Weight Pull

What is weight pull? Well, in short, it is a dog sport where dogs must pull a weighted vehicle a set distance in a set amount of time. While I primarily compete in UKC weight pull, there are several organizations. Check out the links below to learn more about this amazing sport!

Weight Pull Organizations

Below you can find a list of weight pull organizations. This list is by no means comprehensive, but its a place to start! But how will you know what organization to pull with? There are a lot of opinions floating around about different weight pull organizations. Ultimately, you should find an organization you feel good about and that you feel is a safe environment for you and your dog to trial in. I personally enjoy pulling with the United Kennel Club. It is a great environment for beginners and often gives opportunities to compete in other events on the same weekend as you are pulling (conformation, rally, nosework, etc)!

Harnesses

I will not even begin to make recommendations on where to buy weight pull harnesses. Every person you talk to will have a different harness maker that they love and another that they hate. It is ultimately up to your preference and who can make a harness that fits your dog well. There is unfortunately a lot of trial and error in harness buying. You will likely either buy multiple harnesses or send the same harness back to be adjusted by the maker. But how will you know if the harness you buy is a good fit? ASK! People will more than likely be happy to help you verify harness fit on your dog. You can also find more information here on how a weight pull harness should fit.

Training

So you have a dog and a harness, time for your first weight pull competition right? Wrong! While you can certainly roll up to a weight pull competition, hook your dog up, and hope for the best, I would not recommend it. Try to find a training club near you that can help guide you in your training process. Can't find a club to train with? No problem! There is a ton of training you can do at home with your dog. One of the most common is drag work. Its as simple as it sounds. Hook some weight up to your dog and let them drag it around. People use chains, drag sleds, and even tires for this. You can vary the intensity by mixing up the amount of weight, length of session, and by using hills. If your dog is new, make sure to start out light! My biggest piece of training advice is to keep your dog on a leash. This will allow you to prevent and correct bad behavior before it becomes a potentially dangerous problem. I've added some links below where you can find more help in your training journey.

UKC Weight Pull Tracker

If you are looking for a tracker to take with you to UKC weight pull events, this is a link to the one I designed and use!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheWorkingSibes