November 13, 2011
Getting a Malamute to Pull with Passion-Part II
“Ordinary people have accomplished extraordinary things because they didn’t know they couldn’t.”
This is one of my favorite quotes and can be applied to dogs as well as humans.
If a dog is trained to stop and go on verbal command only, he or she learns the limit to their strength is a verbal command and not the resistance of a sled brake or a heavy load.
In other words, they’re going to pull with passion and vigor until they are told otherwise. But be careful not exceed their physical and psychological limit. This is a fine line, and if they discover they have a limit, well, frankly it’s all over and they’ve lost the key ingredient…sheer confidence. If you see the team fizzling out, it’s better to stop and let them recuperate momentarily than it is to let them fail to pull their load.
