DOG RUNS.....

Here at our sleddog centre in Aviemore we have 16 cable lines 4m apart which cross  400m of moorland. The wire ends are connected to  posts 400m apart with a wire tightening system on one of the posts . We place each dog on a cable line which has a yacht type swivel roller bearing  on it with a 1.5m chain and swivel snap hook. We leave all the dogs to run up and down together. We use the space between each dog to drive up and down with ATVs, getting all the dogs to come towards the ATV when called. This helps in free running, and it also helps the young dogs not to be frightened of the ATVs.

We fit small GPS systems on 4 dogs meaning we can get a milage/speed result for those dogs over, say, 3 hours on the lines. Most of our dogs cover 20 miles in 2 to 3 hours while on the lines. When we train our main team we now only use a GPS.

We also use this system for collar breaking yearlings, as all our dogs run free up to 14 months old with no collars/walks. The day we put the collars on the young dogs is the first time they go on the lines. We place on one side an older dogs which the yearling has run free with many times, and on the other side another dog  he is scared of. Between myself on the ATV and the "good" & "bad" dogs with yearling in the middle its not long until the young dog forgets about the collar. When we train yearlings "running free" we have always 2 leaders running with the young dogs and sometimes we secure a small two way radios on the leaders collar so we can always keep them close to us by speaking to them quietly via the radio...it works for us!

This system works well and it is the dogs who are making it work for themselves, with all of them looking forward to their time on the lines if they are not training or working here.

Alan Stewart

Cairngorm Sleddog Centre

Aviemore