... I'd Create Maple à la Carte

The Context
Three years ago, Alli and I had The Amazing Rando shoot our Christmas photos. The one from the year before had turned out so well that we decided to include Maple and Lively in that year’s picture. We drove to a spot halfway up Lookout Mtn. near Craven’s House and started searching for the “perfect” spot.

The “perfect” spot turned out to be on a large rock about 20 feet down the embankment from the roadway. So, we all traipsed down the embankment and over to the rock. Afterwards, it was a bit tricky getting back up to the car. Alli was having a particularly hard time holding Lively and getting up the hill, so I took Lively and had Alli grab Maple’s leash. Maple essentially pulled Alli up the hill and to the car.

The Problem
Our dogs love going for walks. Alli likes walks. I like walks. And Fuller likes sleeping through walks. We have a stroller that works very well for us, but it really lacks in the “cool” department. Also, pushing the stroller is a bit problematic while trying to control 2 dogs. Especially when the bigger dog is always pulling you along, and the smaller one is constantly stopping to “mark” her territory.
(Yes, girl dogs mark their territory too.)

Before Fuller was born, we anticipated the difficulty of taking the dogs on walks with us and came up with an idea. It’s common to put your children in wagons and pull them on walks. So, before Fuller was born, Alli bought an older model infant car seat at a garage sale, and I purchased a small Radio Flyer wagon from Wal-Mart. After replacing a few of the included wagon bolts with longer ones, I was able to mount the car seat inside the wagon.

Going on walks with the Dogs and Fuller was much easier. We definitely increased our “cool” factor with the tricked-out Radio Flyer/ Baby Carrier. However, we still had the problem of being yanked along by Maple while having to pull the load of the wagon. Obviously, we needed a better solution.

The Better Solution
Sam’s Club sells a well-priced, steel mesh utility wagon. It weighs about 50 lbs. and has removable hinged side walls. Even though it weighs a lot, I figured, “I bet Maple could pull that.” So, I bought the wagon along with some steel pipe conduit and hardware from Lowes, and assembled a harness that can be yoked to the wagon. The bottom of the wagon is mesh, so we used bungee cords to attach Fuller’s car carrier. The wagon is large enough that there’s room for a pillow in the back. This allows us to scoop up Lively if she’s walking too slowly, and set her in the back of the wagon.

The hardest part was getting Maple used to being harnessed to a large object that’s always 2 feet behind her. The first 10 attempts with various prototypes caused Maple to just stand-in-place, in fear of being “chased” by the wagon. Finally, she became used to the apparatus and now voluntarily steps under the harness yoke when I tell her it’s time for her walk.

Maple pulls the wagon with little to no difficulty. She often begins to outdistance us on walks (even uphill) causing me to gently reign in her leash a bit. I estimate that the total load she’s towing is about 75 lbs. That’s pretty good for a 35 lbs dog!

The Kicker
One of the best results of the project is that our family’s “cool” factor has shot way up. We definitely get noticed. Everyone who sees us gets a kick out of our dog-drawn baby wagon. It’s not quite as cool as the “Off the Thrunk” Boom-Trike that circumnavigates the neighborhood, but it’s close. Now we can take our growing family on hassle-free walks through Saint Elmo.

If this idea is too 'extreme' for your dog, yet you still want to explore the idea of getting your dog to pull their own weight, check out wolfpacks.com.

The Epilogue
We'll have to get back to everyone on the question about Maple towing an adult. Right now I've got this other idea I've been thinking about...