Sunday, October 21, 2012
More dry land
Been out every day this week and things have been going quite smoothly with Lemon taking charge.
On Friday I had an opportunity to hook up Lemon and Elmo with a good friends team so I took advantage of it.
Got a bit of nice video of Elmo being excited to head out after we pulled him for a bit. Working on getting his love for the sport back up and taking all the pressure off.
Just wanted to give a bit of an update and share some videos for anyone who wants to see how we're making out.
First one is Elmo and Lemon on my friends team and second is my team from today, we're only up to 2.5 km runs right now as my heavies (aka the Tibetan Mastiffs) are not in the best shape to be running very far and the breed itself isn't exactly notorious for their energy levels anyway.
Enjoy
Thursday, October 18, 2012
When life gives you lemons...
Well you run your dogs with her :)
This is an intro to Lemon, a 7 year old gee haw leader! Since her arrival we have done a few runs with the quad. All I can say is WOW, a lead dog makes the world of a difference.
Our first run as a 5 dog team was amazing, we were not briskly walking anymore at long last.
I took the dogs out on a short 2k run down the road with the quad on Wednesday morning and it went so smoothly, we even managed to hit a pace of 10 kms/h which really doesnt seem like much but if you ever tried to run a team of Tibetan Mastiffs you would realize that this is mach speeds for them.
Everyone ran fantastic too and were happy to do it.
I have some video that I will upload to youtube from that run in the next few days but for now here is a facebook link
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152199841955511
Not sure if that will work or not but it may.
Also on Wednesday I hooked up the lil Brindle girl to the team too, she's still just a baby so she only went on a little run with Lemon and Elmo so she could get a nice gentle introduction.
Here is a pic of the wee team with lil Brindle.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Its almost time :)
With our long HOT humid and ridiculous summer, not a whole lot on the sledding or training front has happened. We have head out a few times on my half a pedal bike that I purchased from kijiji (its missing a pedal but has tires that hold air so it was perfect for me) We had a few disaster bikejoring runs this summer but with the temperatures there was no way to work on much.
However, now that it is October and it is getting so cold out I'm itching to GO.
The dogs, probably not so much but I sure as heck am.
Our team may be growing too! I am looking at a lead dog, an actual lead dog, former racer. I feel in a way that it is cheating but I don't like how the pressure of being the lead has taken some of Elmo's love out of the sport. I do plan on getting more serious with sledding this year, not to the point of racing, it would be nice one day but not for a while. However I do want to get out more on the roads as it is pretty quiet out here and there are TONS of secluded roads that could keep us busy all day. Also, Guy wants to get involved in the sport as well which is nice, we share NO common interests really but after his little trip on the sled when out icefishing last year he really enjoyed it, and laid off about the amount of dogs we have for the season :)
So, looking into a good lead dog to pair up with Elmo to take the pressure off him for a bit and then eventually move Elmo on to his own team as lead which would just be following the head team on trips really.
Also, considering we don't really have an even number of dogs this year, there is a sweet little pound pup here named Tazer who appears to be a Dutch Shepherd mix of sorts who will be starting lightly this year mostly just harness breaking and possibly putting her in the team with no hope for her to pull but just to understand the team and what is to be expected. I have a good feeling about this little pup, she really reminds me a lot of Elmo. Very willing and smart as a whip.
I also noticed I had neglected to post about our first "race" last year. Team Briskwalkers ( aka us) came in something like 14th out of 16 teams which was FANTASTIC. I only ran 2 dogs and believe I had Elmo and Marv or possibly Elmo and Karma. We did 2 races and placed the same both times. I'm just not sure which race Karma was in and which Marv was. I will dig up the pictures and post them with a little description of the day as I recall it.
That is all for now, hopefully I haven't lost my entire audience as it has been well over 6 months since my last entry.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Much better :)
Well this morning I got brave and decided we had to get back at it regardless of the shinaningans of yesterdays outings.
When I went to hook up we had our normal problems, this was a good indication that things were going to run smoothly somehow.
Sure enough, once everyone was hooked up, we took off. I took my camera out with me today to snap some pics, still have no video camera for the time being so photos will have to do.
Here is what it looked like on take off.
Looks fantastic, Karma and Elmo in lead, and both seemed pretty focused.
HOWEVER, apparently after yesterdays headaches Karma still thought it would be a fantastic idea to drag the entire team off on her crazy trail from yesterday. Elmo wasn't having it and corrected her "mistake" by getting the team going in the direction I asked them to, you can see him objecting to her attempt to go to the right here.
After Elmo got this sorted out like a champ, I decided I wasn't going to let Karma pull any more of this free thinking stuff on me and demoted her out of lead switching her with Tibby.
That prevented any more problems for our outing today.
I was super proud of Elmo and Tibby for continuing on track even when a bush chicken crossed their path into the bushes. They took a look in the direction of the bird but chose to keep going straight.
We only went around twice as I had to head back and do horse water and a whole bunch of things before heading to work for the evening, but I did stop them after the first trip around to take a break, it was warm out this morning for the heavies. I love this picture as each dog is keeping an eye out on their side of the team.
From that point everything went well, nothing to blog about other than the bush chicken flying out of a tree on the way back out towards the house spooking both myself and the dogs. They handled it very well, all of them jumped to the left a bit but didn't break their pace. Tibby is checking out in the direction of the commotion but kept right on going.
The whole time down the bush trail I was dreading that last turn to go back up to the house where the dogs had decided to run straight yesterday.
As we approached I gave a stern and to the point "Gee" and...
Perfection :)
Going to go back out tomorrow morning as well or maybe Friday, I want to give them a day off from this before this weekend. I am off all weekend and am planning on picking up Maybelle the standard poodle again this weekend to get some speed again. This slow and steady stuff is nice too, but I want to get them moving a bit faster now and Maybelle just may be the trick. I will start with just her and Elmo and slowly start adding the heavies to the team one by one. Pretty fired up for a fun filled possible headache-y weekend too ;)
When I went to hook up we had our normal problems, this was a good indication that things were going to run smoothly somehow.
Sure enough, once everyone was hooked up, we took off. I took my camera out with me today to snap some pics, still have no video camera for the time being so photos will have to do.
Here is what it looked like on take off.
Looks fantastic, Karma and Elmo in lead, and both seemed pretty focused.
HOWEVER, apparently after yesterdays headaches Karma still thought it would be a fantastic idea to drag the entire team off on her crazy trail from yesterday. Elmo wasn't having it and corrected her "mistake" by getting the team going in the direction I asked them to, you can see him objecting to her attempt to go to the right here.
After Elmo got this sorted out like a champ, I decided I wasn't going to let Karma pull any more of this free thinking stuff on me and demoted her out of lead switching her with Tibby.
That prevented any more problems for our outing today.
I was super proud of Elmo and Tibby for continuing on track even when a bush chicken crossed their path into the bushes. They took a look in the direction of the bird but chose to keep going straight.
We only went around twice as I had to head back and do horse water and a whole bunch of things before heading to work for the evening, but I did stop them after the first trip around to take a break, it was warm out this morning for the heavies. I love this picture as each dog is keeping an eye out on their side of the team.
From that point everything went well, nothing to blog about other than the bush chicken flying out of a tree on the way back out towards the house spooking both myself and the dogs. They handled it very well, all of them jumped to the left a bit but didn't break their pace. Tibby is checking out in the direction of the commotion but kept right on going.
The whole time down the bush trail I was dreading that last turn to go back up to the house where the dogs had decided to run straight yesterday.
As we approached I gave a stern and to the point "Gee" and...
Perfection :)
Going to go back out tomorrow morning as well or maybe Friday, I want to give them a day off from this before this weekend. I am off all weekend and am planning on picking up Maybelle the standard poodle again this weekend to get some speed again. This slow and steady stuff is nice too, but I want to get them moving a bit faster now and Maybelle just may be the trick. I will start with just her and Elmo and slowly start adding the heavies to the team one by one. Pretty fired up for a fun filled possible headache-y weekend too ;)
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
"Feels like the first time"
What an awful day on the trail today!
It has taken me hours to figure out todays misadventures but after posting a brief complaint about it on Facebook today a REAL musher posted this:
It's always the weather.
1. "the dogs looked flat" = sticky snow
2. "the wheels fell off" = too warm
3. "leaders were distracted" = too sunny
4. "this sport sucks" = 4th day in a row of rain/mud
5. "dogs flew down the trail" = nice and cold
Well... today the wheels definitely fell off and the lead dogs were not just distracted but they had totally lost their minds. Perhaps their brains fell out.
We hooked up like a dream today, it almost went WAY too smoothly.
First command out of the driveway was our traditional "hike" and Elmo took off like a bolt of lightning until he tightened up the lines on the TM's then we slowed right down as usual.
Our first corner down past the horses is always a haw followed by a slight gee and heading towards the trail is a sharp haw. This has been our route for weeks now.
HOWEVER, today this is NOT what they had in mind. Apparently Elmo felt that haw meant take a sharp gee and make our own trails. I stopped the sled when he figured he would go his own way, got us straitened out and set up down the trail.
As we were on our way into the wooded area I said hike again and just as I was going to follow with a "good" to let them know they were on the right track they ALL decided hike now meant lets hit the bush and start bush whacking through the trees and up hill doing a 90 degree haw. I got us out of the trees and back on the trail.
At this point I was wondering WTF are they thinking???
Clearly they just weren't.
As we made it through the wooded part of the trail we usually take a haw to head down the trail that is more downhill, today I wanted them to go straight. As we hit the "option" they actually went straight. I was pleased with this and thought that todays problems were now over.
I WAS WRONG, so very wrong.
Not even 30 seconds into the oval "backwards" I asked for a haw which really is just following the trail but for some reason I can NOT figure out Elmo and Tibby figured this meant go straight into a part of the field we have NEVER sled on.
Again I straightened the team out and made it all the way around the oval.
