Some good points raised in this thread and I have to admit some of you have made me a little paranoid now. I'm thinking my situation is unique, though, as my dog Hector is blind. He loves riding in the Ural's chair - in fact, he gets a knot in his face if I don't take him along - but is not distracted by any visual situations and as a result has yet to even think about making a move out of the hack without me telling him first.
I've removed the lower seat cushion and added a side curtain, along with fabricating a small windshield for the odd times he pops up while we're in traffic. He's not tied to a leash and spends the majority of his time lying down on his comfy banket, chewing on a bone or sleeping; to date he's ridden over 5,000km without incident. I got him a pair of Doggles, which he reluctantly wears, but it's a moot point as his eyes have been removed. Lately I haven't made him wear them and he seems okay with that. Probably because the legions of female admirers ("Oh, look at the cute dog in the sidecar!") melt even more when they realise he's blind. Damn dog gets all the attention, while I just sit there like wallflower at an 8th grade school dance.
Anyway. He does catch a whiff of an interesting scent once in awhile and will hook his snout over the side curtain for a better sniff, but even when we're at a standstill he will not make a move to investigate it. Training has a lot to do with this, in my mind you're just asking for trouble if you load a dog into a hack without it first understanding and adhering to basic commands like "sit" and "stay". However, the use of a harness that is connected to the floor of the sidecar sounds like the best insurance against mishaps to me. If it's adjusted so that the dog can sit up or lie down without getting tangled up, while not being able to jump out or even get the front paws over the side, well, that's obviously a good thing. In fact, I think I'll buy such a setup for Hector.
To Bob Z., et al. Since the Sauer Sonnenwind doesn't lend itself readily to the tranportation of pet dogs, I have found it practical to strap a large airport legal cage to the top of my camper trailer, and place both the cocker and Murphy the Mutt in said crate. No difference in handling, pets have water, food, and fair view from crate openings. They like it so well they practicvally jump into crate after "potty breaks". Works good for me, good for dogs, and no fear they will accidentaly end up dangling over the side. (I keep having flashbacks to Chevy Chase's "Summer Vacation" where all that is left of pet is an empty leash.)
I've loved taking my dogs on bike trips for years. It started when I went to Sturgis on a Yamaha. The frowns would turn to smiles when my poodle would poke his head out of his wool lined compartment: (all these linked pics are less than 50K).
A few years later I finally got my first sidecar. I modified this Vel 562 to a heavy axle, comstar wheel, and fabricated a new fender and sliding canopy. It worked well to keep my dog contained, providing a bit of shade and a place to mount a "boat cloth" rain cover. We covered at least 30K miles in this rig.
After adopting another Springer Spaniel I needed a larger sidecar so I bought an oddball CJ from an ebay auction. I again fabricated a canopy to protect and contain the pups. We covered another 10K miles until the bike frame broke, 40 miles from the nearest pavement, on the fourth-of -July weekend this year. I'll be resurrecting this rig this winter, this time with a proper subframe.
Both my dogs love sidecars. Whenever I let them out of their yard they head straight into the hack. I guess they "live to ride.....". I recently did an ebay search and found my current classic beemer rig less than 10 miles from home. This Ural-clone chair is a little too open so I added a swinging piece of plywood to help contain the dogs. The tug is a little underpowered for an Alaska trip so I'll probably be selling it before I fab up a canopy for it. Sure hate to give up a true leading link setup tho'.
I'm lucky that my mutts would rather be in the sidecar than out of it most of the time. I've watched them ignore pheasants less than 20 feet away while parked. I've still trained them that "lightning would strike" if they exited the hack without permission.
Rob
Great story about your dogs.
have you considered swapping engines in your Beemer for a larger one?
I dide that with mine, put in a R100RS in place of the 750.
