My first sentient bike passenger was the late Lyle, a chihuahua. Eons ago, he rode all over Isla Vista, tucked into my sweater with his head poking out the neck hole. His younger (she’s a sprightly 13) cohort, Bettie, had never had the pleasure of bike commuting until this week. I didn’t think she’d be cool in my sweater so I used the bungee net to secure her in a soft doggie carrier to my front basket. I won’t say she had a blast, but she was perfectly relaxed. Maybe I should let her poke her head out next time.

We traveled just seven blocks to the drop-in vet, but we got to do it twice since they didn’t have time to see her before kindergarten pickup time. Check out the sign: FREE CUSTOMER PARKING.

Naturally, that’s just for cars. Bikes either park at the bike rack of the neighboring business (and I didn’t want the bike that far away) or the glass-strewn tree out front.

Bettie got her fifth bike trip the following morning when I took her in sans kids. This time I opted for the old mamabike and just set her carrier on the front kid seat without bungee. It worked great, too. She stayed at the vet for a while to get an x-ray and I would have liked to pick her up with the little bike, but I had the three-year old along by then and didn’t think he would give up his front seat to Bettie and I didn’t want to stick her behind me so soon in her biking career. So she was back in the big bike’s basket.

Obviously, I don’t know as much about biking with dogs as I do biking with kids, but as luck would have it, I ran into Juliette of Hub and Bespoke this morning. She didn’t have her sweet doggie along, but here’s a photo from the bike counter launch party:

Hub and Bespoke has carried dog carriers in the past, but don’t currently stock any. However, Juliette is happy to share knowledge and place orders.

Here’s a dog I saw recently, in a milk crate. I’m sure he’s happier than he looks.

If you want to read a bit more about getting your furry friend on board your rig, I enjoyed Cycling Gypsies’ Dogs on Bikes, TreeHugger’s 11 Ways to Take Dogs on Bikes slideshow, and Amazon’s Best Sellers in Dog Bicycle Carriers.

Bettie has a recheck in two weeks so perhaps we’ll figure out an even better method for toting her.