We went around twice, quite smoothly but I noticed that Marv was doing ALL the work. Elmo had slacked right off and Karma was floating around spaced out on the line.
We went back up to the house and I removed Tibby and Marv from the line, took the line apart and hooked up 2 dogs. Elmo and Karma.
I don't know why I thought this would be a good idea, my PLAN was to just get the two of them back involved with pulling down the wooded part and back. Thats all I wanted.
Well, apparently they had a little hissy fit about being a 2 dog team and decided to go stupid on me.
Before I even asked for the haw to head towards the bush trail, Karma decided she was taking a hard gee and heading towards the road. At this point I was quite annoyed with them and thought, FINE... lets do it your way but you're going to regret it.
Off we went, through pretty much virgin snow which had them swimming to move. I got off the sled as even though I was upset with our day thus far I wasn't going to make them swim and pull, I do have a heart.
From their swimming trail to the road they decided that they were going into the bottom end of the field where we did have a trail at one time but it has long since drifted over.
They worked their fool asses off just getting through the snow, as did I. It was waist deep at some points but I just kept quiet and let them get this crap of free thinking out of their minds.
It took forever for us to find the skidoo tracks again but we did, and we were tired. All of us.
As soon as we got on the easy trail again I stopped them to give them a little break, I needed one too, badly.
So now that I had refreshed my mind, let go of the mess I let the dogs take me through and everyone had their breath back. I straightened them up and walked back to the sled and gave the hike command. I wont lie, I was fearing what they were going to pull on me this time. I guess they were just a bit too tired to object any more and ran the trail properly.
Now we were running it backwards again and by running, I mean walking.
We went down the slight hill and they let loose a bit, we were up to a nice pace, no one really working too hard but both dogs were working together which is all I wanted them to do in the first place.
We went around once, head back out the wooded area and sure as shit as soon as we hit the part of the trail where we could either go home up to the house with a gee, they thought they would try that suicide trail they just went down!
I wasn't letting them get away with that again. Admittedly I was really annoyed now that they were going to ignore another command.
I stopped them and gave them both a little piece of my mind and demanded the gee with some fancy arm gesture to remind them what the heck that meant.
Karma decided to comply with my request and moved Elmo with her a few steps and then decided to zig zag and try for the deep snow again.
I was furious at this point but kept my cool about it. Got them pointed back to the bush and ran them back down the trail towards the oval again. I didn't make them go around though, I stopped them at the Y and looped them to head back out to the house.
When we were approaching the mess of a right turn they just bombed a few minutes ago I was dreading the shit they were going to pull, but, I think they gave up on the challenge part and complied with my request for a gee.
We went up to the house at a nice slow walk, I got off the sled and just walked behind it as I was drained, and I'm quite sure they were both mentally drained as well, they should also have been physically drained but not sure.
I called it a day when we got back. There was no way I was going to introduce the skidoo trail to them today.
They are going to get a few days off now, unless I have the guts to get them out early in the morning before work tomorrow... Actually, I think it would be best to do just that.
I'll be sure to let you all know how tomorrow morning goes. *sigh
I have to let today go, hopefully they have as well.
It has taken me hours to figure out todays misadventures but after posting a brief complaint about it on Facebook today a REAL musher posted this:
It's always the weather.
1. "the dogs looked flat" = sticky snow
2. "the wheels fell off" = too warm
3. "leaders were distracted" = too sunny
4. "this sport sucks" = 4th day in a row of rain/mud
5. "dogs flew down the trail" = nice and cold
Well... today the wheels definitely fell off and the lead dogs were not just distracted but they had totally lost their minds. Perhaps their brains fell out.
We hooked up like a dream today, it almost went WAY too smoothly.
First command out of the driveway was our traditional "hike" and Elmo took off like a bolt of lightning until he tightened up the lines on the TM's then we slowed right down as usual.
Our first corner down past the horses is always a haw followed by a slight gee and heading towards the trail is a sharp haw. This has been our route for weeks now.
HOWEVER, today this is NOT what they had in mind. Apparently Elmo felt that haw meant take a sharp gee and make our own trails. I stopped the sled when he figured he would go his own way, got us straitened out and set up down the trail.
As we were on our way into the wooded area I said hike again and just as I was going to follow with a "good" to let them know they were on the right track they ALL decided hike now meant lets hit the bush and start bush whacking through the trees and up hill doing a 90 degree haw. I got us out of the trees and back on the trail.
At this point I was wondering WTF are they thinking???
Clearly they just weren't.
As we made it through the wooded part of the trail we usually take a haw to head down the trail that is more downhill, today I wanted them to go straight. As we hit the "option" they actually went straight. I was pleased with this and thought that todays problems were now over.
I WAS WRONG, so very wrong.
Not even 30 seconds into the oval "backwards" I asked for a haw which really is just following the trail but for some reason I can NOT figure out Elmo and Tibby figured this meant go straight into a part of the field we have NEVER sled on.
Again I straightened the team out and made it all the way around the oval.
We went around twice, quite smoothly but I noticed that Marv was doing ALL the work. Elmo had slacked right off and Karma was floating around spaced out on the line.
We went back up to the house and I removed Tibby and Marv from the line, took the line apart and hooked up 2 dogs. Elmo and Karma.
I don't know why I thought this would be a good idea, my PLAN was to just get the two of them back involved with pulling down the wooded part and back. Thats all I wanted.
Well, apparently they had a little hissy fit about being a 2 dog team and decided to go stupid on me.
Before I even asked for the haw to head towards the bush trail, Karma decided she was taking a hard gee and heading towards the road. At this point I was quite annoyed with them and thought, FINE... lets do it your way but you're going to regret it.
Off we went, through pretty much virgin snow which had them swimming to move. I got off the sled as even though I was upset with our day thus far I wasn't going to make them swim and pull, I do have a heart.
From their swimming trail to the road they decided that they were going into the bottom end of the field where we did have a trail at one time but it has long since drifted over.
They worked their fool asses off just getting through the snow, as did I. It was waist deep at some points but I just kept quiet and let them get this crap of free thinking out of their minds.
It took forever for us to find the skidoo tracks again but we did, and we were tired. All of us.
As soon as we got on the easy trail again I stopped them to give them a little break, I needed one too, badly.
So now that I had refreshed my mind, let go of the mess I let the dogs take me through and everyone had their breath back. I straightened them up and walked back to the sled and gave the hike command. I wont lie, I was fearing what they were going to pull on me this time. I guess they were just a bit too tired to object any more and ran the trail properly.
Now we were running it backwards again and by running, I mean walking.
We went down the slight hill and they let loose a bit, we were up to a nice pace, no one really working too hard but both dogs were working together which is all I wanted them to do in the first place.
We went around once, head back out the wooded area and sure as shit as soon as we hit the part of the trail where we could either go home up to the house with a gee, they thought they would try that suicide trail they just went down!
I wasn't letting them get away with that again. Admittedly I was really annoyed now that they were going to ignore another command.
I stopped them and gave them both a little piece of my mind and demanded the gee with some fancy arm gesture to remind them what the heck that meant.
Karma decided to comply with my request and moved Elmo with her a few steps and then decided to zig zag and try for the deep snow again.
I was furious at this point but kept my cool about it. Got them pointed back to the bush and ran them back down the trail towards the oval again. I didn't make them go around though, I stopped them at the Y and looped them to head back out to the house.
When we were approaching the mess of a right turn they just bombed a few minutes ago I was dreading the shit they were going to pull, but, I think they gave up on the challenge part and complied with my request for a gee.
We went up to the house at a nice slow walk, I got off the sled and just walked behind it as I was drained, and I'm quite sure they were both mentally drained as well, they should also have been physically drained but not sure.
I called it a day when we got back. There was no way I was going to introduce the skidoo trail to them today.
They are going to get a few days off now, unless I have the guts to get them out early in the morning before work tomorrow... Actually, I think it would be best to do just that.
I'll be sure to let you all know how tomorrow morning goes. *sigh
I have to let today go, hopefully they have as well.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Not a lot new on the sled front
As the title indicates nothing is super new with our training. I had taken a few days off after the last post because of my work hours and then 2 days off prior to this post because I have been hunted down and stricken with a cold almost as fierce as a man cold, but clearly not as I am a woman and that cold does not cross genders!
Today we did a lot of runs, it was beautiful out and I wasn't going to let a cold get in my way (another sign it is not actually the man cold) I hooked up the heavies and Elmo as usual. I have switched up the order as I don't really want Tibby pulling right now much and I have to 'force' Karma into getting involved a bit more as she is smart enough to know how to not have to pull when in lead.
She does a good job of keeping the sled going the right way even if not in lead, Elmo I wouldn't say knows the commands as much as he knows the routine of the training oval but for now I am happy with that. I figure once it gets too warm out for the heavies I will spend a lot of time with him this spring doing dryland command training as well as getting him to ignore distractions.
We went around 5 times in total at a nice steady pace, nothing fast as I want to focus on getting everyone engaged with this exercise. Our last lap was amazing, all 3 heavies got into it with Elmo and everyone pulled together as a team, I think they clued in that if they all work together it is much easier. Marv also discovered that by keeping his line tight it is also easier for and on him.
I was very pleased with our runs today and called it a day. Or so I thought.
It was just so beautiful that I decided to go back out with Elmo, but I figured he would be a bit tuckered out so I thought I would try out my 9 year old Rottie Boxer mix Kita and hook Rambo up just by his collar so he could get some energy out too ( Rambo is a Pem Corgi)
WELL... that was exactly like hooking up Maybelle last week. We were flying down the trail. Kita as though she had done this sledding thing her whole life just got into it and started running her heart out, Elmo was so happy to have someone who runs that he tried to race her, Rambo, who considering is dwarf legged was keeping up with them no problem! I almost wiped out twice turning corners and took a bit of jump as well over a small hill on the trail. It was amazing.
