Weight Pull

Harness work is on the agenda for the Winter 2024/2025 season. My 3-wheeled rig is down at the moment, and nobody here has the training for it anymore, so we will start with individual harness work, i.e. weight pull and teach the basics as we go. There may or may not be a whole bunch of backpacking after the weightpull season is done. Between work and weight pulls, I’m booked every weekend.

Weight Pull Clubs in Tennessee

SCSD (Scruffy City Strong Dog) in Knoxville generally pulls by W3PO (World Wide Weight Pull Organization) rules on rails or wheels/carpet. Middle TN Weight Pullers is an IWPA (International Weight Pull Association) club on wheels/natural surface. They work together on scheduling and helping each other out. Both have outstanding judges that encourage and support novice handlers and novice dogs. Both have a good Facebook presence, as well as their parent clubs.

Title Chase

I’m taking the long view. If I can get in a Novice correction where needed, I’ll stick to Novice instead of chasing the titles in open/pro. Training is more important for later than titles are for now. But titles sure are rewarding. (Calculating title qualifying legs involves dividing the weight pulled by the weight of the dog. We call it percentage pulled. The % is backwards to my old school thinking. My 75# dog Frost needs to pull 12 times his weight or 900#. But we “say” Frost pulled 12%. Really, Frost weighs 12% of the weight he pulled. But language evolves. So it’s: Frost pulled 12%.)

W3PO titles are for snow, wheels & rails.

• WPA (Weight Pull Aptitude) 5% on wheels/7% on rails 3 times
• WPD+surface (Weight Pull Dog Snow 5%x3, Weight Pull Dog Wheels12%x3, Weight Pull Dog Rails 15%x3)
• WPDX+surface (Weight Pull Dog Excellent Snow _%x3, Weight Pull Dog Excellent Wheels 18%x3, Weight Pull Dog Excellent Rails 25%x3)
• WPDS+surface (Weight Pull Dog Superior Snow _%x3, Weight Pull Dog Superior Wheels 23%x3, Weight Pull Dog Superior Rails 35%x3)

IWPA titles for wheels (also snow, check their website)

• WPD (Weight Pull Dog 12%x3)
• WPDX (Weight Pull Dog Excellent 18%x3)
• WPDS (Weight Pull Dog Superior 23%x3)

Updated Title Chase

• Frost WPA WPDR
• Dresden WPA

Schedule

• 9/15 Baxter, IWPA (1 pull) Frost 71#
  • Frost Novice 5 times up to 348#/5%
• 9/22 Knoxville W3PO (1 pull) Frost 70#
  • Frost Novice (250#, 325#, 400#, 475#, tangled twice 550#) spinny spinny
• 10/5&6 Knoxville W3PO (2 pulls) Frost 76#
  • Frost Novice (Pull 1 Sat am Rails: 325#, 475#, 625#, 775#, 925#, 1075#/14.14%
  • Frost Novice (Pull 2 Sat pm Wheels: 250#, 350#, 550# double foul) WPA title
  • Frost OPEN (Pull 3 Sun am Rails: 325#, 625#, 925#, 1225#/16,11% first rails leg)
  • Frost OPEN (Pull 4 Sun pm Wheels: 450#, 650#, 850#/11.8% double fouled out)
• 10/20 Baxter IWPA (1 pull) Frost 75#, Dresden 98#
  • Frost Novice (200#, 235#, 270#, 305#, 340# – limit 5 novice pulls IWPA)
  • Dresden Novice (200#, 235#, 270# 1 leash correction when he bellied down, then he was up and digging, 305#, 340#)
• 10/27 Knoxville W3PO (4 pulls) Frost 75#, Dresden 93#
  • Frost Open (Pull 3 Sun am Rails: 625#, 925#, 1225#/16.33%) 2nd WPDR leg
  • Dresden Novice (Pull 3 Sun am Rails: 325#, 625#, 925#, 1225# -spun on 625, leash on 925 but no spin)
  • Frost Open (Pull 4 Sun pm Rails: 925#, 1225#/16.33%) New title WPDR
  • Dresden Novice (Pull 4 Sun pm Rails: 625#, 925#, 1225#) WPA leg
• 11/3 Knoxville W3PO (2 pulls) Frost 78#, Dresden 94#
  • Frost Open (Wheels Pull 1 700#, 850 double foul)
  • Dresden Novice (Wheels Pull 1 400#, 550#/5%, 700#
  • Frost Open (Wheels Pull 2 400#, 550# double foul)
  • Dresden Novice (Wheels Pull 2 400# spinny spinny, 550# picture perfect) WPA
• 11/16&17 Knoxville IWPA (3 pulls: Sat am, Sat pm, Sun am) Frost, Dresden, Kyra, & Pink
  • Frost Novice (Pull 1
  • Dresden Novice (Pull 1
  • Kyra Novice (Pull 1
  • Pink Novice (Pull 1
  • Frost Novice (Pull 2
  • Dresden Novice (Pull 2
  • Kyra Novice (Pull 2
  • Pink Novice (Pull 2
  • Frost Novice (Pull 3
  • Dresden Novice (Pull 3
  • Kyra Novice (Pull 3
  • Pink Novice (Pull 3
• 11/30&12/1 Knoxville W3PO (4 pulls) Frost, Dresden
• 12/15 Baxter IWPA (1 pull) Frost, Dresden, Kyra, Pink
• 12/21&22 Knoxville W3PO (4 pulls) Frost, Dresden
• 1/19 /25 Baxter IWPA (1 pull) Frost, Dresden, Kyra, Pink
• 2/16 Baxter IWPA (1 pull) Frost, Dresden, Kyra, Pink
• 3/16 Baxter IWPA (1 pull) Frost, Dresden, Kyra, Pink

