2016 puppy news....
I have begun taking the dogs out a few times a week with the quad. Walking is good, but my knee complains by the time we do a mile unless I go very slowly.
Sanglarka has been doing well with her leash training and the walks reinforce what she's learning, but she has a lot of puppy energy with this cold weather.
I can't let her be outside unsupervised as she has discovered that her mom and dads house is one place away and loves to have spontaneous family reunions. I spend a fair amount of time outdoors everyday while she gets to be a free pup, but if I'm not with her she has to be in the run or in the house. When the snow is gone I will be installing an invisible fence.
So with all this energy, when she's indoors she paces, and paces...
I decided I needed to up her energy output several times a week.
That's where the quad comes in. She can run alongside for 30 minutes no problem, that's about 4 miles.
The little pocket rocket Wren has no problem staying out front and getting in a lot of sniffing while we roll behind her.
The speedometer is not working but I think we're probably doing 7 or 8 mph.
Then when we get home and I take Larka off lead, she and Wren still have plenty of energy to race around and wrestle!
I have decided to make Larka earn her keep by learning to be a draft animal.
Step one was getting her used to the "harness". If it looks like a horse halter to you, that's because it is.
She is fine with this step. But wonders what I'm plotting.
I walked her around with the sled, pulled by me and she didn't mind.
I looped the twine loosely through the harness and let it drag along behind her, and she was still fine.
Then when I turned her to the inside of my side the light twine connecting her to the sled wrapped behind her fanny and she got scared and did a few wild turns in circles around me.
That put her off, and she decided this pulling baloney was not for her. So I went back to pulling it myself and leading her.
She is still leery so it will take me a few days of back to the beginning to gain her trust with it. My bad, I got over enthusiastic without giving her enough time to think it through. But she'll be good with it, and then I'll get her a proper harness and we'll perfect our drafting.
