oceanwaves
New member
@jamiem Um I'm not sure The breed is very "pushy" in and of themselves. I would just worry about her hurting herself or her teeth or getting too excited and ingesting a rock.
What I would move towards is getting YOU involved in high drive stuff like that so she can start including you innately in some of her decision making outside the home. It sounds like she definitely would love to "pull some weight" with a cart or a backpack.
Did you know that's why their tails are docked? So they wouldn't get in the way of the cart? Rotties used to travel long distances with carts and help with livestock on the war path with soldiers. They had to be tough and long winded and walk for miles pulling weight. I think if you start incorporating something like that, get her a weighted back pack or cart and just go go go until she's tired, she will probably start looking forward to it. It will be her purpose and she will chill out a little bit.
Of course talk with your vet about this and get her checked out to see if she can first. Ask about how much weight your vet suggests she can carry.
As an example my reactive hound (who is NOT food motivated lol) really relaxed a lot when I started doing smellwork with her. Like something instinctual clicked in her tracking hound brain and she stopped feeling the need to "search" for stuff to react to because I was letting her "search" in a game I was attached to and we both played. It helped out bond because I meant something instinctually important to her that "spoke" to her.
Your girl wants to be pushy/pully and if you can train her to start doing her "work" with her backpack or cart that may alleviate her "searching" for a job to do herself. They want to work! That's why we bred them!
Good luck!
What I would move towards is getting YOU involved in high drive stuff like that so she can start including you innately in some of her decision making outside the home. It sounds like she definitely would love to "pull some weight" with a cart or a backpack.
Did you know that's why their tails are docked? So they wouldn't get in the way of the cart? Rotties used to travel long distances with carts and help with livestock on the war path with soldiers. They had to be tough and long winded and walk for miles pulling weight. I think if you start incorporating something like that, get her a weighted back pack or cart and just go go go until she's tired, she will probably start looking forward to it. It will be her purpose and she will chill out a little bit.
Of course talk with your vet about this and get her checked out to see if she can first. Ask about how much weight your vet suggests she can carry.
As an example my reactive hound (who is NOT food motivated lol) really relaxed a lot when I started doing smellwork with her. Like something instinctual clicked in her tracking hound brain and she stopped feeling the need to "search" for stuff to react to because I was letting her "search" in a game I was attached to and we both played. It helped out bond because I meant something instinctually important to her that "spoke" to her.
Your girl wants to be pushy/pully and if you can train her to start doing her "work" with her backpack or cart that may alleviate her "searching" for a job to do herself. They want to work! That's why we bred them!
Good luck!