Weight pulling is a dog sport involving a dog pulling a cart or sled loaded with weight a short distance across dirt/gravel, grass, carpet, or snow. It is a modern adaptation of freighting, in which dogs were used as freight animals to move cargo. Many breeds participate in this sport, with dogs being separated into classes by weight. Sled dog and pit bull breeds excel within their respective weight classes, having been historically bred to pull sleds and plows, respectively.
The dog is hitched to the cart or sled with a specially constructed harness designed to spread the weight and minimize the chance of injury.
Famous quotes containing the words weight and/or pulling:
“A German immersed in any civilization different from his own loses a weight equivalent in volume to the amount of intelligence he displaces.”
—José Bergamín (1895–1983)
“The next moment he was “showing off” with all his might—cuffing boys, pulling hair, making faces—in a word, using every art that seemed likely to fascinate a girl and win her applause.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)