Originally posted by Barbiro

Which one is the alpha in the group and which one gets to go in the front of the sled? How is that decision made? Is the training a lengthy process? This is really very interesting.
Muskwa is the alpha dog. He rules everybody and has pretty clearly established himself as the boss dog. He doesn't have to defend his title at all anymore. He runs lead with Sleet. Sleet came to us having always run lead. She won't run any other position--literally she won't move! And she won't run a single lead, she needs a dog beside her. Muskwa likes to be out front. I have run her with Hoodoo too--Hoodoo listens to me better than Muskwa. Muskwa's a daddy's boy!

Training can be a long, frustrating process. We have one dog, Earle who couldn't lead if his life depended on it. He's a great puller, but was born to be a wheel dog. He just doesn't have leader potential. We have been really lucky in that alot of our dogs came to us with working backgrounds so they knew the basics and we didn't have to train them to those commands. We had to train them ot be pets! The decision around here is left up to the dog. I think more competive kennels would make that decision differently. We currently are working on the ON-BY command as we have some trouble with head on passes of other teams. My neighbor, God Love him!, is trying to convince me to take one of his dogs to train my team with! His exact words were " I have 48 dogs, I'd like to get down to 25, How many do you want?" ROFL!!! Course he has a highly competitive, well trained, well cared for team..so I just might consider the idea!