Newbie to dog sledding in Iowa, yes IOWA. lol

[mistygirl]

I am working with a Belgian Malinois. she has lots of energy. She will pull well, but I have trouble with voice commands. She is trained to so signal training and voice signals from the FRONT. but, she doesn't respond to voice commands from the rear. lol. I am not sure how to start. Thanks for the tips. Mistygirl:question:

[dkwarthog]

One way to train voice commands to sled dogs is to find a field with tall grass or with a couple of feet of snow to prevent the dog from wanting to cut corners. Cut a series of paths with a lawn mower or snowmachine so that there are plenty of intersections to encounter. Put her on a leash and walk or jog the paths, when you approach an intersection, call the turn ahead of time being consistent when and how you give the commands. If there is only two choices it keeps the choice simple for the dog so they are at least going to guess right 50% of the time. You can work on gee, haw, whoa, hike, easy....whatever commands you want. the key is to make the decisions easy for the dog and limit distractions.

[mistygirl]

Thank you. I will try this out. She picks things up pretty quickly. Thanks. Mistygirl