The Importance of Obedience Training (Sled Dogs)

Due to my independent nature as a Siberian Husky and the absence of direct contact between Glen and myself when "sledding", training me to obey is Glen's most difficult task.  Here is a list of things he requires me to do;

• tolerate having the harness harnessed and removed
• pass or cross the path of other teams as well as other dogs running loose,
• keep my cool in unusual situations (motor cars, screams of adoring fans, bird, bunny or cow etc...)
• understand his commands (go, slow down, and stop.)

I'm Glen's "lead dog" (only sled dog) and as lead dogs we need to obey and understand the following commands;

• GEE - turn right
• GEE OVER - move over to the right
• HAW - turn left
• HAW OVER - move over to the left
• ON BY - go straight, do not be distracted by that adoring fan or bird, bunny, cow etc...
• WHOAA - slow down
• STAY - stay
• WAIT - wait get ready for the GO command
• HIKE, HIKE,HIKE -  GO, GO, GO my favourite command, also can mean speed up

Believe me Glen spends a great deal of time teaching me these commands, I enjoy my runs a lot more now that I understand these commands. He also says.....shhhhhh don't tell him I told you so....that this is one of the reasons why we win!

Go on, have a howling good time on the trails...


Duke