ChessieDB Weblog : With Winter Around the Corner...

With Winter Around the Corner...

Posted on October 24, 2010 at 02:54 PM in categories Dog Sledding

Pretty soon the Winter season will be upon us, and that often means taking a break from training. If you want to keep your dog (and yourself) in shape, there are many winter sports to choose from. If you have four or more dogs, have a look at sprint dog sledding. Chessies are strong and driven -- they can run very fast for several kilometers. They might not be able to compete over long distances in extreme weather, but I bet they would kick ass in shorter / faster races. If you only have one or two dogs, have a look at Ski-Joring -- You wear a special harness around your hips, where the tugline is clipped on, and the dogs pull you along. You can also tie-off the tugline to kick scooters, kick sleds, bikes, etc. Lead-dog training is fairly easy (compared to field work) and the investment in harnesses and tuglines isn't too bad -- you can even make your own. There are certain design characteristics that go into making a harness and tugline, so if you want to make your own, please do some research first. :-) If you're set on buying a dog sled, a sprint-type sled (lighter and not meant to haul goods) is probably best. A competition sled will be more expensive, but there are very reasonable lighter dog sleds available too. Aside from the usual build quality considerations, make sure the sled allows the handle bar to rack / move side-to-side. This will move / bend the runners, making it easier to steer and go around corners.

A few winters back I posted a news item about dog sledding, and recently added a few comments to it about harnesses, kick scooters / sleds, and a video from last Spring of Pete and I with a kick scooter. The video gives you some idea of the commands involved and the kind of speed you can expect. A kick scooter is good for 1-2 dogs, and maybe 3-4 if you're really brave. :-)

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Comments

Posted by on October 24, 2010 at 03:17 PM

The Kickbike and/or Kickspark with snow runners might be a good choice for a 1-2 dog team. They have dealers in Alberta, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Quebec.

js.

Posted by on October 24, 2010 at 10:33 PM

He's haulin' A$$!
I have a Diggler that I need to start working with my dogs with.
I am SUPER impressed with Pete's "gee" and "haw" How long did it take for him to learn those commands? When you started did you have a "chaser" for him?

I'd love to talk more to you about scootering!

Kathy
Whiskey Creek

Posted by on October 28, 2010 at 10:51 AM

Kathy,

The hardest command to teach Pete was "Move Up" -- a command to tell a leader to keep the line tight while clipping on other dogs. Pete was trained for obedience before the sled stuff, so keeping him out front was a bit of a challenge (he had learned that his place was at my side). As you can see in the video, before we leave, he came back to let me know he wanted to leave now. :-)

Gee and Haw are fairly easy to teach. When you're out on walks, just say the word and turn. After a few months, it becomes and automatic behavior for you *and* your dog. :-) I've found trees useful to teach Gee-pass and Haw-pass -- just head for the tree, and at the last minute, say the command and pass the tree on the right or left. If you're on a path, you can also practice Gee-side and Haw-side. Some people use Gee-over and Haw-over, but Pete already knew the Over command from field training. I also used Heel (heel on left) and Side (heel on right) for obedience / field training, but didn't mind sharing that command (keeping Over just for field handling).

In my own experience, I've found that saying the command a few seconds before the dog needs to turn is best. Give him time to hear and understand, then turn. Too early and you loose that "instant" reaction, and too late causes the dog to slow down at junctions (waiting for a possible command, which may or may not come).

Of course the second part of a dog learning a command is actually doing it. We started training Pete from a young age, and after a while, he learned that commands allowed him to *do* stuff. Life without any commands was boring, and commands preceded actions / events. He would often come to us an "ask" us for a command. So when we would be out doing stuff, he would be very enthusiastic about doing any command we gave him. The trick was not letting him get ahead of himself. :-)

js.