chance of injury, herder pulling a tyre? - Page 1

just see the bully owners attaching tyres and what not when excercising their dogs, not static weight per se but a free running dog pulling a light vehicle tyre as it runs.

 

i consider the herders a fragile breed/s mechanically (yeah i know, the people that don't do much with their dogs disagree) - what level of risk would you give this activity for a herding breed?

If you have a freighting harness, it shouldn't be a problem for an adult GSD to pull around a light weight tire. Dogs are generally trained that way to prepare them for weight pulling trials, but it can also provide resistance training to condition a dog. 

Hello vk4gsd, Most of the herding dogs I am experienced with, Border Collies, Kelpies, are very balanced dogs. I am not familar with using a drag on these dogs, but there are other means of restraint to mainly slow the dog down. Sometimes the speed overruns the brain.

These dogs along with the flock gurard dogs go through a juvinile stage like the tenager getting the car for the first time on his own. They find it difficult to resist not seeing how fast it can accelerate or if it is faster than their friends parents car.

The flock guard dog is a good example. At one point in his teenager stage he is tempted to chase the lambs, which tear around in a group having fun and are a strong temptation. Attaching a tire to the dog allows him to run and learn and perform his duties, but discourages him from running and chasing his charges. When the dog is through that stage the tire is removed.

The tire is sized to the dog to give the dog a chance to think about what it is doing.

Two different dogs, two different styles, but the common problem is speed. More dogs are hurt at speeds over 20 mph than at under 10 mph.

I don't know what situation or type of dog you are referring to, but if I was using a tire on these breeds, it would be for controll rather than conditioning.

Dragging tires is good to condition dogs too. I've done it for years with different breeds including GSD's and a freighting breed. The important things are using the right harness and not adding too much weight for the dog and the breed. GSD's generally have too much angulation to be pulling around much weight like truck tires, loaded sledges, or cinder blocks; that's when they get hurt. Not because the breed is weak, because dragging around too much weight is not appropriate exercise for a moderately angulated breed. A smaller tire will give the average GSD enough resistance that can help improve the dog's overall condition and even the gait. If the dog is wearing a freighting harness it really doesn't pull the weight, it pushes it and that effort helps some GSD's to move better on both ends. I don't know how that would work with other herding breeds, vk has GSD's so I assume that is his breed of concern.

Vk, I had a three gsds years ago, when I had mysled dogs. Couldn't help but put them in harness as well. They could pull as much as a husky. Two people, one sitting, with me standing on the back of a Sacco cart. One dog I put in the team with the huskies in swing position ( behind the leaders). He was bigger than the huskies, so I used a freight harness. One gsd was spayed female, she could pull as much as the males.
Read the book, Navarre of the North. Amazon has it for $98. It's a true story, during WWI. Very much worth reading. I have an ancient copy, cir 1930. BTW, dragging a tire is how I trained all my dogs to teach them gee/haw comands, whoa, etc. I put a big tractor tire behind them when I put the teams together.

thanks for thoughts and tips.