Biker Dog

Va. Man Never Goes Anywhere Without His Motorcycle Mutt

Her wavy black hair streaming behind her, she rides without helmet or clothes; just a neckerchief, goggles and a toothy smile. She elicits stares, thumbs-up and sometimes outrage. After all, who's to say she enjoys it, perched precariously on the back of a souped-up Harley-Davidson, careering down the highway at 60 mph? Dogs were not meant to fly that way.

Sevey, a black mutt who has logged 60,000 miles over nine years, would beg to differ. In fact, she begs so insistently for the open road that her owner and riding partner, Alan Ribner, 47, can't bring himself to get on his bike without her.

"I feel terrible," he said. "She's too crazy about it." And so, each time he goes for a ride, the Leesburg resident heaves the 55-pound dog into an ostrich leather, fur-lined seat behind him.

As soon as he puts the key in the ignition, Sevey barks enthusiastically, detecting a high note that occurs seconds before the engine turns over. They launch into gear and they're off, thundering down their placid residential street, her high-pitched "Arf! Arf!" punctuating the roar of his Harley.

Neighbors wave. Strangers do double takes. Some follow in their cars, pulling alongside and holding out cellphones to take pictures.

"My husband rides bikes, so he'll love this," Stephanie La Lumiere said from a sport-utility vehicle as she snapped a photo.

"I let my child get on the back of a motorcycle," she added. "So I understand."

Ribner waves, and he and Sevey zoom toward the highway.

Their relationship began nine years ago, when Ribner spotted the listless mutt on the road near a 7-Eleven in Lovettsville.

After inquiring about whether anyone had lost a dog, he and his then-girlfriend, a veterinarian, took her in and named her after the store where they had found her.

Ribner, who sells BMWs in Sterling, had always fantasized about putting a dog in a sidecar. One day, he and Sevey drove out to a company he had heard of in Middletown that makes custom motorcycle dog seats, which run about $600. As a test run, the company's owner buckled Sevey into a seat on his bike.

"When he started up the motor, she jumped out of the seat, but she was strapped in, and I'm like, 'Oh my God, what have I done? I'm torturing this dog,' " Ribner said.