I wont lie, but I want to FLY across the trails next year! I know I dont really have the dogs for speed but I figure I can find some somewhere :)
It is safe to say that I am officially obsessed with dog sledding again. I don't know what I was thinking when I decided I wanted to do conformation showing to be honest??? Where is the energy and exhilaration in that? Maybe some people feel it, but I sure as shit don't. I feel most alive when I am flying down a trail standing on 2 very thin skis listening to the dogs feet digging in the snow and the runners gliding across it. Amazing!
For any of you who are reading this by chance and have a dog that is "too energetic" try dog sledding!
Today we did a lot of runs, it was beautiful out and I wasn't going to let a cold get in my way (another sign it is not actually the man cold) I hooked up the heavies and Elmo as usual. I have switched up the order as I don't really want Tibby pulling right now much and I have to 'force' Karma into getting involved a bit more as she is smart enough to know how to not have to pull when in lead.
She does a good job of keeping the sled going the right way even if not in lead, Elmo I wouldn't say knows the commands as much as he knows the routine of the training oval but for now I am happy with that. I figure once it gets too warm out for the heavies I will spend a lot of time with him this spring doing dryland command training as well as getting him to ignore distractions.
We went around 5 times in total at a nice steady pace, nothing fast as I want to focus on getting everyone engaged with this exercise. Our last lap was amazing, all 3 heavies got into it with Elmo and everyone pulled together as a team, I think they clued in that if they all work together it is much easier. Marv also discovered that by keeping his line tight it is also easier for and on him.
I was very pleased with our runs today and called it a day. Or so I thought.
It was just so beautiful that I decided to go back out with Elmo, but I figured he would be a bit tuckered out so I thought I would try out my 9 year old Rottie Boxer mix Kita and hook Rambo up just by his collar so he could get some energy out too ( Rambo is a Pem Corgi)
WELL... that was exactly like hooking up Maybelle last week. We were flying down the trail. Kita as though she had done this sledding thing her whole life just got into it and started running her heart out, Elmo was so happy to have someone who runs that he tried to race her, Rambo, who considering is dwarf legged was keeping up with them no problem! I almost wiped out twice turning corners and took a bit of jump as well over a small hill on the trail. It was amazing.
I wont lie, but I want to FLY across the trails next year! I know I dont really have the dogs for speed but I figure I can find some somewhere :)
It is safe to say that I am officially obsessed with dog sledding again. I don't know what I was thinking when I decided I wanted to do conformation showing to be honest??? Where is the energy and exhilaration in that? Maybe some people feel it, but I sure as shit don't. I feel most alive when I am flying down a trail standing on 2 very thin skis listening to the dogs feet digging in the snow and the runners gliding across it. Amazing!
For any of you who are reading this by chance and have a dog that is "too energetic" try dog sledding!
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Hard work is paying off
Today had to be the most perfect day to be out and about with the dogs, the sun was shining, there was hardly any wind and the temperature was above zero.
It was a perfect day for me to be out with them, but the heavies ( aka the TM's) have a little bit of a hard time being in full winter coat on these mild days and running.
Today all 4 were hooked up, we have our team straightened out with who goes where now and I have decided to focus on them in that formation for a while but will start switching up my leads once and a while to make sure everyone is comfortable running in lead if need be.
Karma and Elmo are the current lead dogs and I must say, this blog may start getting a bit repetitive and possibly boring because they are doing so well up there. I have tricked Karma into putting a bit of effort into her pulling by shortening her line a bit. She doesn't have the same LOVE to work as Elmo does and will gladly run lead with him but lagging behind not really doing much other than being my gee and haw leader which is quite important don't get me wrong. Now that I have her temporarily tricked her into putting a bit more effort into being a team member as well. Working pretty good thus far I must say.
Elmo is just giving this whole team thing all he has, much like he does with everything he does, what ever this dog is breed wise, is amazing. He has such heart and determination. The others all have their strong points too but he literally gives anything I ask him to do every thing he has.
Marv and Tibby were running behind them as usual, both of them put a bit of effort into the first part of the run today but all 3 of the heavies over heated quick being so warm out.
Twice around the oval and we went back up to the house. As much as I wanted to keep going all day with them all there was no way I could make them do that. Elmo still had plenty of get up n go left in him so I called a friend and grabbed another dog.
A sled dog? No
A husky? No
I returned home an hour after phone calls and in tow was sweet Maybelle
Yes a Poodle. She's a 4 year old hyper active ball of energy, I figured she would enjoy a good run and could be a good little addition to the team.
After an introduction to the whole group here as she has never met anyone here before, I have barely met her before. So once we were all acquainted and to my surprise the entire pack took to her immediately.
I hooked her up with Elmo LOL
Well, Gazelle a poo's as I like to call her, and bullies make for one heck of an interesting combo on a gangline.
Maybelle spent a good couple minutes bounding all over the place, dragging Elmo with her every where she went, to the left to the right, backwards, jumping on him, over him and initiating play that I got a little worried I may have just thrown away all our hard work and training and that Elmo would think that it was ok to do what she was doing. But... my little rockstar just got down to business once he got his crazy wild little girlfriend under control they started working together wonderfully.
Little Maybelle figured out the sledding thing very quick and was just flying down the trail with Elmo with the sled gliding at record speeds (for us)
I was so impressed with Elmo and felt a whole lot of pride after seeing that our training has indeed worked and paid off. I may not be doing this whole training to dog sled thing the traditional way, but am so proud that we are getting as far as we are without breaking down and borrowing an experienced dog to show them the ropes :) Its been a bit hard at times to not make a call and ask for a dog but I'm happy we haven't. We're doing ok after all!
I'm thinking all our team needed was a little poodle influence to get us really going. I will be going to pick her up again tomorrow I am certain. Her quirkyness was just fantastic and she needs to get some energy burned out and what better way than spending the day running on a team or with a pack of dogs who get along so well.
I really wanted to get some video of her and Elmo pulling for her owner but my camera wont read the memory card anymore so it looks like there wont be any vids for a bit unfortunately.
Enjoy a few pics of most of the dogs playing with Maybelle after her sledding adventure.
It was a perfect day for me to be out with them, but the heavies ( aka the TM's) have a little bit of a hard time being in full winter coat on these mild days and running.
Today all 4 were hooked up, we have our team straightened out with who goes where now and I have decided to focus on them in that formation for a while but will start switching up my leads once and a while to make sure everyone is comfortable running in lead if need be.
Karma and Elmo are the current lead dogs and I must say, this blog may start getting a bit repetitive and possibly boring because they are doing so well up there. I have tricked Karma into putting a bit of effort into her pulling by shortening her line a bit. She doesn't have the same LOVE to work as Elmo does and will gladly run lead with him but lagging behind not really doing much other than being my gee and haw leader which is quite important don't get me wrong. Now that I have her temporarily tricked her into putting a bit more effort into being a team member as well. Working pretty good thus far I must say.
Elmo is just giving this whole team thing all he has, much like he does with everything he does, what ever this dog is breed wise, is amazing. He has such heart and determination. The others all have their strong points too but he literally gives anything I ask him to do every thing he has.
Marv and Tibby were running behind them as usual, both of them put a bit of effort into the first part of the run today but all 3 of the heavies over heated quick being so warm out.
Twice around the oval and we went back up to the house. As much as I wanted to keep going all day with them all there was no way I could make them do that. Elmo still had plenty of get up n go left in him so I called a friend and grabbed another dog.
A sled dog? No
A husky? No
I returned home an hour after phone calls and in tow was sweet Maybelle
Yes a Poodle. She's a 4 year old hyper active ball of energy, I figured she would enjoy a good run and could be a good little addition to the team.
After an introduction to the whole group here as she has never met anyone here before, I have barely met her before. So once we were all acquainted and to my surprise the entire pack took to her immediately.
I hooked her up with Elmo LOL
Well, Gazelle a poo's as I like to call her, and bullies make for one heck of an interesting combo on a gangline.
Maybelle spent a good couple minutes bounding all over the place, dragging Elmo with her every where she went, to the left to the right, backwards, jumping on him, over him and initiating play that I got a little worried I may have just thrown away all our hard work and training and that Elmo would think that it was ok to do what she was doing. But... my little rockstar just got down to business once he got his crazy wild little girlfriend under control they started working together wonderfully.
Little Maybelle figured out the sledding thing very quick and was just flying down the trail with Elmo with the sled gliding at record speeds (for us)
I was so impressed with Elmo and felt a whole lot of pride after seeing that our training has indeed worked and paid off. I may not be doing this whole training to dog sled thing the traditional way, but am so proud that we are getting as far as we are without breaking down and borrowing an experienced dog to show them the ropes :) Its been a bit hard at times to not make a call and ask for a dog but I'm happy we haven't. We're doing ok after all!
I'm thinking all our team needed was a little poodle influence to get us really going. I will be going to pick her up again tomorrow I am certain. Her quirkyness was just fantastic and she needs to get some energy burned out and what better way than spending the day running on a team or with a pack of dogs who get along so well.
I really wanted to get some video of her and Elmo pulling for her owner but my camera wont read the memory card anymore so it looks like there wont be any vids for a bit unfortunately.
Enjoy a few pics of most of the dogs playing with Maybelle after her sledding adventure.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Road run
Today was just beautiful and I was off work to enjoy it :) What a great combo.
Took the dogs out on the oval early on today (or yesterday now that it is almost 1 am and I am blogging this) Got brave and hooked everyone up, Elmo and Karma lead, Tibby and Marv wheel.
It went quite well surprisingly, Elmo is spending a lot of time jerking around on the oval now though and I believe it is because he is bored with the same trail all the time. I am still waiting to hear back from a few people about borrowing fields to run around, but can't make any thing too long as the TM's over heat fast.
They all gave it their all at the beginning of the run but part way around the oval they were hot, and it was clear. We just head back to the house slowly, Elmo was being a complete clown as stated earlier and it was just going to go from bad to worse with him doing all the work now that the TM's were "tired" and hot.
