Strava and dogs: Finally your puppers can get KOMs
The fitness app and Fi Collar have partnered to create a way to track your dog’s activities
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What a time to be alive! If your dog has ever wondered, “Did my run with my hooman on their bike happen since it’s not on Strava?” Well, we have good news for the furball.
The popular training app is partnering with Fi Collar to allow you to upload your dog walks and runs onto Strava.
Bringing GPS tracking together with activity, sleep and behaviour monitoring, Fi is a new breed of dog collar,” a statement from Strava read. “It lets you keep tabs on where your dog is at all times, provides notes on their sleeping patterns, and even gives dogs some friendly competition with their own leaderboards.”
Canine KOMs: Strava and dogs unite
Yes, leaderboards. Dogs can now duke it out for KOMs. The Fi is a “smart collar” that not only tracks your dogs movements but acts as a for of airtags as well. According to Fi Collars, 1 in 3 dogs will get lost in their lifetime–and 7,000,000 dogs go missing every year. The collar will alert if your dog escapes, and will then aid in tracking them down.
But back to puppy KOMs.
After you finish your run or trail ride with your furry buddy, both of your activities are uploaded to Strava, This enables you to share your canine companion’s athletic achievements with your community and receive the recognition you both deserve. You obviously need to post some photos of your training companion too.
If you’ve never gone for a trail ride with your dog, there are some things to keep in mind.
Work on recall
“You should have your dog learn a proper recall in a low-distraction atmosphere. And then build up to being around high distractions to make sure your dog can stay focused,” Jodie Hawker of Happy Paws Canine Solutions advises. “I start with a long leash on the trail. This gives the dog some freedom but still controlling how far he can get. Once he’s 99.9 per cent good at responding to you with that, you can start with off-leash.”
Hawker recommends incorporating off-leash training by periodically calling your dog back for a brief check-in and rewarding them with a tasty treat as positive reinforcement. This helps familiarize your dog with responding promptly to your recall command.
Bell it up
Another important thing to consider is giving your dog a bear bell when you are riding with them on the trail. Bells on their collars signal their presence on the trail, especially for fast dogs that might startle others, Bonnie Campbell, who owns two lively German short-haired pointers, suggested. This ensures that while riding, if you notice the fading sound of the bear bells, you can promptly call your dogs back and focus more on observing the trail ahead.|
If you’ve never ridden with your dog before, it’s important to start slowly. Begin in an open field to refine your training approach. Kick off with recall exercises on foot, escalating from a leisurely walk to a brisk jog. Gradually integrate the bike into the training routine. According to Hawker, if you start by walking alongside your bike, let your dog grasp staying beside you without veering in front.
Once they have mastered that you can begin pedaling beside them.
Pick a trail that isn’t busy
When you finally do hit the trails, make sure they aren’t busy with other cyclists, hikers or runners for the first ride.“We’re mindful about when we take them on the trail,” Campbell advises. “The dogs can get confused when there are other big groups of riders on the trail, so we tend to go when it’s less busy.”
If you want to try the Fi Collar, Strava is offering a special offer of $20 off and up to three months free. All you have to do is use the code “STRAVA20” to learn more about the smart collar.
