First Rough Terrain

I held off on this post because I wanted to add some pictures to it but the weather has not cooperated and we have not had any more snow so I figured I had better post it while it was at least close to winter. Besides, I want to write about Sadie's first show so I had better get busy and post it now.

This was my first trip that went beyond a fairly straight predefined path. Up to this point the only commands I needed were "GO" and "WHOA" the path was defined and relatively flat. However it is difficult to teach the dogs "HAW" (left turn) and "GEE" (right turn) in that situation. A friend of mine has a plot of land not far from me that has woods, corn fields, streams, hills valleys etc. An ideal place for this type of training. He uses the land to hunt and run 4 wheelers so there are some roughly defined trails. The perfect place for what I want to accomplish.

The trip started out like normal. I know that this blog is supposed to be about training Sadie but since most of her trips were rather uneventful I thought I would convey this one. It was Lizzy's turn to go with Storm so I hooked up the harnesses, put on the ski's, grabbed my poles and we were off. The route I choose started off up the side of a hill. The hill was in a corn filed and was steep enough that the dogs could not pull me up but not so steep that a tractor would tip over when cultivating the corn. After much effort on both our parts we reached the top. As I soon found out going up was the easy part. Coming down the other side was another story. Now I have no problem with downhill skiing but doing it with cross county ski's in a corn field with the stubble of last seasons corn stocks sticking up in rows like columns of little toy solders is another matter all together. To complicate matters I could now see that there was a line of trees at the bottom of the hill and by the time that I realized this I was over the crest of the hill and on my way down the other side. I could not turn because I was skiing parallel to the corn stubble and if I turned hitting the stubble I would surly fall so I decided to ride it out and hopefully be able to stop at the bottom. About halfway down the hill I realized that I was catching up with the dogs. I yelled "GEE OVER" which I had only used a couple of times with with the dogs but to my amazement Storm moved to the right pushing Lizzy over as well. I went flying past them and now I was leading them. Granted I could have stopped at any time but were is the fun in that. I reached the bottom of the hill, exited the corn field and stopped just before the woods. The dogs caught up just as I stopped so we had a group hug and savored the moment. Little did I know that this was just the beginning of a very memorable trip. I gave the command to "GO" and off we went into the woods.

As we left the corn filed and entered the woods I could see a heard of about 5 deer off in the distance but fortunately they spotted us before the dogs saw them and ran off in the other direction. We continued thru the woods on a rut fill path that had been carved out by 4 wheelers. It was a little tough for me to keep my footing but the dogs had no problem at all. We soon reached a creek that was about 30 foot wide with a crud bridge. It was mostly snow covered and the dogs had no trouble going across and did not even hesitate. The planks on the bridge were spaced about the same distance apart as my ski's which could have been a real problem but as it turned out I was able to traverse it and avoid the gaps. We continued around the edge of the property with the dogs running in the path pulling with me off to the left trying to avoid the ruts. We are now about a half hour out which is the point that I like to start heading back in the general direction of the car. The dogs are new at this and I do not want them to get too tired or over do it to the point that they stop enjoying it. Having been a Land Surveyor years ago I learned to love the outdoors and acquired a very good sense of direction. So we headed off in what I determined would be a rather obstacle free course back.

We were following a tree line when I saw a path off to the right just wide enough for me and the dogs. About 10 yards before reaching the path I yelled "GEE". Now I am not convinced that my dogs know these commands well enough at this point to be what I would consider dependable. In my mind it is more likely that they saw the path and would rather go off into the woods than to just continue along the edge. Whatever the case they turned to the right and took this narrow trail. Right after they made the turn they went over a little mound. This mound looked like it was about 5 foot wide and about 2 feet high. Since it was right in the middle of the trail the only thing I could think of was that someone had dumped a pile of dirt here to make a little jump for a trail bike since the path was not wide enough for a 4 wheeler. In any case by the time I saw the mound it was too late to stop the dogs since they were already over it and I was too close to stop before hitting it so this was going to be my first ski jump. This would not have been too bad but just as I hit the top of the mound I spotted the dogs on the other side jumping a small stream that was obscured from my view. Just as they hit the other bank of the stream I hit the top of the mound the line when taught jerking my belt with the combined weight of 2 dogs totaling over 160 pounds. Needless to say I flew thru the air and landed on my but in the middle of the creek. The dogs stopped turned around and looked at me and I could swear they were laughing at me sitting there in the water. I landed on one of my ski poles breaking it in half but other than the fact that I was soaking wet, a mile away from the car, and it was about 20 degrees I was fine. Needless to say it was a cold trip back to the car but fortunately the dogs seemed as anxious to get back as I was and they pulled the remainder of the way with me trying to balance myself behind them with one ski pole. I would like to think that they pulled harder than they had all day because they knew I was uncomfortable for me but it was more likely that it was because they were tired and just anxious to go home.