A few hours later I decided to take Karma and Elmo out again, but this time down the road. Something new, something different.
It went VERY well, I had to shorten Karma's line though because she has taken to making everyone else do all the work and just trotting along side of poor Elmo who gives it his all no matter what (as long as he isn't jerking around of course)
When we came back down the hill towards the house though the sled and I were sideways for most of that journey and the dogs were hauling ass since there was no pressure really. Super fun! I could have gone with out being sideways down the hill but it was a great feeling to be going that fast :)
As we got closer to the house and the stupid neighbour dogs that irritate me every day for various reasons I got off the sled and guided them back to the house.
After todays total of 1.5 hours of dogsledding, Elmo is exhausted. That poor guy does everything I ask of him with all that he is. I really need just one more dog with work ethic like he has... and legs. Its sad that I have Rambo who could haul ass too on the team but has no legs to keep up that long and no where near the strength of the rest.
Have to work for the next 2 days, but am hoping to get out early tomorrow morning with Karma and Elmo once again, just for a short run to help build some stamina in them and keep up the improvements. That and when Elmo doesn't burn excess energy he destroys things he see's as hazards in the house ie, duvets :(
Took the dogs out on the oval early on today (or yesterday now that it is almost 1 am and I am blogging this) Got brave and hooked everyone up, Elmo and Karma lead, Tibby and Marv wheel.
It went quite well surprisingly, Elmo is spending a lot of time jerking around on the oval now though and I believe it is because he is bored with the same trail all the time. I am still waiting to hear back from a few people about borrowing fields to run around, but can't make any thing too long as the TM's over heat fast.
They all gave it their all at the beginning of the run but part way around the oval they were hot, and it was clear. We just head back to the house slowly, Elmo was being a complete clown as stated earlier and it was just going to go from bad to worse with him doing all the work now that the TM's were "tired" and hot.
A few hours later I decided to take Karma and Elmo out again, but this time down the road. Something new, something different.
It went VERY well, I had to shorten Karma's line though because she has taken to making everyone else do all the work and just trotting along side of poor Elmo who gives it his all no matter what (as long as he isn't jerking around of course)
When we came back down the hill towards the house though the sled and I were sideways for most of that journey and the dogs were hauling ass since there was no pressure really. Super fun! I could have gone with out being sideways down the hill but it was a great feeling to be going that fast :)
As we got closer to the house and the stupid neighbour dogs that irritate me every day for various reasons I got off the sled and guided them back to the house.
After todays total of 1.5 hours of dogsledding, Elmo is exhausted. That poor guy does everything I ask of him with all that he is. I really need just one more dog with work ethic like he has... and legs. Its sad that I have Rambo who could haul ass too on the team but has no legs to keep up that long and no where near the strength of the rest.
Have to work for the next 2 days, but am hoping to get out early tomorrow morning with Karma and Elmo once again, just for a short run to help build some stamina in them and keep up the improvements. That and when Elmo doesn't burn excess energy he destroys things he see's as hazards in the house ie, duvets :(
Saturday, January 28, 2012
BIG day of training
I'm not even sure where to start with todays training stories.
It was a full day of off and on training.
First thing this morning half way through my first coffee I couldn't wait any longer to get out and try it again.
Started with Elmo first, he is so friggen energetic that early in the day that I figured he would enjoy a good late morning run.
Our solo trip out together was pretty nice, same as the other runs yesterday but he seemed far more confident and sure of himself. I did a lot of the work for him but he did really good at keeping his line tight and pulling quite a bit.
When we got back I grabbed Karma and put Elmo in the house for a little break.
Karma and I went out solo, she was quite lazy today, not really into this sledding thing or wanting to turn as she was asked but once we got half way around she decided to kick into gear and get to work.
Twice around with Karma and I called it quits for the early part of the day. Had horse chores to do. Looking over at monster Marv and the several square bales of hay I had to bring down to the horses I decided to hook Marv up to the sled and get him to pull the sled with hay into the horses. Since he is the kinda guy who is all about using his brute force to get his point across when pulling why not encourage that and get him working too.
He hauled the hay in, stood like a gentleman while I unloaded it and we went back up to the house. On our way I decided to try him around the training oval in the horse field to work on our getting him up front of me thing while pulling a sled. He did very well, didn't waste any time jumping around but instead he just walked nice around the trail and back up to the driveway. I turned him around re did the little oval back by the horses and then put him back. He was quite pleased with himself and did a victory roll/wiggle and went into the dog house to take a nap.
After I finished the horse water and everything I needed to do for the day I sat down to have a little break and check out Facebook. Was offered to borrow a few harnesses to get this moving along a bit better and hopped in the truck to go pick them up. Yup, a half hour ride to pick up some harnesses at the beginning of a snow storm was just the perfect idea.
Once I got home with the rainbow of harnesses and being as excited as a kid on Christmas morning, I went and got Elmo and Karma and my make shift line and head out with them both. Miss Lazy was a little "la dee daa" at the beginning but when she realized that she had to keep going with Elmo they both got pulling really well.
When we got back up to the house I got ambitious and hooked up Miss Tibby.
Once we hit the trail I had to move her up front with Elmo as she was really pulling and wanting to get going. Once I had her up front with Elmo we were flying.
The storm really picked up while we were out there and it started getting dark so I went around once more as quickly as possible and came back to put everything away before it got too bad out.
We probably will have to go out and repack the trail tomorrow morning as there was starting to be quite a few drifts at some points at the end of the run. Right now I have one Elmo who is sound asleep and 3 very content TM's.
Rambo and Kita are also quite tired as during our break earlier I did some major obedience work with Rambo to get his attitude in check and Kita lolly gags around with us through out the day, shes not a part of the team but I may hook her up tomorrow and get her moving too, she's old but is still more than capable of joining in on the fun.
No pics or videos today, I'm out of batteries for my crappy camera for video and my good picture camera is just not safe yet as I get comfortable riding a dog sled again.
Hopefully tomorrow :)
It was a full day of off and on training.
First thing this morning half way through my first coffee I couldn't wait any longer to get out and try it again.
Started with Elmo first, he is so friggen energetic that early in the day that I figured he would enjoy a good late morning run.
Our solo trip out together was pretty nice, same as the other runs yesterday but he seemed far more confident and sure of himself. I did a lot of the work for him but he did really good at keeping his line tight and pulling quite a bit.
When we got back I grabbed Karma and put Elmo in the house for a little break.
Karma and I went out solo, she was quite lazy today, not really into this sledding thing or wanting to turn as she was asked but once we got half way around she decided to kick into gear and get to work.
Twice around with Karma and I called it quits for the early part of the day. Had horse chores to do. Looking over at monster Marv and the several square bales of hay I had to bring down to the horses I decided to hook Marv up to the sled and get him to pull the sled with hay into the horses. Since he is the kinda guy who is all about using his brute force to get his point across when pulling why not encourage that and get him working too.
He hauled the hay in, stood like a gentleman while I unloaded it and we went back up to the house. On our way I decided to try him around the training oval in the horse field to work on our getting him up front of me thing while pulling a sled. He did very well, didn't waste any time jumping around but instead he just walked nice around the trail and back up to the driveway. I turned him around re did the little oval back by the horses and then put him back. He was quite pleased with himself and did a victory roll/wiggle and went into the dog house to take a nap.
After I finished the horse water and everything I needed to do for the day I sat down to have a little break and check out Facebook. Was offered to borrow a few harnesses to get this moving along a bit better and hopped in the truck to go pick them up. Yup, a half hour ride to pick up some harnesses at the beginning of a snow storm was just the perfect idea.
Once I got home with the rainbow of harnesses and being as excited as a kid on Christmas morning, I went and got Elmo and Karma and my make shift line and head out with them both. Miss Lazy was a little "la dee daa" at the beginning but when she realized that she had to keep going with Elmo they both got pulling really well.
When we got back up to the house I got ambitious and hooked up Miss Tibby.
Once we hit the trail I had to move her up front with Elmo as she was really pulling and wanting to get going. Once I had her up front with Elmo we were flying.
The storm really picked up while we were out there and it started getting dark so I went around once more as quickly as possible and came back to put everything away before it got too bad out.
We probably will have to go out and repack the trail tomorrow morning as there was starting to be quite a few drifts at some points at the end of the run. Right now I have one Elmo who is sound asleep and 3 very content TM's.
Rambo and Kita are also quite tired as during our break earlier I did some major obedience work with Rambo to get his attitude in check and Kita lolly gags around with us through out the day, shes not a part of the team but I may hook her up tomorrow and get her moving too, she's old but is still more than capable of joining in on the fun.
No pics or videos today, I'm out of batteries for my crappy camera for video and my good picture camera is just not safe yet as I get comfortable riding a dog sled again.
Hopefully tomorrow :)
Friday, January 27, 2012
First day with the sled
How exciting it is to finally have a sled.
Still only have 2 harnesses and one of them is just too big for most of the dogs so some creative improvisation was used yet again.
Have been out through out the day with Elmo and Karma working on the oval and I must say, Steady Eddy Karma is definitely my gee and haw lead dog, unless Marv completely surprises me. She did not miss one command today while we were out. I think Elmo will be the pace setter but its too soon to tell just yet as my attempt at trying 2 dogs today was done unfairly for Karma sort of. Elmo was just running on his collar and up ahead of her but I have noticed that they work FAR better in groups.
First out today was Elmo, silly me for some reason figured since it is the end of January I should bundle up for our adventure. Was not necessary at all! I don't recall ever sweating like that once at the gym I tells ya. Before we even hit the big oval I was sledding in a hoodie and pj bottoms and my snow pants and coat were riding on the sled. Part of this reason was I spent the entire run up to that point pushing the sled and running behind Elmo as he was a bit freaked out by the whole thing at first.
After going around once like this something seemed to click in his head and he seemed to go "Oh... I just RUN" and off he went like Forrest Gump.
