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Help on teaching a sleigh dog to run??


Guest Anonymous

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Guest Anonymous

I'm not trying to go at anything great here, and I probably haven't spent enough time on proper training, but I'm trying to get my dog to be a better runner when she pulling me.
Well first off, I live in Florida so hopes of snow is out of the question, but I attach my dog to my scooter and let her pull me. And because a lot of times cause of work I can't spend a lot of day time with her, So all I have is night. So to work off that energy, I let her pull me down the road, generally a total of 4 to 6 blocks. On days I take her to the dog park, it's about 5 blocks there and 5 back. Plus all the time chasing other dogs.
My problem is, if I take her out too early in the day time, she'll throw me off my scooter to go say "hi" to the two dogs that live down the street. If I take her late enough I can usually keep her attention on the road cause the other dogs are inside.
She's not very obedient except inside or when she's pooped out. And doesn't walk well on a leash, she even pulls harder when I put a choker collar on then just on her regular collar. Do those spikey chokers work well?? And she's very skiddish out in public, so I'm constantly pulling on the leash to get to her to come, or being pulled half way down the road. And it doesn't help that I'm only about 110 lbs and she's half of that.
She's about 3yrs old (according to the shelter) and I've had her since about october. It's just very frustrating to get her to listen to me. She knows all of about 3 commands, up, down, and sit. Everything else is kinda down the drain right now.

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Prongs are best used with a trainign regime. It sounds like a 6-12 week obedience course would do your pup wonders - socialization, training, setting ground rules, bonding with you, helping you with some training tips, and of course its fun. As for encouraging your dog to pull faster you will probably have to wait for one of our mushers to respond but it may be a matter of what is comfortable for your dog or conditioning - you may have to slowly work up to more speed.

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First thing to do is take your choke collar and drop it in nearest canal, preferably one with alligators in it so your not tempted to go back and get it. :wink:
Before you work on pulling, as the other members suggested as well, get some basic obedience down and the pulling part will be much easier. I would suggest a product called a "Halti head collar" it work more like the bridle on a horse. Any google search will turn up a source for you to get one. If she is easily distracted, work on getting her to respond to you even tho there may be other dogs or people around. Have some absolutely yummy treats and the minute she looks like she's going to flake out on you, get her attention and immediatly give her a small treat. That will teach her it's much more fun to pay attention to you. A far as the pulling thing goes, never make that into a negative experience. The choke collar was a mistake because she probably pulled harder to get away from the irritation of the collar. Get a real pulling harness (there are numerous places on the web, I would suggest a company called Black Ice- again, go with old friend Google) and start her pulling something small and with some resistance- not a wagon or cart that could roll into her hind legs. My puppies start with a peice of firewood, that way you can control when you want them to pull, and when not to. There are also allot of books on bike-joring and ski joring available, as well as a wonderful web site called Sled Dog Central that has links for supplies, resources, mentors and forums. Good luck.

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Guest Anonymous

Don't get me wrong... I'm not gonna pull her with a prong chocker collar. (Although I've accidently done it a couple times, I'll tie her leash to the scooter and she'll get too excited for me to change it to the normal collar, and just take off. It'll take her a minute to realize it, then stop to let me change it.)
She just needs some good obedience outside of pulling me on the scooter. Cause every time we go out, she thinks she's gonna run, even if I only want to walk her.

(Sorry, I kinda have a horrible time putting my thoughts together correctly, English was not my favorite class)

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Guest Anonymous

Well here's some things about her.
1. I've socialized her at the dog park since the day I got her. And she loves it there (when there's a few of her female friends there), partially cause where I live, we dont have a fenced in yard. So whenever I'm outside, I'll tie her to the tree in the middle (with like a 20 foot rope), but there's so many weeds and prickleys that she'll rather lay on the sidewalk than anything else.
2. At the dog park, she has to know where I am at all times, and there's about a 20 foot radius around me, that she won't leave. So there, I can call her and she'll be right by my side. She'll play with the other dogs (but if there's too many she'll just kinda wander around me sniffing the ground). But the number of people and dogs don't seem to bother her.
3. She hates being in public places. My room-mate works right next door to a pet store in a big plaza. So when I drop her off, I'll stick around outside and go into the store for a little bit. But she doesn't like the people walking by. She's not a growler or barker, she just hides underneath the bench or any where behind me. For the most part, people just walk by. She only seems to go up to kids that want to pet her.
Now with my other dog moogle that I had, I'd do the same thing, and she seemed to have the biggest dissappointed face in the world if some one didn't say hi or pet her.
4. When I go to leave, and go over to my mom's, she'll pull me to the car, and if I resist, she'll litterally walk on her hind legs trying to get to the car faster.
5. When she's very hyper or excited (which is pretty much every minute I'm around her) she doesn't like to listen. And if she accidently gets out of my grasp, forget it, she's down the road in two seconds. The only way to catch her is to hop in the truck and pull up next to her to get her to jump in. But at the dog park, where she knows she's enclosed, she won't wander far.
With Moogle, if I drop the leash, she'll just kinda turn around and look at me like, why'd you do that? And Moog just turned a year old. But I don't live with Moog anymore and she's just a corgi.


