts?

[Hooks_Yorkie]

I have a hayabusa and it never dawned on me that I would ever be able to take my yorkies with me on a ride. I am/was planning a trip with a friend along blue ridge parkway.

I was debating about not going now since I have the dogs, but do you guys (those who own bikes) think that it is still okay on a busa? My friend has a harley and a busa, so if it would be safer on the harley then he could hold them.

[BamaFan121s]

Originally Posted by heatherm0890

i work at harley shop and bamafan, youd be surprised the safety taken into consideration when it comes to motorcycles, im not sure of your reasons for not liking motorcycle but is its a safety issue, I can tell you, there are being some big measures taken to improve safety ...lol sorry part of my job to try to convert people and make them understand the truth about the bikers and try to get rid of the terrible stereoptype on them lol

Oh, I know. I hope I didn't offend. It's just me, I'm just not an advocate as far as I MYSELF am concerned.. I guess when it boils down to it, if you were involved in an accident, you are basically 'out there' unprotected and more venerable.
But ya know, I'm sure there are alot of things I do that just aren't the next person's cup of tea too. I can honestly say that I wouldn't be able to resist making a fuss over a Yorkie if I encountered one on a motorcycle with someone.
** Now, ready for an unexpected surprise? I placed one of the males from a litter with a Harley addict. And what did he name him....Harley! And Harley rides with him all the time.

[linz06]

Another biker chick here... I ride a Ninja, but I've never taken Layla, or even wanted to. It's just too dangerous here... In the 4 months we have with good biking weather, cars don't even think of us on the road. I've been cut off way too many times, and it usually takes most of the summer to get the gravel cleaned off the roads from winter, and I've almost went down on gravel more than once... I love my bike and the freedom of being on an open road and the wind blowing past me, but the road conditions here are just not ideal When I have concerns about my own safety, I couldn't put Layla's life at risk too. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I went down and she got hurt.

[heatherm0890]

Originally Posted by BamaFan121s

Oh, I know. I hope I didn't offend. It's just me, I'm just not an advocate as far as I MYSELF am concerned.. I guess when it boils down to it, if you were involved in an accident, you are basically 'out there' unprotected and more venerable.
But ya know, I'm sure there are alot of things I do that just aren't the next person's cup of tea too. I can honestly say that I wouldn't be able to resist making a fuss over a Yorkie if I encountered one on a motorcycle with someone.
** Now, ready for an unexpected surprise? I placed one of the males from a litter with a Harley addict. And what did he name him....Harley! And Harley rides with him all the time.

yea alot of peope are like that and its perfectly fine, we dont all like the same things,you werent offensive at all..just when i see some who doesnt if its a reason thats not valid i try to gt rid of the stereotype you kno? my shop does more charity work than anyone in the whole town for local cancer patients and stuff so i just try to get the truth about bikers out

[BamaFan121s]

Originally Posted by heatherm0890

yea alot of peope are like that and its perfectly fine, we dont all like the same things,you werent offensive at all..just when i see some who doesnt if its a reason thats not valid i try to gt rid of the stereotype you kno? my shop does more charity work than anyone in the whole town for local cancer patients and stuff so i just try to get the truth about bikers out

I understand completely. My best friend and her husband do charity rides all the time. I always help her promote the event within the community, so technically I'm doing my part too, even though I'd never ride myself.
Like you said though, we don't all like the same things. We travel all over the place to go off road with a group of friends (not rusted out truck driving Bubba with a beer in overalls type of stuff, mind you) and people look at us like I'm nuts. Whatever floats your boat.

[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.

[TeresaM]

Originally Posted by bikermom

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.

The baby type carriers work great for these smaller one. Annie (5lbs) fit right in, and if it got too windy would just tuck her head inside for awhile. Gracie Ruth is just shy of 4 lbs and she wears the XXS size Doggles. So I would think they'd fit your little one. Petsmart, Petco any many of the dog boutiques carry them now. We really need to get together and do a ride this spring when the weather gets nicer...that is if you'll 'ride' with Yamaha people. DH has a 2008 VMax. Until then, perhaps we need to meet and go shopping...for bike stuff...for the kids, of course.

