I am very interested in teaching my Husky Coda to mush. For many reasons such as exercise for both of us, getting outdoors, going ice fishing, seeing the sights to be seen with my new best friend.

I just have a few questions on training.

1. How old (or big) should she be before starting to train her to pull on a harness?
(a correct one, going to get an x back)(and i mean pull something not pull me)

2. How do i get her to pull me forward once she is big enough. I definitally see her being beside me looking at me not pulling me behind her. or will yelling hike while running with her trigger her to run and pull even though she didnt before?

3. I plan on getting an x back harness, is this the best choice for a husky? or will it depend on her full grown size

4. I know Gee, Haw, Hike, Whoah, and easy. and understand how to teach the dog these commands. while she is pulling me though im sure there will be mistakes. So my question is actually about the setup of the sled (in my case a small kicksled) and the dogs harness. Am i supposed to have a lead on codas collar for easing her if she doesnt slow or to help her learn which way to go with a gentle pull in the right direction?

I am sure i have more questions but will leave it at that for now.

Just don't say "mush" Coda will earn the right to refuse to move if you do.

Your best bet is to find a dog that knows how and let that dog teach yours. They learn from eachother a million times faster than from us. We've started teaching Appa to pull a little by letting him learn from another dog. He won't pull on walks, but when there's a husky in front of him running, he'll pull me on a scooter all night if I let him. You give the commands as the lead dog does them and yours will catch on in no time. I have zero experience with training a dog without another. Sorry. And wait until about a year old before training. We do very very short spurts with Appa at 9 months old on soft ground.

No need for a lead, you should have some braking system. Just slow down with those. I've also heard that if they go the wrong way from your command you just stop until they do it. They'll learn quick what let's them keep running. It's the ultimate reward afterall.

Thank you, Ive heard this or I should say read this in alot of places, the only problem is finding another dog here. I've looked for some kind of community of mushers or even a place where recreactional Ski-jourers go but I came up short and with nothing. I've got alot of info and I'm sure I can do it, I am just an information Junkie

Same here. You can never have too much info

Try contacting your local husky/mal rescue. Most husky rescues do some kind of joring, even if just recreational. It's the best / easiest way to exercise their rescue dogs.

Are you really far from Tweed, Ontario? I don't know where anything in Canada is obviously. Ren from an old forum runs her dogs and is a pro and lives there and if you were close by, sure you could get her to help.

i am a 5 hour drive from halifax, and another day drive to ontario, cape breton is an island in the atlantic off the east coast of nova scotia. its very rural here and dont beleive there is a husky rescue other then halifax. im thinking im on my own

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2. How do i get her to pull me forward once she is big enough. I definitally see her being beside me looking at me not pulling me behind her. or will yelling hike while running with her trigger her to run and pull even though she didnt before?

For this I would teach her to "Line Out" which means to keep the line taunt when she is hooked up to the sled or scooter or whatever.
To teach this you'll want to put her harness on and clip a leash onto the base of her harness and connect the leash to an immobile object like your car or a sturdy post in the ground.
Take a treat or a toy, which ever she likes more, and stand out in front of her. Give the command "Line Out" or Tighten Up" (whatever you prefer) and encourage her to come to the end of the leash and pull to get to the treat. Whens she pulls, give her the treat and lots of praise, then do it again.
Do this until you can give her the command and she will automatically put her weight into the harness.

After you've gotten the above down pat, start taking her on walks in her harness with the leash attached. Tell her to "Line Out" and when she's does it, start walking.
Keep walking with her like this until she seems pretty confident in being in front of you. Then you can start teach her the different commands that she needs to know.

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3. I plan on getting an x back harness, is this the best choice for a husky? or will it depend on her full grown size

An X-back is an excellent choice! How old is your husky? From the gist of your post she sounds young so you'll probably end up getting 2 harnesses. One to fit her now and then later on down the road one to fit her after shes grown a bit.

Have you looked at the website Sled Dog Central? If not, I highly recommend you do. They have lots of great info on there including a list of kennels. You might be able to find a musher in your area that you could meet up with.

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1. How old (or big) should she be before starting to train her to pull on a harness?
(a correct one, going to get an x back)(and i mean pull something not pull me)

Around 9 to 10 months is a good age to start pulling light loads and by light loads I mean stuff like a block of wood or a milk jug with water in it. Just light stuff so she gets used to having something dragging behind her. Then you can gradually work your way up to the heavier stuff.
I would say she could start pulling a human around at a little over a year old and beyond. You want to make sure her body has developed enough so as not to harm her growth (or body).

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4. I know Gee, Haw, Hike, Whoah, and easy. and understand how to teach the dog these commands. while she is pulling me though im sure there will be mistakes. So my question is actually about the setup of the sled (in my case a small kicksled) and the dogs harness. Am i supposed to have a lead on codas collar for easing her if she doesnt slow or to help her learn which way to go with a gentle pull in the right direction?

No need for a lead on her collar but one handy tool you might want to have is a snowhook (for sledding anyways). You use this to anchor your team in case you have to get off the sled to fix a tangle or, in your case, to correct your dog if she goes the wrong way on the trail.
A good set of brakes on a sled is a MUST in my opinion. Some people swear by being able to slow their dogs with voice commands and don't have brakes but if for some reason the dogs don't listen, how are you going to stop??
So make sure that whatever sled you get (or already have) has brakes. Even if you don't use them, they are there in an emergency.

I think that covers all of your questions. If you have more, feel free to ask! I (and I'm sure the people on here as well) am more than willing to answer in the best way I can!

This is what I was looking for thank you piper!
I have a follow up about your answer, line up is to get the line taught, then hike means move?
I was planning on building a kicksled myself im a bit of a do it yourselfer i built her fence/pen area myself. so basically i get a snow hook and install it on the sled as brakes? like on a hinge?

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This is what I was looking for thank you piper!
I have a follow up about your answer, line up is to get the line taught, then hike means move?
I was planning on building a kicksled myself im a bit of a do it yourselfer i built her fence/pen area myself. so basically i get a snow hook and install it on the sled as brakes? like on a hinge?

You're very welcome!

Yes, line out means to get the line taught and hike means to move.

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so basically i get a snow hook and install it on the sled as brakes? like on a hinge?

Not quite. I took some pics to show you what I mean.


Here's my snowhook. It's a small one--mainly for 1 to 2-dog teams but I get away with using it with 4 (barely). I'm gonna need to get a bigger one this winter.


Anyways, here it is in the holder for quick and easy access. (Mine's on the right since I'm right handed. It's easier for you if you put your snowhook on the side with your dominant hand.)
A Rope is connected to the bottom of the hook, then run under the sled (Some people prefer to run it under the sled and some people prefer to run in on the side. It doesn't which which you do.) and connected into the gangline. Like this:

When I need to anchor the team I take the snowhook out of the holder and set it in the snow, then stamp on it with my foot to "set" it. Snowhooks are designed to set deeper in the snow the harder the dogs pull on it. Sometimes if the snow isn't deep enough or if you're just on a bad spot on the trail, the hook will pop and away your dogs go. lol It might catch later on down the trail but you want to make sure the snow you're setting your hook in is going to hold it.
What I usually do is I'll set my hook then tell my dogs to hike and if the hook holds, then we're good to go!

A good point a musher made to me at a race is whenever you set your hook, work on your dogs on the opposite side you set your hook on. So, if you set your hook on the left side of your sled, walk up to your dogs on the right and visa versa. That way, if the dogs pop the hook, you don't have a hook flying at you.