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Age of the pull


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I know the description of this post is a bit waffly. Basically anyone that has seen any of my previous posts knows that I have a pup whos about 9-10 Months old. I am just wondering what age to start to consider bikejour? I Guess another 9 months or so. I just want her to get excercise but without letting her off the lead. (fatal 4 hours before I get her back) Shes been poor at recall from about 16 weeks so shes walked about 5 miles per day. I just think she should run but I dont want to hurt or damage her development. I guess thing is shes Daddy's little girl and as much as its a pain I just want to do the right thing by my baby

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It depends on the dog and how their trained.

I've been letting my two off since they where puppies! They have amazing re-call (better then my lab or kelpie i rescued as puppies) but in saying that yes there have been times when they wont come to the first re-call but the second.. either way they've come back and i didn't have to call their name over and over or use our emergency re-call. :)

We've let them off at many places we've been lightly training them ready for sled racing this winter by letting them out and getting them to follow us next to our car (totally free), Their very fit!

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How are your other dogs? Ever though of (do it in a fenced dog park/area) using your dogs who come back to help teach your sibe? We done this with our bitch as she (as a puppy) was really bad with re-call, Our male taught her.. As crazy as that sounds :P

I have tethered her to a pole (tied her up) on a long rope and walked off and let her relax and do re-call in different areas, also has worked!

I never use treats, only positive reinforcement! :)

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Firstly the other dogs come back only for the aptly named Storm to take one look at whats going off and think "You can go jump I'm off and I'm out and I aint coming back. I suppose the thing is theres no real fenced areas alot of it is wide open farm land and I would hate the famer to shoot her. Not sure if they would but lets not find out?

I guess shes run off and run off leaving her on a flexi lead meant she could run without fear knowing that shes unlikely to come back. As I say from 8-16 weeks she was fine to come back but then something flicked on in her head and boom I am not coming back.

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I wouldn't give up! Zarly used to be just like that and it took a little while but now she is trusted off lead!

If you're having trouble your self maybe find a local dog club and ask for some help, It's too complicated for me to translate what methods we use as it's hard to explain! If only we lived close!

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To OP,

You can start doing light pulling now by maybe hooking up a large block of wood to a leash connected to the dog's harness and having her pull that around. Work on that until she is pulling it easily and slowly increase the weight of the object that she is pulling. Just remember to take it slow and listen to your dog.

It won't be long before you are bikejoring! A person on a bike isn't very heavy due to the free rolling wheels. The hardest part of bikejoring for the dog is getting the bike going (which you can help her with). The rest is just about keeping up a good pace and the bike and human will follow. :)

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No offence but what are your Sibes like with recall?

Probably 97% of the members here will tell you straight up: Do NOT let her off the leash unless you are in an enclosed area. Reason for this is simple: High pray drive, poor recall, extremely stubborn and independent!!! It's in their genes.

Holly and a hand full of other members here are very lucky that their sibes do have recall and that they can let them run free wherever they want, unfortunately the majority of Husky owners can't and won't to keep them safe!

You had lost her for 4 hours, try 9 days. That's how long mine was gone when she had pulled the leash out of my hand when she was 4.5 mth old at a walking trail. :( . Teaching them recall is still important. I practice it with mine all the time using cheese. She doesn't care much for cuddles, but that depends on the dog. If she ever gets lose on accident, slips her collar, slips out of the door, etc. you want to have at least a chance that she comes back when called. Thats why we always encourage people to practice recall all the time. Start at home and then go out with a long leash and practice in other places.

They have 15ft and 30ft leashes at pet stores here, but lots of people here have 50ft and 100ft leashes from eBay. :)

As far as bikejoring does she know the commands? How is she as far as going straight or will she most likely be all over the place? There is a bike attachment called the walky dog. I use it with mine and I have a thread that I started when I used it the first time have a look here and you can use it with her now just don't let her get carried away:

hope that helps and don't feel frustrated that she does not come back when called its nothing out of the ordinary but again...please try and practice recall with her. :) Gotta run right now but if you need some tips on teaching recall I can post again later. Let me know.... don't mind helping...they can be a handful and we are all here to make it easier for each other. :D

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you can start roughly around now - 12 months of age lightly - maybe have her run with you jogging along with her - teaching her the commands as you go

also like above - most if not all husky owners will tell you to keep them on lead - my girl has a pretty good recall - its a work in progress - but because shes a husky n it only takes 1 time for her to decide something else is more intresting i keep mine on 100ft leads when we are out over the feild n they can have a good run around safely and i know im going back home will all my dogs :) much better for your state/peice of mind lol

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Hi Shaun, your doing right keeping her on lead, Holly is one of those luck handful of people.. most sibes (even when trained young) cant go off lead! My girl I have had from 8weeks and have ALWAYS trained recall for emergency purposes and 90% of the time she is fine in the garden or an enclosed park but if she knows shes truely free she just goes deaf! :blink:

As Silke said most of us just have loooong leads! :D

As for your Bikjording.. get her a good padded walking harness and you a walking belt and start practising with her now with walking/jogging, teach her control and the commands you'll need for bikjording...

