Heimliched the pooch...

So I'm sitting there talking to my wife about some things while all three dogs are chewing on their new toys.

Suddenly Kylie (my Aussie) comes running at me, fullspeed, and claws me full on in the chest several times, hard. I look at her, wondering what's the matter, and notice she's making this motion like she's trying to bark, hard, but nothing's coming out.

I realize she's choking, and give her a healthy swat on both sides at once. Being rather alarmed, afraid I was about to lose my buddy, it was all I could think to do.

GACK!! A loud cough and apparently the bit of her chewie that was stuck in her windpipe dislodged and was swallowed. TONS of hugs and kisses after. Yes, she actually does hug.

Close one. I'd have missed my little girl. She's an amazing dog, and sharp as a tack. Besides, who else is going to keep the Lab Boys (bka the Idjuts) in line?

Thoughts on biking with a canine?

I've been wanting to do this for a while, both to give me some much-needed exercise, and to give my Australian Shepherd some exercise as well.

From what I've found, there's a couple thoughts on the subject:
-buy a special attachment that bolts to the rear triangle and holds the dog's leader at a level near the axle, where it has little mechanical advantage and is subject to the master's full weight to resist it. Probably not an issue if you're a thin female with a 180-pound Mastiff along for the run, but I don't have that problem. My buddy is an Australian Shepherd, and I outweigh her by a fair margin. Ok, a more than fair margin. Shaddup. The examples I've seen run about $60, like the BikeDog (which it seems I now can't find the link to)

-similar to the above, except attaches to the seat tube. The WalkyDog is an example of this, about $50. More mechanical advantage for the pup, but it's not likely to be an issue with my riding partner and myself. The biggest thing I have against this is the $50- I have a welder, and regularly fab stuff with webbing (slings and similar), shouldn't be a problem to make the soft part). More to the point, it's been out of stock for at least the last year, near as I can tell. It looks like it's just a dressed-up pneumatic QD fitting and a post. I may have to take a look around Lowes and see what I can cobble up.

-use a standard 6'foot leash. Put the loop around your right bicep, curl it around the headset, and then to the dog. I see lots of opportunity for problems here: the dog has mechanical advantage against the pivot point (tire/ground interface) of the bike/rider assembly. Also there's an issue with the lead possibly fowling in the chainring or at least being a hindrance to the rider's leg. I know a couople folks that've had problems with otherwise-calm dogs bolting at the sight of a squirrel and causing injuries with this sort of setup. I know Xavier doesn't have a problem with this arrangement- I'm just not comfortable with the idea. While my Aussie is very calm (I can walk her without a leash and she has never left my side), I don't want to go this route.

Anyone have other thoughts or input?