Some dogs are born knowing how to pull. Many dogs will pull quite strongly the first time a harness is put on them. Others have to be introduced the the idea gradually. Adults dogs who have been trained to heel can be very slow to adjust to the idea that pulling is allowed in harness. I like to start puppies young. Even a young pup can learn about the idea of pulling. Just keep the distances very short, and the loads light.put a small harness on him and let him pull a little 4 inch piece of 2x4 down the road, while I walked him on leash. His first reaction is to turn around and pounce on the little thing that is following him and making rattling noises. Soon he will get used to the sound and the gentle tugging. Later on when older and stronger, use a larger piece of wood, and walk off leash in a nearby field or trail. The piece of wood is large enough to occasionally get snagged on a clump of grass. At first he may stop, thinking that the resistance meant he is stuck. But after a few tries, he should learn that a strong pull forward would un-stick the drag. This is the beginning of really learning to pull. As he grows up, he gets to pull a full sized tire up the road, in exchange for praise and occasional treats. During these lessons, teach him not to stop to investigate things beside the road. "On by!" means leave that squirrel and keep moving foward. Use the leash on his collar to tug him forward every time he begins to veer to the side towards a distraction. You can make your "On By" lessons very effective by planting your own distractions beside the road - favorite dog toys, food, neighbors with on-leash dogs, etc. That way one lesson you can practice "On by" twenty times. It's an important lesson for your own safety while scootering and skijoring. It is worth going out of your way to teach it to your dog. Over several lessons, he becomes more confident, and start pulling strongly. At that time move the leash from his collar, to the back of his harness. Now he is pulling the weight, and a good amount of resistance from me too. He was ready to try pulling the scooter. Canicross can be utilyzed to train a new dog to lead. Use a skijor belt line and a harness for the dog. Go on hikes and encourage the dog to get in front and pull. Use praise to encourage him to work. Start out with short distances because pulling is hard for a dog at first compared to free running. Work with your dog frequently and consistantly.Be very patient. Never get angry. Always insist on a tight line. If the line is slack, then end the lesson or take a break until he is ready to go. Never allow the dog to go ahead with a slack line.When the dog has progressed to keeping the line out tight all the time, move on to a bike or a scooter to enable the dog to run. Use commands at every opportunity. At home when you want the dog to move on up the stairs ahead of you say "Hike". When you want him to ignore a distraction say "On By". Use "Gee" and "Haw" to indicate direction as often as you can . Scooter Training When using a scooter with a novice dog, it is very important to keep the brakes on a bit at all times unless you are going up a hill. In spite of the training, novice dogs somtetimes stop unexpectedly. If your brakes are not on, the scooter will continue forward, run over the tug line at full speed, and the line will tangle in the wheel. This causes high speed crashes!! Keep the speed slow and only rarely let the dog run as fast as he wants. This teaches the dog that pulling is part of the fun of scootering. Dogs that are used to running with little resistance will be completely confused as to what to do when they come to a hill. Pull training to teach the word "Pull". For this lesson you need to use enough weight that the dog has to pull quite hard to get it going. Every twenty foot pull of the tire earns a dog treat. Once the dogs knew the word "Pull", it was easy to use the same word when we started up a small hill, when skijoring. Once again rewarded with food for the first few times until the lesson was firmly learned. Now I just praise them at the top of every hill

submitted by Jim Benson of GoldRush Racing.