Training Sled Dogs

Understanding Why Mushers Drop Sled Dogs in Races Like the Iditarod

Sarah · October 18, 2017 ·

Not every dog that enters an endurance sled dog race as part of a team ends up finishing. In fact, it is quite common for mushers to return or drop dogs from their teams. Events like the Iditarod have elaborate systems in place to help manage and care for drop dogs.

Endurance dog sled races are races that range from shorter 200-mile-long events to premier 1,000-mile-long events like the Iditarod Sled Dog Race and the Yukon Quest. Like any endurance sporting event, teams that compete must begin training months prior so that they are adequately prepared. Most dogs start in 200 to 300-mile events, like the Knik 200 Sled Dog Race or the Copper Basin 300, when they are about 1.5 years old and will graduate to 1,000-mile races when they are older. Competitive racing kennels often have dogs complete their first 1000-mile race doing what is commonly referred to as a “puppy schedule.” This schedule is designed with lots of rest and is intentionally slower-paced.

The purpose of a puppy schedule is to show the dogs the race course at a low-key pace so that the following year, they can run competitively and know where they’re going. It’s like a marathon runner running their race route ahead of time or carrying a GPS so that they know where they at in the race. With this knowledge, athletes are able to pace themselves better.

During a mid or long-distance dog sled race, it is quite common to see the size of a dog team drop over the duration of a race. Sled dogs are dropped during races for a number of reasons, but the predominant reason dogs are dropped has to do with the dynamics of working with a group of high-caliber athletes. When running sled dogs, a musher can only go as fast as the slowest team member. Even though all our athletes are at peak physical fitness, over the course of 1,000 miles small differences in athleticism are accentuated. When we cater our team’s speed to the slowest member, the dogs who are more athletic are not pushing themselves at that pace. If you normally run a 9-minute mile but decide to run with a group of your friends who are less athletic and only can do a 12-minute mile pace, you will find that your friends will likely tire quicker than you do. Something similar happens with our dogs. We cater to our slowest team members and when we eventually drop them, the remaining teammates are able to maintain speed or even travel a little faster.

It is an unfortunate misconception that sled dogs do not finish races because the race is too difficult or because the musher is pushing the team too hard. That is not the case at all! Mushers drop dogs because we are trying to work as efficiently as possible and because it is not always fair to keep all our teammates as part of the team. Peak performance for one athlete is different for another. As the coach of the team, our job is to help each athlete on our team reach their full potential. Good sled dog care requires dropping dogs.

As a musher, we do not devote our lives to raising and working with our dogs to push them beyond their abilities. Instead, we coach our dogs. Through our training and deep relationship with each individual canine athlete, we help each dog reach their full potential. Dropping dogs is a normal part of racing. When a dog is dropped it does not mean that dog has “failed” any more than it does when a player is subbed out of a soccer match — that player has contributed a valuable part to the team’s effort thus far. Any dog who is a part of the team, is part of the team’s success.

For an event like Iditarod, bigger dogs an play a valuable role during the first several hundred miles of the race as teams travel through several mountain ranges. These uphill climbs are hard and require strong dogs and bigger teams. These dogs provide valuable strength during this segment of trail, which may be tougher and slower going, but may not be as fast or nimble during flatter parts of the trail. These dogs, however, have provided power and have allowed some of their smaller teammates to do less work, keeping them more well-rested for later segments of the race. This is a very strategic set up that many dog teams use and is a common reason why we see team size drop after crossing the Alaska range; these bigger dogs have done their job and have put in their contribution to help their team and have allowed their faster teammates to be better rested.

Sled dogs may also be dropped from a team due to illness or injury. Although mushers work diligently to protect their dogs from getting sick, illness is an inevitable part of racing when so many dogs are brought together during racing. During the Iditarod, an average of 75 teams compete, each with 16 dogs — that’s 1200 sled dogs on the trail. During Iditarod, teams come from all over Alaska, a huge state, the lower 48, Canada, and Europe (primarily Norway). That’s a lot of ground! Inevitably some dogs carry bugs that other dogs have not been exposed to. The result is that some dogs get sick. This is no different than when kids first go to kindergarten or preschool; they are exposed to new things and illness results. If a sled dog does not feel well, we drop it from the team. Illness can be determined by behavioral changes, such as not eating or a lethargic attitude or by external signs such as diarrhea or vomiting. A vet is consulted and, if needed, the dog is removed from the team where it will receive the necessary medical treatment.

