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Its helping, now that his puppy pass has been revoked he is calming down well and being more respectful to everyone.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)
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