Re: [RC] Dog training and horses - Barbara McCrary
I have a couple of comments about riding with
dogs. 1) Don't start taking a dog that is younger than 1 year
old. Our daughter once had a Kelpie that she took riding at less than 1
year old and the poor thing developed arthritis at a young age. It's a bit
like riding a horse too hard when it is too young to handle the stress.
When we got our present dog, an Aussie/BC cross, I did not take him with me
until he was a year old and he is now 14 and is quite athletic yet.
He has a bit of trouble jumping up into a pickup, but he's in quite good shape
for his age.
2) When training a dog to ride with me, I never
really did anything special...I was just very careful that he didn't get hurt
until he was smart enough to learn how to avoid a horse's feet. I had to
watch out for him, just as I had to watch out for our children before they were
old enough for the self-preservation instinct to kick in. And I scolded a
little bit. I would say, "Toot! Toot!" like a car horn, and he
learned that meant to stay clear or stay ahead. Our dog will go ahead or
follow behind...he just is watchful of those horse feet. And our horses do
not kick at the dog...they have been introduced to riding with dogs since day
one.
I don't imagine this is the answer you were looking
for, but it's worked for me. A long time ago, we had a new BC and she went
running off up the trail, then turned around and ran back. Trouble is, I
was trotting the horse briskly, and before I knew it, she ran right into the
horse's front legs and they scissored her between them. She was hurt and
scared and ran off somewhere. It was quite a long time before she showed
up at home. But that's the only time we've had a dog hurt during
our riding. She was not permanently damaged, just very
scared.
We rescued a beautiful dog this year, she is part Rottweiler and part
Border Collie. She is about eight months and we have introduced her to the
horses. I really want to take her out on the trail with me. Does anyone have
training techniques that they use with their dog and horses together. IE
getting them to heel on one side of the horse or the other, keeping them
within a certain distance as you ride. We've ridden with my sisters dogs and
they naturally heel around us as we ride, but sometimes they do get underfoot.