In order to help protect our dogs from illness, our dogs do a number of races and train in popular areas for mushing to increase their exposure to other sled dogs. We do this to help our dogs build immunity to different bugs and viruses. In order to participate in dog sled races, all sled dogs also must follow a strict vaccination protocol. Vaccination records are checked by a team of veterinarians before the start of each race. Regular deworming is also done to help ensure the health of our dogs. On top of these standard practices, racing sled dogs are also given probiotics as well as various vitamin supplements to help boost their immune system and help improve athletic performance.

Iditarod gives ECGs as a part of its dog care program — In the pre-race veterinary exams of the Iditarod, all dogs undergo an ECG and have blood testing done to help ensure they are healthy enough to race.

Additionally, racing standards for Iditarod include even more measures to help protect our dogs: dogs must undergo ECG’s and bloodwork to ensure that they have no underlying heart or medical conditions. Despite these precautions, dogs still develop illnesses and get sick. When this occurs, dogs are dropped from the race.

Dogs may also be dropped from a dog sled team due to injury. Injuries are an inevitable part of any sports competition. Our goal as mushers is always to minimize injuries to our dogs. This is done by building a training regimen that helps prepare our dogs for the race they will be doing. We start dogs out by running short mileage and building up their muscles and endurance over time. During the summer months, we do “weight lift training” when we operate our summer dog sled tours. Our first goal in our dog care is always injury avoidance. This is done through preventative gear, knowing the dogs, and being able to read trail conditions and pace the team accordingly, as well as by following a “warm up” and a “cool down” procedure.

We use various pieces of equipment to help our dogs give great performances out on the trail. After all, the better care we take of our dogs, the better they will be able to run and compete. The most important piece of gear for injury prevention is our dog booties. Dog booties are the running shoes of the dog sled world. They are made out of cordura nylon. We put them on over our dogs’ paws to protect them from getting cuts from ice or rock and it also helps prevent snow from balling up in between their toes.

Mushers Booty Sled Dogs to Help Protect Their Feet

Dog booties traditionally come in four sizes: small, medium, large, and extra-large. Because the front feet and the back feet of a sled dog vary widely, some dogs may wear two different sizes of booties. Like any running shoe, dog booties aren’t designed to last forever. In fact, most dog booties only last one run before they start to develop wear and tear. When we race our dogs, we always put booties on before a run and we take them off when it is time for the dogs to rest. Just like humans, dogs don’t enjoy wearing their shoes to bed! When it is time to run again, we put on a brand new set of booties. During the course of a training and racing season, our kennel of 50 sled dogs goes through about 8,000 dog booties. These booties cost approximately $1 to $1.25 each and are one of the biggest expenses of running a kennel outside of dog food.

When we have decided to rest the team, we then have other gear that we use on the dogs to help their muscles recover. When the team stops, we put out straw to elevate them off the snow so that they stay warmer. We use jackets to also ensure that the dogs stay warm. We put heat, in the form of hand warmers, on dogs who are more likely to develop injuries or who may have minor inflammation. This is no different than what we do as human athletes. Mushers will then go through their team and rub down their dogs using dog massage oil, helping the dogs stretch and relax. When it is time to go again, we booty our dogs and we make sure the dogs ease into their run, rather than starting off at a fast pace. Like humans, dogs also need their muscles to properly warm up.

Injuries typically result from bad trail conditions or, like in human athletes, may be the result of overuse. Fresh snow, which creates harder pulling conditions, often results in more injuries as the snow is punchy and has no base. In these conditions, it’s more likely to see shoulder injuries develop as a result of a dog misstepping. Hard-pack or icy trails allow teams to travel faster but the firmer trail creates more impact and can result in more wrist injuries. Older dogs, near the end of their career, are more likely to develop stiffness and soreness than young dogs who are in their physical primer. As mushers, we are aware of how different trail conditions will affect each of our dogs: that’s why some dogs will get longer massages or will get wrist wraps whereas others don’t.

Finally, sometimes mushers choose to drop dogs because of something they as a musher just “feel in their gut.” As a musher, you can’t say the exact reason as to why you are dropping a dog — the dog isn’t injured or sick and is performing fine — but it’s a gut feeling and, as a musher, you learn to trust that instinct. It is that instinct that helps us succeed as outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen.

