dog trucks at the beach..

[tanglefoot]

hi heidi,
the most is 6 a few years back a friends team.

ran the dogs tonight, we have been out a few times this week finding some new trails and just letting the dogs decide where to go and for how long, just seeing where they like going, which trails they like best and just having some fun times, they have been going like little rockets when coming across new trails.

its been fun training this week, had a great run the other day with kirra taking us down some new trails, which were fast and a little bumpy, it ran along side a rail track that runs through the middle of our training trails, we can either go under it or over it via two bridges, and now have discovered a fun trail that goes alongside it for a mile or so. be fun to see the train passengers as we bomb along next to them.

it was interesting seeing how when we got to our normal way home tonight where we have a choice of 2 ways to go, lolly wanted to go up the hill and carry on a bit further and kirra wanted to turn off down back the trail to the truck, kirra won. the dogs are getting into the whole exploring thing. i do jump in and give the odd gee/haw if we need to go somewhere where i know its a dead end or too cut up for the dogs, but otherwise its been a fun week and the dogs always get back to the van happy wagging tails and big smiles.

theres been one spot they have been taking a liking to, to pee on, so i have been letting them, with the idea of now when they expect to stop at it...im asking them to go on by it and not stop, the idea being that hopefully ,i can train them to give the bit extra and to carry on a bit longer or past a turn, not to go the way they expect when we are racing so they learn to trust my leadership more to be going on for a reason and so i can get them to go past something when i ask, say if passing some deer next to the trail so that we dont bolt off to give chase off the trail, or down a different trail or not to give chase when i want them to go steady away...if that makes sense...they do anyway but just trying to re inforce commands and leadership with lolly when shes leading, kirras good at it anyway, but lolly still can be a bit unsure when she is leading the team.

would appriciate anyone jumping in with ideas or advice, feel free.

[boo]

Thanks, Tangles, for the pix and the video.....glad to hear you are having fun doing different runs with the dogs. Keeps things fun and spicy, huh? Do as many different trails as you can, in as many different times of day as you can, different directions if possible.....and at night, which now is getting harder and harder to get, with the days getting longer and all. But our dogs were COMPLETELY different creatures on the same old boring 18 mile loop when we did it at night....they love it.

Sadly my work is keeping me altogether too busy, but I am supposed to have Sat. and Sun. off.....THUD!!! Of course my 'to do' list is longer than my arm, but hey, I may get on here and post some scuba pix. I miss my forum time.....I miss lots of things.....time to hit the hay....fatigue makes me bummed.

[tanglefoot]

hi boo, we miss you on the forum too!
we mainly run evenings, cooler and work getting in the way, most of the winter was night time training sometimes 6.30 pm, sometimes, 10.30 pm sometimes 1.30am! just when ever it was cold and we could run, finishing work after 19hours straight then getting out with the dogs in the early hours of the morning before hitting the sack for a few hours and then back to work was fun but hard the next day...doing it day after day on the trail must be tough! we have been training early mornings at dawn, evenings at dusk, in the dark and mixing it up as you suggested, its great to see how the dogs run differently, dawn and dusk, mentaly fast running like lunitics at times, night time - solid runs, just keepin' on trucking at a good pace - but sassy gets distracted at the slightest twig snapping so put her in wheel and shes fine, just looks about rather than lunging at shadows, early evening runs, fun at a good pace, very alert and keen, but more chilled and relaxed feel to the team.

i just love it!!! everytime we lrun them i learn something new, ive only been running dogs for around 9-10 years so heaps still to learn and as they get older theres always something new about them. its amazing!!! wish i could take all you guys out for runs, aukfan is going to coem do more in the autum training.

[boo]

Hey, Matt....Mike and I were watching a Discovery HD Theatre show last night called "Fast Flight, British Isles" and it got me wondering.....where did you go with the dogs to go surfing? They started way down south on some really cool islands, then literally 'fast forward' flight up to Land's End, and on up the coast, 7 sisters, the Needles, Dover, etc. and ended pretty much where the Chunnel happens. Of course there is MUCH more to see, but what a cool way to see England!!!! Makes us want to come visit even more.....'cept now we are thinking we need about a year there. So much history, so much countryside to see.

But where did you go surfing? I was AMAZED at how much gorgeous beach England has.....THUD!!!

