What a time to be alive! If your dog has ever wondered, “Did my run with my hooman on his bike happen since it’s not on Strava?” Well, we have good news for the furball.
The popular training app is partnering with Fi Collar to allow you to upload your dog walks and runs onto Strava.
Bringing GPS tracking together with activity, sleep, and behaviour monitoring, Fi is a new breed of dog collar,” a statement from Strava read. “It lets you keep tabs on where your dog is at all times, provides notes on their sleeping patterns, and even gives dogs some friendly competition with their own leaderboards.”
Canine KOMs: Strava and dogs unite
Yes, leaderboards. Dogs can now duke it out for KOMs. The Fi is a “smart collar” that not only tracks your dogs movements but acts as a for of airtags as well. According to Fi Collars, 1 in 3 dogs will get lost in their lifetime–and 7,000,000 dogs go missing every year. The collar will alert if your dog escapes, and will then aid in tracking them down.
But back to puppy KOMs.
After you finish your run or trail ride with your furry buddy, both of your activities are uploaded to Strava, This enables you to share your canine companion’s athletic achievements with your community and receive the recognition you both deserve. You obviously need to post some photos of your training companion too.
If you’ve never gone for a trail ride with your dog, there are some things to keep in mind.
Work on recall
“You should have your dog learn a proper recall in a low-distraction atmosphere. And then build up to being around high distractions to make sure your dog can stay focused,” Jodie Hawker of Happy Paws Canine Solutions advises. “I start with a long leash on the trail. This gives the dog some freedom but still controlling how far he can get. Once he’s 99.9 per cent good at responding to you with that, you can start with off-leash.”
Hawker recommends incorporating off-leash training by periodically calling your dog back for a brief check-in and rewarding them with a tasty treat as positive reinforcement. This helps familiarize your dog with responding promptly to your recall command.
Bell it up
Another important thing to consider is giving your dog a bear bell when you are riding with them on the trail. Bells on their collars signal their presence on the trail, especially for fast dogs that might startle others, Bonnie Campbell, who owns two lively German…
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