Often, when explaining why dogs are dropped from dog sled races, a common question we are asked is: why are the dogs not replaced? There are three reasons why we don’t replace dogs with other dogs when they have been dropped. The first is that endurance racing is about the endurance of the entire team; replacing a dog with another dog would go directly against this basic premise. Although some mushers may choose to carry dogs in their sled for an extended period of time, the other dogs in the team are having to work harder to pull the extra weight.

The second reason we don’t replace dogs is that it really is not feasible. Many of our long-distance races are run in remote parts of Alaska; staging dogs would be an enormous feat and very expensive. In order to get “replacement” dogs out along the trail, we would have to fly them in via bush plane and then they would have to be properly cared for by handlers or volunteers until we decided that we wanted to use that dog. This does not seem very practical!

Finally, we don’t replace dogs because having to maintain your team for the entirety of the race is one of the measures that help ensure that mushers give their dogs quality care and that mushers run their dogs correctly. If teams could swap out their dogs, inexperienced mushers or those too focused on winning would just constantly replace their dogs. Endurance dog sled racing is an event that combines the skills of dog training and coaching with the need for excellent dog care: to excel at endurance racing requires that a kennel be completely focused on the well-being of its dogs.

In a long-distance race such as the 1000-mile-long Iditarod, it is typical to see the top-placing dog teams finish with fewer dogs than teams running less competitively. This is because in order to compete at the highest level of athleticism, not only does each dog need to be at the same fitness level but the musher driving the team also needs to be completely confident in each dog’s ability to make it to the next checkpoint. If a dog shows any potential signs of injury, illness, or fatigue, that dog will be dropped immediately because that dog is more of a liability. A team trying to come in first does not want to have to unexpectedly carry a dog in their sled or stop: this would lead to slower traveling times and allow competition to catch them. Teams that are less competitive, can afford to carry dogs or stop and camp if a dog gets tired.

Finally, it’s important to remember that team size is not indicative of dog care. Teams that have shrunk in size have done so because their mushers recognized that dogs needed to be dropped or due to bad luck. Large teams may be large because of good dog care practices and a good training regiment. Smaller teams may also be more “picky” about who they keep in their team than larger teams.

Without proper knowledge of the sport, it is easy to see the shrinking of a dog sled team over the course of the race as something negative. When we learn more about the reasons and motives behind dropping dogs, however, we understand that it is a very positive thing. Dropping dogs is an important part of the racing strategy and part of having good dog care.

Transporting Sled Dogs

Sarah · October 11, 2017 ·

One of the things people are most curious about when they come to visit our kennel in the summer time is how we move our dogs. This curiosity is something that many newer fans to the sport of dog mushing. How does one move a team of sled dogs? Obviously, moving a team of dogs takes lot of careful consideration and planning.

In order to operate various tours, train our dogs and go to different dog sled races, we employ several different methods of transportation. Our sled dogs obviously travel a lot under their own power but did you know that they also rack up their fair share of both road and sky miles? Here’s a look at some of our most common transportation methods for moving our dogs.

Transporting Sled Dogs In The Back Seat Of The Truck

Believe it or not, our sled dogs are just as happy as your pet dog to ride in the back seat of our truck — the only difference is that instead of one dog we may have as many as seven dogs. In fact, I’ve heard that an Iditarod musher showed up with his whole team in the back of a suburban — though that may just be a rumor. Regardless, sled dogs travel well in the back of the truck together because they are well socialized with one another and spend lots of time together.

While this method of travel isn’t always ideal for long road trips or for keeping the truck clean, it is an easy method of moving dogs and can be quite entertaining. Our dogs are very well behaved when loose in a vehicle and often find a place to curl up. When the dogs are loose in the back of the truck, it’s always hilarious pulling into the kennel because the dogs know that they are home and they all want to look out the window — especially if they still have other team mates in the yard. When there are six or seven dogs loose, they climb over each other so they can all see. The truck usually ends up with more than its fair share of dog hair and nose smudges on the windows!

Using Dog Trucks To Move Sled Dogs

Most mushers employ specifically designed vehicles to transport sled dogs long distances safely. Depending on the size of the truck and how it is configured will determine the number of dogs the dog truck can take. A dog truck has several dog boxes, or individual cubbies that the dogs ride in. Depending on the size of the box and the size of the dogs, the dogs may ride two to a compartment. A dog box may replace a truck bed, making it capable of holding as many as twenty four dogs, or it may rest on top of the truck bed and will likely only hold eight or ten dogs.

Dog boxes are a great way for the dogs to travel because the dogs are easily secure and because they can stay warm even in cold temperatures.

