Nice to see, however there is no harmony in this team. You can watch the heads of the dogs going up and down in 4 different rhythms, consuming (wasting) massive amounts of energy. A good sled team with huskies, malamutes or Alaskans would be in total balance. All dogs would walk in harmony for maximum efficiency. The fact that my shikoku has teeth doesn't mean I can make a police dog out of him, although it could be fun to try. But a doberman sledge team is fun too, to try and see what will happen. As long as it doesn't turn to cold, it might work out okay. I wouldn't book them for the Iditarod though… (even the huskies looked weird by watching the dobermans in the snow ;-) )
The Coppingers ("Dogs:a new understanding")write extensively about sled-doggin"- how the most important thing is the dogs having the same gait and having a size that optimizes their heat exchange. thus Alaskans.
still I think it is funfor anyone to get out and enjoy their dogs,whatever breed.My brother skijors with his english pointer.I thought once to try that with Sage but he is too much a watchdog, not a journeyer. He doesnt crank out distances, he comprehensively investigates.
I noticed they were out of sync, too, but it's still cool to see! Everyone looks like they're having fun and unless they're delivering medicine to a village full of sick kids, that's all that counts.
Fun it is, amazing to see how dogs really like to work out. That's the problem with dogs who are always on the leash, they can never go bananas :-) Those sled dogs may need one person for every two dogs to hold them from starting to early. Let's find the Poodle sled video too, that must even be more fun to watch. As long as the dogs enjoy the game, why not… Wonder btw how akitas whould do? Anyone ever tried? They seem prepared for the snow, at least :-)
I think it's a great way to exercise the dogs, even if they can never win any competitions or anything I love seeing different breeds doing different activities, so I thought it was interesting. ~
I used to ski-jor with my AA. She'd run like hell for about 10 minutes tops, and then be done with it. She was better at pulling things in a sled (kind of a weight pull sort of thing). I lived in alaska then, in a house without running water, and so I'd go get all my 5 gallon jugs filled with water and put them on a kid's plastic sled and hook her up to it, and she'd happily pull it down the path to the cabin I lived in.
She enjoyed being in the harness in any case, but wasn't much as a ski-joring dog.
As for the dobermans, well, it's fun to see, but I can't think that they would be very good at it for real simply because they don't have the right coats for the climate, and probably don't even have good furry feet for it. (Not that I remember ever taking a good look at a doberman's foot, so maybe I'm wrong about that?)
Just got the Coppingers book from the library--looking forward to reading it.
I'm so amazed and intrigued by the Alaskan husky. Pack animals through and through. Their toughness goes without saying, but their lifespan is nothing short of miraculous. Why is this? Is it diet? Do lifespan genetics go hand in hand with those for endurance sports? Is it that they are bred for work and not for conformation to some inane standard? I think of dogs with crazy long life expectancy and, with the exception of small breeds, I come up mostly with dogs bred for function and not for conformation. If you've read any of my posts before, you know I'm crazy about Mountain Curs. I know of one who lived to be 20 and was still hunting hard at 14. Her owner certainly wasn't feeding her a good diet--it was probably cheap ass dog food from the general store. Was she the exception to the rule, like the pack-a-day smoker I know who has run a dozen marathons?
What factors contribute to longevity?
~
Comments
A good sled team with huskies, malamutes or Alaskans would be in total balance. All dogs would walk in harmony for maximum efficiency.
The fact that my shikoku has teeth doesn't mean I can make a police dog out of him, although it could be fun to try. But a doberman sledge team is fun too, to try and see what will happen. As long as it doesn't turn to cold, it might work out okay. I wouldn't book them for the Iditarod though… (even the huskies looked weird by watching the dobermans in the snow ;-) )
still I think it is funfor anyone to get out and enjoy their dogs,whatever breed.My brother skijors with his english pointer.I thought once to try that with Sage but he is too much a watchdog, not a journeyer. He doesnt crank out distances, he comprehensively investigates.
Those sled dogs may need one person for every two dogs to hold them from starting to early. Let's find the Poodle sled video too, that must even be more fun to watch. As long as the dogs enjoy the game, why not… Wonder btw how akitas whould do? Anyone ever tried? They seem prepared for the snow, at least :-)
I think it's a great way to exercise the dogs, even if they can never win any competitions or anything
She enjoyed being in the harness in any case, but wasn't much as a ski-joring dog.
As for the dobermans, well, it's fun to see, but I can't think that they would be very good at it for real simply because they don't have the right coats for the climate, and probably don't even have good furry feet for it. (Not that I remember ever taking a good look at a doberman's foot, so maybe I'm wrong about that?)
Just got the Coppingers book from the library--looking forward to reading it.
What factors contribute to longevity?