As far as being on the scooter,
She's definatly a sprinter, and for the first few minutes, I'll have to keep my foot on the brake to keep her with-in a safe speed for me to control her. She's pretty good at slowing down when we reach the end of the block. But I guess she knows from memory that she has to stop at the end of the block for me to turn around.
She's fairly smart. She knows when we go left, we're gonna run up and down the side street, If I head right, she knows she's going to the dog park. And I don't have to say anything to her to get her to the dog park.


The only sad thing is, we're gonna be moving to Orlando in a few months, so all of this is gonna change. But it'll be better for her, and she'll have a bigger apartment to wander around whenever we're working. Right now she's just kinda cramped up in the bedroom area. (As to why she has a big burst of energy whenever I get home from work). On days off though, I generally bring her with me. She's definatly an excellent rider in the truck, she sits in the back with her head out the back window.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest Anonymous

Well I wish life was that simple, but money is an issue, so going out and blowing a hundred dollars or however much it costs can take a very hard hit in the wallet. I mean, I wasn't about to get the halti collar till I found one on ebay for 5 bucks. And a real racing harness is gonna take a while before I can get it. Keeping her healthy and taking her to the vet is a bigger priority than obedience classes.

In the beginning when I got her from the shelter, I wasn't planning on keeping her, she was supposed to be for my brother cause he liked having moogle around so much. But my mom wouldn't allow for a big dog like her, and I wasn't about to send her back to the shelter. You realize how hard it is to find a corgi in a shelter??

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest Anonymous

Thanks Pumpkin, I found the halti collar on ebay for five bucks plus 2 for shipping, and it beats paying 20-25$ at the pet store.
The best part is, I actually took her for a walk, it was really great. She seemed to be a little bothered by it at first, but now I can leave it on her without her messing with it. She still gets mad when she starts chasing a fly or something and darts after and gets turned around, but it's nice having just a small tug rather than tearing up my hand hanging onto the leash like before. She's getting better at listening to me. And I wish there was someplace safe to teach her some more commands in case she gets off the leash, besides the dog park, cause there's too many distractions.

What are some commands that all dogs should know??

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My leaders know quite a few commands: "[b]gee[/b]" is for turn right, "[b]haw[/b]" is for turn left, "[b]on by[/b]" or "[b]straight on[/b]" means to keep going in the same direction, "[b]come around[/b]" means to turn all the way around and go back the way they came."[b]Get[/b] [b]up[/b]" or "[b]hike[/b]" means to go faster.
"[b]Gee over[/b]" or "[b]haw over[/b]"means to move to the right or left side of the trail, and the one command that all mushers know and their dogs have never learned is: [b]"WHOA, WHOA!! #@**!!?$# ! WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
[/b]
I've been mushing for 27 years now, and no dog I've ever owned has figured that one out yet.
This is how we train before there is enough snow for the sled- they pull my ATV- it gives me allot more control and we can work on commands better.
[img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0XQDrAsMaYKkBsQYQpcB31PrDqsXBbU4NpSHxCZMO6xnnLVlIo*g6bSDf1*pOfsr1D5e!P94WLGY!J6fWpBltGhxLmaD8dWhIzNtYDaNTZKItb*iraX43K9LhlWAFLqFsxduwumh*ew0/0619650-R1-044-20A.jpg?dc=4675500527140035070[/img]

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Guest Anonymous

Wow that looks like fun. Real sled dogs seem to have a lot more weight and friction to pull.
My scooter (basic razor scooter) is about 3lbs and I'm around 115. Although she seems to get a little more worn out when she pulls Kari who's about 150. The one nice thing about her running is, I never have to cut her nails, they get a good filing on the cement.

How easy is it to train a dog a new name for a command?? Like saying "gee" instead of "right".

I wish I had the internet at home. I have a new digital camera, but I can't upload them here at the library. She has so much fun, it's the highlight of any day for her. Of course living down here in the city, there's never that much wide open spaces. The last time I saw that (and LOTS of snow) was when I was in Flin Flon, MB, canada.


Ohh and one more thing, have you ever had any problems with hernias (sp??)?? Kiani's got like a bubble under her skin on her belly. It doesn't seem to bother her, but it worries me. And I've heard they can get them from pulling. I plan to take her back later on this week to the vet about the UTI (to make sure the antibiotics worked, and it's not bladder stones), and she's also got a wart like thing on her leg that I want him to look at. I figure for 35$ I might as well hit 3 birds with one stone.

