Does anyone on the board do weight pull with their dog(s)?

I am interested in starting Neb in this. I think he'd be a natural.

Would love to hear from someone actually doing this!

Thanks!!!!

i am starting too!!! and my BF has already done some pulls with his dog, i've been researching and preparing for this forever it seems like.
what questions did you have??

I used to do it competitively. My old boy Poe was a regional medalist in the IWPA one year and placed 10th in his weight class at the international championships the same year. Which was no easy feat considering his weight class consisted primarily of pits. There was more than one pit owner who shook their head when their pit got beat by a cowdog :-p

Two of my ACDs were two of the first dogs to title in the UKC when they started offering pulling and I believe my departed Finn was the first (and perhaps only to date) UKC weight pulling champion ACD :-)

Poe's best pull on wheels was 2400 pounds which was 48 times his weight. He was so competitive and such a darn good puller that he partially tore his supraspinetus tendons trying to win one day.... Hence the reason I used to do it seriously but no longer do so.

Great sport and I will occasionally title my dogs in it but I no longer train for the bigger competitions. Notwithstanding what some might say, some dogs have so much heart they don't know when to stop trying. After Poe recovered from his injury I tried to just let him pull small weights for fun as he truly loved the sport but he would just get pissed when I'd pull him out of competition before he was ready to stop so I just stopped harnessing him up altogether.

Don't take this as knocking the sport. I love it and with common sense it is fantastic. I attribute doing the sport with my dysplastic bitch to helping her strengthen her hindquarters and helping her remain sound.

If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them. My best advice is make sure you have a good and *proper fitting* harness. That is paramount.

As I said I've been out of seriously competing in the sport for over 5 years but my understanding is that the United NAtional Weight Pull Association is one of the bigger pulling organizations and they are associated with the UKC:

http://www.unitednationalweightpullassociation.com/

Some pics of Poe:


Poe at the international championships:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2614/3771415018_981f64f195_o.jpg

Poe at a regional competition:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2568/3770613499_d29e9d8bce_o.jpg

Poe training for the championships:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1403/1156094776_215ab10cde_b.jpg

Mallory, I didn't know that!

Ingrid, if there was ever someone who was an inspiration of giving their dogs all the opportunities there could be, it's you!

Though I think Neb genetically kind of works for this - Husky and JRT (hey, it's Terrier).

A board member is making me a frieght harness for something else, so I was going to use that.

My questions:

-Can I use his Ruffwear harness in the meantime for smaller pulls?
-Did you bait the pulls or train just the pulling?
-How did you build up in weight? What percentage increase?
-How far do you have your dog pull the weights?

As well, Ingrid, I was wondering about protection against injury. What did you do?

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A board member is making me a frieght harness for something else, so I was going to use that.

Make sure that the freight harness straps will not constrict movement at heavier weights. For instance, I would never use the Nordkyn style freight harness for weight pulling. I started out with a Nordkyn style harness and was educated by the serious pullers about how strap design/placement can really constrict a dog while pulling. This is the style that I recommend:

http://www.itsmysite.com/cdpits/

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Can I use his Ruffwear harness in the meantime for smaller pulls?

For pulling things like chains, tires, etc I usually recommend using a sledding type harness as its style is more similar to a weight pull harness. I personally would not use a walking harness because the contact point that you attach the weight is mid-back rather than croup/rear area.

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Did you bait the pulls or train just the pulling?

Yes, I used food. Here is an early photo of me starting Poe:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1350/1156092834_d7cf084f75_o.jpg

What I do is start my dogs getting used to pulling something light like a bike tire behind the harness as I walk with them. Many dogs can get a little spooked initially when they feel something dragging close to their rear hindquarters. Once they are fine with pulling something behind them, I hook them up to the cart and keep a leash on them. I stay in front of them and encourage them, with food if necessary. The leash is only there to ensure the dog does not want to walk around to the back of the cart and stays facing forward. The dog has to make the choice to pull. The cart person will often assist in the beginning by pushing the cart a bit to make it easier for the dog(average weight pull cart weighs 200 pounds empty).

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How did you build up in weight? What percentage increase?

Slowly :-) I would also do nothing but light light weights until the dog turns 2 and you are sure the dog is done growing. To a certain extent, the dog will tell you what they can handle. I say certain extent because there are dogs like Poe that will do whatever you put in front of them so you have to know your dog's limit better than they do.

When it comes to competition, each weight class has the competitors have a consensus on what the weight increments should be. In UKC and IWPA you can "pass" two increments but have to pull the third increment. So if the weight increments are 80 pounds and the cart is at 400 you could skip 480, 560, and than must pull 640.

This becomes tactical because the more pulls your dog does, the more tired he will get so you want to pass pass pull as long as you can. However, if you compete in an area where there are a lot of people doing it for fun, they often have the increments low. Go to competitive places where the pull would go one forever if the increments were not high, your dog is going to be pulling more.

When I was conditioning Poe for the championships I knew that I was going to be pulling in increments WAY higher than we were used to. My area usually did around 80 pound increments and I knew that the championships would likely have increments of 200 plus. This meant that my dog would be pulling more rounds and had to be in shape for that.

