International Association
of Dog Drivers

Established 2018 · The international governing body

The sport of
dog driving

Dogs pulling carts, wagons, and sulkies — driven from behind, all over the world. Healthy, fit dogs that love their work.

Become a memberExplore driving titles

Earn Driving Titles

Fourteen titles across five categories, from Ground Driving to Driving Master — judged by video from anywhere in the world.

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Train Your Dog

Step-by-step photo and video guides: harness fit, ground work, first hitch, and building up to confident driving.

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Join the Association

Membership is $35 a year and cuts your title fees. Be part of a worldwide community of dog drivers.

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About Us. The International Association of Dog Drivers is a multinational group that promotes dog driving and drafting. Our dogs pull sulkies, wagons, scooters and bicycles. We drive our dogs in city, suburb, and the countryside. Our dogs love their work and are healthy and fit.

We offer titles in driving. For many of us, working for a title motivates us to excel. We enjoy learning with our canine companions, strengthening our bonds, all while enjoying new adventures together.

History of Dog Driving. Dogs have been working with humans since their domestication as early as 26000 BC. One of their jobs was to pull loads. Depictions of sleds with harnesses have been found dating back 8,000 years. Draft harnesses for carts with wheels date back 2000 years or more.

Vintage postcard of a boy riding a two-wheeled cart pulled by a single dog, captioned "A Dog Cart, Quebec, Canada"

Dog carts in Europe were popular for carrying goods to market. Unfortunately, working dog carts were banned in Britain in the late 1800s to minimize the spread of rabies. Other forms of dog labor were taxed, which was indicated by docking the tail or cropping the ears.

Woman seated on a dog-drawn cart carrying milk churns outside a brick house, another woman watching from a doorway

Two dogs harnessed to a cart loaded with milk churns, tended by a man in a cap in a rural field
Dogs in Holland and Belgium frequently pulled milk carts.
Belgian Army soldier in 1917 standing beside two dogs harnessed to a wheeled machine-gun cart
In World War I, dogs pulled carts carrying ammunition and the wounded.

Dogs and goats pulled children in wagons and carts. Then came automobiles for adults and battery powered toys for children.

Studebaker Jr. wagon advertisement, "King of Little Wagons," showing a boy riding a small wagon pulled by a dog

Girl seated in a light wire-wheeled cart pulled by a shaggy dog, with a boy in a cap standing behind

The sports of dog driving and drafting were continued by breed clubs. These clubs hold drafting workshops and titling events. Bernese mountain dogs and Rottweilers are typical of the drafting breeds.

Painting of a Bernese Mountain Dog hitched to a red cart with wicker baskets, surrounded by puppies on an alpine farm

James Walsh with Tom, his giant schnauzer, and the Regal Sulky
James Walsh with Tom, his famous giant schnauzer.

In 2000, James Walsh, in Australia, introduced the dorsal shaft dog sulky. His stainless steel sulky, the Regal Sulky, is considered the finest dog sulky.

James' company built sulkies for harness racing with horses. James down-sized the horse sulky and redesigned it to create a sulky that works with dogs.

In 2009 Daphne Bettle Lewis founded Chalo Sulky in the United States to create sulky driving as a sport for dogs.

Woman riding a three-wheeled Chalo Sulky pulled by a brindle dog across a grassy field

In 2018 the International Association of Dog Drivers was formed.

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