[Sca-cooks] Dogs in SCA households

[Stefan li Rous]

Amra replied to Phlip with:
>> Hmmm... Souage is a Husky, bred for pulling, and 45 lbs, so
>> she could pull about 135 lbs. Wonder what I could train her to  
>> pull...
>
> At the risk of sounding like Captain Obvious, sled / sledge / travois
> come immediately to mind...
>
> In the plains, I'd certainly like to toy around with travois.   
> Certain I
> could still lash one up (did so in Scouts multiple times...)

Using a travois, compared to a wheeled wagon or cart, would  
drastically cut down on the amount of weight that could be pulled. A  
dog, depending upon it's size and body structure, can pull about  
three times it's body weight for a reasonable amount of time, but can  
carry, say in saddle bags, only about 1/3 of its weight. But my  
understanding is that is pulling a wheeled cart, not dragging a  
travois. The advantage of the travois though, is that they are much  
easier to construct.

Now, a sled would work well on snow, but I don't know that there are  
many SCA events held outside in the snow. If we had snow down here, I  
guess I might have considered a sled for Snowball. He is a 14 lb. toy  
American Eskimo and has the long hair and double-coat to go with it.  
I'm sure he'd enjoy the snow much better than he does the Texas  
summer. He spends a lot of his time inside, laying on the tile floors  
rather than the carpet.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
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