[tanglefoot]

hi boo, wow sounds like a great program...if you come to the uk..YOU HAVE TO VISIT US!!!. we went surfing in cornwall in newquay, gwithian and godrevy, just up from lands end, mainly newquay tho as thats where family live. we live inland in the cotswolds, beautiful and you would love it here!!

so when you coming???.............................. heehee

ran last night with friends teams and ours, good to be out with some others running dogs and seeing how they go compared to others teams, went well! i ran my 4 dog, wayne his 3 dog race team and ems ran waynes b team ... and who finished first back to the trucks??........ ems! haha, she over took waynes a team in a flat out sprint to the finish and i stopped my team 1/4 mile out to sort out a neck line problem with sassy. then caught them up to see ems cheering haha, great fun!

i use what i call a 'floating neck line' for my wheels dogs that allows them to move side to side, so it can go from long to short from one dog to the other next to it, if one prefers a short line and the other a long, so they can move sideways if need be or keep in tighter, can dodge stuff or run a bit wider or nearer the gang line when pulling hard, without it 'doglegging' the gang line so it stays straight - an idea i came up with regarding 'vector' pulls in climbing ropes creating drag and lateral forces - the idea being it is better on the dogs necks and shoulders by stopping the gang line pulling the dogs shoulders and necks sideways and keeps the power running through the whole team and gangline onto the rig....if that makes any sense at all haha, i was rubbish at physics at school but being a climber, well it made sense to me. the neck line isnt fixed by splicing it into the gang line but rather it goes through a small loop in the gang line so it can move left or right through it...kinda hard to explain - but works ok for us.

we sat out afterwards by the vans chatting dogs etc, it was so nice to run with friends not in a competition and just run for fun. we were all gonna head for a beer afterwards at the pub by the start of thr trail, but decided to head off.....so what did we do but sit around chatting for another hour and half in the cold and dark..when we could have gone into the pub and sat by a log fire with a beer after all!

[tilstede]

Hehe, that's the best neck line novel I've ever read As with all great literature, I didn't catch it all, but will have to do some digesting

Btw; read about your surprise runs - when the dogs themselves choose which trail to travel. Liked the idea

[boo]

So one long neckline that passes thru the gang loop and a snap on each end for each dog? What if one 'zigs' and the other 'zags'? Or do i have the wrong picture in my head? We are mostly going without necklines, esp. in training.....chaotic until you yell, "READY??" Then everyone lunges forward and comes in line. But I really like the dogs having choices in textured terrain and not being confined to a small path by a neckline. Less injuries, I think, from the neck on down. If a dog can avoid a moosehole, all the better.

Hmmm....when are we coming? When will our house sell is a better question....since the one kind of depends on the other. Did your deal go to completion?

[fladogfan]

Tangles, do you only use the 'floating neck line on your wheel dogs? If you were running more than 4 dogs would it be different? Why do some drivers use neck lines and some don't?

Sure do enjoy your tales of the trails on and off season. THANKS

[tanglefoot]

umm.. i use it when running my 4, i did used to run without neck lines, and for some reason i cant remember, i must have stopped and started using them again. ok heres how it works, on the gang line just forward of the dogs necks/shoulders i have a longish neck line with clips on each end running through the gang line ok ....um..imagine a + shape, either ends of the horizontal bit has clips... the whole ----- bit can move left and right through the | bit (gangline) with the gangline staying straight.

with fixed neck lines on the gang line if a dog pulls to one side and his neigbhour goes with him the gang line will

\
/

and wont run straight, so it takes some of the power out of the gang line and onto the dogs.......i think......

with my floating gangline idea the dogs can move from side to side but wont affect the straightness of the gang line

^..^----|--^,,^

we only run sprint and shorter distances than they do in sprint races in the usa etc due to the UK being lacking in space etc etc so it is a different set up of gnag lines etc that we use alot of the time with smaller teams etc.

[tanglefoot]

of course not using neck lines gets rid of the need for all this anyway and is much better for the dogs as they wont get tight neck muscles and skeletal injuires from being pulled side to side, and if coupled with the jeff king style distance harnesses, this helps to stop dogs hips being fatigued, injured or becoming sore by the attachment of the harness tug at the back where the harness sits over the hips and pulls them sideways a little. over a long distance, i understand this does have an affect in reducing fatigue and soreness in the hips, shoulders, wrists and lower back. remember how jeff got 16 to W.mountain this year, partly to do with his harness system developed over many years. good stuff on his site at the moment about it i seem to remember.

a friend is hopefully going to be doing a thesis on 'gait analasis in dogs' for a dissertation for a physiotherapy course for treatment of animals, namely dogs and horses, she is a qualified equine physio at the moment and an human, equine and canine touch therapist, level 3.

she is planning on doing research and gait analasis on sled dogs to see how injuries can be prevented or lessened when running and working....facinating! she just has to get her tutors permission to do the thesis on it... we will be working closely with my dogs, who she treats already for any minor physiological injuries during the season, so we have been discussing all sorts along the lines of helping the dogs, harness design - (we have been talking to a harness designer), forces put on the dogs when running through the gang line angles of harnesses lines etc.....

of course we are sprint mushers over short distances comapred to the long amd mid distance racers so we are going to try and see if nick evans who runs distance teams in the uk and norway to see if we can use his dogs too.

phew!