Canicross – A Fun New Way to Exercise With Your Dog

Canicross is the popular European sport of cross-country (“cross”) running or walking with your dog (“canine” or “cani”) pulling you. The dog wears a special harness and you wear a waist belt attached to the harness with a bungee line or towline. Canicross is growing in popularity throughout the U.S. and Canada as a dryland sport to keep sledding dogs in shape during the off-season, but many people just want to enjoy working out with their dogs hands-free without a leash. By pulling on the line, your dog helps you run faster and farther without causing you to fall. With the positive reinforcement clicker training method, you can teach your dog the basic skills required for canicross.

Any medium to large breed of dog over one year of age weighing 30 pounds or more and without hip dysplasia can learn to canicross. Dogs can learn at any age, but the best time to start training is when they’re puppies learning basic obedience skills. This is where clicker training begins. To be successful in canicross, your dog must understand basic commands for starting, stopping, turning and continuing past distractions.

The following commands are used in canicross:

“Hike” – start running or run faster

“Gee” – turn right

“Haw” – turn left

“On By” – ignore the distraction

“Easy” – slow down

“Whoa” – stop

“Line Out” – run ahead and pull the tugline tight

With clicker training, you can teach all of these commands. After your dog has mastered the basic obedience commands such as sit, come, stay, and down, you can begin clicker training the skills needed for canicross. Train your dog to stay with you on a loose leash and to stay just ahead of you. Whenever the dog naturally runs ahead and pulls the tugline tight, then say the command "line out." Click and treat every time your dog lines out in front of you. With every skill, allow your dog plenty of time to learn to associate each new skill with a treat. Through clicker training, you will learn better dog communication and will become more attentive to your dog’s behavior, signs of tiredness or pain, weaknesses, and strengths. Take it one step at a time and create a good training foundation to keep the activity fun and safe.

Canicross is an excellent physical and mental workout for your dog, building his strength, endurance, and self-confidence. Clicker training and canicross build a strong bond of trust and respect between man and dog.

Learn more about Canicross at:

American Dryland Mushers Association

CaniX.UK

Ehow.com

Skijor