[nagdu] dog carting was Good idea!

Wed May 12 23:29:20 UTC 2010

Fascinating!  I love the idea.  I can just see Daisy now...  Unfortunately,
she is not the type of dog to tie up outside the store -- someone could lose
a finger or two that way coming up to say hi to the cute doggy...  Also the
three-legged dog pulling a cart down the street would just give the wrong
impression.  /smile/  And I wouldn't put the strain on that single front leg
of hers.  She'd be game for it, though.  She is just dying to get to work
like Mitzi does because Mitzi is so cool!  /grin/

In fact, when I pull out the guide dog harness, Daisy is the one who runs to
leap into it.  /lol/  Mitzi just stands behind her and grins.

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Katrin Andberg
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 1:41 PM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [nagdu] dog carting was Good idea!

I have a special dog cart and harness for him.  The cart with shafts (it's a
2 wheel cart that can carry a 100# load) and the tree cost me about $170.
And the harness cost me about $120 made out of biothane material and fitted
to my dog's size.  It was all totally worth it for me because I use it quite
often.  The harness is also adjustable so could really fit another dog that
is around the same size as Niche, like James could probably fit into it, but
my corgi could not LOL.  

This is the cart I have:  http://www.allthingsbiothane.com/CCC.htm  (I have
the medium size basket cart)  The whole thing comes apart into easily
assemble pieces so I could put it in a car or something for transport to a
different location if I wanted to.  But mostly mine stays put together in my
basement except when I need it.  

And this is the harness:  http://www.allthingsbiothane.com/b-a-t-c-h.htm 

There are other types of carts and harnesses, if you are handy you could
even make your own or if you know someone who is handy they could make one
for you.  There are various plans on the internet for such.  One of the
reasons I got the equipment I did was because the cart can hold a lot but is
very light weight itself so it is easy for me to lift if I need to like when
bringing it up from the basement to the yard.  And I got that harness
because it needs very little care and it is adjustable for other dogs.  So
hopefully I can use it for many, many years to come with various dogs.

I had to train Niche to do the turns and stuff same as I did when teaching
James guide work.  Lefts, rights, halts, forwards, etc.  I also had to teach
him to back up in a straight line so that we can more easily maneuver the
cart in and out of places.  I also taught him to stand in one place and move
into the shafts so I can easily hitch him to the cart.  So when we go for
dog food, the store the aisles are too narrow and filled with stuff for
Niche to go in with the cart, so I tie him outside to the railing right
outside the door and he waits hitched to his cart for James and I to come
out and load up his cart with the food. 

When we got to the point where we were starting to train with the cart 1st I
did it with no load, then worked up to the 60# load.  If he were to do a
competition (they have carting competitions of various levels) he would at
the more advanced level have to haul twice his body weight which is about
155#s.  We also worked up to the longer distance with weight.  Hauling heavy
loads is physically taxing on a dog so you need to make sure you don't put
too much stress on their bodies too quickly.  You should never do heavy
loads with dogs under the age of 2.  And it is highly recommended that you
have hip and elbow x-rays done before you start training so that you are
sure you dog has no joint problems that could be impacted by the weight
hauling. 

There is a good yahoo group called carting-L that has lots of information
and knowledgeable people on it.

Katrin

Katrin Andberg

 <mailto:katrin at maplewooddog.com> katrin at maplewooddog.com 

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