[bikermom]

How funny, we are hard core Harley enthusiasts, but not elitists. My brother has a Yamaha Road Star. We have a 2001 Road King and 2007 Ultra, which is actually tagged from Minnesota but we have it down here now. I'm a warm weather rider also, hopefully we can ride this summer together with our Yorkie babies. I will look around at baby carries for my little one, Josie. I'm very impressed you can ride with more than one, I find riding just with Pip a handful.

[deb22]

Originally Posted by Joodles

another Texas biker here, though I ride with my hubby. I turned down having my own bike as I prefer riding with him. (then I get to sight see, ha ha) I've never taken a dog with us, but just wanted to chime in that we are bike lovers too

Bikers here too. ..But we are in Jersey....Never took the dogs though...Pretty cool....

[dianethomas]

Zaccheus has ridden with me since he was just a few weeks old. He started out in a pouch under my jacket that I made out of an old arm sling. He never seemed to mind the noise. As he got older, he wanted to have his head out, so he could feel the wind, but I was worried about that, so I bought a toy dog carrier from my ten-year-old daughter. It closes entirely, and has a mesh end. I lashed it to my waist with a belt, and for extra measure, attached a lanyard to the carry handles, and put it around my neck.
By the end of the summer, I had modified the sling/pouch to have leg and head holes. He steps into it, and it velcros all the way up his back.
He rode in that with my hubby, and before long, he was sleeping soundly across the gas tank with his head resting on hubby's left thigh.
Now we just need to get him some doggles.

[kwaymon]

This is so neat! It never crossed my mind to ride with Tucker! My husband loves bikes! He doesn't currenly have a cruiser, although he has in the past. Right now he ownes a Yamaha R1 and I don't see how you could ride a dog on one of those! My sister just moved to Texas. We plan on visiting this summer so maybe we'll see some of you Harley Ridin' yorkie lovers!

[LilMissy]

Welcome fellow Texan Yorkie Biker Chic!

All of ours ride with us. There are "backpack" type carriers that you can get at any [COLOR=green! important][COLOR=green! important]pet [COLOR=green! important]store[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]. It's a pouch what you strap on to the front of you and there's a clip inside to secure them to the pouch/you. They also have a drawstring to close it up snugly if needed.

You will also want to look into getting them a pair of Doggles. Protecting their eyes is very important. You know how bad it hurts when a bug hits your arms or hands. Just imagine the damage that would cause if it hit their eyes. The Doggles may take them a little getting use to but ours know it's simply part of the deal. They are available at most pet stores now too.

A good sturdy, well fitting harness will be needed. We use the step in harness for walking them, but for rides they have the "old fashion" type. I feel it gives a more secure fit.

Here's a website that sells little [COLOR=green! important][COLOR=green! important]helmets[/COLOR][/COLOR]

http://kona.kontera.com/javascript/l...rey_loader.gif
. Aren't they just the cutest things you've ever seen!!! Dog Bike Helmet - 4 sizes in WHITE, BLACK & PINK

Hubby bungee cords a [COLOR=green! important][COLOR=green! important]blanket[/COLOR][/COLOR] to his gas tank so that Boo (10lbs) can rest his front feet on it. His backend is in the pouch. He'll stand there and lean with hubby on the turns and will poke his head around the windshield when he needs that "wind rippling through his hair" feel.

They are all use to the noise, as DH rides his bike to/from work every day. So the bike noise is associated with Daddy! And our kids LOVE their daddy. We started out slow the first time or two, riding double, DH 'driving' me with Annie. Just a 5 or 10 minute ride around the neighborhood. 15-20 mph. Then we moved onto the streets through town. We found that Annie didn't like going over 45 mph, Boo is just like his daddy...it can't get fast enough for him. Gracie Ruth and Yogi are still young and prefer to stay at/under the 45 mph.

Be prepared for A LOT of people asking questions at stop lights and wanting to take pictures. And watch them when they do the double take and nearly run off the road because they see your baby with you.

Annie was our first and truest biker. Only eating was more fun for her. Sadly she left us last March, but I have no doubt that she has hunted down and made friends with a Hells Angel so that he'll take her on bike rides up and down the golden streets of heaven.

1) Annie B. - Born to be wild!
2) Boo and DH on his VMax ready to hit the streets.
3) Gracie Ruth and Boo before G's first bike Ride. I actually ended up with her but for the sake of the picture we put them together.

Toooooooooo COOL
I love that you are letting your Yorkies join in on the fun!