Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Conehead



Silly lawn statuary.

Was in shorts riding my mountain bike on the trails on Sunday and woke up this morning to skijoring weather. Just got all my harnesses, towlines, etc. in the mail last night but the custom made harnesses don't fit quite right so they'll need to go back for adjustments. I was all set to head out to the park at 6:15 this morning and thought it would be better to wait and get the harnesses just right. Much to Jonny's relief. He's mega busy at work today and didn't want to have to deal with a trip to the hospital. He was furious when he saw the towropes, etc. last night. I'm sure I told him what I was up to and he just wasn't listening. That's my story anyway. Temps. in the 40's and 50's this week mean it'll be a while until I have the chance to try again plus who knows how long it will be until I get my new harnesses. I can feel it though, this will be the year I finally get to try it.

8 comments:

  1. Yeah!! Very exciting. At least the snow makes a soft landing. We got a ton of snow today so I'm hoping this weekend will be the first skijor of our season.

    Will this be Lola and Strummer's thing or will Cody be joining in too?

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  2. Yeah, Cody will be sitting this one out. He's 10 1/2 and his list of grievances with the sport would be long and cranky. He hates walking in a harness, doesn't pull unless there is something worth chasing, wants to stop and sniff ALL the time. It's hard enough to keep him going on a walk/run, I pull him more than he pulls me. He's always hated running with me, even when he was young and we first got him. He likes to sprint all out in short spurts or chase things but steady, continuous running was never his thing.

    On the other hand I think Strummer and especially Lola will love it. Just need to get their harnesses sorted out.

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  3. I'm jealous. I have always wanted to try this, but we don't have enough snow.

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  4. Oh don't worry, I'm sure Cody can be convinced of the joys of mushing. Just trade your skis in for a dogsled. And put a nice comfy dog bed on it. Perhaps with a nice juicy bone. Invite Cody to climb aboard while you take up the line and "Hike"!

    Ok, sorry for that (would Cody hate that option just as much?) but I couldn't resist.

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  5. So exciting! I'm planning on teaching Zodi to pull me on a scooter and have been wondering if I should get a custom harness or just a regular one. any advice?

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  6. I've looked into scootering and it looks like a blast. I would definitely get a specific harness for it. This is the one I got for my dogs and it's also listed as being good for scootering: http://alpineoutfitters.net/Secure/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=155
    I liked the price too, half of what Clean Run is charging for their walking harnesses and those aren't custom made or necessarily good for dog sports. I can post pictures too if you're interested. One of my big beefs in my harness search was the crappy harness photos the companies had on their websites.

    If you do a search you should be able to find a bunch of companies selling scootering harnesses (also try searching canicross and skijoring as those use similar harnesses). Alpine Outfitters has been great so far on the customer service front. One harness doesn't fit quite right and they'll redo it for me for no extra charge. Only trouble is that they're swamped and it took a month to get the harnesses. I suppose with the start of winter dog sport season most of those types of places will be busy. I've only used the one harness once so far so I can't give a good review of it but I'm happy with the quality and style of it.

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  7. I'm sure Cody would love to be carted around if there were bones involved. Hmm, maybe this is a good cross training activity for me. I know some personal trainers have their clients drag them around as part of their training.

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  8. Anonymous11:44 AM

    I'm NOT brave enough to try this. Do have hubby take video.

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