Rüdi and Drafting

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One of the activities I really wanted to do with Rüdi is drafting/carting. Santa brought our carting starter kit a bit early in 2022, so I had to try it out. This is a video of one of Rüdi's first runs with it. I'd say he is a natural at 5 months!


[High resolution version]

(Before the experts yell at me, I know the harness is far too big/loose and that the shafts are not bent to the correct size. They are actually sized for our flat-coated retriever Echo, but I had to let Rüdi have the first try.)

Fast forward 20 months: Rüdi has a harness of his very own with a homebrew cart that fits him well. We ran our first open draft test (skipping the novice tests) on August 17, 2024, at the GSGSMDC draft trials in Williams, AZ and he passed on the first attempt, earning his DD (Draft Dog) title! We skipped novice level, which is on-leash, since he already has off-leash titles in Rally Obedience. I felt he was ready (and it's more fun) to jump straight into off-leash drafting and it paid off. We ran his second test the next day, but he flunked that one since he seems to have an aversion to walking through wood chips. In trying to get around them, he scraped a gate post during the freight haul portion of the test, and any touch is a fail in an open-level test. Sigh.

The GSMDCA will accept passing tests from a number of other working breeds (see below), which is a good thing since there aren't many Swissy draft tests in our area. On February 15th and 16th, 2025, we ran the Bernese Mountain Dog Club of Southern California draft tests. They require that you earn their Novice Draft Dog title before you can run their open draft tests (unlike the Swissies), so Saturday we ran novice and Rüdi had a very nice run to get his Novice title. We moved up to open on Sunday and he had an even more precise run off leash. Technically we earned his Draft Dog title (BMD version) but in terms of his overall progression, it counts as his first of five passes toward his Master Draft Dog title.

The GSGSMDC held their next draft test in Napa on April 12 and 13. Rüdi passed both his runs there in fine form, so that was up to three of his five passes toward MDD. Next up was the GSGSMDC “Route 66 Draft Test” in Williams, AZ, on September 20 and 21. Two more really nice runs, so Rüdi got all five needed passes, so Master Draft Dog Rüdi! I'm awfully proud of that title, so I was excited when I finally got the certificate.

There are a bunch of pictures of both Rüdi and Echo doing draft tests with the Bernese Mountain Dog Club of Northern California at their trials over Halloween weekend, 2025. Feel free to have a look.

I've confirmed rumors that a more advanced Swissy draft test is coming soon. I would love to have Rüdi participate in those, so they can't come soon enough!

Swissies can use test passes from the following breeds:


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 Last update: 2025-11-12