To me, having a truly functional team means that your leaders must be able to truly understand how to line out. I also believe that line out is one of the basic commands that needs to be taught first, before any other more advanced commands are tackled. Within this article I will display the techniques that I have used with my own team, and how they have helped me to quickly teach line out.
First of all, the benefits of having a team that truly understands how to line out are amazing. Not only does it help when hooking up a crazy bunch of dogs, but it also allows you to trust that your team won’t get in tangles when you have to leave it alone for any reason.
The equipment that I use to teach line out are as follows:
This is an easy and full proof system that I have been using with my own dogs, and it is quite simple to setup. What I do is attach the 10 foot leash to the dog’s harness loop, and then wrap the other end of the leash around a tree or any other immovable object. I then snap the end of the leash back onto itself after wrapping it around the stationary object. Once this is completed, you are ready to begin training.
Now before you begin training of any sort, you must remember that you have to have the right frame of mind. If you begin training in an angry attitude, your dog will feed off of this and only begin to make mistakes. Dogs are creatures that feed off of the energy that is being displayed to them, and if you are emitting bad energy, your dogs will only reenact this. Before each training session or run I always try and picture what I do want to happen. As most mushers will tell you, when they are thinking of the things that they don't want to happen, they usually will happen. : )
The first step is to place your dog in the position that you want it to be when you say “Line Out.” What I do is just gently bring the dog over to the spot that you want it to line out (you can just grab the X of its harness and pull it over to where you want it), and then place it there. As you place it in its specific spot say, “Line Out.” Since your dog is just learning what you want it to do, I would recommend keeping your hand on its back for a couple of seconds so as to reinforce that it needs to stay there. At this point you can say “Good Line Out” and give the dog a small treat. (a piece of kibble works well)
Another thing that I must mention is that you should stay behind the dog when teaching line out. This is because when you are readying a team, or are working on the sled, you are always usually going to be behind the dog while it is lining out. If you were to stay in front of the dog when teaching line out, as soon as you go behind the dog it will start to walk towards you, and you will wonder why your training didn’t work!
After your dog understands the line out stance, you can slowly increase in the time that the dog stands there with the line taught, and you can remove your hand to “steady” the dog. At this point you will probably notice that the dog will want to come to you when you remove your training hand, but just reinforce that it must line out, and put it back into its position. Like any dog training, it is a mental game that you must play. All too many times when people are training a dog, the dog wins the power struggle because the trainer didn’t persist in the training. If the dog moves, put it back, and over and over again. The only acceptable movement is to turn its head and look back at the musher, but not to turn its body around or let the line go loose.
After the dog can line out for around 10 seconds, you can slowly increase the time that he stands there, and you can also increase the distance that you stand from him. What I do at this point is also start messing with the line behind him. Things like flicking the line, clipping and unclipping the line from the tree, etc…will ready him for when it is truly time to line out when other dogs are around. You may also wish to have your dog line out as you walk other dogs past him, and let people walk near him as well. Once again, if the dog tries to investigate the other dog/person, just place the dog back into the line out position and say, “Line Out.” And remember to ALWAYS praise the dog when it does a good job. If you have been using treats to train the dog, remember to wean him off of them. How to do this is just randomly pet him when he does a good job, instead of rewarding with a treat. You will slowly be able to reward him with touch and praise instead of giving a treat.
At this point you should have a dog that is able to line out for up for around 10 minutes, and is able to concentrate even when distractions are around. You will find that this new command will be extremely useful for hookups when you want your leader to line out. This will enable the line to be tight so it is easier for you to hookup and it will keep your dogs from bunching up and creating tangles.
And remember to congratulate yourself! You just accomplished teaching a very useful technique that will serve you and your team for years and years to come!
Please note that the command “Line Out” should not replace the use of a leader hook. Do not take advantage of your dogs and make your leaders line out for any extended period of time. It can become stressful to the leader(s) if you demand them to hold out a string of dogs for too long a time.