Notes

Unlike previous years, I don’t have team dogs who already know the basics of putting on a harness, lining out, wait, HUP, leaning into the harness with their noses down, LEAVE IT, running in a straight line, or WHOA. Those years were — not easy, but — more simple. They had the harness skills, just needed the weightpull competition skills and exposure. These guys have no harness skills, no competition experience, and unfortunately…

These are also my COVID puppies, so they didn’t get the obedience classwork either. The time riding in a car, the exposure to new people every single week. Despite trips to Tractor Supply and the local dog walking trails, we are all just a bunch of semi-feral k9s with a lot of energy to burn.

Also, I started a new job a year ago which takes all my energy 4.5 days/week, leaving 2.5 days to do all my house and dog chores. Plus training.

We are starting from scratch.

And as a bonus, I’m training Frost, and NOT telling his breeder. It’s a surprise for our friend Vee Blackstone/Corvus Malamutes.

August 3x/week, I wanted to put Frost in harness and walked him down the driveway to a small loop I mowed very short in the north-side yard. Putting him in harness took a lot more energy than I thought it would. The harness was new and therefore scary, so I had to step back and find my calm energy, because his energy was anything but calm, and reward tiny steps.

“LET’S GET DRESSED,” I tell them at the beginning with the gear in hand.

“HARNESS. YES,” calmly and firmly, when he sniffed it.

“NOSE,” when I put the gathered harness over his nose. “YES,” when he allowed that without spinning.

“FOOT,” when I calmly ran my hand down his shoulder and through the harness to take hold of his foot and bring it back up through the harness so the breast band was on the prosternum. “FOOT,” again for the other side. “YES,” each time we were successful, only if we were successful, and not when he fought me on it. Struggles mean I stop, lay quiet hands on them and tell them “EASY,” because this is supposed to be about fun and not worry.

Note: no food rewards. There is no food allowed in competition, so we aren’t starting with food.

“STRETCH,” when I pulled the harness down the body and behind his butt.

“HOOK,” when I carabiner-ed the horse rope to the ring.

“STAND,” when I lured him into a stand from the flopped-on-his-side position he was in when he got dressed.

“LINE OUT,” when I stood behind him and put some tension on the DRAG rope.

The DRAG is whatever is offering resistance. Starting with a rope I hold, then a tire or drag sled, then a cart.

“HUP,” when we move forward. To start with there is no tension on the DRAG rope. It’s a freebie because they didn’t actually do what I wanted, but I’m offering them the cue for what I want later. The same way I tell them YES when they get part of it right during the learning process.

“LEAVE IT,” when I want them to not investigate something along the way, or to leave something they are headed towards investigation. In harness under DRAG, they have one job. Not sniffing.

All this is done from on top of them or BEHIND them. Because I train alone and we have to get the basic commands and exposure before we translate this to pulling TOWARDS me.

Also, they need to love riding in the van, or at least not stress about it. So every day we train, they get food rewards in the beginning and at the end for jumping into a crate in the van. If they stress over this, inexplicably like Frost did despite extensive car training, then we push that to another time so the knucklehead doesn’t associate this stress with training. Turns out, he wasn’t properly motivated. I went back to every single meal in a crate in the van and he discovered a whole new appreciation for automobiles. With this, every week dogs in training get a car ride to the local park and a HARNESSED WALK on the mile-long track.

UPDATE 11/8/24: We are implementing 15-minute Yes-walks, working on form. Walking in harness, the only word I speak is YES. Yes, if he walks ahead of me. Yes, if he drops his nose. Yes, if he leans into the harness. Yes, if he drags me forward. Gradually asking for more and more to get the Yes as a reward. Normally people talk too much and dogs don’t speak human. Yes is a marker, like a clicker, but I don’t have enough hands to use a clicker all the time. If the dog hears me blathering on like the Parents on a Peanuts cartoon, Wahh-Wa-Wah, means nothing to them. If you only tell them what you want with a single word marker, then they will start offering that behavior more and more. Dogs want to please, they just need clear guidelines so they can make you happy.

