Drafting (dog)

Drafting (also known as carting) is an activity or dog sport in which a dog (usually a large breed) pulls a cart or wagon filled with supplies, such as farm goods, camping equipment, groceries or firewood, but sometimes pulling people.

Drafting involves dogs pulling a cart or wagon, a task historically performed to assist farmers with transporting goods.

The use of the travois for drafting was practiced in North America, particularly among the Plains Indians. Significant historic routes, such as the Lewis and Clark Trail-Travois Road and Montana's Lewis and Clark Pass, were heavily traversed by travelers using travois. The repeated passage created deep, parallel grooves in the terrain—marks that remain visible today. Additional remnants of travois tracks can be found at the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site. Archaeological evidence indicates that travois were utilized prior to the invention of the wheel, with some tracks in New Mexico dated as far back as 22,000 years ago.

Pottery depicting drafting in ancient Greece and Rome has been found dating back to the 2nd century BC. Roman Emperor Elagabalus was known to use drafting dogs, as described by historian Lampridius:

His four powerful dogs were not only fed from geese livers, but also attached to a carriage to drive inside his palace and on his lands.

Humanist Justus Lipsius (1547–1606) described witnessing drafting, writing:

In my youth, there was in Brussels an English dog breed, large and strong, employed by a tanner to pull his chariot full of skins to the market.

Among European nobility, these conveyances were frequently used recreationally. Ladies at court would race through the parks. In 1608, Louis XIII was seen guiding a small carriage pulled by two mastiffs, through the Grand Gallery of the Louvre.