First attempt at sled pulling

[toby01]

Well Ranger is now 20 months old. I've been wanting to do some cart pulling with him but figured I'd wait until the snow melts to start. Today I got it in my head that I wanted him to pull a sled. I figured that if rotts are the "butcher's dog", he'd be fine to pull a sled around my yard. I rigged up a harness and two leashes to pull the sled. I put Ranger in the harness, put his leash on his collar and walked off. He did great! He didn't care about the sled at all. My 3 year old son got on and everyone had a great time. I know rotts are strong but I thought he might slow down a bit pulling that weight around. I had to slow him down a couple of times, he was walking too fast for me.

I kept the first session short. Afterward, I dug his jolly ball out of the snow and we played ball. It was a lot of fun.

Now I'm going to have to step up my research into harnesses. If I'm going to do this, I want a proper harness.

[brunie's mom]

Glad that Ranger enjoyed pulling the sled!
I've been sledding with Baxter for the last couple of years...and he really loves it too. I make him work though. I put the Re-cycle boxes on the sled and make him pull them out to the end of the lane...as well as the garbage bags,etc.

I got his harness custom made...can't remember the name of the guy. He makes them for sled dogs. There is a Rottie breeder in Nova Scotia- Canada...and she had posted her Rotties pulling as a sled team. I e-mailed her to find out where she had her harness made and suggested this guy.

Start slowly...and keep it fun.

Gina

[jlaack]

There is a site: Sled Dog Central? - Your No. 1 sled dog advertising & information source since 1997! if you use the search function on the top of the homepage you can find links to many different harnesses, most made specifically for sledding or skijoring. We used to go skijoring with our dogs when we lived by the mountains that was a lot of fun too.