Watch Out For That Tree!!

Urban Mushing Mistakes

Do you remember that great post I wrote just yesterday regarding the proper way to Urban Mush and the safety tips?

Well, here is my story of what not to do!

Mushing Fun HERE!

Dante loves to run and pull, when he sees the harness he starts dancing in silly circles prancing with his feet the whole time and tries to force you to put the harness on him faster. Silly goofball!
My husband likes to Urban Mush on roller blades, now me? I'm not much for roller blades. When we first got married back in 2009 he thought it would be fun to skate with me, so we purchase a pair of blades each and it became a short lived hobby (for me). Now I had blades as a kid but not as an adult, Mr. "Previously played ice hockey" was great at skating circles around me, showing off his fancy footwork, and coming to a complete stop while he watched me zoom on by howling about my inability to stop!  Well he wasn't that cruel...he did help me stop. But still it was pretty funny!

The hubby trained Dante, and they are a good team. Dante listens and follows the commands, and from a spectators point of view it looks like a blast! (We were naughty, you should NOT let your dog mush on pavement. We're educated now! But at the time didn't know any better! Sorry..) Our street dead ends so this is where we practiced, its not very long but a couple back/forth's and we could burn off a good amount of energy from our crazy boy! Well the hubby took Dante on a lap, and then I wanted to try. Looked like fun right? And Dante listens soo well!

Mistake #1. Running on Pavement.
Just don't do it.

Mistake #2. Start Slowly.
We hadn't practiced our walking pace first...remember me? Ya, new team member. We hadn't done this before together. So down the driveway I stepped sideways (my driveway is sloped but the street is flat). Once on the street I started off with Dante pretty slow, but he quickly leapt into his favorite stride, otherwise known as FAST!! I just hung on for dear life! Luckily we were going in the late evening during the summer so it was still light out but no one was out driving.
Dante did great! He followed my commands for "left", and "right".

Mistake #3. Know your Equipment.
Know your personal abilities and equipment dummy! About that....I had taken on this little adventure with proper safety equipment but that doesn't do any good if you can't stop! What was I thinking!
On a good note, Dante again listened great! I called out "easy" for slow down, and then "stop!" For a halt and we slowly came to a nice stop. When disaster averted! Or so I thought.
Off we went again! Only this time Dante was even more enthusiastic and he really dug in and took off. Now we were headed straight at the dead end.

Mistake #4. Know your Abilities.
I cannot stop! I have to roll slowly to a stop or else fall on my a$$! So there we were, dead end coming quickly straight at me, and Dante running full bore straight towards it! I yelled "easy", sure he slowed but not me..I yelled "stop!" and he came to a complete stop as I flew past him, releasing the towline and skating "George of the Jungle" style straight into and wrapping my arms around a large tree! Thankfully the dead end is a line of trees and a field of grass.
I wasn't hurt, just terribly embarrassed, the neighbors of course were out on their front porch drinking beer and saw the whole thing. They could see I was fine and offered help but continued to howl in complete hysterics at my silly antics.

I then tail tucked and completely humiliated skated back home, Dante at a walking pace next to me rather than pulling this time.

I have since retired my skates, and I'm looking at getting into scootering with Dante and skijoring both sports I feel comfortable in undertaking.

For more reading about Urban Mushing click - HERE

My Silly Goofball of a dog - otherwise known as the "dangerous pit bull". Haha!