In our continuing mini-series on “hooking up” the dogs, Allen gives us this insiders guide to harness systems. For all of you who have been asking questions like: “What’s a tug line?” or “What kind of harnesses do you use and why?” here are your answers!
The audio gets a little hard to hear toward the end, unfortunately, because once the dogs saw Allen putting a harness on one of their teammates they got into their boisterous “ready to go” mode. It doesn’t take much to get them lit up!
Very informative, Allen, thank you.
The rope acts almost like a bungee? with its stretch?
Glad you liked it, Julie… We're planning to have a series of "Allen's Gear Guides" this season to help explain some of the "non-dog" stuff that is still very important in mushing.
As for your question, the poly-rope gang line does have a little stretch. In theory it's like a bungee, but the amount of stretch is very small. Let's say it's just a little "softer" rather than "springy". The iron rope is rock solid.
How do you decide which rope to use?
I sure like the free neck idea.
does this give any problems when passing teams?