harness for biking?

I would suggest that if you are going to have him pull you (as opposed to just run along side), you should get a harness meant for it, like sled dogs use.

I bikejor with Zeke, and he has an x-back harness that we got from a mushers supply store. There are a lot out there, and they can help you get the right size. The potential problems I see with the harness you are thinking of are that it is not meant for pulling, and so might not be strong enough, and also that it might not fit comfortably on a pulling dog.

Has Murphy been trained to bikejor? I ask because if you have been trying to keep him by your side, a pulling harness won't work. Instead, you'd probably want one of those bike springs that attach the dog to the side of your bike. Bikejoring is lots of fun, and I don't mean to be discouraging, but Zeke had to be trained to be in front and stay in front while running.

Do you hold the leash/line, or is it attached to the bike? It is generally considered much safer to have it attached to the bike, on the frame, and the lower the better, for better control. I have lines that I also use for skijoring, that I also got from the mushers supply store, and they are about 12 feet long, I think. You don't want too short of a line if the dog is in front. When Zeke does stop suddenly to sniff (he's getting better, but training takes a while), the long line allows time for me to stop, and not run him over.

That's kind of a long answer to your question, but I hope it helps!

 It depends on what you want him to do whether that is a good harness. I have used a Comfort Flex harness on Callie for biking, but I have Callie run beside me using a bike attachment, and I don't have her pull the bike. If you want your dog to pull, then you probably want a harness designed for that.

 I use a ruffwear webmaster for running next to the bike - totally agree that a pulling harness is the best idea if you want him to pull - for hours as you say

Murphy has been trained to Bikejor yes, I have been keeping him running alongside the bike while we don't have a harness so that it doesn't put so much pressure on his neck. We've been riding for the past year and a half no problem, we just lost our harness in a move a couple months ago. I have heard mixed opinions on x-back harnesses, I've been told by a number of people that they can put a lot of pressure on the dog's hips. We went out today and bought a harness made for skijoring with d-rings on the sides, and just got back from a two hour run a few minutes ago, it works fantastic. Murphy is a very focused runner, he's had troubles with dog reactivity in the past, but while running he will go right past other dogs without a second glance. He'll only stop when he hears me call to him. As I said, we're not new to this. The only reason I asked about the above harness is because it was the best I good find looking on line, we live out of town so I wasn't aware of what the local shops had in town. We came across a good find today though.

Glad you found what you needed. I hope I didn't sound too preachy; there are a lot of people I've talked to that have no idea what they are doing.

I am interested in the harness you are talking about. Could you post a picture? Zeke does fine with the x-back, but I like to know what else is out there. I wish he were as focused as Murphy. He'll run well, but if he sees wildlife he wants to chase it, wherever it may go!

Happy running!

It has d-rings on either side, plus one at the top for walking. I've been hooking shorter lines to each d-ring and then connecting those lines to the main line, so when he's running it's like a horse hooked up to a cart, it's been working really well for us, and you can see as he's running that it doesn't put any pressure on his hips or spine.

I have a harness similar to the one you just posted and it works great.

I think it's the good choice for your dog.