Title sums it up. My dog pulls happily on just his collar, but refuses to pull with his harness on. I am using the ManMat Distance harness:
http://www.howlingdogalaska.com/supplies...
http://www.ne-outfitters.com/ecommerce/p...
The harness above is designed to pull on. But there is another harness widely sold in pet stores with the same basic structure, and it is designed as sort of a collar-extension and to keep small dogs from getting off the leash. Sample from Petco:
http://www.petco.com/product/106843/Aspe...
What can I do to train my dog that he should pull on the harness, and not on the collar? I own this book: http://www.amazon.com/Mush-Beginners-Man... Lets change this around a bit. Your dog pulls on the collar, but mushing dogs LEAN into a harness. So with that information, see if you are asking your dog to pull on the harness or lean into it.
The second thing to do is make sure that your dog doesn't have any injuries or rubs from the harness. If your dog had an old injury (maybe you never knew he had) the harness will make that injury pronounced.
On the other hand, your dog can really hurt himself if he continues to pull with the collar. While dogs are strong enough to pull us (off our feet sometimes) with the collar, they knock their spine out of alignment (starting at the axis-atlas) and cause all sorts of trouble.
Finally, your are right to double check the kind of harness. Not all harnesses work with all dogs. The pet-store type harnesses are fine for very short distances (a mile or two a few times a week) but not for consistent work.
Also, ask your dog for very very short distances at first. Even if you know he is capable of more. Stop your dog while they are still very interested in the whole game of pulling. This will keep them wanting more. Mushing is all about keeping the work fun. Make it a game. I have been training my German Sheperd Dog to pull with her harness. She had roughly the same problem at first. I took a old tire without rim and put a hole through it and tied a rope through it. Then hook the tire to the back of the harness down by the dogs hips. Place the leash on the collar and work on having the dog pull the tire around the yard and streets. Hook him up when you go on walks. This should get him used to pulling. Also make sure the harness fits. The butt end should not drape down the dogs hips. It is extreamly uncomfortable. I hope this helps. Not every dog likes to pull and NO you do not force the dog to do it, a norwegian elkhound is NOT a musher it is a hunting dog, and your not going to find mushing anything ay petco, how old are you, yu'll kill the poor dog, stop with your mushing and get a gentle leader, it works on my 100lb Lab, you don't have control with a harness thats why he's pulling not because he want to live in an igloo with you Norwegian Elkhounds aren't designed to be sled dogs, right? Maybe he just isn't meant to be a sled dog. Just because a dog pulls on a collar doesn't mean he'll pull a sled.
I am sure there are some siberians and malamutes that aren't great sled dogs and they are SUPPOSED to be sled dogs---which your dog isn't.
If you want to have a sled dog why not get a dog meant to do it? I do carting, but the concept is the same. The harness you're using is fine, do not buy one from a pet store, they don't pull the same.
I use a siwash harness myself.
Ok, to get your dog to pull. Harness him and attach the traces or single pull to a weight of some sort. One of my favorite weights was a metal window guard, the kind used for children. I'd attach the two traces to it and it made noise, had a bit of weight (not much) and pulled nicely. On a single attachment harness (where the two traces come together to one clip) I have used a child's plastic sled with a 5 lb weight on it. This is more like a sled dog would pull.
Get lots of treats and encourage your dog to PULL!! on command. Also teach left and right (or gee and haw, if you're a purest) and well as that wonderful command "halt"!
Soon your dog will learn from pulling the lightweight drags that pulling is OK for this venue.
Sledding is lots of fun -- and given the proper size equipment, almost any breed can have fun doing it. I even heard of a team of Poodles who ran the Iditarod some years back as a lark. See the website: http://thepoodleanddogblog.typepad.com/t...
