Guide To Husky Training - Getting Started

Guide To Husky Training was written by Alaskan sprint musher Lynn Orbison

First, you must know what you want before you can ever hope to achieve it. Think of mushing dogs as a camping trip. You have to plan your gear, even for short day trips.

Maybe you want to run your dogs down to the store for a pint of milk and some eggs?

1. You need the right equipment. (Will the eggs break coming home? Will the milk freeze?)

2. You need to be able to handle your dogs together well enough to get them hooked up and moving in a guided way in order to arrive at the store, and not the neighbor's chicken coop. (Although you might find some eggs there too, they certainly won't come with a padded carton and the ultimate cost is a lot more than store-bought, trust me on this.)

3. You need to be able to park your team safely while you shop. (See #1---do you have the right equipment!?)

4. You need to be able to go home without destroying your purchases.

Before you head out the door, consider these questions.

How far away is the store?

How much practice have your dogs had? (Are you asking too much too soon?)

I find setting small silly goals to be very rewarding. I started out mushing by running my pet dogs down to the post office to check the mail. Lordy, I learned every lesson the hard way! You can do that too...and it will be fun and very memorable and you'll really learn what you need to know.

But my goal is to try and give you a head start so that you can still have fun, but maybe be a little bit safer, and your dog(s) won't have to teach you the hard way, like mine did.

As your guide to husky training, here are some training tips that others have given me that I have found to be VERY helpful.

Dogs are like children (no, I'm not anthropomorphizing here...just wait) no two dogs are alike, and they generally do not have the maturity to think ahead. They live in the here and now and will take risks mostly because they really do not understand that it IS a risk. So always remember that YOU must be the adult in your team.

Bossing is one way to control or manipulate or guide your dog team. But I have found that trust is a much more effective and better tool when working with dogs. I have had many people try to be my guide in husky training, and they have also told me I needed to be the boss. (Both in obedience and mushing circles.)

Have you ever noticed how bossy people make terrible guides?!

The truth of the matter is that my lead dogs are often smarter than I am often they have to make choices without me. In really big teams the lead dogs can be as far away from the musher as 80 - 100 feet. They are really operating on their own when they come around a blind corner and discover something that the musher will not see until it is too late. Trust is the only guide that will work in this situation.

The problem with using bossing as a guide for husky training is that you ignore the trust part. When you are mushing, it is imperative that you have trust, or you will never have a chance to make it safely around that blind corner.

Dogs live in the here and now. They do not understand when you are having a bad day. Other than to read your body language and to know that you are not happy.

Training Tip Do Not work with your dogs when you are grumpy! They pick up on that and nobody will have any fun.

One of the joys of working with my dogs is that it helps to ground me and get me thinking and living in the here and now right along with my dogs.

Different dogs have different levels of desire to please their human. (A few dogs have NO desire to please their person--and Alaskan huskies are often closer toward this end of the spectrum.) The new pointer crosses that are now so common in sled dog racing bring a strong people-pleasing gene into play. Many mushers love this! But, it comes with a lot of responsibility.

The old village dogs were tough and knew how to take care of themselves pretty well. But a dog that wants to please that has a thin coat and a lot of drive can freeze before they will quit. It is always the musher's responsibility to put the health of the dogs before any training goal. That is the essence of being a guide and husky trainer.

More Husky Articles

• The Smaller Training Picture
• Team Work
• How to choose and fit a pulling harness
• How To Put On A Harness
• Training Lead Dogs And Which Dog Goes Where
• Line Out Training Before Gee and Haw
• Behavior Tips To Help You and Your Dog
• Choosing The Right Dog Sled