Ask BikePortland: What’s the best way to carry a dog on my bike?

Wait, what about carrying your cat? Why give short shrift to our feline friends?

The Burley Tail Wagon trailer works well — I’ve used one with my pooch for 3 years, probably pushing 500 days of commuting — but it has a stated weight limit of 75 pounds, and I’m pretty sure a Bernese would be too tall to fit even if they were under the weight limit. I think that leaves a custom trailer or a bikfiets — both kind of expensive, but the custom trailer might come out as the more economical option.

While this doesn’t help Mac, if anyone is looking to create a super-secure front basket system for smaller animals (<25lbs), the guys at Crank on SE Ankeny did a fabulous job customizing our bikes to comfortably carry Kepler (my 15lb cat, whom many of you have likely met at TNR/Pedalpalooza). If like me you like to overload your front basket with pets, groceries, camping supplies, or whatever, ask Ian about the system he set up for Jessica's Public bikes. It took a few years of tweaking to get a really secure setup, so I hope others can benefit from the effort too!

Jonathan, something ought to be done about dogs’ love of cars. Roll the window down and their heads will pop out, ears waving in the wind, noses scoping a cornucopia of scent, amazed at the munificence of the planet.

My runt spaniel, Achilles, was the only creature on the block with the guts to hop on a Flexible Flyer and zip down the big hill at Reservoir Park in Saint Louis. He and I got a lot of cred for that.

There used to be a guy at K&F Coffee (26th & Clinton) with an old BMW motorcycle and sidecar, the sidecar being for his Labradoodle. Neat, really neat!

Canines are sensitive creatures. My advice for Mac & Rainbow is to consult James Thurber’s insightful “The Pet Department.” Usually these issues can be worked out with a little common sense.

As far as off-the-shelf commercial bike trailers, the Sunlight Lil’ Hauler Cargo Trailer ($110-$280) will haul up to 120 lbs. But if you are planning to ride regularly with a big dog or a mountain lion, I’d suggest instead a Surly Bill or Ted trailer, they are much more durable and stable with a heavy load, but quite a bit pricier and would require some further customization for shelter and comfort. $800 – $2,000 depending on source and if you are a business paying wholesale or not. Hitches are sold separately from the trailer.

Before we had kids, I would haul our two 50lb dogs on my Big Dummy, using a wideloader set and two plastic tubs, secured to the Xtracycle rack with ratchet straps. It worked really well, but is only stable because the load is balanced. Carrying a single big dog would be hard with anything but a box bike, I think.

The Houndabout pet trailer (from Solvit) served us well for occasionally getting our Great Dane around bike. It had lower axle base (lower center of gravity for dogs) and a 100 lb. weight limit. Also had a lot of venting and a few places to attach a leash.
You can find it on amazon or a few other retailers.
The quality wasn’t amazing, but it worked well enough.