When Daphne Lewis and Jesse show up at Myrtle Edwards Park to show off their "dog scooter" they get plenty of attention.

Faye Alpau of Burien was watching as the team went racing by: "It's fantastic, it gets the dog exercise, gives you exercise, and its a neat thing to run around with," she said.

Lewis says she came up with the idea back in 1997: " I needed to exercise my dog more."

She uses a standard adult size scooter, a harness for the dog and a tether to the scooter...and the race is on.

Lewis says scootering just works with dogs' natural instincts -- they love to run.

"I like to think any dog can do it. I know someone in Texas, and his Boston terrier can out pull his pit bull," she said.

Dog scootering is also called "dry land mushing" and there are organized races in Australia, New Zealand and Europe.

Here in the Seattle area, there are fun runs. Dog scooter teams are also organizing a national event called "Dogs Across America" in December. Each state will chose a rail-trail and teams will take sections of the trail to ride.

For More Information:

www.dogscooter.com