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If your dog is responding to the words right or left, by all means, continue to use what works! There was a musher a while back who taught his dogs to run faster when he said "Whoa", so when he passed another team, he'd yell Whoa! , and his dogs would go faster and the team he was passing would slow down..... 8) . Hernias should not result from pulling. They usually occur because the umbilical cord was damaged or pulled during birth, or they can be genetic in some breeds.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest Anonymous

Well she's got a vet visit for friday. I wish it was sooner, but they're booked tomorrow, and I don't get paid till friday.
I've been giving her a lot more walks around the block and what-not on the halti. It seems that when it's on her, she feels that I have the upper hand. She even getting better about coming when I call her. Like when we go out to the car, she'll go straight to the car and jump in, or when we go to my mom's, I can open the door and she'll go right inside from the car without me holding the leash.
But off the halti, she think she has the upper hand. My brother opened the door and she ran out (he's handicap so I don't blame him, he just wanted to see what me and my mom where doing outside). I managed to catch her a few places down.
The best part was last night when I got the scooter out. She took me around the entire parking lot of the plaza that Kari works in. Almost all the places close at 9, so it was fairly dead with a few employees leaving. But Kiani enjoyed it a whole lot. I've taken her for a couple runs but mainly walks the past couple weeks. I can't wait till I get her a real harness, so she knows when to go for a walk and when to run. She's definatly one smart cookie.

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[quote name='Pumpkin the musher']There was a musher a while back who taught his dogs to run faster when he said "Whoa", so when he passed another team, he'd yell Whoa! , and his dogs would go faster and the team he was passing would slow down..... 8) . [/quote]


Now that is dirty... :evilbat: But very very smart :D

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Hey, whatever works. When I'm training, we usually see at least a half dozen deer, if not more- I've even had them jump over the team- anyway, everytime we see deer, I yell DEER!, and they of course run faster because they think they are chasing the deer. They never leave the trail, but it sure speeds them up. If I'm in a race and need some extra speed, I just yell DEER! and off we go.... :lol:

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Guest Anonymous

Well she's an almost healthy doggie. The vet said it's probably an umbilical cord hernia and not to worry about it too much. It also happened right where her stitches were when she got fixed, so I guess the muscles never closed up. As far as the wart on her leg, he said it's probably just a normal one that got irritated by something to cause it to bleed. And if it is some kind of cancer its probably the kind that won't spread, but if I wanted to spend an extra 50-60$ I could send it off to the lab. But out of his 38 years of being a vet, he doesn't believe it's something to worry about.
He told me he'd set the price at 200 max for the surgry to fix the hernia and remove the wart. Hopefully it'll be less. but I don't have to worry about it till I can afford it.

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Guest Anonymous

Kari got herself knocked off good the other day. I had to go to work, and I told her to take Kiani to the dog park (that's about 6 blocks down). Well Kiani finally got in sight of the dog park and where she was headed to, and just took off around a corner. Well Kari saw the corner (and the pavement was all broken up and rocks in the road) and knew she had to slow down to get around it. She flew off hitting her head and shoulder first, and scraping up her knee too. The worst part for her, she scratched her Gameboy NES SP. Which was in a protective covering.
Although Kiani did turn back around dragging the scooter when she noticed Kari wasn't on it.

I wonder whats going to happen when I get her a real harness that spreads the weight out. O.O I'll definatly will have to take her to a wide open space with no distractions to toss me off.

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:lol: Sorry, I'm not laughing [i]at[/i] you, I'm laughing [i]with[/i] you. After 25 + years of mushing, and plenty of dog induced injuries including a broken hand, 3 broken fingers,(all seperate occurences.. :roll: ) a couple of stitched up knees, a torn diaphram muscle, more pulled muscles, bruises and scrapes than I can count, 3 black eyes (dogs heads are very hard) and a lacerated tongue(don't ask) , all I can say is- buy a helmet and some knee pads. Health insurance is handy too. Welcome to mushing!! :wink:

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Guest Anonymous

Well I know I got a hard head, thanks to my brother. Since he's handicap, when he would get mad at me he would come over and bang his head against mine.
And Kari's had a worse scrap on her knee just from tripping over her shoelaces, that where actually tied for once. The loop on her one shoe caught the top hook of her boot.
To her though, the most disappointing thing was her SP getting scratched. She's taken such good care of it, keeping it in the protective case, and it was in her pocket. Since it was a limited edition, we're now trying to find a decent deal on ebay for one.
At least she's got pretty good coverage for health insurance, but I don't have any and I do it most the time. I just hope I don't end up going through what you went through. All my life, I've managed a broken leg with stitches... Never get run over by a van, dislocated wrist and shoulder, and everything always seems to happen on the left side.

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  • 2 months later...
Guest Anonymous

Pumpkin the Musher

I'm assuming you race sprint (from your photo). I have been racing sprint dogs for 6 yrs now, a much shorter time than you, it seems like forever. A good forever however. Where do you race?
I'd like to talk with you more about sled dogs.
We'll have to take our dog talk to a seperate message than the one this is currently on. I may start one up shortly.

Sandra, Yes for sure use a sled dog harness or skijor harness when running/scootering with your dog! Anything else could cause harm to your dog. Obedience is key to live happily with a canine family member.

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