Next time Sadie's first Show

Winter Arrives

After working with the dogs on pulling for a couple of months I could not wait for the first snow so that I could try out what they had learned. The snow finally came and I was ready to go Skijoring. For anyone that does not know what Skijoring is when you attach one or two dogs to your waist, put on cross county ski's and have a good old time. You have to understand that I have done downhill skiing many times but cross county is a different story. You can count on one hand the number of times that I have been on cross county ski's let alone attached too two dogs.
Storm always goes with me to help teach the other dogs but I alternate the second dog each time I go. The above pictures show Storm and Sadie on one of our later outing but the first time I went I decided to take Pepper since this was our first time on the snow and even though she is about half the size of storm she will pull more than her share and next to Storm knows the commands the best. Our first trip would be to the Ohio-Erie Canal Towpath which is less than a mile from my house. We arrived in the parking lot a few minutes later and the dogs were rearing to go. There is a new stretch of the path that heads north for about a mile and a half to a dead end. Once you reach the end you have to turn around and come back the same way. I figured that this would be a good location for our first trip in the snow because the lack of tracks in the snow indicated that there was no one else on the path and for our first outing the less distractions the better. As I stood at the entrance the dogs were anxiously pulling on the 15 foot rope that I had attached to their harnesses, the other end of which was attached to a belt around my waist. I put the dogs in a SIT/STAY put on my ski's and we were ready to go. The path is fairly flat and runs along a 5 foot wire fence that separates the towpath form the PPG lime lakes. On the other side of the fence is about 10 to 20 yards of brush and then the Tuscarawas River. The Tuscarawas is a river in name only you can take a canoe trip down the River for a short period in the Spring but most of the year it is too shallow. We started along the path with the dogs pulling about half the time and me doing about half of the work.

We had just gotten started and were about a quarter of a mile in when all of a sudden I felt a tug on my waist and off I went as fast as the dogs could run. I regained my balance and was being swept down the path with the dogs in a full run. You would never know that they were dragging a xxx pound man. I looked to the right and there between the fence and the River I saw a white tail popping up and down in the underbrush. What the dogs saw long before I did was the south end of a northbound deer doing all it could to separate its self from us. The deer was going the same direction that we were but at a much faster pace. The dogs didn't care that they had no chance of catching it, especially pulling the extra weight, they were just enjoying the chase. I immediately had a flash back to may first down hill skiing experience. My brother-in-law was showing me how to ski. He took me down the beginner hill one time and said that's it, lets take the trail thru the woods, like a fool I listened to him only to find myself exiting the other side of the woods in the woods into the middle of a Black Diamond hill. There was no where to go except straight down and down I went. I started to get scared that I was going to fall so I squatted down. Big mistake, this just made me go faster. By the time I reached the bottom I was going faster than I had ever gone without a car under me. Just as the bottom of the hill came in site so did about a hundred yards of moguls. I hit the moguls and it was all over, I went head over heals, broke the ski's and the poles went flying. To this day I think he did this to me on purpose in any case I stood up which surprised everyone including me and walked back to the lodge, oh to be young again. I was hoping that this would not turn out the same way. It took about a half mile for the deer to outdistance the dogs to the point that they could no longer see it. The way I train them to pull is to praise them when ever they pull without my help, well needless to say I am flying down the trail telling them what a good job they are doing, trying to watch the deer and trying not to think about what would happen if I fell.

What a rush. This went on for about a half of mile before the deer got out of sight and they lost interest. This experience gave me quit a glimpse of what these dogs are capable of and what I had to look forward to. I would recommend Skijoring to anyone that has a Shiloh and lives where it snows. It's inexpensive, good for the dogs and a heck of a lot of fun. The only word of caution I have is to make sure that the dogs know at least 2 of the commands, "WHOA" and "GO", before you try it on skies. The turning commands can come later, "HAW" and "GEE", but you must be able to get the dogs started and be able to stop them under any circumstances.

Next time turn it up a notch.