Ok maybe he wasn't quite like Forrest Gump but he was jogging... slowly. Speed doesn't matter to me right now, I am just hoping to get them good and familiar with the entire process and will focus on speed once all 4 are hooked up together.
After our second loop we went back out the trail and came back up to the house. I don't want to over do it for them and I wanted to end that little session on a good note. And that it was.
A while later I went and got Karma out, she did so well with the skis last week that I figured she would do just as well with the sled. I was right.
After a bit of confusion at the very beginning going by the horses she buckled down and got to work, with her I just sorta walked behind the sled for the two trips as she isn't overly motivated to run at all just yet, especially by herself. Around we went twice and back up to the house.
Now even though I probably should have just called it a day for them both and myself, I just couldn't. I have been waiting SO long to have a team going and a sled for them to pull I just had to head out for one more trip around :)
This time I took both Karma and Elmo, since Karma is the brains of the operation and Elmo is the pacesetting kinda guy for now I wanted to see how it would be with them together. However, only having one harness for these guys I attached Karma and Elmo on the coupler and head out.
WOW! That's the best way I can explain it.
I don't think we will be the briskly walking team after all. We may just have a bit of spunk to bring to the trails.
It felt so nice to be standing on the back of a dog sled again, sort of nostalgic really. Nothing quite like feeling happy as a kid again over something so simple.
Here's a little vid of the two dogs together to show you the surprise in speed
Now to bring the other 2 members of the team out and see how they do before the big date night here for Guys birthday. He's getting pretty old, he's creeping ever closer to the big 4-0 LOL.
Still only have 2 harnesses and one of them is just too big for most of the dogs so some creative improvisation was used yet again.
Have been out through out the day with Elmo and Karma working on the oval and I must say, Steady Eddy Karma is definitely my gee and haw lead dog, unless Marv completely surprises me. She did not miss one command today while we were out. I think Elmo will be the pace setter but its too soon to tell just yet as my attempt at trying 2 dogs today was done unfairly for Karma sort of. Elmo was just running on his collar and up ahead of her but I have noticed that they work FAR better in groups.
First out today was Elmo, silly me for some reason figured since it is the end of January I should bundle up for our adventure. Was not necessary at all! I don't recall ever sweating like that once at the gym I tells ya. Before we even hit the big oval I was sledding in a hoodie and pj bottoms and my snow pants and coat were riding on the sled. Part of this reason was I spent the entire run up to that point pushing the sled and running behind Elmo as he was a bit freaked out by the whole thing at first.
After going around once like this something seemed to click in his head and he seemed to go "Oh... I just RUN" and off he went like Forrest Gump.
Ok maybe he wasn't quite like Forrest Gump but he was jogging... slowly. Speed doesn't matter to me right now, I am just hoping to get them good and familiar with the entire process and will focus on speed once all 4 are hooked up together.
After our second loop we went back out the trail and came back up to the house. I don't want to over do it for them and I wanted to end that little session on a good note. And that it was.
A while later I went and got Karma out, she did so well with the skis last week that I figured she would do just as well with the sled. I was right.
After a bit of confusion at the very beginning going by the horses she buckled down and got to work, with her I just sorta walked behind the sled for the two trips as she isn't overly motivated to run at all just yet, especially by herself. Around we went twice and back up to the house.
Now even though I probably should have just called it a day for them both and myself, I just couldn't. I have been waiting SO long to have a team going and a sled for them to pull I just had to head out for one more trip around :)
This time I took both Karma and Elmo, since Karma is the brains of the operation and Elmo is the pacesetting kinda guy for now I wanted to see how it would be with them together. However, only having one harness for these guys I attached Karma and Elmo on the coupler and head out.
WOW! That's the best way I can explain it.
I don't think we will be the briskly walking team after all. We may just have a bit of spunk to bring to the trails.
It felt so nice to be standing on the back of a dog sled again, sort of nostalgic really. Nothing quite like feeling happy as a kid again over something so simple.
Here's a little vid of the two dogs together to show you the surprise in speed
Now to bring the other 2 members of the team out and see how they do before the big date night here for Guys birthday. He's getting pretty old, he's creeping ever closer to the big 4-0 LOL.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
THE SLED HAS ARRIVED
We are finally starting to actually look like a sled team in the making now. Still no harnesses but that is quite alright... they should be here ANY day now :) It is the busy season for the person who is making them so I understand. BUT... we have a sled now. A real dog sled and it is MUCH nicer looking that I was expecting. It looks almost like the one I had when I was younger.
I don't think I will be able to sleep tonight to be honest, even with out harnesses we do have 2 weight pulling ones that I can hook dogs up to the sled with ( I will just have to get creative as I don't have a gang line yet either) to introduce them to that. They did so well with the skis the other day before all the rain that I'm certain the sled will be easy peasy for them.
We have lost a lot of our snow the day after we packed the trail with the skidoo but I am so happy that we did go out and pack that trail as now there is a few different routes we can take with the sled and the dogs wont veer off the trail for sure. The snowy parts has a bad crust on it and when we go outback on our walks every day the dogs don't bother getting off the trail now as seen here because they sink through and it is hard on their legs with the crust.
So the dogs are very familiar with the trail we will be training on as we have been walking around it in the same direction for the past few days. Have been doing some recall work out there, but they haul ass running the oval. Lets just hope we can get that same energy with the sled in tow *fingers crossed
Well, nothing overly witty or sarcastic to this blog post, just an anxious wanna be musher wanting to get out with her pack o non sled dog dogs and SLED
I don't think I will be able to sleep tonight to be honest, even with out harnesses we do have 2 weight pulling ones that I can hook dogs up to the sled with ( I will just have to get creative as I don't have a gang line yet either) to introduce them to that. They did so well with the skis the other day before all the rain that I'm certain the sled will be easy peasy for them.
We have lost a lot of our snow the day after we packed the trail with the skidoo but I am so happy that we did go out and pack that trail as now there is a few different routes we can take with the sled and the dogs wont veer off the trail for sure. The snowy parts has a bad crust on it and when we go outback on our walks every day the dogs don't bother getting off the trail now as seen here because they sink through and it is hard on their legs with the crust.
So the dogs are very familiar with the trail we will be training on as we have been walking around it in the same direction for the past few days. Have been doing some recall work out there, but they haul ass running the oval. Lets just hope we can get that same energy with the sled in tow *fingers crossed
Well, nothing overly witty or sarcastic to this blog post, just an anxious wanna be musher wanting to get out with her pack o non sled dog dogs and SLED
Monday, January 23, 2012
Skijoring before sledding
(Not published on the right day, this took place the day before publishing)
NOT as easy as it looks lol.
Today I busted out my 20 something year old cross country ski's thinking this may aid in getting my dogs out front. If I'm walking they tend to stay by me the whole time thanks to the obedience training they have behind them.
I must say this helped a LOT getting the point across to the dogs.
First trip out was on snowshoes with Rambo, breaking trails. I know, its cruel to make such a stumpy legged little guy work so hard plowing through snow that is deeper than he is tall but that's what he gets for having the attitude he has lately. If he has the energy to pick fights with the other dogs around here than clearly we have to drain more of it.
Its helping, now that his puppy pass has been revoked he is calming down well and being more respectful to everyone.
I have no pics of vids today to go along with this entry as I wanted to have all my focus on staying standing on the ski's... this didn't work well as I spent more time face planting into the snow regardless.
After we had the small training circle packed by snowshoe, Guy took my sled and packed the actual dog sled trail in the back field. I never made it out there to see how they turned out, we are just sticking with the training oval for the next little bit then once all the gear arrives we will try the actual trail to get them familiar with it.
So, for some reason I took insane Elmo out first... for those of you who may be stumbling across this blog entry from what ever google search brings you here, this is what Elmo looks like all the time.
So... you can see how this may not have been my brightest moment.
Harness him up, get him standing nice and still while I fasten my ski boots into the skis and start moving forward with a "Hike"
Well, he hiked all right, and I went flying ( I didn't have him attached to me, I was just holding the line this time) he jerked the line out of my hand and I face planted pretty good.
Pick myself up and try this again. This time I figured I would hook the line to me as clearly me holding the line doesn't allow for much aid for balance with flailing arms and poles.
This went well, for a couple minutes, we were off, gliding across the snow at great speeds, feeling the cool wind hitting my face with the snow being kicked up from his feet. It was a beautiful feeling until...
Something caught his attention and he took a hard gee out of nowhere. Clearly this caused me to wipe out quite well and get a face full of snow.
After several of said wipe outs Elmo's time training was up, it was time to take out steady and reliable Karma.
This trip out was an absolute dream, once she figured out that the skis behind her was supposed to be there she just buckled down and got to work. We slid across the newly packed trail like we had done this together a million times before. Once we got to the fork in the trail I stopped her to go back to the house. As much as she could have kept on pulling and I could have enjoyed a full trip around the property, she is not conditioned to that much just yet.
Once we turned and she was given her "hike" off we went back towards the house. She had a much quicker pace this time and I helped a lot by pushing with my skis, especially at the small little hill as you come out of the bush trail to the open horse field. We safely made it back to the house where I unhooked everything and let her run it out like the fool she can be when she is pleased with herself.
Tibby came out next, this was a hard trip for me, Tibby has a bit of issues working alone with out canine company. I am also a bit concerned with a few things with Tibby and didn't want her to do any pulling just yet so we just went around the horse field with me doing all the work but keeping the line tight in my hands. She is a real trooper and wants to do so well but right now, I just don't want her to be putting much force into anything. She was steady through the journey and the sound of the skis behind her was no concern to her at all.
At this point my legs were killing me so Marv got off quite easy today and just went out on a walk with me with him up ahead doing some command training. He is doing ok with his gee and haw and was spending far less time bouncing like a kangaroo today.
I am off for 10 consecutive days now so am looking forward to many adventures in that time period.
Not tomorrow though as they are calling for rain and mild temps.
Perfect timing too, I have finally found a dog sled and am picking it up on Thursday, and this should be the week my harnesses arrive. (fingers crossed)
NOT as easy as it looks lol.
