1. When you are teaching a dog 'gee' and 'haw', do you only teach the lead dogs or do you teach each one individually?
2. What do you feed your team, and when would be best? How much?
3. How do you teach your dogs 'on by' if you only have your own team to work with and no others to pass you?
4.How many miles should you go for each week in the first three years? (I heard that you shouldn't 'pack' them on until they are older than three, it can damage their shoulders and discourage them)
5. How often should you stay on the sled and how often do you get off of the runners?
6. Should you start with H back of X back harnesses?
7. If you are starting from scratch should you start with more than one or two dogs? (I was thinking about getting one first, one with the right 'stuff' to be a leader, training them for a season and getting the next one...and a season later getting two more if it was something that I could do, afford, and enjoy)
I know that I probably am not experienced to really get this down, but what is the harm in trying? I plan on being a companion animal vet so I should be able to afford the care of my dogs and care for them my self. Thanks for the answers! smile :D
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I have only been mushing for a few years but am excited to share what I can.
1) I bought a retiered lead dog already trained with commands and I run the younger dogs beside him and he does a lot of the training. Most people that I ha.ve talked to say that they only intentinally train dogs comands if they suspect they will be leaders. Others are tained in command also but that is in the general training.
2) I feed my dogs a comercial kibble made for working dogs, particuarly sled dogs. It is higher in protien and fat content then regular dog food. I also add extra tallow (fat) to their diet. They also get frozen or dried fish as a treat. During the summer they are on a maintence diet that is justlike a pet dog gets because they do not need the extra fats and protiens.
During the summer I feed my older dogs once a day and my just 1 year old pup twice a day. They eat 2 cups of kibble a day. pup gets 3. I watch their weight and adjust the amount as needed. During the winter: morning they get a bowl of hot water with a powder supplement and beef tallow, and 1/2 cup of kibble added. At night they will get kibble 2 cups or more with hot water and tallow. I might also snack them onsome frozen or raw fish. Water will freeze if it sits out so when i waterI bait the water with a little food to get them to drink before it freezes.
3) I have had the same question so I donot have an answer. I do use on by any time there is a distraction, barking dogs, game, also I have used a snowmachine and done some passing but it is not the same. Most mushers join up with other mushers and work together to teach those skills but I do not have that luxery
4) By the end of the season my pup who was 1 in june was running about 4 mikles a day on flat ground. yearlings can run farther and I know many of the well known trainers will run puppy teams of yearlings in the big distance races.
5) That depends on the terran. I will pump when my dogs seem to be struggling or always up the hills.
6) I use x back harnesses on the sled, I have a distance (short) harness that I use with the scooter and canicross because the tug has more slope. I think the type of harness is a personal choice
7) I started with a good well trained retiered leader, a few monthes later got a good team dog. then for christmas i got a 6 month old pup that I am training. Now i am looking for my 4th dog. This worked good for me. I was able to gain skills as a gradually increased my team. If you are thinking about racing they have catogories for as little as 1 dog.
Im a teacher in a remote village in alaska and dog mushing is something I have always wanted to do
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