Wooo voof!?On the last Tuesday walk I talked to Line (a local Siberian Husky musher) about training a single dog like Phoebe into becoming a good sleddog... First off - sled dogs are "born to run", but NOT born to become GOOD sled dogs...
The "danger" of being a single dog in a household is that there are no real standards to compare oneself to. A typical mistake is to use a Nome-harness when going for a "sniffsniffpeeshitwalkingaround-walk" and think that he or she is getting some "pulling training". I firmly believe there should be a separation between working and resting/free time, and walking around in a "non-work" mode whilst wearing a harness and pulling just a little sends the wrong mixed signals. Similarly - when on a bicycle with your dog, it is all too easy to let it "just run along", even if it is with the harness, and the aim is to cover distance... DON'T pedal like crazy all the time - slow down, even put on the breaks and let the dog feel how it is to REALLY pull something...at any speed... This also becomes important in shaping and evaluating the "honesty" of the dog. The dog should work hard, even if she is tired and close to exhaustion! Siberian Huskys have a reputation for only giving 80%, saving the last reserve for survival situations - an excellent quality for a polar dog, but perhaps the reason why many (most) long-distance racers choose to run Alaska Husky dogs.
In the endless debate of "Nature vs. Nurture (influence of genes vs. environment) - I am a firm believer of both - a sled dog is born AND trained - enjoy the Saturday afternoon video of Phoebe: http://andersf.multiply.com/video/item/64/Phoebe_pulling_hard
MJAU VOFF!
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