Thanks for all of the great words!
Here is to answer the questions.
1. I am a member of the NCNC-Northern California
www.ncnc.org -Newfoundland Club and they have a wonderful woman hand make all of the harnesses! She has the Spec's for all breeds. Plus at the class we were able to try on and buy if we liked!
Copa is in a XL size which fits him perfect BUT he is only a 1 yr old and will fill out to a XXL which thye make! there were Saint's there they also fit in to the Xl and XXL they really need to be tried-on first!There was a Rottie, Frech Bulldog, Husky, Malamute and very different sized Saint's and Newfies!
2. I learned that I know NOTHING! I trained my rottie but for carting you need the same respect and control as a working horse. And I gained it in 20 minutes!!! My boy liked to walk fast and circle around once in a while and sit when he felt like it. Well by only walking and changing direction by saying the direction he figured out that he needs to follow my body movement Not what he wants.
We did need to find command words for walk, stop, left, right, slow down, get the harness on and off. We are still working on it. Once we were doing it he never pulled and the walks we take are so much better now!
If you can not find a local club think about making a weekend out of it. there was two families from over 8 hours away that made the trip beacuse they could not find any thing in southern California for them!
All of the dogs did great. The instructors were Awesome! When there was a dog that was spooked they calmed it down and kept it going and shared lot's of stories of how several of the Chanpion titled dogs started training... they flipped the carts, did aligator rolls and screemed! This made me feel much better.
There is another class in March and a Test in April here in N. California at Garin Regoinal Park in Hayward.
If you need to find more info check out your local training clubs or the AKC website there is a link to all of the clubs Also the Newfoundland Club of America has links in the US and Canada for clubs.
All you need is the basics and you practice at home with out the cart.
Good luck all!!!!