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Chariots of the dogs? San Diego woman puts dog before cart

By Larry Knowles

July 10, 2006

San Diego--Most dog owners take their dogs for a ride every now and then. For San Diego resident Joy de la Ren, however, it’s the opposite: Her dogs take her for a ride. de la Ren is one of a small group of San Diegans who practice “dog carting,” an activity in which dogs pull humans around in two or four-wheeled carts.

de la Ren can be seen carting a couple of times a week alone or in a group in metropolitan areas, such as Balboa Park and the Embarcadero. With one or two dogs pulling her cart and another dog in the seat beside her, she and her canines attract a great deal of attention. And because of the high visibility and curiosity level, de la Ren has turned the activity into a business venture, appearing in the 2006 Rose Bowl Parade, working weddings, as well as offering advertising space on the side of her cart. De la Ren began carting ten years ago during a metaphysical moment with one of her dogs—or “canine intervention,” if you will.

In 1996, de la Ren, having been diagnosed with Reiter’s Syndrome (a form of arthritis) and periodically confined to a wheelchair, had recently experienced a frustrating incident at the airport. An attendant wheeled her to the edge of his territory and said that another attendant would arrive to take her to her gate. The second attendant never arrived, and she knew then that she had to regain control of her life.

When de la Ren got home, she sat in her wheelchair and visited with her dog, Tara, which she kept at her side with a leash. “Here I am,” she thought at the time, “a powerful business woman and I’m being pushed around by these fools. I feel like I have no power. How am I going to get my power back?”

“My dog turned around and looked at me,” de la Ren recalls, “and almost said, ‘You hang on, Joy. I’m gonna show you how we’re gonna do it.’”

According to de la Ren, Tara bolted off with the leash still in de la Ren’s hand. With dog pulling owner across the room, de la Ren had an epiphany. “Oh, is that how we’re going to do it?” she called out to the dog.

She soon trained Tara to pull her wheelchair on command and began ersatz carting in public. Acquaintances suggested that she get an electric scooter, but de la Ren never considered the idea, saying that riding a scooter would be like giving up on walking.

“With a dog pulling the chair,” she explains, “I could walk when I can and ride when I needed to.”

Realizing that only thing that she liked about being in a wheelchair was having a dog pull her, she researched dog carting and took up the hobby. After taking lessons, de la Ren began carting regularly, progressing from driving one dog to driving a team of two. The benefits of carting came immediately, as she got to spend more time with her dogs, meet people, and even make a little money.

de la Ren says that a talent scout discovered her at around that time, as she was carting through Balboa Park. The scout was interested in hiring her for a paying gig where she and the dogs would dress up and pose outside The Old Globe Theater during production of The Grinch. The one caveat, the scout told her, was that dogs had to wear antlers.

She agreed, and the before each show she and the dogs (wearing antlers) would entertain theater-goers and pose to have their pictures taken with families, children, and school classes. de la Ren returned each December for the Grinch production for the next several years.

de la Ren says that while she’s out carting she often takes time out to enjoy another dog-based pastime: doggie dancing. Also known as “doggie freestyling,” doggie dancing is a choreographed activity that involves owner and dogs dancing to musical accompaniment. “I’ll take the dogs off the cart and we’ll all take turns dancing,” she says.

While most people get a kick out of seeing her cart around town, de la Ren says that she’s gotten a few dirty looks and negative comments from people who think that carting is cruel to the dogs.

One time, when carting through Balboa Park, a park security guard accosted her and claimed that the humane society had been called because she was “abusing her dogs.” The society had in fact never been notified, but the incident illustrates the public’s misunderstanding of working dogs and carting in general.

“This was a service dog!” she exclaims. “What they’re doing is work, and we all need work. Dogs love work.”

These days, de la Ren’s team works like, predictably, dogs. She offers businesses the chance to advertise and stock brochures on the side of her cart, and promises advertisers that she’ll get out and about at least two days a week. “Advertisers go wherever I go,” she says. “If anyone’s curious about the ads, I tell them to take a brochure.”

Unlike many of today’s pampered canines who travel in the back of air conditioned luxury cars, de la Ren’s dogs pull their weight, and more.

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Larry Knowles is the editor of Vyuz.com. He can be reached at lgkiii@vyuz.com