pet connection

I first began teaching my dogs to pull a two-wheeled cart or a four-wheeled wagon more than 25years ago. My husband and I had two German Shepherds, and we learned early that we needed to keep both dogs –  Watachie (wa TASH ee) and Michi (mee CHEE) –  busy. If their minds and bodies weren’t busy, those dogs would find their own methods to keep themselves amused, and we never liked their choices.

So to keep them challenged we trained in obedience and both dogs got earned Utility Dog titles from the AKC and UKC. Watachie even earned some points towards his obedience championship (OTCh) before I had to retire him. Both dogs were certified search and rescue dogs, and both with finds to their credit. Watachie competed in the Frisbee World Finals twice. If we could figure out how to teach a sport, we did it.

Since Paul and I enjoy smart, intelligent, busy dogs we have followed the same routine with all of them,  from the Papillons to the Australian Shepherds. I like to keep the dogs active.  Besides, it’s for me, too. I like doing things with my dogs.

Archer is two years old now. He is a certified therapy dog and has his Canine Good Citizen title. He has herded geese and goats. He has trained in agility, loves to perform tricks, and is certified and working as my husband’s service dog.  Archer is old enough physically and mentally, and experienced enough in other things to be able to handle carting. So we began training last week.

I fit a well-padded pulling harness to him and walked him around so he could get the feel of it. No problem. I took two long leashes, hooked them to the harness, and fastened a four inch diameter piece of firewood to the leashes and dropped it to the ground behind him. Then I asked him to pull. When he felt the light drag he turned back to look, then I encouraged him to pull again. He did; no problem.

As he was pulling this light weight, I asked him to turn right, turn left, pull slowly, pull fast, pull uphill, pull downhill, and stop and stand. “Yes! Good boy!”

We repeated this for a couple of days and then I increased the size of the firewood log slightly so it was heavier and had more drag. We repeated the lessons for a couple more days. By doing this, Archer is learning the commands needed for carting and is getting used to the feel of something behind him. In addition, he’s building strength in some different muscles.

While he’s pulling, I’m watching for him to really settle into the harness. When pulling light weights, the dog can usually walk normally. Although this is fine, when the weight increases, the best position is with the head lowered so the dog can lean his chest into the harness. Some dogs try to move heavier weights by leaping into the air and throwing themselves forward. This is very inefficient, and the dog can potentially hurt himself. Luckily Archer hasn’t tried that yet, but he hasn’t really leaned down into the harness yet either. When he does, he’s going to get a jackpot reward and I’m ready to give it to him when he does. The way he’s settling into his training, I figure that will happen today or tomorrow.

Once I see that, I will move Archer over into the two-wheeled cart. I’ll keep everyone posted and will try and take some photos this week as we’re training.

Images: Michi (top) and Riker.

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