Roman Reign Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs and Lowchens
Preservation Breeders of Sport, Service, and Companion Dogs
Lesson: The Back Up In Cart
Many draft tests will require your dog to back out of cart and to back in cart. The length of the back can vary from 1 foot to 5 feet, but just to be safe, teach your dog to back 20 feet. Teaching your dog to back is an unnatural behavior, and there are countless ways to teach a dog to back. I only explained a couple in this video, and I may be updating it with other methods over time.
Lesson: Harnesses, Harnessing, and Hitching
Here’s a video on harnesses and harnessing. I may make other videos with more details, but here’s the basics to get you started.
Here’s a video on hitching your dog from a sit position. It works the same way from a stand position. Mouse just happened to be sitting.
I’ll be judging at the Austin Farmer’s Market Downtown Doggone to summer doggie costume contest so drafting is canceled this weekend. Keep checking in for our next class.
I got returned from a draft trial just last night, and with the weekend fresh in my mind, we’re going to go over some draft trial tips and info before diving back into training posts. Here are some skills that I encourage my draft students to master before going to a draft trial.
Basic Control – both dog and handler will need to have a solid working relationship with several commands. For basic control, the dog that can qualify in rally obedience should have enough control for a draft test’s basic control. The dog needs to:
Basic control is NOT scored like competitive obedience and the requirements are not as strict. The dog does NOT need to be in heel position at all time, and you may talk to your dog during the entire test (except the stays).
Harness and Hitching: You should be able to harness a dog correctly, and hitch a dog correctly. In my opinion, harnessing and hitching should not be a jerry-rigged last minute chore. It is first and foremost, the most crucial part of safety in dog drafting. Dog drafting is a sport that can be very dangerous to you and your dog if do not do it properly. Thusly, I am a stickler for safe harnessing and hitching. While I have not failed someone for minor issues with harnessing, I cannot pass a dog that is in an unsafe rig. Future posts on that.
Maneuvering course: My rule of thumb is if a dog can master the following exercises with only voice or hand commands and no treats, then they can pass any draft test. Yes, they are much more difficult than what is required, but I always try to train for tougher than the test.
Freight Haul:
Happy Training!
Frequently, people ask me about harnesses. Which one is better? I can’t say that of the two siwash harnesses: freight/weight or carting, that one is better than the other. The both have advantages and disadvantages. I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 harnesses now, and the only one I haven’t tried for carting is the parade harness. I’m not a huge fan of the parade harness, and I’ve heard through the grapevine that many other judges aren’t either. I’ll go into detail about that on another post along with specialty harnesses including the Wilczek, weight pull harnesses, and leather harnesses.
Mouse has a freight/weight siwash with a cinch and cinch loop added because I want to do weight pulling and carting. However, the freight harnesses is too “wimpy” for real competitive weight pulling. Do not take this to a weight pull. You will need a true, heavy duty weight pull harness to do some serious work. The disadvantages of a frieght/weight siwash is that it is a one-piece so you must take the entire thing off to let
the dog potty or else hook the spreader bar up to the shoulders of the dog so they can walk around without tripping. On the other hand, being a one-piece is also an advantage as it is easier to
untangle and easier to put on.
The carting harnesses usually is more complicated than the freight weight harnesses. There is the neck piece, belly band, and 2 traces. You MUST be absolutely certain that the 2 traces are the same length so that the weight is distributed correctly. These two traces either attach to a tree or 2 points on the vehicle. The advantage of the carting harnesses is that you can just unhook the traces without having straps hanging off everywhere.
I personally lean towards the carting harness. It’s just a personal preference. There is no performance differences between the two harnesses if used properly.
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