Jodi Bailey of Dew Claw Kennel's dog truck. Learn about Jodi and her dogs at http://dewclawkennel.com/ — Jodi Bailey of Dew Claw Kennel’s dog truck. Lots of custom works goes into making a nice dog truck like this. Learn about Jodi and her dogs at http://dewclawkennel.com/

Making custom dog boxes is an expensive and lengthy process. If it replaces the truck bed, it is also a commitment to the truck. Dog trucks are common to see at the start of races or in popular training areas.

Dog boxes where dogs are loaded externally are more common than boxes where the dogs are loaded internally. This is simply because it is much quicker to load and unload external boxes. Internal boxes, however, are quite useful in harsh environments; internally loaded dog boxes, it is thought, are generally warmer due to the combined body heat of the sled dogs.

Depending on the musher’s needs and how much they travel they may have either diesel or gas engines. Regardless of engine style used, many trucks use modified exhaust systems and piping to keep the vehicle’s fumes away from the dogs.

Trailer

Another sweet ride for the Dew Claw Kennel dogs. Dew Claw kennel is home to Jodi Bailey and Dan Kaduce. Learn about their kennel at www.DewClawKennel.com

While dog trucks are great, not everyone wants or is able to convert their truck. Truck beds are useful for hauling things like dogsleds or dog food and many mushers are not interested in giving up that ability. In order to travel with their dogs then, many mushers therefore employ custom trailers to help haul their dogs. This way, they can still use their truck as a truck!

Trailers can either be loaded from the outside or loaded from the inside. Trailers loaded from the outside are much more efficient as it can take considerable time walking individual dogs in and out of trailer.

We have employed two different styles of trailers in our kennel in the past depending on how many dogs we need to haul.

On short trips, we have employed a two place snow machine trailer outfitted with custom boxes. The center of the trailer remains open so we can put a fourwheeler or a dog sled on the middle. This is a quick way for one team to quickly get out onto new trails.

custom dog trailer on two place snowmachine trailer — One of our trailers we use for hauling dogs.

We also have a large 24′ enclosed trailer that has dog boxes built inside. This particular trailer keeps our dogs out of the elements and can be used on extended road trips. Before we had property in Willow, our dogs spent a lot of time on the road so we felt it was important that they were protected. Because it is enclosed, we can also use it during cold spells to bring our dogs in to a warmer environment.

This trailer holds 33 dogs — that’s over half our kennel just in dog boxes. We can even use dog crate to accommodate more team members. When the trailer is full, the body heat left off by the dogs, combined with the straw in their boxes, quickly warms the area and creates a nice cozy environment for the dogs to rest and relax in.

The dry storage of a trailer is also nice when heading to races; our sleds and gear do not get wet riding on top of the truck and we are able to store plenty of dog food.

Bush Planes

Utilizing small aircraft is important in many dog sled races, including the 1000 mile long Iditarod sled dog race. Without the use of small planes to transport sled dogs out of remote checkpoints, many races would not be able to run as effectively. Dog sled racing is great because it takes us to remote places and we are able to do that, in part, because bush planes are used as a means of transporting sled dogs who are, for whatever reason, incapable of continuing on.

Sled dogs waiting for a bush pilot to fly them out. Photo by Mike Kenney — Three Sled Dogs are Loaded and Waiting to Fly Out of A Remote Iditarod Checkpoint. Photo by Mike Kenney.

During the Iditarod, a volunteer plane crew called the Iditarod Airforce helps with the logistics and flying of any dropped sled dogs. This volunteer crew is vital to the race as it allows mushers to drop dogs who can no longer compete. According to the Iditarod Air Force their “31 volunteer pilots collectively bring 743 years and 420,000 hours of flying experience” and “will fly over 537 dropped and scratched dogs back to Anchorage or one of the [race] hubs.” These amazing volunteers also fly the majority of the musher’s drop bags into the checkpoints too!

For our sled dogs to fly in bush planes, we must provide cable necklines which will be used to secure the dogs during flight. The dogs are secured so that they do no cause problems. The number of dogs taken per flight depends on the size of the plane and if any other cargo or personnel has to be carried. Because of this, mushers are required by the Iditarod rules to carry enough cable necklines for their entire team. This is so that if the team withdraws at any point all the dogs can be safely transported. No one wants a loose dog on an aircraft!

Smaller races may also use bush planes to transport dogs out of remote checkpoints, although it is less common as it is very expensive.

