Thursday, September 19, 2019

Pups Roading

The pups have graduated from being walked in harness, to roading off the ATV. At 8-months-old they are being run at about a third the speed as the big dogs, and only for a short time; maybe 15-minutes every other day. Initially I started both pups side-by-side figuring the pups would focus on running against each other, and not all the other extraneous things going on; quad noise, butterflies, songbirds; I was wrong. Sammi did not want to be rigged-up next to her sister, so I put her to the rear of Ella, off the back roading bar, and had her chasing; that worked. I ran them front and back a few times, and then transitioned Sammi to the front left, opposite Ella's front right position. This seems to be working. It's important to remember pups are not 100% focused on running off the quad, their attention span is short, and will often jump side-to-side chasing butterflies, hoppers, songbirds, whatever. To minimize any danger and potential Vet bills, I run them with bars fully extended and with a short chain so that when they bob side-to-side, and they will, they can't run under a wheel, which could easily break a leg or tear some soft tissue. Off to the races....