Sled dog breeding

[SternRose]

Heres nala stacked:

 

[Starfire669]

Geez, I shuddered when I saw that dogwalk. You are quite correct to keep your dogs off this (and the teeter or A-frame if similar) for fear of them getting injured, and not because of over-confidence. While I understand that not every training facility may have the trial regulation rubber-granule running surfaces, the running surface of the contacts need to at least be well-textured for simple safety reasons. Even my Sheltie would come flying off that dogwalk due to lack of traction at the speeds she hits the contacts, let alone a large dog like a husky.

My trainer is going to show me how to build mini dog walk, A-frame, and teeter for home use. But we will only use the full sized ones at the training facility when we have spotters. It just takes 1 mistake for a dog to come off the contact obstacles wrong and be injured. The contact obstacles at my training facility are old, built before the new safety surfacing came out I believe. But they are stable and better than anything i could afford right jow, or build myself. As of right now, we only walk the dogs on those contacts and we have spotters, we aren't doing speed runs yet. I most likely won't do speed runs on those contacts until we have the new safer surface, I know where to buy the special paint. 2 of my dogs have now been selected as part of the demo team and possible compitition dogs, so I will need the ability to train at home. Also, we have a puppy who shows great promise as an agility dog. Once he matures and settles down I may have 3 agility dogs to train. For now the agility is something my kids and I do together. It is also teaching my boys some good skills, building bonds between the dogs and us, and it helps use some of the Siberians energy. While I would like to compete eventually, we need a lot more training before we are ready. The demo team is divided by skill, we are beginners and so we won't be running full speed.

 

[SternRose]

Nice. I can't wait to start nala on agility.

 

[Starfire669]

Nice. I can't wait to start nala on agility.

Just be careful. Last night Phantom was just not on his game and tried to jump off the top of the full sized A-frame. Luckily I was there and caught/pushed him back on. After that I took him out of the ring with the contact obstacles and worked him in the rings with jumps, tunnels, and chutes. Phantom turns a year old in December, so we take it easy on him, we keep the jumps low, he is only allowed on the mini walk and full sized A-frame, and we won't try him on any size teeter yet. Phantom is actually the best dog I have for weaving. He shows a lot of promise as an agility dog, but he is a puppy and either tries to jet blast through everything, or gets unfocused, both behaviors risks injury.

Dawn turns 2 in December and she is a serious agility dog. She is behind the others in training time, but has past them in skill. She is allowed on the full sized contact obstacles. She loves the teeter and dislikes the chute, go figure. She is calm, steady, and fearless. She also showed that she can be around other dogs and not lose focus or get involved in fights, which I was worried about given what she has put me through during her last heat cycle. So she officially made the demo team today.

Sasha, who made the team last night, is 3 years old. She is slow but steady, careful, and very gentle. She will never be a compitition dog, but she makes a great dog for a 12 year old boy to practice agility with. She slows him down, which is good.

 

[SternRose]

Just be careful. Last night Phantom was just not on his game and tried to jump off the top of the full sized A-frame. Luckily I was there and caught/pushed him back on. After that I took him out of the ring with the contact obstacles and worked him in the rings with jumps, tunnels, and chutes. Phantom turns a year old in December, so we take it easy on him, we keep the jumps low, he is only allowed on the mini walk and full sized A-frame, and we won't try him on any size teeter yet. Phantom is actually the best dog I have for weaving. He shows a lot of promise as an agility dog, but he is a puppy and either tries to jet blast through everything, or gets unfocused, both behaviors risks injury.

Dawn turns 2 in December and she is a serious agility dog. She is behind the others in training time, but has past them in skill. She is allowed on the full sized contact obstacles. She loves the teeter and dislikes the chute, go figure. She is calm, steady, and fearless. She also showed that she can be around other dogs and not lose focus or get involved in fights, which I was worried about given what she has put me through during her last heat cycle. So she officially made the demo team today.

Sasha, who made the team last night, is 3 years old. She is slow but steady, careful, and very gentle. She will never be a compitition dog, but she makes a great dog for a 12 year old boy to practice agility with. She slows him down, which is good.

Nala's a mix of Sasha and dawn with training. Lol, if nala doesn't feel safe she won't do it. Our first obedience class I dragged/carried her in. Lol

 

[Starfire669]

Nala's a mix of Sasha and dawn with training. Lol, if nala doesn't feel safe she won't do it. Our first obedience class I dragged/carried her in. Lol

It is a lot of fun, but you need to watch your dog closely. If a dog gets scared or worse, injured, that's it. Most dogs, after a bad experience, won't get back on that obstacle. It's why I paired my kids with the dogs I did. The kids and dogs compliment each other and do a good job of keep each other out of trouble.

 

[Starfire669]

I just remembered, our training facility's full sized teeter totter has the texted surface that is regulation now. If, by the time my dogs are ready for speed training, the walk and A-frame have been resurfaced, I'll buy the dam paint myself.

 

[Starfire669]

Geez, I shuddered when I saw that dogwalk. You are quite correct to keep your dogs off this (and the teeter or A-frame if similar) for fear of them getting injured, and not because of over-confidence. While I understand that not every training facility may have the trial regulation rubber-granule running surfaces, the running surface of the contacts need to at least be well-textured for simple safety reasons. Even my Sheltie would come flying off that dogwalk due to lack of traction at the speeds she hits the contacts, let alone a large dog like a husky.

Your dog is gorgeous! How long did it take you to train her? Got any tips for a beginner? The large contacts have me concerned. The dogs rarely work on the full sized versions, and when they do, it's at a walk and with a spotter, just in case. I'd love for my dogs to compete, but not at the risk of injury. I think Dawn would be good in compitition, Sasha doesn't seem to have the drive needed, and my puppy needs time to mature before getting serious with him.

 

[Americano Blue]

when ever my husky gets near grass (so when she gets ran, vet trips, walks, etc) she starts eating grass. only a certain type tho' (i have yet to figure out what type. i call it wild grass). i think she might be lacking in some vitamins so something. Any idea on what she might need/ be lacking in?
It gets annoying when she pull the team over to eat some grass.

 

[Starfire669]

when ever my husky gets near grass (so when she gets ran, vet trips, walks, etc) she starts eating grass. only a certain type tho' (i have yet to figure out what type. i call it wild grass). i think she might be lacking in some vitamins so something. Any idea on what she might need/ be lacking in?
 It gets annoying when she pull the team over to eat some grass.

My Siberians eat grass all the time. My Rottie ate a lot of grass when I first cut back her feed and put her on a strict diet, she thought was still starving, lol. My Belgian hardly ever eats grass. Dogs eat grass for different reasons, vitamin/minerals, when they have worms, and to help with hair balls. I poop scoop my yard twice a week, I have to with 6 dogs. And when I see grass in their poo I also see lots of hair. I'd check your dog for worms, maybe give her a thorough grooming and see if she is still eating the grass.