Training Routes

Me/Driveway Intro to harness work happens with them pulling me. I use a horse lead (10′ long thick nylon rope with a snap hook on one end and I tie a loop in the other end) and in the front yard, down the gravel driveway then back UP the driveway. We do this route once a day until they are comfortable with the harness up and harness off process. Most of that is me figuring out how to calmly, with calm energy, get the harness on/off and walk in a straight line.

TIRE/Driveway –>Front Yard is a passenger truck-sized tire with an eye-bolt drilled through the tread so I can caribiner the horse-lead to the dog’s harness. This is a LOT of friction, but we are only going a short distance with it. I ALSO have a horse lead to their semi-slip sledding collar which can not tighten and choke them but does have a big ring. This one is easy to go DOWN a gravel driveway, think ball bearings. But much harder in grass, even short grass, and really difficult in tall grass or back UP the driveway. We do this in long stretches, at least 30′ at a stretch, because competition is 16′ and you don’t want a dog trained to stop at 16′ because he might stop at 15′. Also trained with me BEHIND or BESIDE them to start with. We graduate to in FRONT after they have conquered the weight successfully.

DRAG SLED/Hay field My drag sled came from Amazon and is made for human athletes. It uses stacked weight-lifting rounds to increase weight. It is EASIER to pull because it has less friction than a tire, but we are going further for stamina. So we take a step back with friction, but we are increasing distance. Once they can do the entire Hayfield Figure 8 with the drag sled loaded with as many rounds as I can manage, we move back to the tire.

TIRE/Hay field. We do the first half of the Figure 8, then increase to the whole Figure 8. This is maximum friction and maximum distance.

The GOAL is the dog’s nose down (nose on toes) and leaning into the harness while moving whatever he is hooked to. To get there I will YES whatever piece of that I can get at first. In the same way I reward a beginner obedience dog for tiny increments of what I want, I train the same way with harness work. If they are trying and showing me any basic understanding of the goal, like head down and leaning, like lunging into the harness, like WORKING, they get a YES, Later I’ll only YES bigger pieces of the goal, until finally they get a YES for having completed the goal. But that’s with a dog who has had sufficient training to successfully understand what I am asking and successfully complete it.

Food or toy rewards work the same way for dogs. And for kids in school, teachers start out by giving gold stars for showing up. Later in life, showing up is the bare-minimum requirement for job performance.

I never want to ask the dog to do something and have them fail. They should never realize they can fail. That’s a mindset you can’t break. At the end of every training session, I tell them how proud I am of them, how pleased I am. And since dogs read body language and tone of voice better than we can, I fake it if I have to. They tried. If my training failed, that’s not on them. They did the best they could with what I gave them. They should get rewarded for their honest efforts. That’s sincere praise and sometimes food rewards — at the END — but remember, they don’t want this, you do. They want to please you, so reward them by being pleased with whatever they manage to do for you.

Distance Routes (in Roane Co & Rhea Co, Tennessee)

• Roane County Park @ Midtown (1.2 miles)
• Spring City Nature Walk (1 mile)
• Soak Creek/Piney River on the Cumberland Trail (6.5 miles)

August

I’m working out the kinks, because it’s been so long since I trained weight pull or got dogs in condition to do strenuous exercise. For me or the dogs.

• 2x/week, harness up, take a short walk down the driveway, around the north field loop, first hooked to me and then to a tire, get in and out of the van.
• 1x/week harness up, take a 1-mile-plus-long walk off property hooked to me, working on commands and getting in condition.

September

9/10/24, Tuesday, 60degreesF, 730am – Frost is harnessing up (70#, b. 2022) Blue harness, ziptied neck to fit), still a little discomfort/unfamiliar but accepting it. He is lunging into the harness against the tire. And pulling enthusiastically. Crates in the van for good food, not mundane treats. Pulled tire down the hill, around North field loop, dragged tire back uphill enthusiastically.

Added Sailor (65# b. 2017, Green harness) and he loaded up fine, harnessed up patiently because I use to walk him at the beginning of COVID, and knows the commands harnessed back to me as the drag. Down driveway, North field loop, 1/2 Figure 8 South field, dragged me back up driveway.

Added Liberty (75#, b. 2021, Red harness) and she harnessed up and stretched out fine, walks tight back to me, gets in the van willingly. Down driveway, North field loop, 1/2 Figure 8 South field, dragged me back up driveway.

May add Pink and then possibly Dresden and Kobuk.

