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COMMANDS
CARTING
PULL & WAIT
“Pull” means start the cart or sulky. It means
pull hard enough to go from stationary to
moving. Keep moving until told to wait.
“WAIT” means stop.
L!
OU R
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UP FRONT & LINE OUT
Dogs need to work in front of drivers Say
“Up Front” and the dog moves forward
facing away from you. LINE OUT means
hold the line out tight.
WALK ON
Drivers say “Walk on” instead of “Pull” when
they want the dog to pull at a walk instead
of a trot.
P UL
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G
DO
DOG DRI VING
GEE & HAW (RIGHT & LEFT)
Gee for right and Haw for left are traditional
commands given to mules and sled dogs.
GEE OVER & HAW OVER
On trails and roads it is often important for
dogs to travel on the right hand side. “Gee
Over” is the command to have the dog
move towards the right and continue
straight.
WALK & TROT
For sulky driving, the usual gait is an easy
trot. It is called cruise speed. Dogs need to
vary their speed as directed.
URBAN MUSHING
HUP HUP & EASY
Various trainers have various ways to
speed dogs up. “Easy” means slow down.
SIT & STAND
When you get out of the sulky, you need the
dogs to stay. They are less likely to trot off if
they are sitting.
PASS GEE & PASS HAW
When overtaking a pedestrian, tell the dogs
which side to pass on.
Daphne Lewis & Gina Hunter
www.chalosulky.com
1 PULL HARD
2 PULL IN FRONT
3 PULL SIDE SHAFTS
PULL HARD
Harness the dog. Hitch him to bicycle tires. Go
for a walk. He will be startled at first. Maybe
frightened. Your job is to teach him that pulling
is fun. Take him for a pulling walk each day for
a week until he thinks the harness and tires are
a very good thing. They mean he gets to go
outside and to travel with you. He learns to
keep pulling once he starts.
UP FRONT
Some young eager dogs naturally walk in
front of you. Encourage this. Give it a name:
“Up Front”
Many dogs have been carefully taught to walk
beside the handler. Retrain them to walk in
front. Sometimes the easiest way to
encourage these dogs is to hitch them beside
a care-free, untrained dog go for a happy
walk. Encourage your dog to run up-front with
the untrained dog.Teach the command “Up
Front”: Use a flexi lead so you can walk
behind the tire. Borrowing a trained pulling
dog would work also but they are less
common.
Go for long happy up-front walks for a week.
Walk to a TARGET. A target is a place the dog
wants to go to. Maybe it is a pond for
swimming or a field for ball throwing or a
strategically placed car. He will pull eagerly to
a Target.
LINE OUT
Line out means face away from the scooter or
bicycle and walk to the end of the tugline and
hold it tight. Even with a dorsal sulky, the
command is useful. It means face forward.
SIDE SHAFTS
Side Shafts take more time for dogs to accept
than tuglines and dorsal shafts. When you
first place your dog between shafts, he may
stand there quietly. He may even walk a few
steps with you while you pull the cart.
However, shortly he may be frightened and
twist to get out from between the shafts. Stop.
Have him stand quietly.
Soon you can add more tires or use a car tire
so that he knows to lean into the harness and
to pull hard. He should pull in straight lines until
told to turn.
Practice tire pulling for a week. Use commands
Pull and Wait. Lots of Start and Stop.
GROUND TRAINING
Spend a week with him walking while pulling
a pole tied to one side. In the photo this dog
learned by walking between two poles.
Experienced cart trainers recommend the
slower process of walking for one week with
the pole on one side and a second week with
a pole on the other side.
For scooter and bike dogs, some people
proceed quickly by meeting up with other
dogs and people. Their dog chases and goes
with the other dogs. This works well with
young eager dogs.
Once dogs understand that pulling means
getting to run, dogs love to pull.
GROUND TRAINING
GROUND TRAINING