Every dog loves to go for a ride. But what if your human owns a Harley-Davidson?
It’s not a problem for three-and-a-half pound Bella, who, along with her human Amanda Keller, has become somewhat of a social media phenomenon as a video of the two of them tooling around town has gone viral.
It all started with a request for Keller to appear in an online motorcycle show.
“In the bike community, there’s usually poker rides and rallies that you can go to,” Keller said. “But with the (COVID-19) restrictions, there aren’t any gatherings.”
The idea behind the request for an Instagram page, was for motorcycle enthusiasts to take a video of themselves riding to create a big online rally as a way to continue to feel connected. Little did they know, Keller takes Bella with her everywhere she goes, and that includes riding her Harley.
She had a shaky cell phone video, but then decided to enlist the help of videographer Giles Palmer.
“I put it up on my Facebook and Instagram and it got views way surpassed my following,” Keller said. “It was quite shocked. That wasn’t what the intention for it was and I didn’t expect that to happen.”
Then the folks at Harley-Davidson got wind of the video and shared it on their Facebook page, where it really took off.
The Brink Group of Companies then got involved (owner John Brink is also an avid Harley rider) and sponsored the video on Facebook to give it even more reach.
The video has been viewed more than 40,000 times in less than a week.
“It’s definitely not something I expected to happen,” she said.
And, the rides, aren’t anything new for Bella and Amanda.
“I didn’t get a dog so she could just stay home and never see me,” she said, adding she takes her “best friend” everywhere she can.
Bella has never been afraid of bikes and while she was OK with Keller going off to work, she would get mad when Keller hopped on her bike.
“I thought maybe she wanted to go for a ride,” she said. “I had a front-carrier pack for when I take her fishing, and we’d use it for longer hikes. She was very comfortable being in her pack. I did put that on her and went around the block and she really liked it.”
And, so began many rides for the best friends. Plus, it’s safety first. The pack keeps Bella secure to Keller’s chest when they’re riding. Even so, Keller searched around for a helmet for Bella but finding one small enough was a challenge. She finally found a couple that worked and even managed to get goggles for Bella.
“Now she loves it,” Keller said. “She loves it so much, that sometimes she’ll actually fall asleep while we’re riding. I’ll say ‘want to for a bike ride?’ and she’ll run and scratch at the post that her helmet is on.”
They get out for a ride whenever they can, so it’s very likely you will see them touring around.
You can check out the video here.
