Swiss Lick Swissies

Novice Working Pack Dog Title

Friday, March 13th, 2009 | Indigo

The Chicago area weather looks as if it might actually be decent for the next few days. Since I’m on vacation starting at 4pm today (woohoo!) I am hoping that I can get some good hiking and playtime in with the dogs over the next week.

When a Swissy is 18 months old, you can start working towards many of the working dog titles. Indy is only 12 months, so she can’t work on this officially yet, but we can start training. To get a Novice Working Pack Dog (NWPD) title, a dog must complete 4 separate 8-10 mile legs/hikes carrying 20% of their body weight in their pack. So Indy, who is currently 95 pounds, give or take, would need to carry 19 pounds in her pack, split evenly between each side.

So next week, I hope to get her used to carrying an empty pack for a little while and also start working her up to 10 miles at a time. I’ve got a couple of nice trail areas near me (Waterfall Glen is the one I’m hoping to use) that have various loops, some up to 9 miles. Then, I want to take her to Rock Cut State Park in Rockford on April 18th for the first of 3 pack hikes the Lake Shore Club is doing. I’m curious to see if she is different in a group hike situation.

So that is the plan for next week. I’ll keep you updated!

Tags: Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, Swissy

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