Posted on 04/20/2009 8:21:30 AM PDT by LongElegantLegs
Fit your dog with a cart-pulling harness. This special harness has extra padding and comes low across the dog's back legs to distribute the weight for pulling. If it's a weight-pulling harness, there may be a special bar in the back to keep straps from squeezing the dog's legs as he pulls.
Once he is pulling at your cue, start adding bits of weight to the cart. Toys or rocks work well.
Eventually the cart should be pulling weight as heavy as the kids or stuff you want him to pull around. He should follow your commands respectfully, especially "Stay," "Sit," and "Come."
Put him in the "stay" command, and load up the kids. Keep him on a leash, and when you say "come!" he should trot forward, giving the kids a ride. If the kids are big enough, you can attach ropes to the side of the harness and have the kid guide the dog around from the back of the cart. Make sure your dog is calm and easygoing enough to trust with the children's safety!
The real question is, "how do you teach your dog to stop pulling?"
Can we start a ‘pit bulls as transportation’ thread?
Not necessary at all if one owns a pug.
Hook him to a cart and load it up with a few kids...At least then he can’t pull any faster than you can walk!
Alhough I think that might be a Boston Terrier.
Better yet, get your lazy kids up and walking on their own.
I could probably get up to about 15 mph on a short stretch by hitching up my 2 90lb Labradors. If I dangled a live cat in front of them, I’m certain I could break 20. Steering would be another problem.
my cavs would attempt to go around behind and get IN the cart : )
I might try to rig one of these up and have my pit bull pull the min-pins and Pomeranian around. Maybe the coon hound can be taught to steer.
I sure they all would have fun.
Pound-for-pound, huskies the most powerful draft animal on earth, according to Les Stroud.
I can believe that but I don’t have one so I’ll have to stick with Pitsey as a draft animal.
This one was not that hard to make; I used the instructions here: http://www.uberpest.com/harness.html for the freight harness, and it took me about two days.
I just ordered some thinner web to make one for the chihuahua as well. I’m going to hook them up in tandem and pretend I’m on the Oregon Trail.
Yeah, that’s a lot of fun.
When you figure out the steering thing, let me know!
Swiper drives like a drunken hedgehog, all over the road.
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