Commercial Airplane

Sled dogs may travel on commercial airlines as a team or individually. Individual dog travel is usually to accompany a musher on a speaking engagement or for personal travel but may also be for re-homing. Many mushers find retirement homes for their sled dogs all over the country where these hard working athletes will get to rest, relax, and enjoy their twilight years. Interested? Learn more about our sled dog retirement program.

Our sled dogs are put individually into dog crates which are then shrink wrapped to a pallet. Up to four crates are put on a pallet.

Teams will travel together to go to races or to get home from races. Whether you are going to a race or coming home from a race, doesn’t matter — the traveling process is still the same. Each dog must have it’s own airline kennel for transport. In general, we assemble our airline kennels with zip ties because it is easy to assemble and quick to disassemble upon arrival.

In Nome, after Iditarod, we’ve had the opportunity to watch our dogs “get packaged” for transportation several times. After each dog is put in his/her own dog crate, the crates are then loaded four to a pallet with two crates on the bottom and two stacked on top. After this is done, a massive roll of syran wrap is used to go around all the crates securing them together and to the pallet multiple times. This prevents the crates from moving during flight and allows the airline company to use a forklift to move the pallets. It’s a very interesting process to watch and the dogs do not mind at all. In fact, because of all the different ways our dogs routinely travel, it doesn’t even seem to phase them!

Helicopter

Max visits dog camp to say hi to his sled dog friends — Max flies with Sarah up to the remote camp on Godwin Glaciers to run tours for a day.

In order to get to Godwin glacier in Seward, Alaska where we give glacier dog sledding tours from May through September, our dogs must fly in a helicopter. In order to safely transport our dogs in the helicopter, they generally fly in a custom built crate that can hold several dogs for a short flight.

When we are only transporting a single dog, we often hold the dog and clip it in with a neckline. Believe it or not, many of our dogs enjoy flying. Max, the kennel mascot, especially loves flying as he knows it means a quick trip to visit his friends and visit snow.

How we transport dogs While Mushing

Mushers also must be able to carry a dog or dogs when they are out training or racing. Typically, mushers will leave enough room in their sled to hold a dog; if they do not have room, they will have to make it. This can be done by strapping gear to the outside of the sled. Many mushers may also use trailers specifically designed for carrying dogs or may use a trailer to carry gear so that dogs may be carried in the main part of the sled.

Why Moving Sled Dogs Is Important

Being able to move a team of sled dogs allows us to train in different places and attend races. Taking our dogs to new terrain keeps them interested, allows us to experience new trails, and enjoy different challenges. Racing provides a framework for our training; it gives us a goal to achieve. Even if a musher is not striving to “win” the race, they are trying to improve their team.

In the summer, being able to transport our sled dogs allows us to run tours in unique environments such as on glaciers or in Southeast, Alaska where there is lots of cruise ship tourism but where mushers do not typically live. This allows many people to experience dog sledding for themselves while also providing an income for mushers and exercise for the dogs; it’s a win-win-win!

Our ability to transport our team also ensures that we can keep our dogs safe in the event of a natural disaster. Every kennel should have an evacuation procedure in the event of wildlife fires or flooding. We have experienced flooding in our kennel and have had to evacuate our dogs to ensure their safety.

Picking New Lead Dogs: How We Select Which Dogs Will Begin Lead Dog Training

Sarah · August 8, 2015 ·

We have the unique opportunity with our summer dog sled tours to begin working with and developing new leaders all summer long. Unlike other dog sled tours that simply run a set loop, our sled dogs go out each tour time not knowing where they will go. Our trail system for our tour is a series of interconnected loops that allow us the opportunity to work on training commands.

Unlike many sled dog tour operations which simply focus on giving dog sled rides, often in a loop format, we focus on giving dog sled training demonstrations. Our dog sled tours are really just tag-along training sessions for our guests and are a great excuse for us to work with our dogs all summer. For the first part of the summer, we inevitably work with our youngest sled dogs dogs teaching them our expectations of them in the team.

We don’t begin training new lead dogs until our younger sled dogs are able to move seamlessly in the team, knowing how to untangle themselves and how to run on their side of the line. We do this because when we put a new, young dog up front we want that dog to have our complete attention. We don’t want to be talking to a sled dog in the team telling it to untangle itself when we need to be focused on praising and training a new lead dog running up front.

