For those unafraid of a few tumbles, it’s hard to imagine more satisfying winter entertainment than cross-country skiing with your dog pulling you along. Skijoring is our new favorite thing now. But to try it, I needed some gear. The cheapest kit available on Amazon was $79.95, and a quality kit from UltraPaws or Canadog will run over $120.00 once you factor in shipping. After looking at various skijoring setups online, I realized I could recreate such a setup for approximately $45.00 using materials found in any Lowes or Home Depot. This project takes about 15 minutes to complete once you have the materials.



WARNING: This DIY skijoring kit does NOT meet safety regulations for competitive skijoring. It is for hobby/recreational use only. Use at your own risk.

Materials:

Husky Padded Work Belt Locking carabiner Snap hook carabiner 18” or 24” carabiner bungee cord 12 ft (approx) diamond braid polypro rope (waterproof) Swivel snap hook

Aside from the work belt, you will have many options as to the load limit of these items. I did not use climbing-grade carabiners. I chose products that were rated for 200 lbs or more (with the exception of the swivel snap hook, rated for 100 lbs), because you are hopefully not going to be suspending your dog in mid-air with this getup. The Husky work belt runs rather large (32" is the minimum). I did not find this was a problem because I wanted the belt to sit on my hips rather than my waist. Your mileage may vary, and any padded work belt of solid manufacturing should serve the same purpose.

Assembly:

1. Cut an appropriate length of polypro rope. Depending on how you tie knots, you will need about 12 feet. You will be tying four knots and your end goal is to have a towline that is about 8 feet long.



2. At one end of the rope, secure the swivel snap hook using a figure-eight follow through knot. This end will be attached to your dog. If you suck at tying knots, you can also use a bunch of overhand knots or “granny knots” next to each other, but this will waste rope.



3. At the other end of the rope, secure the snap hook carabiner in the same fashion. This will attach to your belt eventually.



4. About 12” from the end of where you secured the carabiner, take the carabiner bungee cord and tie an overhand knot or half-hitch. Hold the polypro parallel to the bungee cord in your hand. Stretch the bungee cord until you feel it has the maximum amount of tension you could tolerate. Then, grasp the polypro cord and bungee in the same hand and let the bungee go slack. This will show you how much slack you need for your shockline. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT SO DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. Take note of where your hand is on the polypro now. The amount of polypro between your first knot and your hand should be slightly longer than the unstretched bungee cord. Tie a second knot to the other carabiner on the bungee here. This design is based on Nordkyn’s bikejor/dog scooter shockline. If you have a lot more polypro than bungee, you can loop the polypro around the bungee cord as shown in the link to keep it from sagging. My dog does not pull very hard, so I did not need such a strong shock absorber. Another thing you can do is put the shockline on the end closest to your dog. I could have done this but I was worried that it would just give Gypsy more ways to get tangled.



5. Your towline is now complete. Next comes the easy part: attach the locking carbiner to the nylon strap of the front of your work belt. Then attach that to the carabiner end of your towline. The extra strap from the belt should hang in front of you in a V-shape when you pull the carabiners away from you.



You are now ready to attach yourself to your dog’s harness! Wait, you did get a properly fitted harness, right? I didn’t include instructions for making a harness because I decided to purchase one. With all the rubbing and straining that can happen, I felt it would be unfair to skimp on such a thing. I opted to go with the Urban Trail Harness from Alpine Outfitters. You could use a standard X-back racing harness, which is often cheaper, but the D-ring of the harness is going to ride really low and you may find the angle does not work well for skijoring. Make sure the harness you get is designed specifically for pulling. The harness I chose can also be customized with extra D-rings to make it an all-in-one biking, skijoring, and no-pull harness, plus it has cool reflective tape and my dog’s name on it.

How Do I Teach My Dog to Skijor?

So how did this setup fare? According to my skiing partner, who also tried it, the belt is super comfortable and rides correctly at your center of gravity so long as it is not too tight. I loved it and found it extremely easy to use. One issue I had was that it is easy to get the tip of you skis caught in the shockline. This could be mitigated by moving the shockline closer to the dog. If you’re going to go fast and hard, I strongly recommend a longer towline so you don’t run into each other! Gypsy had the time of her life and was exhausted afterward.

Most dogs love to pull once they figure out that it is actually desired of them for once! I didn’t really have to teach Gypsy anything new about the equipment, but I did find that having another skier go ahead of me as the “rabbit” was pretty key to helping her stay out front at first. Skijor Now has an excellent article on teaching your dog to pull. You will also want to train your dog important safety commands such as “leave it” (ignore the squirrel) and “over” (move over to the side of the trail to let others pass). The Pacific Sled Dog and Skijor Association also has some helpful training tips, not to mention a handy list of local trails that are suitable for dogs.

Where Can I Go Skijoring?



Most areas in the national forests that are open to dogsledding are also open to skijoring. In other areas, check to see if pets are allowed on the USFS website. Always look at the regulations for Winter Recreation, because often dogs are allowed on trails in the summer but not in the winter when they are groomed for nordic skiing. So you’re saying I can’t nordic ski with my dog on a nordic ski trail? Most likely not. It would be rude and possibly against the rules because dog traffic can wreck a carefully groomed trail. But you can skijor on multi-use trails, access roads closed for the winter, some snowmobile trails, and there are also dog-friendly nordic ski areas.