Tim.duncan

Cheers hope you go well with your girl, sounds like your off to a good start

if she is over 6 months then you should get her a puppy harness and start getting her to pull some light weight around. my boys were fully grown when i started so i did not do this, but from everything i have read this will get her used to a harness and used to the idea of pulling. my biggest problem was my dogs have been getting in trouble there whole lives for pulling, then i wanted them to do it ha ha lets just say its was a interesting few weeks training them around that. I had a few times when they had a small weight on a wood sled i made up and because there was a little bit of resistance they just stood there and barked at me while i ran off trying to get them to pull it. but as you can see they eventually got the idea. The sa sled dog guys were fantastic and really helpful, i have only been to one race meet but now the boys are really starting to power along i might go compete in a race or 2. My main focus is spending time with my dogs and having fun so wining a race is not really that important..... but i think we will give it a red hot go

cheers guys its so much fun im surprised its still legal!!! there is loads of info on the net if you look hard enough search bikejoring, skijoring, sled dog traning, summer training. The main points i have focused on is "HAVE FUN" and dont expect to much from your dogs to soon. saying that with in the first month the boys picked it up so well, and only doing it for 2 months we have the basics down pat, that little film was a 10km round trip that took us around 1 1/2 hours (including our stops at the dog park and for a swim) they understand go well i use "off ya go" and "come one" just because they are commands i use naturally and the dogs already understood, "Hike" is also something im slowly introducing as its the proper mushing term stop is "wooahh" and after applying the brakes on the bike the picked it up fairly quick left "haw" and right "Gee" we are still working on these but i fell these will take some time to master. im from SA so i got in contact with the SA Sled dog club, they were very welcoming even though i dont have huskys it dident matter http://www.sasleddog.org.au/about/1024.html i went to an event just to watch and they convinced me to borrow some harnesses and have a go. lets just say even though the boys were running all over the place and not listing to me it was a blast and i was hooked. There is a lady in the club who sells all the gear, she test fitted some harnesses for my boys, lucky they fit Siberian husky harnesses no worries, so i did not have to get custom ones made up. i got two harnesses size 3 and 4 a bungy tow line and a neck line for $110 and its the best money i have ever spent! me and the lads head out at least 2 times a week and just go exploring. i already had the bike

Hey everyone little film i made of a afternoon out with my boys we have been bikejoring now for two months and LOVE it!! highly recomend it to anyone thinking about getting into it is there a way to post the video on this forum???

Well tonight i gave your suggestions ago i went out side tied both bogs up about 8 meters apart, placed there bowls on the ground, went inside came back out with food filled up there bowls. They both sit till i tell them to eat, i waited till them had both finished eating then left them for 2-3 min just so they knew the other dog was not coming over. i then calmly and quietly rewarded them with affection and talking to them and let them off there leads. i removed the bowl and everyone was happy one thing i did notice is the older dog was very excited/anxiouse i tried to talk to him sofelty and help calm him. hopefully he will start to realize that food time is not a time to fear but can be relaxing the younger one was pretty cool with everything but having all his food in a bowl he ate it VERY fast, is this ok for him? thank you so much! i will continue to do this as it seems to work really well and will hopfully restore the peace

you definately don't want scraps happening when you have small children as they could get in the way and that's when dogs get blamed for accidents. As much as i hate seeing my dogs hurt each other this is my main concern, i never leave the kids out with the dogs alone. Another quick question, i feed the older dog first because the "top dog" eats first "right? Now if the younger dog is going to be more dominate and become "top dog" how do i dealize this? and how do you let it happen? or are labradores not of a "pack" mentality that this matters

thankyou every one for your imput On a whole they are pretty good, they are made to sit and dont start eating till i say there names, i feed them apart but not tied up its not always the younger one who comes over trying to steal food the older one does it just as much, its just seems that when the younger one does it and the older one does not want to back down this is when the fights start i was wanting to teach them not to bit anyone if there food was touched, i will stop those things because it sounds like it makes it worse i scater the food on the groud because i was once told that dogs are natural scavenges and when you feed them in a bowl they just scoff it down which is not nateral for them. so i should have bowls instead? i will try tieing them up as they eat and rewarding them as you sugested

Hey everyone I have 2 labradores one is 3 1/2 and the other is nearly 2, both are male and are desexed, they are both very well behaved dogs and extreamly friendly. They are always happy to see people and other dogs, are good around kids (except some excited tails which can whip around abit ha ha) and never show any sort of aggresion When feeding them i have spent time patting them (especailly around there faces) i have stopped them from eating by holding them and also taken there food away after they have started eating. i have done all these things so that they are used to having people around while eating and wont bother them if these things happen. I have 3 young kids living at my place and they love to feed the dogs with me. the problem i am having is, i feed the 2 dogs seperatly some times 10 meters apart other times 3-4 meters apart. if i stay out there and make sure they stay at there own piles there is no problem, but if i go to fill up there drinking bowls or go inside they like to swap (the grass is always greener right). If they have mostly finished there pile and the other one comes over there is normally a growl and they change and everyone is happy. Some times the older dog (who normally eats a little slower) if he is not finished when the younger dog comes over to steal his food instead of backing down he tries to defend his food and the younger dog will Attack him really bad. the other day he had the older dog on his back and punchered 2 holes in his ear! i really hate seeing this happen as i dont want either of my dogs getting hurt especially by each other. Is there anything i can do? any tricks or training i can go threw to stop them fighting over there food? sorry for the big post i just want to give as much info as possible, all help is appreciated Thankyou