Gotta have a sense of humor to have sledding dogs! what breed?
how are you training it?
what age?
just making sure its a breed ment for this type of work, and that its the rigth age to actualy do start pulling anything of any extensial weigth
i am no expert on sled dogs, to me though it seems reasonable to get some help, harness the dog up, tie apropriatly to a ligth sled or whatnot, have someone call on the dog or lure it with treats to get it to come to them
it will then have to pull to get the treat and attention (not to say get anywhere), from there its merely a battle of wills and patience
you could try to put on a leash and walk beside it as well to direct it to pull, since it do respond well to leash, praise it when you reach the designated aim spot you had marked up, repeat each day from one place to another, using comands like pull when need to get it to start pulling, and stop when ariving at aim
eventualy it get used to that ok so when we go here and i got the harness on, then we need to go over there, and my owner will be really happy and give me lots of treats
remove leash, and just lead by collar as nesicary, leting go when the dog pull and grab collar again when it dont to further direct it, to get it off the idea of needing the leash
lots of consistansy and patience, and you'll get there
also potentialy try to consult with someone who have these type of dogs, and see if they have some thats friendly enough you can put your dog into their span, it migth be he would be motivated by codrawing with other dogs
EDIT
okey that helps a lot i actualy know this breed very well ;)
for one this is not a sled dog type, they are not ment for heavy weigth pulling, they can be quite strong, but they are not built for the usage, nor are they built to run, you should never force this breed to do more then trot.
as for harness most harnesses wont be good for this breed, it will be to big, you got the harness build up now, so i'd advice geting the fabrics used there and custom sew a harness that fit the dog
you should use this when you take the dog skiing and whatnot, and dont use a normal lead or such, use a 6.5 feet bungee cord, this way the dog wont get snaps when he pulls but will more gently be pulled back its safer and better, dont forse him to pull more then he wants, normaly you can expect them to pull downhill, posible some over flat area, but not uphill (though they may climb up and plant their feet in so you wont be able to slide backward)
if you want to know more you can mail me and i'll answer any question you may have on the breed ;)
Edit 2
oh and just as an aditonal info, this is not a hound at all even if its name end with hound, it do not belong to the hound group, its a spitz type of dog. Its also not just original ment for the usage, its every body build function is shaped to optimise moose and other big game hunting, in its original place of origin they have a whole group of dogs that are refered to as elkdogs, consisting of 3 russian laika breed, 2 norwegian elkhound breeds, 2 sweedish elkhound breeds, and a finnish bear dog ;) The dogs of different medium built size and have different body build and working instincts to be optimised for any type of big game hunting they may wish to persue up north (where a dog of this type cant be champion on either show or trials, without at least a 1st prize in one of the other type event because their build is so conected to hunting skills and method)
Its a dog type that are ment for working though, just not mushing, if you want an activety for this dog use its excelent instinct for slowly and methodicaly searching to localise and alert of a finding. Ex by training it in search and rescue, or any number of other fields where dog searching to localise things are needed. Hi.
Some dogs put up a fight during the first training sessions. It's odd feeling a harness for the first time, perhaps it's a little too tight around the chest. Make sure the collar of the harness isn't coming up and choking the dog.
What do you have the dog pulling?
When I trained my dogs at first I'd use a small block of wood, nothing to heavy of course.
When training a dog to pull you want to be behind the dog, not in front because they'll end up following and once you want to hop on a scooter/sled/rig they won't be willing to go on with out a leader.
The dog might be getting freaked out by the noise the wood makes or roller blade sounds,etc when pulling, that could be why he refuses to pull.
I seriously recommend Lee Fishback's "Training Lead Dogs" that book is AWESOME, I've trained all my leaders with it and it'll help you out with pretty much any training questions you have.
Over time your dog will learn that Collar and Harness are different. One is work time and the other is Obedience time.
I would get the dog a training collar, perhaps a prong collar considering your dog's coat and using that for walks to do corrections. There are also the halters you can get, those work very well I hear.
Good luck, let me know how your progress goes.
Oh yeah, there's a really cool group on Yahoo "Dogs Love To Run." there are people on there who could help you too. |