9/15/24 IWPA Baxter TN, judge Sheryl Franklin

We re-joined IWPA and entered Frost as a Novice dog, which gives him a maximum 5 pulls, allows touching as needed, and everyone offers a ton of constructive criticism. We can pull all year as Novice, as needed.

It went smashingly! Frost has great form, since we trained that first and always, and he has a lot of heart and drive. The judge told us afterwards that we were ready to move up to Pro. High praise indeed.

I got home, got some pictures sent from both the judge and fellow competitor Katherine Coulter/NSAM (North Shore Alaskan Malamutes) and composed an email to Frost’s breeder Vee Blackstone/Corvus Malamutes. Then texted her, IM’d her, and tagged her in the facebook post. We were both so excited for Frost doing so well.

9/21-22 W3PO Knoxville SCSD $25, 65-87 degrees

9/21 Worked Saturday
9/22 Sunday Frost/Novice Wheelsx2
NOTES
Handlers meeting 845a
Novice & Open pull together, if too hot, will reschedule different date for second pull
no slack in trace lines
judge says when you are ready then start, PULL, can touch dog in novice
started small cart 910a
75# drops Novice, big cart 250#
home by noon, drove through rain & panda express
Frost was first in his novice class, invite 1 of 2 for Summit
pulled 475# tangled x2 at 55# when it got hard he spun in frustration
80 degrees when we left
RESULTS
leash corrective training when spins

10/5&6 4 pulls W3PO Knoxville SCSD $60, 65 degrees

Frost 76#, novice
PULL1, RAILS, 65 degrees to start
910a start 150# drops
325# empty cart CHECK
476# CHECK
625# CHECK (peed on fence, but the judges gave us 3 repeats for handler teaching moments)
775# CHECK flawless
925# CHECK
1075# 14.14% CHECK, perfect form, handler withdrew, he made his bones
NOTES
He peed in the chute, assessed a $5 fine and because novice, they assessed me a foul instead of a DQ, let my novice dog repeat that weight 3x, it wasn’t him, these were all handler errors and they walked me through: enter and walk down the chute and back, get someone else to hook,stand beside him, release without shoving him back, all 4 on the floor, wait until judge says ready, me facing forward, release and get down the chute out of his way, ok if he comes off the track to pull so long as he doesn’t tangle
76#, 65 degree F
848a handlers meeting
Huffington House
RESULTS
2 judges recommended moving him to OPEN

PULL2, WHEELS, both judges said he was ready for open, we will pull this one as if he were open, same drops, me acting like it., came in at 350#
250# empty cart, 100# drops
350# CHECK
550# CHECK smashed it, which is where he double faulted last time, double skipped and shouldn’t have but after 20 seconds of enthusiastic struggle asked the cart handler for a push while i was encouraging him he was still fighting so he did the pull, but with a nudge. so proud, also better at crating and quietly waited, pooped again after chick fillet nuggets and 1c kibble lunch. butt winks = need to poop. too hot for long sleeved pink fishing shirt and jeans wool socks and sneakers. Bring 85 degree clothes and wear 60 degree clothes knock off fan with Dewalt batteries worked great. 6amp 20 volt battery on full blast lasted all day saturday, trip home, and into sunday’s pull.
RESULTS
AWP title from novice today!!!!!!

PULL3 Sunday RAILS 65 degrees to start, moved up to OPEN
Katherine C. came with 2 lovely novice ladies
847a handlers meeting, 910a start, 65 degrees
empty 350# increments 300#
started: 625# (8.25%) CHECK
925# (12.1%) CHECK
1225# (16.11%) CHECK first W3PO Rails leg, needed 15%
NOTES
out on second foul.
withdrew him because one more pull today and its gonna be hot

PULL4 sunday wheels open, weather warming up
250# cart, 200# drops
450# (5.9%) CHECK
650# (8.5%) CHECK
850# (11.8%) double fouled out, tangle after a slingshot spin out of frustration, right back then I asked for a push, he did NOT bounce and lunge and goof off going in, he was tired and I could tell as we entered the chute.
RESULTS
SECOND in OPEN, no leg

TRAINING 10/8/24

Since Frost moved out of Novice in W3PO (but not yet in IWPA), I’m running Tryouts for the rest of the Wayeh crew to start my next Novice dog. 50 degrees @ 8am
FEMALES: Kyra (6y), Liberty (4y), Pink (4y), Kobuk (3y), & Gretel (2y)
MALES: Sailor(7y), Dresden (5.5y), & Grimm (2y)
I’ll rate them 1 to 10:
A Walk on a Leash
B Crate in the van
C Harness up
D Walk head down, pulling me, me saying ‘YES’ when the head drops/they lean into harness, going down the driveway and around the North Loop, back up the driveway
E Walk head down, pulling a tire, me saying ‘YES’ when the head drops/they lean into harness, going down the driveway and around the North Loop. back up the driveway