Skiing with Jack

My name is Rick and I recently adopted a nine month old border collie named Jack from the shelter. I love to cross country ski and Jack and my other dogs love to go with me. The problem is that I can't teach Jack to unheel. You see I'm a good skier and 99% of the time there is no problem but occasionally on a steep grade or icy snow I will slip. I know I know slipping is the purpose of cross country skiing but what I mean is that i will slip in an unintended manner causing my pole to come down in a random and forceful stroke. This is getting complicated fast so you just have to ski for yourself what I am talking about for as they say skiing is believing. Anyway I am very concerned about stabbing Jacks paw with my ski pole so as I am slipping and sliding, here we go again, in a controlled fashion, I know that is oxymoronic but let me continue, as I am skiing I will occasionally blindly wave my wands (poles) behind me and will occasionally whack Jack. pause for emphasis. Now when i say I whacked Jack I mean that in a doggy sense and not a mob sense. There is no anger or emotion involved, Jack has never whelped or run under a bush and will trot around for about 5 minutes at a safe distance and then return to the heeling position. I have tried positive reenforcement but have to throw the treats off to the side and still find Jack crowding me for the next treat. Perhaps the problem is terminology as Jack does not understand the term unheel. Come to think of it neither do I. What I want is for Jack to do is to maintain a safe distance from me but Jack maintain a safe distance from me is a full sentence and I don't want to open up that can of worms because some trainers say use concise commands like sit, stay, heel etc and others say dogs can actually understand full sentences! I hesitate to ask for advice for fear someone might blithely say " I've got some advice for you bub, why don't you stop beating your dog". I have considered leaving Jack at home to avoid impaleing his paw, however if you knew how much he enjoyed his ski trip Im sure he would rather endure an occasional whack rather than stay home. What should I do? SKIERED IN NEVADA

Welcome to Dogsey Rick & Jack
Had me in stitches with your post Not the "Jack Whacking" of course can see how that is a problem There is a solution,but admit I have no idea what Really hope someone has an idea and can help you out.Aside from the occasional knock and bump,its sounds like great fun
Well done for rescuing Jack,very lucky boy I think
Good luck

Hovis my dog keep bugging me for to throw the ball and zig zagging in front of me which makes me very dizzy. So I have taught her the command Away and she run away from me a bit. I am still working on it but it seems to help.
Try working on it on a normal walk when you aren't skiing and slowly building up to skiing.
Hope that helps but I am sure someone else will have more help soon
Ndidi

Away seems to be the most concise and appropriate command. It is just getting your lovely Jack to understand it. Going to take practice and lots of it.

I don't go skiing but in winter when there's snow on the ground I do use a hiking pole with a spike on the end which could easily stab a dog's paw. If either of mine come too close to me and I want them to move away, I tell them "mind" which they both understand.

I just had a thought
Untill Jack gets to grips with the new command,could you not Jack proof your ski pole with some foam tubing or such like.?Temporarily of course,but that way you can ski and train without the possibility of injury or less of an impact
Never skied in my life,so not sure if that's even possible Just a thought

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Although I used some humor in my blog I can assure you that everything I mentioned is true and that I am really concerned about Jacks safety. Also believe that others who have skied with dogs can confirm that this is an issue

Sorry if I gave the impression that I wasn't taking your post seriously.Can tell how concerned you are and rightly so,really hope you can find a solution...good luck.

Lacey I enjoyed your post and was just was just commenting more on my musings that others wouldn't misinterpret the humor in the my post