First I brought Timber out into the snow, she wagged her tail, happy to be outside. I started by taking out the harness and letting her sniff it once, before then strapping it onto her. I gave her a minute to adjust to it on her body before beginning the training. First I tied a rope that was attached to the harness around a tree, tugging on it a few times to make sure it was snug and tight. Timber came over to see what I was doing, and I offered her some scratches before starting the next step. Next I got out a treat from my pocket and held it in front of her, away from the tree, she went over to grab it and I praised her. “Good girl!” And scratched her ears. I then continued that, making sure the rope was always stretched out and putting pressure on the line to enforce the pulling habit. Then I repeated the same thing except this time saying “Hike!” While doing it, I also started throwing the treats instead of putting them in front of her. I then tried saying “Hike!” And didn’t give her a treat, she seemed confused for a moment before understanding what she was supposed to do and afterwords I gave her the treat and some scratches and vocal praise :). I repeated that some times, before it started getting dark out and I decided to call it good for the day. It might take a day or two more before she gets fully trained on this concept, but that’s okay! And I think we did pretty good for today’s training.
Musher - @Leafygreens133 (Recolored) Everything else by me - Please do not steal, trace, colorpick, heavily reference, or anything else that would qualify as a sort of taking/stealing from my work.
