Today was our first walking Canicross session. Canicross is technically cross country running with your dog. The human wears a padded waist belt and the dog wears a harness and is attached to the padded waist belt with a tugline. The dog keeps tension in the tugline and helps the human to move faster with less effort. I am absolutely NOT a runner, but Canicross is used with walking and hiking too. We're going to be starting with the walking version. I'm hoping this will help me to more easily be active with my physical limitations.
I am using Ruffwear gear, their Omnijore Belt, Roamer Leash, Knot a long leash, Webmaster Harnesses, and Approach Packs. I started with Penny attached to the belt wearing the Webmaster Harness this time and Malcolm walking on a held leash wearing his Approach pack empty to get used to wearing it. The session went decent for a first time. Both dogs were very sniffy and distracted, but I expected that. All in all it went fairly well. The dogs seemed happy and excited to be out.
There's a few things I'll change for the next session. I'll be attaching the leashes to the rear leash loop instead of the metal leash ring in the middle of the harness/pack. The dogs moving to the side with the leashes attached to the metal leash rings caused the harness and pack to shift all over the place. Not good... I gave a quick try before heading inside to having the leashes attached to the rear leash loops. This allowed the leash to shift from side to side a bit and there was a LOT less harness/pack shifting. I also need to use the medium Roamer leash, not the Large. Even shortened all the way, the Large was WAY too long for urban walking on the sidewalk once it stretches out. The Large would be great for hiking though, to allow more freedom for the dogs to move around. I also needed to adjust the harnesses/packs so they sit lower on the chest for both dogs. Both dogs coughed just a bit from the harness/pack riding up a bit in front and putting pressure on their throats, though it was low. I took care of adjusting those once we got back home.
The Omnijore belt worked well. It was comfortable. I've left off the detachable leg straps for now. They're used to keep the belt from shifting up, but that's not a problem for me right now. I also wore my new Sketchers slip on gym shoes for the first time and I LOVED them. They were so comfortable and squishy. :-) I wore my new workout clothes for the first time too and they were also comfy.
It was a short walk, but a good first try. I'm hoping I don't get too much of a post-exertional relapse from this. Only time will tell. I'm hoping we all can continue this in the future. I just got a FitBit, so I'll be wearing that in the future to keep track of how far we go. The dogs will be switching off who is attached to the belt and who is wearing their pack each time. The dog attached to the belt will wear their harness only, no pack. The dog not attached to the belt will wear their pack. It will be good for them to get some variety in their physical workout. This also allows me to bring both dogs with. The dogs will eventually be carrying light weight in their pack (whichever dog is wearing their pack that time) so as to help increase their conditioning. I may eventually have both dogs attached to the belt, but we'll have to see how well that works. I figure better to start with one at a time, for now.
Hope you'll join me in the future as I continue to update our progress with walking Canicross and Treibball training!
What new sports/activities have you tried recently with your dog? Let me know in the comments.
:-)
http://www.ruffwear.com/
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