Dog Cart

[Jagger]

I am wanting to build a cart. A cart that either one or both of my Saints can pull. I want to build this out of salvaged/recycled materials. Should i build a 4 wheel or a 2 wheel? Which is better on the draft animal. I have an old mountain bike, as well as an old kids bike. I thought i would use those for my wheels and tires. How do i attach them to an axle? Can i do this without welding? How much weight can be pulled by a dog? On even flat ground. Roscoe can pull an 8 foot long railroad tie for like a 100 feet, with just a collar and dog chain(log chain). These dogs are used to carrying saddle packs. They obey leash commands very well and are a joy to travel with so i think there will be no trouble with them once hooked to the cart.I have harnesses for them both. Any thought or ideas would be apperciated.

Jagger

[Corgitails]

Dogworks has carts and (I think) plans that are very useful. The record weight pulled by a dog is in the two-thousand pound range, IIRC (it might be three- can't remember, but it's an APBT that holds it!)

Cait

[Shrek]

I just use a radio flyer wagon with sled harness lines for my two dogs to pull it.

[MaKettle]

Countryside Magaizine featured a homemade goat cart a few issues ago. You could probably get some of your questions answered by looking at the plans printed in the mag. Sorry--I don't know which issue it was in.

[Shahbazin]

Here's some links & info on carting w/dogs. http://www.cartingwithyourdog.com/

[Don Armstrong]

Here's a link to some simple cart plans. They're actually for donkey carts, but they may serve to generate ideas.
http://www.eng.warwick.ac.uk/DTU/pubs/animals.html

As for one axle or two - depends on the load. One axle gives less friction (although it can get bogged easier), but the load needs to be very well balanced over the axle, otherwise your draught animal ends up carrying a lot of the load via the shaft, instead of the wheels carrying it. Two axles can handle unbalanced loads much better, and carry bigger loads.

One axle is also better over rough ground (can get down and up gullies and creeks in a cart that you couldn't in a wagon), but that's not usually a worry.

[Don Armstrong]

Oh, yes - another thought. I read once that one of the greatest inventions of all time was the horse collar. Before that horses were pulling with something that basically fitted around their throat and strangled them, so they couldn't really use their strength. They were stronger than human slaves, but they ate more, and it was about level-pegging for economy. The horse collar meant they could really lean into the load without strangling themselves, and suddenly horses were five times more economical than human slaves. The horse collar eliminated slavery.

Point being you need a well-designed harness. Not pulling by a collar round the throat, but like, say Shrek's sled-harness.

[heelpin]

A firefighter is working on the engine outside the station when he notices a little boy next door in a little red wagon with little ladders hung off the side and a garden hose tightly coiled in the middle. The boy is wearing a firefighter’s helmet and has the wagon tied to a dog and a cat. The firefighter says, “Hey little partner, what are you doing?”

The little boy says, “I’m pretending to be a fireman and this is my firetruck.”

The firefighter walks over to take a closer look. “That sure is a nice fire truck,” the firefighter says with admiration.

“Thanks mister,” the boy says. The firefighter looks a little closer and notices the boy has tied the wagon to the dog’s collar and to the cat’s testicles.

“Little partner,” the firefighter says, “I don’t want to tell you how to run your fire truck, but if you were to tie that rope around the cat’s collar, I think you could go faster.”

The little boy says, “You’re probably right, mister, but then I wouldn’t have a siren.”