I use the mushing terms Hike on to start, gee for right, haw for left, steady to slow down, and whooa to stop.. those are the MOST important ones. In a couple of months once she has those down then you can start with short little runs on a bike or scooter but stop well before she wants too, keep her loving it and rearing to go for more that way when she is old enough to run properly at a year and a half to eighteen months she will already know what to do and will WANT to do it! :)

Your not far from me in Nottingham if you ever want to come for a meet up I have a scooter you can try out and the belt and walking set up I described if you want to see it in action! :)

Good luck!

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Holly, lets not encourage members to let their sibes offlead eh? Yea you can do it, but he's already said she has awful recall and has lost her for 4 hours, let use some common sense here.

Shaun, I started doing light running with my girl when she was 9 months old, by a year old we were building up distances and I was helping less and less. Many people start their pups off alongside their experienced teams (so they're not doing much work, just learning the commands really and building up stamina), many start this around 5-6 months.

By a year old dogs are eligable to take part in competitions, you wouldnt enter an untrained dog would you? ;)

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i'd wait til older as its only one dog and you require one dog to do all the work. also a major factor to think about is exactly where you are going to run her? you need to find suitable ground (ie soft forest trail) never on hard concrete, tarmac. it needs to be flat (no necessarily no incline but smooth (ie not churned up by horses as that could brake her legs) not only will you destroy her pads but the jolts on the joints will cause problems. there are rules regarding dogs pulling in public places so check with your local council. permits may be required (they are required in my county)

The best advice i can give is try and meet up with an experienced musher and get advice from them. Get yourself a local ordinance survey map and look for any by-ways as thats pretty much the best option. Police here have issued fines locally when going through the local forest.

There was a post last night on 'working' section and i posted a link on what the public path/byways signs mean.

Running isnt that available right now anyway as the temperture has warmed up so much (other than very early am) so do your research on permit and locations now ready for october when she's older and you may have found a local musher etc.

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Oh and i forgot to add start doing the commands now as you need to be able to control your dog when they're running (gee, haw, on by, hike on etc).

Save up cos its gonna cost you loads!! :lol:

You can only enter competitions if you have a KC reg'd dog, if not then there are very few open races around and thats your only option. however you would need to build up to this.

When you do start always VERY short runs so the dog is never finishing tired and worn out. they finish on a high and wanting more - ready for next time!!

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You can only enter competitions if you have a KC reg'd dog, if not then there are very few open races around and thats your only option. however you would need to build up to this.

Sorry hun, just a quick correction, he is welcome to run with BSHRA (and maybe ABSA??) with an unreg'd dog, all 3 of mine are unregistered and 2 are welcome to race with BSHRA

You have to go to a rally and get 2 championship judges to look over your dog and decided whether it is a sibe & fit to race, if they both say yes then you get a race number. You cant get points (so cant really 'compete' but you still run in the same classes as the registered dogs, you just dont get placed in the league :)

Gotta get Keyu looked over

Everything else is spot on ;)

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Can someone explain more clearly the whole husky KC'd thing and being in competitions? It seems a little unfair. Yeah my husky isnt KC Registered but the breeder had photos of gran parents as well as parents and has been absolutely amazing helping at any point. I can honestly say I couldnt have bought a better dog. As I am a husky novice. I have a pack of 3 different breeds so racing might be interesting. 1 German Sheperd Cross Rotweiller The Husky and a Douge De Bourduex. Makes interesting days

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"yes your right but only KC ones 'actually' race. ABSA do not allow unreg'd ones at all but they are discussing whether shwa dogs can enter in their own class so similar to BSHRA but only shwa welfare rather than someone who has decided to buy an unreg'd pup etc. the decision will be made next month. "

In English acroynms only work if you know the lingo

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Shaun, there is quite some debait about the Kennel club registered only thing and as the girls above said some racing organisations (those acronyms) will let you run and some won't... its all to do with discoraging people from cross breeding on purpose things like greyhound into the sibes to make a faster dog just so they will win races!

Silly really as there are more and more unregd dogs who are perfectly good running dogs whos owners want to run them and without the help of an org it can be very difficult to get into!

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Sarah thing with storm is shes a pedigee without papers. I know that means bugger all. I saw both parents and pictures of grand parents. I think the only reason my girl is none KC is because it was an accidental litter at a young age and I know that the KC frown on these things. I dont feel that she was puppy farmed because of the contact that I have since had with the breeder. We regularly swap emails get advice etc. How would I stand on that footing?

The day out/meet would be a great idea. Add me to facebook?

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Unfortunatly in the eyes of the show and competition world one unregd dog is the same as an other, so while the breeder sounds caring that doesnt leave you anywhere in terms of competative raceing but that doesnt mean you CANT run.. many people do just do it for the fun, like me (although Im still in the early stages) both my dogs are unreged so I dont enter comps I just go to open events and/or fun run... Yep by all means add me on facebook! :)

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Unfortunatly in the eyes of the show and competition world one unregd dog is the same as an other, so while the breeder sounds caring that doesnt leave you anywhere in terms of competative raceing but that doesnt mean you CANT run.. many people do just do it for the fun, like me (although Im still in the early stages) both my dogs are unreged so I dont enter comps I just go to open events and/or fun run... Yep by all means add me on facebook! :)

How do I find you on facebook

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