Weight Pulling
Sunny and in the mid 60s for the pull.
The cart weighed 365 and the increments were 165 lbs. Weight classes 60lbs thru Unlimited pulled together.
Cinnabar weighed in at 111 (120lb class), and Sebastian at 145 (unlimited class).
We started pulling at 530lbs. Early rounds were not a problem. As the cart got heavy, Cinnabar kept stopping short and turning to his right before continuing as shown in the photo below.
The cart kept pulling towards the judges table and had to be readjusted frequently. We used this cart last fall in Bel Air. Since that time, they reinforced it so that it no longer bows in the middle, but it's a bitch to straighten the sucker out.
I noticed that other dogs were also stopping short in the same spot as Cinnabar.
The most experienced dogs did not stop short, so they were adjusting well to the cart. Goes to show that we're still learning. Both of my guys also experienced issues without boundaries to the chute. I try to keep them in the middle of the chute and if they need to use the width to help themselves that's ok. Without boundaries, well they were off the side of the carpet. This happened with other dogs as well, but again, not the more experienced dogs.
Cinnabar having fun pulling
Cinnabar still learning to work down
Cinnabar digging in to work
Cinnabar pulled 1685lbs and came in 4th in the 120lb class. He pulled more than 8 times his weight and earned his 3rd and final qualifying leg in UKC which makes him a "United Weight Puller".
Sebastian didn't run into the stopping short issue that plagued Cinnabar once the weights got higher.
Sebastian breezing in the middle rounds
Sebastian exerting effort
Sebastian digging in
Sebastian still working
Although Sebastian didn't struggle before his final pull like Cinnabar, he pulled exactly the same amount - 1685 lbs. He just didn't like the next weight, lost focus and desire and tried to go behind the cart. I took the first allowed foul in UKC to correct him and restarted the pull. He was more focused for the first 20 seconds of that pull and then started blowing me off. I called for a push when I had a fraction of a second of focus and that was it for the day.
Sebastian of course came in 1st in Unlimited (no competition) and earned his 3rd and final qualifying leg in UKC which makes him a "United Weight Puller".
An American Bulldog named Envy pulled most weight (also got best percentage at 43%), with Missy & Dave's 7 year old St. Bernard, Harley coming in 2nd. The weights didn't go as high as I expected with some really good dogs, who also has some issues with the cart and chute. My guys didn't pull as much as I'd hoped, but they received some nice compliments about their improvement from people who've seen just about their entire career. I'll put that in the plus column and recognize they've still got learning to do and so do I :)
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