CaniX...pointer stops suddenly

Now I may have taken on more than I can handle here, but I have got a CaniX harness for me and my pointer. She is recovering from cruciate surgery, so we are only walking at the moment. One thing that is immediately obvious is that she is going to stop very suddenly to point at a bird...it's what she's bred to do, after all.

Whilst we are at walking pace it's not too much of a problem, but in a few months time, when we're breaking the land speed record , I will not be able to stop quickly enough.

Any thoughts from CaniX ers and/or pointer owners? Can I hope to train her not to do this when she's in her harness?

I have a pointer. I smiled knowingly while reading your post. Put a longer line on it so you have some stopping distance. Can she not go free when her leg is better???

You may find that when you are running and maintaining a faster rhythm that she is less likely to stop, as she will be focused on moving forward.

I'd give her the benefit of the doubt until you actually start running.

My GSPs would never do it. They would dive off after a scent because every fibre of their being would tell them to.
Why not get a husky?

Never found it a problem with any of my HPRs and all of them did/do point!

If they are running they are not hunting, but maybe English Pointers are different?

Nice to meet another pointer owner. Good idea. If I add another metre or two when we are at full speed I'll have more chance.

Yes, she will be free to run when the leg is better, but I am thinking of keeping up the CaniX at the beginning of our walks to force her to warm up before running flat out.

Hmmmm...do you want to bet on it?

Ha! At least I won't get dragged into the hedges...for that I should be grateful. And the thought of keeping a husky cool down here in South West France!!


English Pointers only signed up to the P of HPR....you should see mine if I ask her to fetch something. I get a very haughty look.

I Canicross with a Beagle and it can be very hard to keep him focussed on the job in hand when he has his nose to the ground. Especially if we're running alone.

I found that occasionally running with another runner or even better, other canicrossers, is a huge help... As we all know, dogs love to chase! Your dog should eventually learn what is expected of her when that harness goes on.

It will be totally different in an actual CaniX race, as the thrill of the chase and excitement level is so high for the dogs, you'll probably have trouble getting her to stop running.

Thanks for the advice Honeytone. I haven't seen anyone else Canicrossing down here...but French TV showed the French rugby team Canicrossing last night, so I'm hoping it will spark some interest. Got to say I felt a bit sorry for the dogs having to heave those big lumps around....

Do you have any dog owning friends you could persuade to join you?

I'm a member of a canicross group "Canicross Adventures" and we have just put together a brand new website and forum to help and advise people who want to get started in the sport. www.canicross-adventures.co.uk

We also hope it will help people to find others to run with in their area and start heir own groups. I can't begin to tell you how much fun it is to do group canicross trail runs. There are a couple of videos on the website that may go some way to explain. We do only have UK members at the moment but we hope it will spread to Europe and beyond and become a valuable canicross resource.. We've already had some interest from Dutch canicrossers who are planning a trip to Scotland after seeing videos of our runs there.