Ella has responded very well to being in the sidecar. She has become much more adept at getting into the sidecar on command, but one thing we have not sorted out yet is her riding on her own in the sidecar. We’ve been practicing that some, but more practice is needed.

Our first line of defense in keeping in the sidecar will be obedience, and making sure she perceives the sidecar as positive, a good place for a wee dog to be. But that’s not the only option, and we are keeping on eye on other solutions to keeping a dog in a sidecar, such as solutions shared in this Soviet Steeds discussion:

“How do you safely/securely rig your dog in the sidecar?” Follow the whole discussion: Soviet Steeds - Dog In The Sidecar

Leash? Harness? If we decide to install a physical means of keeping Ella in the sidecar, we’ll most likely look into the harness solutions discussed. That way if for some reason she did try to jump out of the sidecar, she could be stopped by a leashed harness, keeping the force of the stop spread over her body and not just her neck.

For now though, we’re going to focus on training. Ella is a very obedient dog, and I’m confident that all we need to do is practice more with just her and me riding, and her getting lots of praise for staying in the sidecar. We’ll see how she progresses.