First Fall Training

Day in the Life - successful kennel chaos

Jergul, Aila, Chubby, Collin, Circe, Ilja, Scott, Atlas.

Today was our first training! Joyce had previously taken me out on the quad bike to scope out the trail (an easy 7 kilometre loop on the roads with some uphill). We made an 8 dog team with our white 1 passenger buggy. Someone (Joyce) forgot to double lock Bambi's door after feeding, so Bambi and Bianca trotted out right as we were about to leave, with all of the dogs on the line and the gate open. Then with the distraction, Circe wriggled out of her harness. While Joyce took her out of line to correct the harness fit, she wriggled away and ran right out of the open gate onto the road. I looked at Joyce in horror and despair, but Circe came straight back. Crisis averted. The start is always chaotic, but once we were underway, the dogs did really well. We stopped halfway to give them a rest, and some water, because it was quite hot (about 13°C).

Catherine brought her 2 massive dogs (yes massive - a great dane and a german shepherd) to the kennel, and we had some warm berry juice and a chat. Joyce and I also had the delicious task of throwing away the rotten meat that Martin had left us. We threw it on the poo pile, and covered it with straw in the hopes that it won't attract foxes or other animals. It was a fun day.

Training Tip: if you're going uphill and the dogs are visibly struggling, the driver can help by pushing (like if you're on a scooter). If they're really struggling, the passenger can run beside the vessel to alleviate some of the weight. When you go downhill, you have to brake so that the dogs don't go too fast. A good pace is 10-15km/hr.