The sweater had been turned over to my neighbor and her poodle after (THANK GOD) my dog made it perfectly clear when they tried to put on on him he wasn't a clothes friendly pooch. I think I have the picture of a friend of mine trying to wrestle him into the sweater but no successful "sweater on" pictures. I shall try to redeem myself by posting the ones of him in his halloween tutu a bit later (yeah, it's still pink....but no turkeys )

Unfortunatly I have to rework my cart a bit more. I think I"m going to rebuild it completely after practicing being pulled around in it by a friend of mine (we wanted to see how it was for the driver since I spent most of the time building it making sure my dog was going to be comfortable. Um, yeah, little note for those of you who want to build a cart...don't forget you have legs, and that legs need to fit in the cart as well....I'm also going to use 16 or 20 inch and 14 inch bike wheels this time, I think it'll be more efficient that way, there will also have 4 wheels this time (larger in the back that bear the weight, front for balance and steering.

For now we're playing around on my old deathtrap...um, I mean razor scooter since I thought I could do most of the work pushing off. We have to stay on the smoothest part of the road to use it but it's quite fun. I'm running into an issue now that he can run soooo much faster than ever thought he'd be able to he apparently has nooo issue pulling my entire weight. Our training in speed control seems to have been condensed to "stop, walk, and 20mph" on the scooter (speed as recorded by a kind police officer and his radar gun). I've been working him at sort of speed walk since that's the only way he won't try to pull me entirely on his own (not to mention, 20mph on a razor scooter is amazing...but terrifying)

 Quote: Ingrid Rosenquist

Here is my Christmas photo from 2001 with the dogs and the dog cart:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1234/1155243773_bb3052b422_o.jpg

Yeah, I know reindeer antlers are almost as bad as a pink sweater with turkeys on it :-p

awwww, antlers are cute though! Turkeys were....um....ick. Nice cart though was that a bought one or homemade?

 Quote: jamie craig

Unfortunatly I have to rework my cart a bit more. I think I"m going to rebuild it completely after practicing being pulled around in it by a friend of mine (we wanted to see how it was for the driver since I spent most of the time building it making sure my dog was going to be comfortable. Um, yeah, little note for those of you who want to build a cart...don't forget you have legs, and that legs need to fit in the cart as well....I'm also going to use 16 or 20 inch and 14 inch bike wheels this time, I think it'll be more efficient that way, there will also have 4 wheels this time (larger in the back that bear the weight, front for balance and steering.

If you use 4 wheels you have to consider the resulting turning radius/cut under/5th wheel configuration. If the wheels jam against the frame and the forward pull continues the vehicle will tip over.
I think it would be ideal if you went to a tricycle type vehicle with the front wheel mounted on a fork attached to the frame above it so that it would have a tight turning radius and would not be prone to tipping over. I don't know if a dog would have enough pull to do it, but it might be a painful experience.

There was a three-wheeled fore cart being used at the local draft horse auction. I asked the owner about it. He's been using it for years to break horses to drive and said it will turn on a dime and it has never tipped over, even angling through ditches.

There was also a discussion on COTH about a three-wheeled farm wagon that one of the forum members made, and uses, in Idaho.

http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=176840&highlight=three+wheeled+wagon

Be sure to look at the picture of the 3 wheeled gig.

There is also a British Harness Goat Society. http://www.harnessgoats.co.uk/gallery.htm
Pictures HGS01 and HGS10 are along the lines of a design that would probably work well with a dog, have plenty of leg room and a good turning radius.

Aaaand another option is the hyperbike/sulky design. http://www.pacifier.com/~carriage/hyprbke.html
http://www.pacifier.com/~carriage/cancar.html

If a two wheel vehicle is properly balanced there is no/very little weight on the animal. Balanced is achieved when the rider's weight is centered over the axle. The balance can be changed by the rider moving the seat forward or back or by leaning forward or back. To test this have someone holding the shafts at the level they will be with the draft animal (dog, goat, equine) while the driver sits in the seat and shifts their weight back and forth.

I've been driving my ponies, the dogs and a goat are next.

Hi Jamie!

My cart was bought, ironically by the guy in one of Debbie's links :-)

http://www.pacifier.com/~carriage/cancar.html

He was really nice and helpful. However, the cart I had was pretty big for one ACD to pull, If I had kept the cart I would have purchased the tandem harness set up and have two of my dogs pull me.

If I was looking for a new cart, I would check out these:

http://www.rjwalsh.com.au/mini/index.htm

They have gotten rave reviews from what I have seen.

Unfortunatly cost is a BIIIIG factor for me which is why I opted to build my own (at least until I'm out of school). I'll be relying on primarily salvaged objects and do not have access to welding equiptment or a metalshop. My material options include wood, PVC piping (not for anything weightbearing), some recyled bike parts, tires and wheels, some recycled baby jogger and bike trailer parts. Those link have given me a couple of ideas though.

I drafted a new three wheeled design last night, one set up a lot like a wheelchair with weight entirely over the rear 27 inch bike wheels, feet close to the ground on petals on each side of a 12 inch thicker wheel (like those wheelbarrow ones). essentially it's a sulky with an extra small wheel in the front for balance and security. The shafts would be attached to pole up from the front wheel. The front wheel would pivot but perhaps unlike a bike wheel (first version) the wheelbarrow type wouldn't be as twirly or turn quite so fast. Also, my feet would be near the ground just in case. I'd use bike hand brakes on both back wheels, not to mention I'd wear gloves so in an emergency I could ease the cart to a stop by gently squeezing the wheels, and worst case senario, put my feet down.

I did see a go-kart frame on craigslist for only $35, I'm wondering if I could modify that into a cart? Anyone know how much those things weight? I'd most likely be hacking up a good chunk of the frame and only keeping the base and the steering mechanism in the front end....

My kids are getting a pedal go-kart for Christmas, my alterior motive is a vehicle for the dogs to pull. This go-kart (Kettcar) weighs about 50 lb. I found a nice used on for $50.

I haven't figured out yet how to attach the dog harness/shafts to the front steering/wheel mount so that the go-kart will follow the dog and I won't have to use the steering wheel.

Many farm wagons have the same type of front wheels/axle, and they pull with a tongue. I'll have a look at them to see how it's done.

I'll keep you updated on my progress.

Okay!

I found an old radio flyer wagon and made some shafts for it. The harness I made for my dog actually works with it quite well, though I need to adjust it to take the cart shafts. The wagon weights a little under 35lbs. It was a little bigger than I had intended though supposidly this model holds 180lbs so hey, maybe in the future I'll be able to drive in. I'd need to rebuild it considerably before having someone sit in it, this wagon was originally bought new by the previous owner's mother in 1951...it's in good shape and the rust on it is cosmetic but it'll take a bit of work to make it ridable. I'm hoping by the time it's been polished up (I wonder if I could put bike wheels on it O_o) my dog will be old enough and conditioned enough to pull it with a driver

We took it out today (empty of course) for a test run and did pretty well, The shafts needed to be jury rigged to the harness (which hopefully will be changed after today, I'm restitching a part of his harness to hold them). He did really well, the wagon is a bit noisy (more so then the drag and less than my scooter but in a different way) which took a couple minutes getting used to the new sound but we practiced some nice turns as well as going over small bumps and grass, also, unlike his previous practice carts/drags/etc he can back this one up, which is very useful when navigating narrow sidewalks.