Has anyone ever worked a GSD by pulling a wagon or cart? We built a small wagon for the dogs to pull wearing a padded pulling harness. The 8mth old boys like to grab the handle rope and pull it around the house. Karl will be 2yrs old on 01-10 and it's time to start with small weights. I'll start with 10lbs then slowly work up the weight and distance. He is a sturdy built shepherd with no leg or joint problems and I have the vet's okay to start. I'm interested in finding out if anyone on the board has ever done this and can offer any advice?? What about max. weight limits? For him this will be mostly to exercise for strength and stamina and maybe help haul yard equipment etc. around. He always wants to be in the middle of things so might as well use up some on that energy at the same time. Later, when younger brother Chase is more developed it will be to help the guys down at the firestation. I had an old book at one time with pix of war dogs pulling carts etc. so I know the shepherd can do it. I just don't want to push the limit beyond what their body design can handle safely.

If the dog can pull it, it will not hurt him. I was involved in Weight pulling for several years and NEVER saw a dog injured. Dogs can pull thousands of pounds so don't worry about the weight. Though naturally start with lower weight and build him up. One of the best things for a dog to pull for building strength and stamina is a tire. You can use different sized tires as the dog gets used to it. If you want to talk more about this send me a private message.

My 3 year old GSD female learned to pull a sled with my son on it last year. She caught on right away and if we walk on our regular trails she stays right out at the end of the line.

We got a bunch of snow Christmas eve here and I hooked her up to pull my 4 year old nephew who doesn't even weigh 40 pounds, she would take off at a gallop and he was cruisin'.......wish I would have videoed that. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> He was airborne a good portion of the time!!

The best part is that before that day my nephew was afraid of any dog over 10 pounds and now HE LOVES GERMAN SHEPHERDS..... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I had a book by Consie Powell called "Newfoundland Draft Work" that gave a very good step by step training program for teaching a dog to pull a cart or wagon. On the design of the wagon make sure you have put brakes on the forks so it doesn't run up on the dog when you stop. If the dog is worried about things coming up from behind it will be more difficult to get the dog to work.

Thanks guys for your responses.
Tracy has kindly offered to give some expert advice, Richard I'm going to look around and try to find a book or two on "draft dogs" and get some ideas, and yes Cindy it's too bad you didn't get some pix. I told Tracy last night by pm that one of my future ideas for Karl was to get him to pull a wagon at the children's ward. They use wagons to pull the kids into different therapy sessions and if I can get the idea across I think the kids would love it. They'll want documentation of the safety with the dog/wagon so I'll have to get him really use to it and then start hauling neighbor/community kids around for a lot of pictures. Tracy suggested using different size tires so I'm going to approach the local garage and see if they can donate some in different sizes. By the time I get this down pat with karl I can start on little brother Chase for the firestation. If anyone else has a helpful hint please send it. Thanks again. "TJ"