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How to start sledding with dogs


In Swedish

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Suitable dogs ---- Equipment ---- The goals of the driver ---- Basic training ---- Commands
Putting together your team----- Training for competition ----- Always remember ----- [End]


Suitable dogs:

Most medium sized dogs can be used for sledding. The quality of the dog's fur should, however, be suitable for this purpose. Short-hair dogs can for example not stand sleeping outside in cold weather.

Dogs commonly used as Sleddog are one of the e.g. Samojed, Greenlanddog, Alaskan Malamute, Siberian Husky, Alaskan Husky (crossbred from Siberian Husky, Indian Village dog, Irish Setter and Pointer) or crosses between these, specially bred for sledding.

A good sleddog should weigh between 17 and 24 kilos. In exceptional cases there can be individual dogs weighing more than 30 kilos.
Dogs up to 45 kilos can be used for small trips such as mountain hikes. Dogs above that should not be used as elbow and hip joints can suffer damage at the relatively high speeds reached by a team of several dogs.

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Equipment:

A sleddog team consists of the "musher" ( dog driver ) standing on the runners of the sledge. In front of the sledge the dogs ( from 3 to 24 or even more ) are tied to a line in pairs after each other.

The equipment includes, beside the dogs, sledge and lines, dog-harness, sledge-bag, wrist-line, snow-anchor and good brakes. You also need a cable to attach the dogs to, when resting and, in the winter, warm clothes.

For training the dogs on bare ground in spring or autumn special sledges with wheels are used. These can be constructed using everything from the three-wheeled bikes common in hospitals to chassis from small cars, depending on how many dogs you are using.

Remember that the safety of you and your dogs depend on the quality of the equipment. At the speeds reached by a sledding team (up to an average speed of 30 km/h) a broken line or other faults are very dangerous.

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The goals of the driver:

Learning how to be a "Musher" is not easy and the best way is to learn from an experienced sleddog driver. If you do not have that possibility, you start with the basics but before you start you should clear out some things.

Do you want to compete or just to exercise you dogs?
Are your dog/dogs possible to use for what you want or do you have to get other types?
How many dogs do you want to use in front of the sledge and how many dogs are you able to take good care of?
Are you the right kind of person to make a good "musher"?

If you ambition is to compete you should contact a sleddog club or driver so that you can get qualified help with dogs and equipment and on how to feed and train the dogs.

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Basic training:

Training the dog should start early, preferably before the dog is 12 months old.

You start by making the dog wear a Nome-harness (specially designed for pulling) with a line attached. The dog should then pull at the harness, while you walk behind and keep the line taut. The easiest way is to have someone walk in front of the dog and entice him to follow.

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Commands:

When you start, you use the command "forward" or perhaps a happy "Chop-chop" to tell the dogs it is time to start.

When you reach a cross-road you use the commands "right" or "left" ( Gee or How ). When training the dogs, stop before the turning and let the dogs try to turn in any direction. Do not move until the dogs have chosen the right direction according to the command. Do not forget to reward the dogs when they get it right.

When you want to stop you first use the command "Slow" to make the dogs aware that something is going to happen and then call "Stop".
The commands "Chop-chop" and "Slow" are also used to increase or lower speed when necessary as on over-taking another sledge or in a narrow passage.

Remember always to be consequent. If you as the driver says "Right", then right it is, even if you really wanted to turn left.

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Putting together your team:

Now it is time to bring in the sledge, with or without wheels.

Do exactly as you did when you taught the do g to pull in harness with line. The driver stands on the runners of the sledge and brakes. The line incl. expander should be about 2,5 meters and be attached to the frame of the sledge (on a wheeled sledge near the steering post) together with the wrist-line. Be careful so that the line does not get entangled. It should be kept taut all the time.

It is important that the dog is not afraid of the sounds from behind, so let the dog get acquainted with the sledge before you start.
Be very careful that your sledge and dog do not run away with you. It is important that you have a good braking system, on snow a piece of carpet with spikes behind the sledge is very useful.

If the dog is frightened, someone should walk beside or in front of it and control the dog, leading it forward and praising it.

A couple of hundred meters is enough for the first training sessions. You should train somewhere secluded where there is nothing to disturb the dog.

When the dog begins to enjoy the training, you can be extend it to 1 kilometre. You should then have someone in car or on bike in front to help if there are problems. Other dogs may show up or the dog can find it more fun to run into the woods instead of on a gravelled road.

Now it is time to find more dogs to add to the team. ( Perhaps your neighbour is also a dog lover.)
It is important to find the right partners for each pair of dogs. Dogs that trust each other, do not fight each other and will pull in the same direction. Use a dog that you know and trust and train them together.

Always be very careful that nothing happens to the dogs. It is difficult to train a good sleddog, but very, very easy to ruin one.

As soon as the dogs have learnt to pull and enjoys it, the speed will increase. Now is the time to start using the inside of your head when driving. Never drive faster than you can always stop if something should happen. It is the speed that can crack the dogs' psyche, not the length of the run.

If you are driving a large team, it is important to have dogs in each pair that are roughly the same size and have the same speed and length of step. All this to save energy, the whole team shall work as one unit.

Put the lightest, fastest and preferably also the most obedient in front as Leaddogs. The largest and heaviest dogs are put in the back as they are better at catching blows and shoves from the sledge than smaller dogs. These are called the Wheeldogs.

When you are driving a team of more than 3-4 dogs, the rest are placed in pairs between the Leaddogs and the Wheeldogs with the fastest ones on top and the rest according to speed. These are called the Point or Teamdogs.

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Training for competition:

The more the dogs are trained, the farther they can run. After one month with regular training, i.e. 2-3 times per week, the training stretch should be 3-4 kilometres, after another month 6-7 kilometres. After 3 months you should be able to do more than 10 kilometres during a training run.

It is not until now that you can require speed from the dogs, provided they have the right mentality for pulling, are well trained and properly fed. They should now be at least 18 months old. It is also important that the dogs know and trust each other in order to accomplish this.

How to get the best speed from the dogs? You do it by letting the dogs stop and rest often.

The secret lies in keeping a high basic speed all the time the dogs are moving. Never let the team get tired and slow down. If you have to go uphill and know that the dogs can not make it without losing to much speed, stop and let them rest before you try it.

As the dogs are better trained you stop and rest less often. When fully trained the dogs should be able to do from 10 to 30 kilometres (or more) at full or half canter.

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Always remember:

Never train your dogs if you are yourself having an off-day. When sledding the idea is that both the driver and the dogs should have a good time.

Never require more from the dogs than they are able to perform.

Remember that it is never the fault of the dogs if anything goes wrong. It is you who have not taught them correctly.

Beating, kicking or screaming at the dogs is not part of sledding. No-one who uses these methods has ever got together a good team of sleddogs.

The starting point should always be what you and your dog can accomplish together. Do not set your goals so high that you can not be certain of reaching them. Raise your goals gradually and do not be disappointed if you can not make World champion at once.

As a rule of thumb you should train the dogs at least twice a week. Never train the dogs when the temperature is higher that 12 degrees centigrade and/or in high humidity.

Never drive on paved roads, which hurts the paws.

To feed the dogs properly, you must use dog-food with a high content of proteins and fat. Common commercial dog-food is not sufficient.

You must water your dog extra when in training, above the water that you use for soaking the food. A hard-working dog needs 1,5 - 2 litres of water 2-3 hours before a training run or a competition.
You should begin giving the dog extra water when the training season starts and continue every day until the sledding season is finished. When not training so hard reduce the amount of water. You can mix some ground meat or liver with the water to make it taste better for the dogs.


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