HARNESS
A little help please since I don't want to miss all the snow fun.  |
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| Dawn is our harness expert. Previous life time. We had a Siberian who was game for any winter sport. We played around with it, never got good. Harness was one we rigged together, more like a sled harness. They were skijorning at a town over the pass......but they used horses. |
| I get mine from a MN dog sledding company that was recommended to me by people in the sport. Kondos Outdoors, in Ely, MN. The web site is http://www.kondosoutdoors.com The harness page: http://www.kondosoutdoors.com/mm5/merch ... ry_Code=HP The sizing chart link is at the bottom of that page. http://www.kondosoutdoors.com/sizing.php Chewie's is a 2 Black (it's the colors of the loops that you hook to the gang line or tug line) Oh - and we ignore the suggested weights - as OES have more bone (at least they should!) than the usual sled dogs, so the weight in the legs, etc makes them weigh more for the same body size as other dogs. I also like Black Ice Dog Sledding - they have a web site too. Our weight pull harness is from them, also my skijor belt. Pictures coming.... ps - also have Biscuit's wheel dog harness from Howling Dog Alaska - they have a web site too. |
OK, grabbed the harness, put it on. Chewie was so excited...until he found out it was just for pictures in the kitchen!  Side view -  Top view-  Kind of hard to see, as he's regrowing coat, and the harness is blue. Looking at it, I think he's grown a bit again. I will have to remeasure him and see if we need a size increase. Crazy dog, still getting depth and bulk at 6 years old! He does weigh more now - he's up to 74 pounds. But, I bet once we get back out he will slim down again. He's not in any kind of shape now - no classes over holidays, can't do agility outside at home. Roads too icy to cart but not enough snow to sled.  |
| Poor Chewie!! He and my DH......every a.m. I'm "ordered" to check Monkato's snow depth for Chewie. I do believe Paul suffers as much as Chewie with snow drought. May you have a white January. |
SheepieBoss wrote: Poor Chewie!! He and my DH......every a.m. I'm "ordered" to check Monkato's snow depth for Chewie. I do believe Paul suffers as much as Chewie with snow drought. May you have a white January. That is hilarious! So what does it say for our official depth now? We got a couple inches (my guess) of sparkly fluff overnight. Also - one note about the Ruff Wear - I am not a fan of a lot off their equipment. They seem to have dog fashion designers who make stuff . It's mostly not (some products are good, but some are really a safety hazard) "real" gear, but instead some design and slick marketing for yuppie and loving pet owners. Many are very overpriced as well - again - marketing. I went to REI to look at some of their stuff. The pack harnesses were a total disaster - leash attachment points in unsafe places, etc. Purely decorative and very obvious they never actually tried this out. |
| that is the same style as the one from ultra paws except theirs is adjustable. Bella is 4 now so I don't think she is going to grow anymore so maybe the adjustable feature isn't needed. The price is better from the site you posted so I think I will go with them. Does Chewie were boots sledding? Bella gets bad ice balls in her pads even when they are trimmed really short. I think it is the "wet" snow we get here. She has worn through two sets of boots in 2 years so I need to replace those as well.... so no on the ruff wear boots??? |
| I do have booties from them. The polar fleece. http://www.kondosoutdoors.com/mm5/merch ... y_Code=DB7 They also have a double layer one, but never have tried them. I don't need them for the wet snow, we don't really get wet snow. I do carry them with in my bag for ice (and snow refreeze), and once used them for pasty clay mud in ND. |
| If you have any sled dog folks near you and a place somewhat locally that stocks harnesses (Dawn - is that rare outside of the upper midwest? LDC stocks them down here) it's even better if you can take someone experienced with you and fit the dog. You probably can get a better price online though. Only rarely is the snow around here such that we need boots. And if it's that kind of wet/warm I usually don't bother going out as it's not great for gliding either. But if you don't have a lot of options maybe groomed trails would be better? Dawn? They promised us 4-6" of new snow today. Still waiting, tick tock, tick tock  The blizzardy mess we had a week ago was of the too wet variety. Have visions of skikjoering New year's day but so far not looking too promising  Kristine |
| I would think upstate NY would have a decent dog sledding and other dog/snow sport community. If in doubt when ordering from Kondos, just call them. I have done that in the past, and they have been very helpful. They are a family company. They had a fun time when I called and they found out they were helping outfit a mushing OES!  I don't have groomed trails around me, except the converted RR track lines. They are paved - so we don't ever use them for the dogs. In the Twin Cities metro area, they have some great parks that have groomed trails specifically for dogs - sleds, skijor, etc. They are wonderful. When we go to the Samoyed sledding fun days w/ their club, that's where they hold it. I wish that place was near me, for sure! The boys and I giving a Girl Scout a ride-  Chewie and Gabby teaching 2 young Samoyed girls how to pull in harness -  |
| Everytime I read these type of posts, I just want to be Dawn doing cool stuff with her dogs. Seriously. We had snow for Christmas and Boxing Day, but it all disappeared yesterday. Our last snow before that was 2 years ago for Christmas. I going to have to settle for summer water sports. |
| called and talked with them late yesterday and they were VERY helpful and went through everything about how to measure for the harness. I also spoke with them about the boots and they said to expect about a 50 to 75 mile lifetime for the boots. WE normally do a 5 - 7 mile loop each time out in our local park. They are really nice groomed cross country trails. So I guess I better order 2 sets since we go out at least 2 to 3 times a week at that mileage. More snow coming our way so need to expedite them. Bella LOVES to go out on the trails. |
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