Elroy's weight pull journey

[JanS]

Elroy had his second weight pull class today and he's doing better than I thought and seems to be proud of himself, hence the submissive ears.


By the second half of the class they had us all pulling the cart in the background and we got up to 5 cement blocks on it by the time the hour was over.

 

[Ravenbird]

Elroy had his second weight pull class today

You should post these in a thread under the other Obedience & Performance Sports so we can have questions and conversation about this!!!

 

[Ladydi]

Never heard of this type of class.
What are you training your dog for in the future in conjunction with this sport?

 

[JanS]

What are you training your dog for in the future in conjunction with this sport?

It's mostly for if you want to do sled dog racing, having your dog help around the yard pulling a wagon or sled to put stuff on or a friend uses it to haul hay bales to her horses and other animals. It's also a licensed UKC event that you can earn titles on, which is mostly what I'd be doing.

Weight Pull Forms and Rules | United Kennel Club (UKC)

One-stop access to rules and forms for UKC Weight Pull.

www.ukcdogs.com

Our club is licensed to hold WP events so it's convenient for me.

You should post these in a thread under the other Obedience & Performance Sports so we can have questions and conversation about this!!!

I can do that since I guess we don't have a thread on it.

 

[Ravenbird]

I think this is super for you & Elroy and should be a lot of fun! Dang I wish I lived closer to action sometime! I think I saw someone posting their Doberman in weight pull a few years ago, probably not on here, but somewhere I saw some impressive photos of a Dobe in WP.

Looking forward to watching your journey together!

And yes, some basics of how the beginner or novice class will look like?

 

[Gelcoater]

Never heard of this type of class.
What are you training your dog for in the future in conjunction with this sport?

With the cost of fuel these days?
Rumor has it Jan’s hubby is building her a chariot and Elroy’s going to pull her around in it.

 

[JanS]

Doberman in weight pull a few years ago, probably not on here, but somewhere I saw some impressive photos of a Dobe in WP.

The thing that surprised me is that the instructor said the northern breeds like Husky, Malamute, etc. have the least drive in it and the ones that do way better are the herding group, the guardian group and small breeds.

some basics of how the beginner or novice class will look like?

One thing she told us yesterday is not to try to pull too much at first since if you Q, the weight has to keep going up from there to get your next titles and that makes sense. When you start out the dog needs to pull 8 times its weight to Q so they have a weigh in before every event. Elroy weighs about 90# so he needs to start out at 720#. My friends IG weighs 11# so he would need to pull 88#.

One thing I will never, ever do is push them beyond what looks comfortable.
I saw this video and that's not going to ever happen here.

11K views · 216 reactions | 🏋️‍♀️❤️ “Wendy girl pulled through once again — closing out her career strong with her retirement pull of 16,884 pounds of solid weight at the amazing Bully Max venue. 💪🐾 Huge thanks to the UPF and all the competitors for

🏋️‍♀️❤️ “Wendy girl pulled through once again — closing out her career strong with her retirement pull of 16,884 pounds of solid weight at the amazing Bully Max venue. 💪🐾 Huge thanks to the UPF and...

www.facebook.com

 

[Ravenbird]

One thing I will never, ever do is push them beyond what looks comfortable.
I saw this video and that's not going to ever happen here.

That's pretty wild - 16K pounds?! I do know that pulling something on wheels in not the same as pulling something on the ground, but still. And I figured bully breeds would be a the top because of their muscle mass. I've seen weight pulls with draft horses and it looks a lot like this.

And yes, keeping it fun is the whole point as far as I'm concerned!

 

[JanS]

And yes, keeping it fun is the whole point as far as I'm concerned!

Exactly! No title or ribbon is ever worth pushing a dog beyond what they enjoy.

I do know that pulling something on wheels in not the same as pulling something on the ground, but still.

Yes, here they do wheels on natural (the hardest), wheels on artificial and the snow pull on runners. The one above is a rail pull and they did recently have one a bit to our south but Elroy wasn't ready for any of them at that point.

I ordered this harness for Elroy last week from Maxx Performance but she's booked out about 7 weeks so we won't have it until the class is over.

I got it with the brown instead of black to match his coat.

Right now he's wearing an Anatolian's harness so it's a bit big for him.

 

[Gelcoater]

The thing that surprised me is that the instructor said the northern breeds like Husky, Malamute, etc. have the least drive in it and the ones that do way better are the herding group, the guardian group and small breeds.

One thing she told us yesterday is not to try to pull too much at first since if you Q, the weight has to keep going up from there to get your next titles and that makes sense. When you start out the dog needs to pull 8 times its weight to Q so they have a weigh in before every event. Elroy weighs about 90# so he needs to start out at 720#. My friends IG weighs 11# so he would need to pull 88#.

One thing I will never, ever do is push them beyond what looks comfortable.
I saw this video and that's not going to ever happen here.

11K views · 216 reactions | 🏋️‍♀️❤️ “Wendy girl pulled through once again — closing out her career strong with her retirement pull of 16,884 pounds of solid weight at the amazing Bully Max venue. 💪🐾 Huge thanks to the UPF and all the competitors for

🏋️‍♀️❤️ “Wendy girl pulled through once again — closing out her career strong with her retirement pull of 16,884 pounds of solid weight at the amazing Bully Max venue. 💪🐾 Huge thanks to the UPF and...

www.facebook.com

She is extreme.
I wouldn’t push my current dog to that. Nor would I criticize that guy.
Some dogs? Dog/owner. That once in a lifetime duo.
They live for it.
Pretty impressive pull.

 

[Sunje]

The thing that surprised me is that the instructor said the northern breeds like Husky, Malamute, etc. have the least drive in it and the ones that do way better are the herding group, the guardian group and small breeds.

I guess I'm not surprised about that. The sledding breeds are all about running, not pulling, and as a sled team they aren't doing much in the way of pulling. I don't think any of them like to work hard. But they do like running! As do dobies, and I've run my dobes with a sled, although not to the point of this Russian guy:

 

[Oh Little Oji]

This is awesome, Jan! I had no idea you were interested in this. Elroy is an impressive looking Dobe there! It's been a while since I really looked at a picture of him.

When I think weight pulling, I think American Bulldog. That said, my first Doberman was a thickly built dude and didn't really reflect the breed standard very closely (but he was purebred with papers). He was 28 1/2 at the withers and topped out at 96 lbs. One day I decided that he loved to pull so much that I'd hook his leash up to the forks of my Harley Sportster and let him pull! He did. From a dead stop, he got us up to 14 MPH. I have a picture of it.

There was also a time that an acquaintance in MN who did dogsledding let Magnum pull with his team for a bit just for fun. It was in the summer and the cart had wheels. The man and I stood on the cart thing and as the team pulled along I could tell Magnum was basically sprinting. After a fairly short period of time, I told the man to stop the team because I felt that my Dobe was going to kill himself. I still have the sledding harness that guy made me, and I have the booties as well. Those are the only booties that ever really worked for anything we did.

Anyway, not to male this thread about me... Great job, Elroy and Jan!

 

[LifeofRubie]

This is really cool! Excited to keep up with your guys progress!!

 

[JanS]

Anyway, not to male this thread about me

Any and all stories are welcome since this about weight pull as a sport.

 

[BG1]

I guess I'm not surprised about that. The sledding breeds are all about running, not pulling, and as a sled team they aren't doing much in the way of pulling. I don't think any of them like to work hard. But they do like running! As do dobies, and I've run my dobes with a sled, although not to the point of this Russian guy:

I love that clip!!

 

[Sunje]

I love that clip!!

There was a video of the team running that used to be on YouTube, but I can't find it now, sadly. I think it's been removed, for whatever reason. Really cool to watch the doberman team pass a team of huskies.

 

[JanS]

Really cool to watch the doberman team pass a team of huskies.

I saw that a long time ago too and it was impressive.

 

[Ddski5]

I think getting any of our Dobermans involved in a job that they look forward to is great! I never once imagined a pulling activity. I say that but didn’t Bri or Viemarangelrock develop a pull carriage with wheels?

Anyways, it looks great and it looks fun. It really should increase Elroy’s shape too- he is already a good sized young lad.

 

[Oh Little Oji]

One of my old Doberman books prominently displays a photo of a Doberman sled team.