When do sled dogs start training

A swing dog can watch and learn as the lead dog responds to a command and, if they are sharp, will begin to pick up on what those commands are.

After several successful runs in the swing position, we generally begin putting a lead dog trainee up front with a well trained tried-and-true lead dog. This pairing allows the trainee an easier transition and also tests our older lead dogs: will our older lead dogs help the young dog paired next to them learn the mushing commands or will they be led astray?

If you have selected a good, confident, older leader than you should not have any problems hooking up a young rookie leader to a tried and true veteran leader. We actually use our dog sled tours to help train lead dogs as we have found it is the perfect opportunity for a young dog to learn: they get to run up in front of the team but are not up there for too long.

The trails we use for our summer dog sled tour are specifically designed to encourage our dogs to learn their directional commands. We love this approach as it creates a very interactive tour dynamic and allows us to show what we love — training dogs — instead of just taking people for a quick ride. Learning how to be a lead dog requires a lot of mental focus so utilizing shorter runs is less stressful on our dogs.

It is also less stressful on the older dog who is teaching the younger dog how to behave. We have found these short session are a wonderful training tool as we do not overwhelm our lead dogs. With several tours a day we have lots of opportunities to work with different lead dogs per day.

Our trainees may have one or two training sessions per day, day after day. The brevity of our runs, under two miles, but the fact that they are done day after day, really helps our dogs learn. It is also very exciting for our guests to watch and be a part of a real training exercise.

We enjoy running our tours far more because our dogs are not just moving, they are also learning. Training is very simple; when the lead dogs get a command right we continue on down the trail. If the lead dogs do not get the command right then we stop.

Because our sled dogs love what they do, letting them do it is the positive reinforcement alongside our praise. When they are forced to stop running because of an error, that is actually a punishment. We do not need to use food to train our dogs; letting them do the work they were bred for is enough. Our job, in training, is simply to harness the desire to run and channel that love as our best training tool. When we transition out of our tour season, we begin fine tuning our lead dog training through the use of ATV training in the fall.

The ATV is a wonderful training tool because when our lead dogs correctly interpret a command we can give the machine a little bit of gas, allowing the dogs to run faster, which is positive feedback to the dogs. If the dogs get the command wrong, we use the brake and work with the team until they figure it out.

Usually at this point in the season our lead dog trainees have done many runs with an older partner. We have watched the lead dog trainee develop and have watched their progression from being pulled by their partner to the correct side when a command is given to correctly interpreting the command on their own.

Place Your Classified Here. FANS B. Buy a Round of Kibble. Welcome Beginners! It will take a little work to dig through this info Get used to it! One thing getting into sled dogs guarantees is plenty of hard work!

The pups spend their first two months of life nursing and sleeping, gaining more than a pound per week. By the time they are six weeks, they are weaned and begin to eat commercial dog food. Throughout this time, the puppies are handled by adults and children; socialized to feel comfortable with all the people they will come into contact with during the summer months. Kennel staff take the puppies for walks, giving them opportunities to explore puddles, climb steep slopes, and amble over willow bushes and tundra.

This familiarizes the puppies with the environment and helps them become confident and secure in their surroundings. They are also allowed to begin interacting with the adults in the dog yard. Throughout these early months, the pups are taught common commands such as sit, come, and stay; correct responses earn them biscuits or verbal praise. Their individual personalities develop: some of the pups are bold and confident, others are rambunctious, and others want nothing more than to please you.

Out on the trail, mushers are unquestionably the alpha of the pack, and that means more than just telling the dogs what to do and when to turn. If a musher turns frustrated or disheartened, which is easy to do in a frigid day race, it can affect the dynamic of the whole team. Search Search. It's not as easy as the dogs make it look. Adventure Snow Sports How to Train a Sled Dog Team The Iditarod is one of the most grueling races in the world, covering 1, miles of Alaskan backcountry, and the dogs that run it train harder than almost any athlete.

Twitter Icon. Breeding The Alaskan Husky is a mongrel that is bred for one specific purpose—to pull a sled for as long as possible. Diet Alaskan Huskies bred for racing require significantly more protein and calories than your average domestic dog—they burn as many as 10,to, calories on the trail a day, compared to the 1, calories a typical house dog burns in a day. Exercise The Alaskan Husky is an incredibly energetic animal that needs to be run often.

Training Mushers typically train dozens of dogs before settling on a core team. Filed to: Dogsledding Events Snow Sports. Read this next.