Terry's Friend Comments

thanks for being my friend

Hi Terry, thank you for the friend request! (=

Hands down, the best place for any kind of resource is Sled Dog Central. There you will find reference books, forums with all sorts of advice and discussions from pros to newbies. Personally, Gina, I always had a trained command leader to show the yearlings and new recruits. But if I was to train one dog, I'd say the most important part of the training would be timing. Getting the dog to turn right naturally, then saying Gee at the exact moment. Just like when you teach a dog to sit and you hold up a treat and the minute they move to sit, you say sit and give them the treat. The only real commands he'd need to learn are Gee and haw and on by - there isn't a command to stop, and the dogs seem to start without any trouble! Just make sure timing and consistency. I would always say, Ready? All right! at the start so all dogs would know what's coming and pull together. On By will get him to keep running past something interesting, so you don't end up going over the handlebars! It that case, maybe just physically getting off and walking the dog past while saying On by. Do it enough times - they figure it out!
After saying all that - the short answer i would do is get a retired leader from a musher! Good luck! and thanks for your email. Please feel free to send me updates! War stories or more questions! Love it!
Terry

Terry- an advice for a clueless girl with a husky on how to teach her dog the sled commands (we will be doing bikejoring mostly). He's got the pulling down, but um, not the commands lol. Help? Sites, books, suggestions? Can't wait to read your book!