Oh no, what on earth have I done? I've let a friend convince me to bring Ella along to a sledding workshop! So, she owns Husky's, is on the committee for a Husky club and has managed to convince me to bring along my LABRADOR along for the day! To be completely honest, she has assured me that it's just a bit of fun and a lot of different breeds come along (only the large varieties though!). Ella an I are never going to make a sledding team but what's the harm in trying something new hey?! Oh, by the way, the sledding is with the racing scooters (with wheels) rather than snow sledding as we only get snow for a couple of months a year and most alpine regions are national parks so no dogs allowed.
Oh that will be awesome fun! Our coffee guy (who comes by my work with his coffee van each morning....highlight of my day) has several teams of sled dogs. He has a team of Huskies and one of GSPs and I don't know what the others are. But any dog can do it. What a blast!
Well if GSP's can do it then surely Ella can! Although I have spent the best part of the last 10 months stopping her from pulling on the lead...
How fabulous! It won't impact on her lead walking, it will be a completely different context, with a different set of cues. She is quite capable of telling the difference!
For a while my hairdresser's family was big into sledding, even competing, and ran a three dog team with one Lab in it. I forget the other breeds. We used to meet sled dog teams in a place we ski and there were all sorts of identifiable breeds and mixes. There is also a group that meets up for skijoring. Maybe you and Ella would like skijoring?
Now that I've googled skijoring and know what you're actually talking about, I can safely say that it's not the sport for me! I'm not really a snow sports person. We don't get great snow here, it's costs a fortune to do anything and, well, it's cold!
She will be brilliant,how many of us have been powerless against the Labrador strength when it's used to pull US on the lead.....will be so cool to channel that strength in this way. I think it's a first? we haven't had any sledders chat to us? Enjoy yourselves and let us know how you get on x
I've skijored with Tilly, and she is quite a bit of help. Cooper would be even better, she has huge feet and is bigger and stronger. I used to do it with my Malamute, but the labs are just as good here, since it does not get super cold, and we are usually going home at the end of the day. But not always" These are from a Mountain Travel and Rescue course two years ago. Tilly slept in my snow cave. She is not pulling on the way out, but she is carrying a pack.
Wow that is fantastic!! Totally jealous, now!! Love Tilly's fur collar.... I will admit, however, that one of my rules in life is never to go winter camping. Snow cave? No thanks....
The weather was so bad that day (mid April) that we could not see the ground (AKA A White Out) on part of the trip back to the ski area. The patroller in the picture (not me, I was taking it) fell off a cornice and dropped about 10ft into soft snow. He was going up hill at the time, and still did not see the drop. No harm done, except he broke a handle on his pulke sled. Tilly was a big help, since if I could see her, I knew where the ground was.
