Oh boy! I can here the Looney Tunes theme now. This just has bad idea written all over it. Dog on a lead; that is frightened of moving objects that likes to chase woodland creatures… which will be tethered to you. Look, I love my dog too. He goes a lot of places with me. I even take him along on “recovery rides”. But when I do this he is off of the leash. He is also very well trained and obeys both voice and hand commands and does not chase other animals, well, most of the time. On the rare occasion that he does he is quickly corrected with a quick command or a sharp “NO”.
I like riding with him but keep a few things in mind. No matter how much of a teddy bear my dog is, most people get a little unnerved seeing a 125 pound German Shepherd bounding down the trail towards them. Also, you have to remember to bring extra water. A running dog will need quite a bit of water and that can get heavy.