Today I busted out my 20 something year old cross country ski's thinking this may aid in getting my dogs out front. If I'm walking they tend to stay by me the whole time thanks to the obedience training they have behind them.
I must say this helped a LOT getting the point across to the dogs.
First trip out was on snowshoes with Rambo, breaking trails. I know, its cruel to make such a stumpy legged little guy work so hard plowing through snow that is deeper than he is tall but that's what he gets for having the attitude he has lately. If he has the energy to pick fights with the other dogs around here than clearly we have to drain more of it.
Its helping, now that his puppy pass has been revoked he is calming down well and being more respectful to everyone.
I have no pics of vids today to go along with this entry as I wanted to have all my focus on staying standing on the ski's... this didn't work well as I spent more time face planting into the snow regardless.
After we had the small training circle packed by snowshoe, Guy took my sled and packed the actual dog sled trail in the back field. I never made it out there to see how they turned out, we are just sticking with the training oval for the next little bit then once all the gear arrives we will try the actual trail to get them familiar with it.
So, for some reason I took insane Elmo out first... for those of you who may be stumbling across this blog entry from what ever google search brings you here, this is what Elmo looks like all the time.
So... you can see how this may not have been my brightest moment.
Harness him up, get him standing nice and still while I fasten my ski boots into the skis and start moving forward with a "Hike"
Well, he hiked all right, and I went flying ( I didn't have him attached to me, I was just holding the line this time) he jerked the line out of my hand and I face planted pretty good.
Pick myself up and try this again. This time I figured I would hook the line to me as clearly me holding the line doesn't allow for much aid for balance with flailing arms and poles.
This went well, for a couple minutes, we were off, gliding across the snow at great speeds, feeling the cool wind hitting my face with the snow being kicked up from his feet. It was a beautiful feeling until...
Something caught his attention and he took a hard gee out of nowhere. Clearly this caused me to wipe out quite well and get a face full of snow.
After several of said wipe outs Elmo's time training was up, it was time to take out steady and reliable Karma.
This trip out was an absolute dream, once she figured out that the skis behind her was supposed to be there she just buckled down and got to work. We slid across the newly packed trail like we had done this together a million times before. Once we got to the fork in the trail I stopped her to go back to the house. As much as she could have kept on pulling and I could have enjoyed a full trip around the property, she is not conditioned to that much just yet.
Once we turned and she was given her "hike" off we went back towards the house. She had a much quicker pace this time and I helped a lot by pushing with my skis, especially at the small little hill as you come out of the bush trail to the open horse field. We safely made it back to the house where I unhooked everything and let her run it out like the fool she can be when she is pleased with herself.
Tibby came out next, this was a hard trip for me, Tibby has a bit of issues working alone with out canine company. I am also a bit concerned with a few things with Tibby and didn't want her to do any pulling just yet so we just went around the horse field with me doing all the work but keeping the line tight in my hands. She is a real trooper and wants to do so well but right now, I just don't want her to be putting much force into anything. She was steady through the journey and the sound of the skis behind her was no concern to her at all.
At this point my legs were killing me so Marv got off quite easy today and just went out on a walk with me with him up ahead doing some command training. He is doing ok with his gee and haw and was spending far less time bouncing like a kangaroo today.
I am off for 10 consecutive days now so am looking forward to many adventures in that time period.
Not tomorrow though as they are calling for rain and mild temps.
Perfect timing too, I have finally found a dog sled and am picking it up on Thursday, and this should be the week my harnesses arrive. (fingers crossed)
Thursday, January 19, 2012
No big adventures today
Today was a very brief day with the TM's.
I had a full day of stuff to do today and was yet another snow day so ended up doing not a whole lot at home.
Between shovelling and spending some time at the barn for farrier stuff with my horses I have boarded out there wasn't a whole lot of time to do much with the dogs but we did get out for our daily walk. Nothing in the field today, I want to keep that nice crisp clean canvas ( again, we were hit with another snow storm ) for tomorrow morning when we will have no distractions.
Not a whole lot to say as I have more snow to shovel still but need to wait for Guy to get back to bust out the plow.
A lot of thought went into the dogs feed plan today, since they are working quite hard lately I want to ensure they are getting enough in their diet. Being that everyone here is raw fed, I have been thinking of changes they may require to their diet plan. Going to have to ask some real dog sled folk how they do things and compare to what these guys are getting as is.
Its not like they are going from couch potatoes to working dogs, I have always asked a lot of my dogs compared to many pet only dogs out there so the new training isn't exactly a big shock to their systems other than using muscles that they have not really used before.
Going to do some indoor brain work tonight, we are supposed to have obedience classes tonight for Elmo and Tibby, but yet again, looks like I may be missing that class. Depends on what Guy tells me the roads are like when he gets home.
Stay tuned, there should be a better entry tomorrow.
I had a full day of stuff to do today and was yet another snow day so ended up doing not a whole lot at home.
Between shovelling and spending some time at the barn for farrier stuff with my horses I have boarded out there wasn't a whole lot of time to do much with the dogs but we did get out for our daily walk. Nothing in the field today, I want to keep that nice crisp clean canvas ( again, we were hit with another snow storm ) for tomorrow morning when we will have no distractions.
Not a whole lot to say as I have more snow to shovel still but need to wait for Guy to get back to bust out the plow.
A lot of thought went into the dogs feed plan today, since they are working quite hard lately I want to ensure they are getting enough in their diet. Being that everyone here is raw fed, I have been thinking of changes they may require to their diet plan. Going to have to ask some real dog sled folk how they do things and compare to what these guys are getting as is.
Its not like they are going from couch potatoes to working dogs, I have always asked a lot of my dogs compared to many pet only dogs out there so the new training isn't exactly a big shock to their systems other than using muscles that they have not really used before.
Going to do some indoor brain work tonight, we are supposed to have obedience classes tonight for Elmo and Tibby, but yet again, looks like I may be missing that class. Depends on what Guy tells me the roads are like when he gets home.
Stay tuned, there should be a better entry tomorrow.
Training on a blank canvas
I have no internet right now, it has been out for the whole afternoon and night, one of the small inconveniences of living in the country, I might add, so I have decided to get today’s training adventures written out while its still fresh using Word and will copy and paste it to the blog when I gain access to the interwebs.
Since we were hit with an amazing blizzard last night and our field was a nice crisp clean canvas for training I figured today would be a perfect day to keep building the dogs pulling abilities. So I busted out the official 5 gallon training pail and hitched the dogs up one at a time. Since last training adventure was an epic fail trying to get 4 nontraditional sledding dogs to sled at the same time with NONE of us having a real clue what we are doing, this time around I thought to myself, let’s just try them one at a time to work on this being out front business.
First to train was Karma, she got quite excited today about the harness which was so nice to see. She is always so enthusiastic to do something with me. Very much a non Tibetan Mastiff quality but she is my super amazing girl. I have said it a thousand times and I will say it a thousand more but that girl just cannot be topped in my eyes when it comes to Tibetan Mastiffs.
She did great with her 5 gallon pail pull, even got a nice little video of it as seen here
I just adore her little glance back at me with the tail wag at the end as if to say “I’m doing really good aren’t I?”
As you can see it is not a heavy pail for her to pull [anymore] I have a second 5 gallon pail that I may add but am not sure yet. I’m quite pleased with how she is giving pulling her all as it is and since it isn’t strength I need as much as stamina and speed I think just the one for now is enough.
Karma went around the field twice with her pail and was getting a bit tired towards the end so I unhooked her and let her drag her line and walked her out to keep those fresh new pulling muscles from getting stiff. I have noticed that this pulling work lately has seemed to really help build her chest, rear and back muscles which is VERY exciting for this year’s show season, she will be one buff girl in the ring, I will be pleased with my ripped TM’s rocking the ring instead of those borderline ‘fat’ looking dogs I see that have a hell of a time getting down and back without getting winded that the judges seem to like… and I’m not referring to TM’s here, as I do not actually show against anyone other than my guys since these are not the most popular dogs in Canada.
Next out was Marv, he thinks he is some wild beast now that he is allowed to pull. He wastes more energy and time bouncing and lunging against his harness for no apparent reason, he’ll figure it out soon enough that doing so just makes his job harder. For Marv to pull one pail is the equivalent of Karma pulling an icecream container around so he gets hitched up to 2 professional grade 5 gallon Rona pails ( Hey Rona, you can pay for this endorsement if you like… just sayin, cause we all know I could use some extra fundage for my hobby)
So anyway, Marv spent a good few minutes burning his energy bouncing and lunging against his harness sending his pails flying almost up to him which became a game of run away from the flying pails… then discovers that I am wearing some interesting devices on my feet… humans call these snow shoes, and they are quite beneficial to aid in maneuvering through deep new snow, to Marv, they are brakes.
Since he is not comfortable at all working in front of me I am just walking beside him so he can pull and when he gets going to the point he passes me I give him a “hike” command followed by “good hike” HOWEVER! He has discovered if he steps on my snow shoes ( aka brakes) I will fall on my face and he then can pounce on me stealing my toque/mitt or whatever he so chooses. He has also discovered that I am not able to easily pop up and get after him for stealing whatever he has stolen from me as I have to get my foot through the hole and get myself re organized prior to being able to move in any way. After we played this game for a good 20 minutes he finally agreed to get to work. Here is a video of him actually pulling up ahead of me somewhat.
Shortly after this video was shot he decided to start the slam on the brakes game again for a bit. He was causing me to burn more of my energy with me getting up and retrieving whatever he had stolen from me I decided to just lose the “brakes” making my trek through the field a bit more of a head ache since now I was sinking in the drifts and trying to keep my pace so Marv could pass me. Needless to say it was a bit of a hard session with the monster today but some amazing cardio I must say.
