Later, we accidently fell into our own bit of innovation.
Here’s what happened.
Traditionally, two dogs working side by side, to pull a load (me), have their collars connected by a modest neckline.
This is so they will work more in tandem and not try to go off in their different directions.
It also allows the dogs to correct one another.
When a command has been called (by me) or a trail decision needs to be made (often by the dogs),it frequently seems that the dog who is most right, gets their way.
By most right, I mean that the dog who is following my command well, seems to prevail over the dog who is not following the command as well, bringing the other dog into compliance with the command.
Perhaps when a dog is “right” it gives him the “might” to bring the other dog inline…
Balto with backpack
I don’t mean to give the impression that my dogs often need correction. Most of the time both Kuma and Balto follow my commands in an excellent manner.
However, for those times when one is more right than the other, these have been my observations.
Perhaps it’s an example of democracy in action.
We have my command, the dog performing my command, voting against the dog not performing the command as well… That’s probably enough political science for this blog. Lol!
Balto, remember, was a pup for much of this time and for quite a while was smaller and weaker than Kuma.
Often times, while training, Kuma would crowd Balto to one side or the other which could mean pushing into a hedge or other obstacle.
With the traditional neck line, there was not much that the crowded dog could do about it.
For some reason I decided to put the neckline where each dog’s harness connected to the ski-jor lines.
This allowed the dogs to swap positions with each other, which they learned to do.
At first this was used by Balto, whenever he was being crowded by Kuma, to just switch to the outside, while on the move!
This became very useful, even when Balto was full grown, but of course would only work with two dogs.
Kuma with backpack
The Boys Can Carry Backpacks!
A few times Kuma and Balto also wore backpacks or saddle bags. They were fine with this and we could carry water for them and me!
It seemed as if we had reached a pretty high plateau with our dog walking system.
The skijor belt, lines and shock absorber really enhanced and smoothed our walking operation as a one team.
Putting the neckline behind the dogs’ harness gave them unparalleled flexibility while still allowing correction by the dogs.
The dogs loved going out with our system and it really seemed to be great fun for all!.
At that time I really didn’t think this could get any better.
Then, something new came up, and this is how it happened…