Friday May. 25, 2012
Comments on:
Harnessing Spot for Speed
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By Matt Brake on 01-20-08
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Great story Becky.  Skijoring is super fun for both dog and owner. 

My two cents-
It’s often necessary/helpful to retrain your dog to pull when the owner is not on skis.  I put the harness, bungee, and tether on my dog and attached a few milk jugs filled with water for resistance.  Then I walked with her.  First, I encouraged her to just pull at a steady pace, then I worked on encouraging her from behind.  Not all dogs are natural leaders.  Mine wasn’t and this was my major challenge-to teach her that it was OK to be in front of me pulling, and that I in fact wanted this.  Then, we graduated to flat terrain where the environment was well suited for a successful experience for both of us.

Other places to go include the Stillwater Nordic Center in Whitefish which has some dog friendly trails for skate and classic, Round Meadows X-ski area, the “Pig Farm” trails (DNRC state lands across from Kuhns WMA on Farm to Market road which offer great relatively flat terrain), and Herron Park/Foys to Blacktail Trails among others.  Enjoy, and be careful on the descents. 

Once, my dog caught scent of a squirrel or deer at about 20mph.  She did a quick 90 degree turn to follow the scent and I was thankful for the bungee, but we quickly overcame it’s stretch.  Fortunately, we were both OK and the lesson was learned for good it seems, as she’s not done this since.