Carting With Your Dog by Laura Waldbaum

Author:Laura Waldbaum
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Dogwise Publishing
Published: 2011-03-14T00:00:00+00:00

Left turn, handler inside.

Don’t fall into the trap of pulling her along with the leash. Your dog has learned to respond to your body language and verbal cues, she just needs to know that she can still do it between the shafts. Using the leash can become a crutch for the handler if you allow it to. Be sure to encourage her with your voice and keep the training upbeat. Don’t be stingy with the food rewards, but try to stop using the food as a lure as quickly as you can. It is easier to randomize and eliminate frequent food rewards than food lures. Some dogs get really excited about clapping. If this is your dog, clap your hands as you go. Clapping is legal in a test, but you can’t use the leash to guide your dog. As before, make the circles smaller and smaller as your dog gets comfortable with the mechanics of turning the draft rig. It may be a little harder to get really small tight circles with you on the inside, but don’t worry, the more you practice, the more confident your dog will become. Once your dog has mastered the clockwise direction, start again with her turning counterclockwise. Keep your body on the inside of the turn, with your dog working around you on the outside. Teach this in the same way you did the opposite direction until she is working confidently turning right or left.

You have reached another major milestone in your training. Your dog now knows how to turn the draft rig. Congratulations! She has the basics down and just needs practice. Spend some time weaving between widely spaced trees or doing figure eights around them. Alternate doing right turns and left turns, working on both sides of your dog. Most dogs work better on one side or the other, and that’s perfectly OK. It is just very valuable to be able to have all the configurations mastered in case you need them. Make sure you don’t forget to practice your weak side from time to time to remind your dog and yourself that you can do it.

Backing up

The last really important thing your draft dog needs to be able to do is back up the draft rig. Because you took the time to teach your dog how to back up without the rig, this should be pretty easy (review Chapter 1 “Going backward” if needed). You should practice backing up without the rig a few times to refresh your dog’s memory. Use both your voice and hand signals and reward the dog for backing up.

Bring the draft rig and harness to an area where you have practiced before and harness and hitch the dog. Tell your dog to “Back” and use your hand signal to reinforce your voice. If the dog moves his body back in any way or takes a step back, immediately mark and reward. Don’t fret if he is not going straight, we will work on that later.

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