Brian, the picture posting area is in the "Members Photos and Short Bio" section:
http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php/Cat/0/Board/159

I'm going to remove the photo's of Roscoe here and if you'd put him up in that section, I'd apprectiate it!

Ooops, sorry -- THREE beautiful dogs! Didn't see the 2nd pic for a minute!

My mistake. I thought it was only going to be a link, not the actual photos. The pictures are up at the other location.

Thanks.

 Quote:

There is a fairly well known weightpull club about an hour and a half away. Although, that is pretty far to go to practice often. I would have to set up a weightpull track in my back yard. I don't think that I am in a neighborhood that would appreciate that. Also, weightpull sounds interesting and seems like it might be fun (being a powerlifter and bodybuilder myself) but I don't know much about the sport or its attendees. Any thoughts?

So, until something comes up, or I get the nerve to start a club (which I don't feel that I am experienced enough to organize and run), I will compete with him in my own mind. Maybe one day we'll come up to see what you've done to your club and Roscoe can see the pro's in action.

You don't need a track to begin weight pulling as you probably don't want to move onto the track until your dog can pull it's own body weight for 2 miles.

Cart pulling may be a nice way to start out after he is conditioned and trained to accept a reasonable amount of weight.

A weight puller I know uses only cart pulling to condition his dogs because of the negative image projected by a tire with weights. He loads his kids up in the cart for weights and they go for a walk.

I shouldn't say "only" he also conditions with other activities - just if he is in an area with other people, he will only have his dogs pull a cart.

If Roscoe is an extremely high-drive (think Diablo) pitty then he will tend to be a speed puller and won't have the focus to be a heavy weight puller unless baited - which makes the handler look incompetent and the dog look fearsome. If this is the case, you would need to be even more careful with the rate weight is increased. Because they pull quickly, the handler assumes the weight can be increased until the dog cannot pull the weight and the dog hasn't learned to focus and work through it. Since the dog can't pull the weight it will probably learn that it doesn't have to - making all sorts of problems in competition.

Try this group:
http://www.nadsr.com

They also will help people start up new clubs.

BTW... Roscoe is just a beauty! Give him a kiss for me!

Anne, thanks for the info and your input. Yeah, I didn't mean an actual track to pull on, I just meant a place in my yard to practice. But the cart is good idea.

Thank you.