I ended up conditioning him by having cart training twice a week and than doing a few miles walking while dragging 20 to 30 pounds of chains about 3 times a week. This helped to build his endurance.

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How far do you have your dog pull the weights?

It can vary by organization but typically it is 16 feet. Here are the UKC rules that were recently amended:

http://www.ukcdogs.com/res/pdf/2009WPRulesAmended080109.pdf

If you are cart pulling, the axle is lined up on the start line and the pull is completed once the axle crosses the finish line.

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As well, Ingrid, I was wondering about protection against injury. What did you do?

Most important thing is a properly fitting harness. Make sure the traces in the rear and the spreader bar are appropriately spaced for the dog. For some dogs I had the spreader bar close to their rear as they were dog that might turn around while hooked to the cart and get tangled in the harness. For dogs like Poe who did not do that, I put the spreader bar far back so as not to potentially get in their way.

As for preventing injury, make sure your dog is fit and you carefully watch ensure that they will not overdo it. And it goes without saying, if your dog is not enjoying it, don't do it :-) I have had dogs that just did not like it and so I never pushed it on them. A lot of dogs love it though and for them it is a lot of fun.

Ingrid, wow, thank you.

Re: the harnesses:

Lynn also suggested that if we get into it to get a custom weight pull harness. I think, b/c Neb is under 2 (a good point for me to remember before I get all swept up), I think the freight harnesses will be okay for now so that we can see how he does, but he won't be doing any big weights.

Good point about the Ruffwear harness and the midback attachment point. I will look at it tonight to see if we can use/modify it for light pulling until we get the freight harness.

Re: Starting weights:

Makes sense about the tire, and getting them used to dragging something first. I have some small tires I was thinking of using.

Where do you get carts from?

Weight pull competitions/increases:

I will stay low until he gets older. He's only 35lbs or so anyways.

I think I have found one organization that puts on weight pulls here, for fun, possibly also for titles though. I've contacted them.

Re: Distances:

Did you only train 16ft, or did you pull further in training?

Endurance vs. Power:

I run with Neb, and he will be building up this fall to longer distances - endurance distance. I know for a dog 'endurance' distances are a bit longer than for humans, but what's your take on this? I still plan to do it, will I sacrifice power though (I'm fine with it).

Hmmm....time to draw up a dog weight pulling schedule I think, and work it into our run schedule!

I pull with Quinn, but not competitively. We do it for fun and strength building.

We do distance runs two days a week (NOT the distances you run, but like 10 miles) and drags (car tire with cement in the wells&hellip two days a week. He loves it, and get really excited when the harness comes out.

I got my harness from these guys: http://www.weightpullharness.com/HarnessPhotos.html I love it, and got it in black and red. They were easy to deal with and prompt.

Here is a site that has some plans for a homemade drag sled: http://www.pulldoggies.com/dragsled.htm and here is a nice sled for carpet or grass: http://www.rocksolidpits.com/tracks.html .

For a cart for at home training I have modified the hay cart at the barn for him to pull. Actually, I had the mini horse pull it around to help with feeding the big horses, so it was ready for Quinn. He pulls one that looks like this :
http://www.amazon.com/Do-Best-Handtruck-TC1840H-Collapsible/dp/B000RUQCO6/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1248970039&sr=1-13

ETA: I don't know if you found this in your research, but it is a neat site with a lot of info... Weight Pull Training And check out Pull Doggies as well.

Well Neb is still running shorter than that due to his age/me being injured! We're just starting him back up again

For the drag sled I'm going to use the sled that we'll be using for winter trips. Some of this training can overlap!

That's perfect with the carts - Thanks Jessica!!!!!!!!

Edit: I'd found PullDoggies, will check out the other!

Hi Jennifer,

I have a practice cart like the one Jessica posted. Tighten the axle so it won't turn and attach a line to it (each end tied to cart). I have found that mine can carry around 700 pounds in cinder blocks without falling apart. I got mine at costco.

I generally pull my guys a little further than the 16 feet when cart training. Like many things, dogs can get to the point where they know how far 16 feet is and some will stop pulling when they feel they have done the 16 feet. It can be heartbreaking to watch a dog stop inches from the finish line because generally they have a hard time getting the cart rolling again.

My departed boy Finn was around Neb's size at 36 pounds. His big pulls were around 1100 pounds. I stopped pulling him when he got his UWPCH though.

before you take your dog out, and attach something to that harness, i would read this
http://www.pulldoggies.com/weight_pull_training.htm
the idea is to take it slower than you think you need to.
just go on normal walks, but have the dog wear the harness(not attached to anything). feed him in his harness. for the next week, make the only fun he gets happen while that harness is on.

the article goes on to explain the rest. it will take longer, but what the author is trying to prevent is an excited owner going out today, attaching 5-10 lbs to the dog, going for a walk like that, and then having something like backfiring cars freak the dog out, and have him assosiate it with the harness and weight.
now, we would hope the dog is better than that, but still, there is validity in not moving on and adding weights until the dog 1.knows that the harness is not the bringer of bad things and 2.it is the best thing since sliced bread.

i would be working on dragging weight chains, tractor tires, and milk jugs filled with rocks across different surfaces before i put a cart on that dog, thats just me though.