We received the following question from a community member:
I was wondering if I might get some advice on training a new addition to the pack? I've been doing training and mushing with my older pair, they are 5 years old and they are naturals and caught on super quick. Now that its starting to cool off I def plan on picking back up in full swing with them but have since also added another husky to the pack! Hes currently 5 months old and growing fast. I would love for him to not miss out on the fun but dont know quite how to introduce him to the idea. Harnesses are zero problems and honestly...he pulls on the walks just fine so thats not gonna be the hard part for him for sure. But since going from 2 to 3 dogs changes the formation a bit and I dont want him actually pulling till he's a year old, I am not exactly sure how I might be able to have him tag along, just for the running/exposure when its just me, my scooter, and the older two (till we get snow!) Basically am wondering how/where put the small one while mushing with the older ones. Thank you in advance for your help!
Our answer:
The reality is, if your pup is already pulling when you go on walks then you will not likely be able to prevent him from pulling if you hook him up with another dog (or two), nor would you want to start discouraging it!
I think you are smart to not hook him up in the team until he is a bit older.
Unless you have a large private, fenced area when you can train and also have your pup safely off leash! (not likely to find a place like that unless you own 100 acres!) Then I would stick to regular walks where you start introducing commands.
---- I did the following a number of years ago and it worked great!
You can leash walk the pup and teach basic obedience like sit and stay. Great attributes for a dog to know when you are hooking up a team.
After sit and stay are understood then I went on to Whoa (slow down) and Hike (Out Front, Get the Lead Tight, Go Faster). All this is being done with a leash and collar with no harness.
At the time I lived in a residential area with north/south and east/west streets. This was perfect for teaching Gee (right) and Haw (left). I would allow the dog to go to the end of the leash and as we approach an intersection I would give one of three commands 1) Gee, 2) On By, or 3) Haw. (Right, Straight, Left) Each turn command had a slight tug on the leash in that direction. The On By command had no leash tug.
After a short while the dogs can make the turns without the need for reinforcement from the leash, just lots of verbal praise.
With this technique I ended up with two lead dogs that would also sit and stay at the start line.
Once your pup has this knowledge then I would take the pup and an older dog on the same routine together, side by side. Then you when you hook them up to run they will already be used to working together.