Lastly Miss Tibby went out, she of course did spectacular, she pulled her single pail with ease, working up front of me and almost doing her gee and haw correctly. By the time it was time for her turn I was exhausted and my camera batteries had died so there is no video of her. Next session I will be sure to get her out there first.
Everyone is sleeping soundly now, and I am about to. What a work out that was today, I’m quite excited to get some of my gear to start training driving to the horses as well. I’m not a big fan of riding horses, why not get them driving !
Due to my work schedule, the dogs will get a break from training tomorrow. I have to run into pick up my first shipment of Sasha’s blend for Ol Kita girl in the morning and then off to work after morning chores are done. We will have a nice brisk run in the field late at night when I return home but no actual work.
There is the exception of little Rambo, the 9 month old Corgi, with an attitude that just could get him in a lot of trouble around here with the other dogs. He is on a strict NILIF plan for the next while to get some of his attitude under control and put in his place around here. He had a good run with the brindles first trip out in the field today to break the trail, tired dogs are good dogs so he was on leash as he has lost his leash free privileges for a little bit and he worked his little sheep butt off plowing through the snow ;o) His puppy pass extension has been denied, no more falling for that cute face… but can’t you agree it’s going to be a bit hard :o)
Since we were hit with an amazing blizzard last night and our field was a nice crisp clean canvas for training I figured today would be a perfect day to keep building the dogs pulling abilities. So I busted out the official 5 gallon training pail and hitched the dogs up one at a time. Since last training adventure was an epic fail trying to get 4 nontraditional sledding dogs to sled at the same time with NONE of us having a real clue what we are doing, this time around I thought to myself, let’s just try them one at a time to work on this being out front business.
First to train was Karma, she got quite excited today about the harness which was so nice to see. She is always so enthusiastic to do something with me. Very much a non Tibetan Mastiff quality but she is my super amazing girl. I have said it a thousand times and I will say it a thousand more but that girl just cannot be topped in my eyes when it comes to Tibetan Mastiffs.
She did great with her 5 gallon pail pull, even got a nice little video of it as seen here
I just adore her little glance back at me with the tail wag at the end as if to say “I’m doing really good aren’t I?”
As you can see it is not a heavy pail for her to pull [anymore] I have a second 5 gallon pail that I may add but am not sure yet. I’m quite pleased with how she is giving pulling her all as it is and since it isn’t strength I need as much as stamina and speed I think just the one for now is enough.
Karma went around the field twice with her pail and was getting a bit tired towards the end so I unhooked her and let her drag her line and walked her out to keep those fresh new pulling muscles from getting stiff. I have noticed that this pulling work lately has seemed to really help build her chest, rear and back muscles which is VERY exciting for this year’s show season, she will be one buff girl in the ring, I will be pleased with my ripped TM’s rocking the ring instead of those borderline ‘fat’ looking dogs I see that have a hell of a time getting down and back without getting winded that the judges seem to like… and I’m not referring to TM’s here, as I do not actually show against anyone other than my guys since these are not the most popular dogs in Canada.
Next out was Marv, he thinks he is some wild beast now that he is allowed to pull. He wastes more energy and time bouncing and lunging against his harness for no apparent reason, he’ll figure it out soon enough that doing so just makes his job harder. For Marv to pull one pail is the equivalent of Karma pulling an icecream container around so he gets hitched up to 2 professional grade 5 gallon Rona pails ( Hey Rona, you can pay for this endorsement if you like… just sayin, cause we all know I could use some extra fundage for my hobby)
So anyway, Marv spent a good few minutes burning his energy bouncing and lunging against his harness sending his pails flying almost up to him which became a game of run away from the flying pails… then discovers that I am wearing some interesting devices on my feet… humans call these snow shoes, and they are quite beneficial to aid in maneuvering through deep new snow, to Marv, they are brakes.
Since he is not comfortable at all working in front of me I am just walking beside him so he can pull and when he gets going to the point he passes me I give him a “hike” command followed by “good hike” HOWEVER! He has discovered if he steps on my snow shoes ( aka brakes) I will fall on my face and he then can pounce on me stealing my toque/mitt or whatever he so chooses. He has also discovered that I am not able to easily pop up and get after him for stealing whatever he has stolen from me as I have to get my foot through the hole and get myself re organized prior to being able to move in any way. After we played this game for a good 20 minutes he finally agreed to get to work. Here is a video of him actually pulling up ahead of me somewhat.
Shortly after this video was shot he decided to start the slam on the brakes game again for a bit. He was causing me to burn more of my energy with me getting up and retrieving whatever he had stolen from me I decided to just lose the “brakes” making my trek through the field a bit more of a head ache since now I was sinking in the drifts and trying to keep my pace so Marv could pass me. Needless to say it was a bit of a hard session with the monster today but some amazing cardio I must say.
Lastly Miss Tibby went out, she of course did spectacular, she pulled her single pail with ease, working up front of me and almost doing her gee and haw correctly. By the time it was time for her turn I was exhausted and my camera batteries had died so there is no video of her. Next session I will be sure to get her out there first.
Everyone is sleeping soundly now, and I am about to. What a work out that was today, I’m quite excited to get some of my gear to start training driving to the horses as well. I’m not a big fan of riding horses, why not get them driving !
Due to my work schedule, the dogs will get a break from training tomorrow. I have to run into pick up my first shipment of Sasha’s blend for Ol Kita girl in the morning and then off to work after morning chores are done. We will have a nice brisk run in the field late at night when I return home but no actual work.
There is the exception of little Rambo, the 9 month old Corgi, with an attitude that just could get him in a lot of trouble around here with the other dogs. He is on a strict NILIF plan for the next while to get some of his attitude under control and put in his place around here. He had a good run with the brindles first trip out in the field today to break the trail, tired dogs are good dogs so he was on leash as he has lost his leash free privileges for a little bit and he worked his little sheep butt off plowing through the snow ;o) His puppy pass extension has been denied, no more falling for that cute face… but can’t you agree it’s going to be a bit hard :o)
Friday, January 13, 2012
Jumbled mess of standing still
Day 2 of actual real training for this dog sledding plan of mine.
I woke up to a blizzard and a whole bunch of fresh new snow and got to thinking... "Self, you can really do some good gee and haw work out there today by packing a trail for the dogs to follow in the field" But... I didn't want to do one dog at a time, oh no, lets hook everyone up by their collars and pretend that we are a real team. Its time to figure out who is best where anyway. Those were my famous last words of the sane part of my day
I don't have any lines or harnesses yet so I took our long line used for recall training around here and put a bunch of knots and clips and made it look professional, and if I may, super awesome! (insert pat on back here)
Now there is a brutal north wind today and still a blizzard going on, but that is no excuse to not head out and have some fun right? I just bundled up extra warm and since I couldn't find Elmo's scarf for his ears ( those bully like dogs have NO fur to protect them from winters wrath) I had to improvise.
This was our first improvisation.
Clearly it did not work well, he would just shake and off came the camo hood. So then we tried a bandanna tied around his his head like his scarf but that didn't work either. So we just went out for a brief amount of time for his sake. Its not only his ears that freeze fast, his feet are nekkid, his tail is nekkid, everything is nekkid poor guy.
So, out we go, into the TM's pen and attaching collars and lines and getting everything looking good. And boy did it ever... until we tried to move forward.
We started off with Elmo and Tibby out front and Marv and Karma behind. That was going to be the way I saw the ideal team.
Nope, I was wrong,
Elmo knows his commands well but is far too much of a clown and scatterbrained with no focus what so ever. He got kicked back in the line and then we tried Marv up front with Tibby... this worked for a few minutes. Nothing worthy of blogging about though.
All in all my plan of walking the dogs on a line through a course I had pre packed down failed miserably.
First we hit the oval trail. This way I could work on "gee" only ( or so my plan was) because I read somewhere that they would rather follow a trail than plow through the snow. Who ever said or wrote that clearly was not working with a bully breed. Like I said, Elmo has NO foucs. He heard "gee" and did a 90 degree bolt.... but he took a haw instead.
This is when the line up changed. Tibby and Marv up front got us through the oval trail both in Gee and Haw directions.
So instead of calling it a day there and being satisfied I decided, hey I laid the trail for the figure 8.
Off we go, everything went smoothly! Tibby and Marv responded well to the commands and we were just a briskly walking through the trail. Second time around, Tibby decides,"Eff this, I'm doing something else" and takes us off to the oval again. Now everything became a giant mess, I had lines under bellies, Elmo walking backwards, Tibby trying initiate play with Elmo and Karma standing still among the rukus.
After a few minutes of getting everyone back in order I decide to pull serious Karma from the back and put her up with Marv. I also made an executive decision to back up the bus a bit for them and just walk them down the road so they could understand the "New" formation I want them to walk in, meaning ahead of me and in pairs pre decided upon by me.
This went WELL.
We made up to hill 5 ( a local name of the hill by the house) and turned wonderfully. Marv did a few nice "On by" s when he thought maybe he should go pee on that snow bank over there. I was pleased.
Until... I hit the field again on the way back.
It became nothing more than a jumbled mess and everyone figured it was play time and tangled up again.
We worked on getting back to the house in a line, with some control and ended for this part of the day.
Plans are to head back out with Karma and Marv alone on the line... I want to focus on them learning to stay up front before trying to add in the rest again.
Here are a few pics of the beginning of the first attempt today.
It looks good, but looks are deceiving LOL
I woke up to a blizzard and a whole bunch of fresh new snow and got to thinking... "Self, you can really do some good gee and haw work out there today by packing a trail for the dogs to follow in the field" But... I didn't want to do one dog at a time, oh no, lets hook everyone up by their collars and pretend that we are a real team. Its time to figure out who is best where anyway. Those were my famous last words of the sane part of my day
I don't have any lines or harnesses yet so I took our long line used for recall training around here and put a bunch of knots and clips and made it look professional, and if I may, super awesome! (insert pat on back here)
Now there is a brutal north wind today and still a blizzard going on, but that is no excuse to not head out and have some fun right? I just bundled up extra warm and since I couldn't find Elmo's scarf for his ears ( those bully like dogs have NO fur to protect them from winters wrath) I had to improvise.
