Behind the doggles

People often know Larry Groah and his little dog Harley without ever really meeting them.

Groah rides a 1979 Harley-Davidson, and as he likes to say it, his seven-pound Yorkie, “rides a ’59 Larry.”

Decked out in a leather jacket, a Harley-Davidson hat with holes cut for his ears, motorcycle “doggles,” and a “bad to the bone” collar, the dog rides on Groah’s shoulder and arm as they cruise the streets of Waynesboro and highways beyond.

“The wind kinda tickles his face,” said Groah, 51, while pulling off Harley’s doggles during an interview this week.

Although the pair often turns heads on highways, where drivers and passengers gawk and whip out their cameras, the secret to Harley’s safety is obvious when up close.

It’s Groah that wears a neck collar. A metal clasp connects him to the full-body dog harness that Harley wears, allowing the dog to walk, dangle against Groah’s belly and move inside his leather vest.

“When he sees me get ready to go, he’s got to go,” Groah said.

The pair rarely separate.

“Yeah, he knows spelling,” Groah said. “I can pick up my watch … he knows automatically. Now I think he interprets my [text messages].”

Where the Groahs go, cameras follow.

“He’s gotta be the most photographed dog in Virginia,” Larry Groah guessed.

In addition to the 3,000 miles they’ve logged since April, word travels fast about the riding duo. They’ve met people from Georgia who know about them.

After a dog-specific motorcycle event in Roanoke, attention on Interstate 581 actually spurred the police to search for Groah. They found him at PetSmart and demanded to know how Harley is kept safe.

After a quick demonstration, the animal control officer asked to pose for pictures.

Locals who know Harley well can’t resist petting the perky pup.

“Harley’s a family dog, really, anywhere he goes,” said Abby Shanks, a server at Sidelines Café in Waynesboro.

Like many others, Shanks first saw Groah and Harley at a gas station. The sight caused her to look twice and ask her boyfriend what he saw.

“The next day he came in,” to Sidelines, she said.

At Shenandoah Harley in Staunton, Motorclothes Associate Aimee Hull also saw the pair long before they competed in (and won) the Mr. Shenandoah Harley-Davidson contest last year.

“I just started cheering him on, because it’s just the cutest thing ever,” Hull said. “They’re really good people and that dog is so adorable.”

Groah rescued the little Yorkie at birth. Now 3 years old, the dog brightens faces at nursing homes and hospitals, with an uncanny knack for striking great poses for pictures.

Harley also sings. When he hears the word “ride,” or “ride, ride ride,” Harley joins in and sends out little high-pitched howls.

The only thing that distracts him — causing his whiskers to whip around — is the sound of a revving cycle in the distance.