Draft Dog Training

We have a goal to try and teach Zen how to pull a cart by 4th of July. Why? Because we want to be a part of THIS:

photo courtesy of Boulder Creek Insider

There’s a lot to know about teaching a dog to pull a cart but luckily for me there are a lot of educated swissy owners out there who have been doing it awhile. In researching it i came across Jennie Chen’s blog. She has tons of info that for the novice drafter to sink her teeth into. And the local Berner club has a great website, as well as seminars that we could take.

My local club wasn’t sponsering many events, but they just started getting going again. Back in November they sponsored a pack hike/draft dog training weekend. Brian and I have GREAT friends and two of them took care of the kids while we went to Mariposa, CA for the weekend to learn more about it.

It went really well and i learned a lot. I learned that she didn’t mind the sounds and she didn’t mind the weight. But what she DIDN’T like were the shafts touching her rump. She would shy away every time she felt one bumping into her, and after a good session I decided to go slow and not go any further with her training until I got her used to the feeling.

So how do you go about that? Well, someone at the seminar suggested cutting some PVC pipe and using it to get her used to the feeling. They would need to start short so that they didn’t drag at first..and then eventually you lengthen it when she becomes used to the idea.

This was the first weekend we had the time so we attempted to rig it up. I decided to use her pack harness at first, before I invest in the real thing with traces. Brian drilled a hole in the pipe and we attached velcro to the pipes.

She didn’t mind strapping them on, especially since i got a fresh beef bone from the butcher to focus her attention on.

Here’s the rig:

It worked out pretty well! She wandered around the house with them and bumped into objects and freaked herself out. But i calmed her and gave her lots of treats and we ended the first session on a good positive note. I’m definitely encouraged this is the way to do it!