This was our first improvisation.
Clearly it did not work well, he would just shake and off came the camo hood. So then we tried a bandanna tied around his his head like his scarf but that didn't work either. So we just went out for a brief amount of time for his sake. Its not only his ears that freeze fast, his feet are nekkid, his tail is nekkid, everything is nekkid poor guy.
So, out we go, into the TM's pen and attaching collars and lines and getting everything looking good. And boy did it ever... until we tried to move forward.
We started off with Elmo and Tibby out front and Marv and Karma behind. That was going to be the way I saw the ideal team.
Nope, I was wrong,
Elmo knows his commands well but is far too much of a clown and scatterbrained with no focus what so ever. He got kicked back in the line and then we tried Marv up front with Tibby... this worked for a few minutes. Nothing worthy of blogging about though.
All in all my plan of walking the dogs on a line through a course I had pre packed down failed miserably.
First we hit the oval trail. This way I could work on "gee" only ( or so my plan was) because I read somewhere that they would rather follow a trail than plow through the snow. Who ever said or wrote that clearly was not working with a bully breed. Like I said, Elmo has NO foucs. He heard "gee" and did a 90 degree bolt.... but he took a haw instead.
This is when the line up changed. Tibby and Marv up front got us through the oval trail both in Gee and Haw directions.
So instead of calling it a day there and being satisfied I decided, hey I laid the trail for the figure 8.
Off we go, everything went smoothly! Tibby and Marv responded well to the commands and we were just a briskly walking through the trail. Second time around, Tibby decides,"Eff this, I'm doing something else" and takes us off to the oval again. Now everything became a giant mess, I had lines under bellies, Elmo walking backwards, Tibby trying initiate play with Elmo and Karma standing still among the rukus.
After a few minutes of getting everyone back in order I decide to pull serious Karma from the back and put her up with Marv. I also made an executive decision to back up the bus a bit for them and just walk them down the road so they could understand the "New" formation I want them to walk in, meaning ahead of me and in pairs pre decided upon by me.
This went WELL.
We made up to hill 5 ( a local name of the hill by the house) and turned wonderfully. Marv did a few nice "On by" s when he thought maybe he should go pee on that snow bank over there. I was pleased.
Until... I hit the field again on the way back.
It became nothing more than a jumbled mess and everyone figured it was play time and tangled up again.
We worked on getting back to the house in a line, with some control and ended for this part of the day.
Plans are to head back out with Karma and Marv alone on the line... I want to focus on them learning to stay up front before trying to add in the rest again.
Here are a few pics of the beginning of the first attempt today.
It looks good, but looks are deceiving LOL
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Have dogs, will sled.......???? HA
Well, here it is a blog for my newest brainstorm, which really isn't that new considering.
As many of you know, I have an abundance of dogs, 6 to be exact, and I do so many random things with them. Well thanks to Skiplyn kenels for putting on a dog sledding fun day in the winter of 2010 I believe, and me taking 2 dogs to it, I have been kinda re bitten by the sledding bug.
"Re bitten" you ask?
Well yes, I once upon a time had a great little dog named Petty (because she liked to be petted of course) whom I had trained to pull with a little old sled my dad had got from one of his dog sledding friends, Petty and I did the news paper route via dog sled. Thats right... we were stylin'
Here's a picture, really one of the only pictures I can find of her, its faded and a bit discoloured and yes, cut to fit in a small heart shaped frame <3 She was my first dog, and what a great dog she was, it still baffles me that someone didn't want her anymore and dropped her off.
Fast forward several years, and dogs later, and here I am with 3 Tibetan Mastiffs and an American Bulldog cross trying to make a sled team. I have heard several interesting teams and don't doubt that one day we will be sledding around or "briskly walking" like you have never seen.
However...
It should be an interesting journey to get there.
Tibby and Elmo have each been to the dog sled fun days and dry land training days so they sort of have a bit of a background in the sport, today I figured since Elmo has a weight pulling harness, I would take him on a little walk to keep him out in front of me. He did ok, nothing to write home about but with out any pressure on the harness he wasn't doing anything other than a walk. So I found our trusty sled training aid... a 5 gallon bucket and hitched him up to it.
That fixed the boring walk ;) He stayed up front and pulled until it hit the softer snow and the bucket dug in. To encourage him pulling we did it weight pulling style. He really excelled with that but that's not our goal right now, we will be getting a bit more serious with weight pulling this spring/summer and I figure the 2 can tie in together pretty well since this sled team won't likely ever be racing.
My thoughts on it, encourage pulling against that harness no matter how hard it gets. I could be way out to left field on that one but hey... my dogs right.
After Elmo I decided to put the harness on Karma, she is my 4 year old trusty yet serious Tibetan Mastiff.
Well, after focusing SO much of our one on one time with obedience work or tracking she was quite baffled by what I was asking her to do.
She walked beside me pulling her bucket at a stellar heel... however, that is not what I wanted. I wasn't sure how to get her to work away from me especially up front.
After a little head scratch it hit me... her daughter Miss Tibby has NO desire to work beside me and is all about being out in front, plus she completely kicked ass as a dog sledder last year and this fall for dryland training fun days.
Back to the house we go, 5 gallon pail in tow and out comes Tibby. I grab a coupler and attach them together by the collars.
SUCCESS!
As planned it worked, Tibby was off like a rocket with her mom in tow.
This is when Karma had an "aha" moment and really got going with her professional grade 5 gallon pail behind her, then she hit the soft snow and in dug the pail. :o)
Tibby was relentless and kept pulling her forward, but she had nothing behind her to pull other than her mother so it was easy for her to so.
Karma quickly figured to push into her harness and really put her back into it and the digging pail started to give. Well Karma, now completely pleased with herself starts really pulling but decides to start biting Tibby in the back ( not hard but grabbing her) for what ever reason, but I can only translate it to "Thanks for the help B*&^@"
We did a nice "haw" and went back towards the house.
Over all I was quite pleased with Karma's first time in a harness when she had to actually pull.
I am completely excited to start getting them more into this, and of course getting them to work ahead of me.
Stay tuned to tomorrows adventures in training when I have no real idea what I should be doing.
However, I think as an adult I spend far too much time doubting myself, if I could do it as a kid I'm sure I can do it again. I just have to channel my inner child to figure it out
As many of you know, I have an abundance of dogs, 6 to be exact, and I do so many random things with them. Well thanks to Skiplyn kenels for putting on a dog sledding fun day in the winter of 2010 I believe, and me taking 2 dogs to it, I have been kinda re bitten by the sledding bug.
"Re bitten" you ask?
Well yes, I once upon a time had a great little dog named Petty (because she liked to be petted of course) whom I had trained to pull with a little old sled my dad had got from one of his dog sledding friends, Petty and I did the news paper route via dog sled. Thats right... we were stylin'
Here's a picture, really one of the only pictures I can find of her, its faded and a bit discoloured and yes, cut to fit in a small heart shaped frame <3 She was my first dog, and what a great dog she was, it still baffles me that someone didn't want her anymore and dropped her off.
Fast forward several years, and dogs later, and here I am with 3 Tibetan Mastiffs and an American Bulldog cross trying to make a sled team. I have heard several interesting teams and don't doubt that one day we will be sledding around or "briskly walking" like you have never seen.
However...
It should be an interesting journey to get there.
Tibby and Elmo have each been to the dog sled fun days and dry land training days so they sort of have a bit of a background in the sport, today I figured since Elmo has a weight pulling harness, I would take him on a little walk to keep him out in front of me. He did ok, nothing to write home about but with out any pressure on the harness he wasn't doing anything other than a walk. So I found our trusty sled training aid... a 5 gallon bucket and hitched him up to it.
That fixed the boring walk ;) He stayed up front and pulled until it hit the softer snow and the bucket dug in. To encourage him pulling we did it weight pulling style. He really excelled with that but that's not our goal right now, we will be getting a bit more serious with weight pulling this spring/summer and I figure the 2 can tie in together pretty well since this sled team won't likely ever be racing.
My thoughts on it, encourage pulling against that harness no matter how hard it gets. I could be way out to left field on that one but hey... my dogs right.
After Elmo I decided to put the harness on Karma, she is my 4 year old trusty yet serious Tibetan Mastiff.
Well, after focusing SO much of our one on one time with obedience work or tracking she was quite baffled by what I was asking her to do.
She walked beside me pulling her bucket at a stellar heel... however, that is not what I wanted. I wasn't sure how to get her to work away from me especially up front.
After a little head scratch it hit me... her daughter Miss Tibby has NO desire to work beside me and is all about being out in front, plus she completely kicked ass as a dog sledder last year and this fall for dryland training fun days.
Back to the house we go, 5 gallon pail in tow and out comes Tibby. I grab a coupler and attach them together by the collars.
SUCCESS!
As planned it worked, Tibby was off like a rocket with her mom in tow.
This is when Karma had an "aha" moment and really got going with her professional grade 5 gallon pail behind her, then she hit the soft snow and in dug the pail. :o)
Tibby was relentless and kept pulling her forward, but she had nothing behind her to pull other than her mother so it was easy for her to so.
Karma quickly figured to push into her harness and really put her back into it and the digging pail started to give. Well Karma, now completely pleased with herself starts really pulling but decides to start biting Tibby in the back ( not hard but grabbing her) for what ever reason, but I can only translate it to "Thanks for the help B*&^@"
We did a nice "haw" and went back towards the house.
Over all I was quite pleased with Karma's first time in a harness when she had to actually pull.
I am completely excited to start getting them more into this, and of course getting them to work ahead of me.
Stay tuned to tomorrows adventures in training when I have no real idea what I should be doing.
However, I think as an adult I spend far too much time doubting myself, if I could do it as a kid I'm sure I can do it again. I just have to channel my inner child to figure it out
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