So how do we select a new lead dog and what does the process look like? Honestly, each time is a little different. We do, however, try to identify potential lead dog candidates every few weeks as our sled dogs begin to mature. Generally females start learning lead earlier than males in our kennel simply because they mature more quickly and are (at least in our kennel) more focused on pleasing their musher. This, in some ways, makes them easier to train than young males who (especially during summer) seem to have just one thing on their mind!

Our dog sled tours have proven a great way to identify future lead dogs. During the summer we routinely run our dogs 2-3 times a day, giving us a good look at our kennel each and every day. We are therefore able to consistently track the progress of our sled dogs. One thing we identify quickly is which puppies learn to respond to their name when we talk to them in the dog team.

We generally talk to our puppies when they get tangled. During their first few runs in the team we will stop our dogs and help untangle our puppies but slowly, over time, we teach them that dealing with tangles it is their responsibility. Our first look at who may be a good lead dog comes in identifying who is quick to learn how to untangle themselves. This may be as simple as returning to their side of the gangline so that one dog is on the left side of the gangline and one running on the right side. It may, however, also be more complex. Occasionally sled dogs may get their feet tangled in a neckline. In a controlled setting where we can easily stop the team, it is important that our sled dogs learn to fix themselves. There may come a time during training or race where, for one reason or another, I cannot stop to help them and they need to be nimble on their feet. While this is something small, it shows us who can learn quickly and who is actively listening to us while out training.

We also look at the overall attitude of our dogs. Each of our summer sled dog tours is between 1.5 and 2 miles in length depending on the weather; on rainy days we typically run slighty further as the cooler, damper weather allows it. During each run we stop 2 or 3 times to allow the dogs time to cool off. It is important we stop so that they can pant and get rid of any excess heat. We use this as an opportunity to talk with our guests about mushing and to evaluate which sled dogs don’t want to stop pulling. Future lead dogs are generally the first dogs to start trying to pull again. They may leap in the air or silently pull at the line, trying to get our cart to budge. Much to their dismay, however, it does not budge until we let them!

Attitude accounts for a lot of the success of a dog team; having very excitable dogs who want to run and who lead the team can help the team overcome obstacles such as a blown in trail, strong winds, or tough storms. Sled dogs with good attitudes see obstacles as challenges to overcome and they thrive in adversity. Great lead dogs do not back down when the going gets tough, rather that is when they shine the most!

Fidget running single lead during Iditarod 2015

Once we identify a dog as a potential leader, we will work on hooking that dog up towards the front of the team. Most puppies in our kennel start off running in the middle or the back of the team, so we slowly migrate our potential leaders closer and closer to the front. By slowly working them up to the front of the dog team, they get used to the idea of more and more dogs being behind them. They learn that they are part of a “team” and that the dogs behind them are not trying to chase them.

Eventually, we promote our future lead dog to running in the “swing dog” position. Swing dogs are the pair of dogs located directly behind the lead dogs. It’s an excellent place for a future leader to run. Swing is a great way to teach a dog without actually having to teach the dog. They learn through example. When we give the commands “gee” for right and “haw” for left, the swing dogs are seeing and reacting just a step behind the lead dogs. It’s a great way to start associating our commands with the direction we want our lead dogs to take. By the time we put them in lead, they don’t even think twice about being up front: they simply just run.

When our lead dog trainees are finally ready to move out of the swing position and into lead, we almost always pair them with experienced leaders who already know the ropes. Our experienced sled dogs really are the best teachers. In our kennel our go to lead dog trainers are Zema, Tamere, Madori, Boston, Jane, and Piper. These dogs are great Gee/Haw leaders and are also very patient with our younger dogs. We do run after run with our new trainee up front while paired with a “mentor.” After a number of runs — generally anywhere from about 4 to 10 — up front, we let our new trainee go at it alone so we can see what they’ve mastered.

Running in single lead is tough but it is important that each of our leaders understand that when they are up front they are responsible for responding to commands. If we always ran our lead dogs in pairs, they would not learn this valuable lesson. We will do a few runs to make sure our trainees have mastered the commands.

Training for a lead dog, however, never stops. We will continue to work with our leaders even after they have mastered the basic commands of “gee” and “haw” — teaching them how to forge ahead and go through whatever obstacle comes there way.

We certainly have fun watching our dogs progress and have learned over the past few years that we have some of the best Gee-Haw leaders in the sport. We also have some of the most dedicated and hardworking leaders. We greatly contribute our summer dog sled tours and the training they allow us to do is a huge reason for our successful lead dog training program.

How Summer Dog Sled Tours Help Us As A Competitive Racing Kennel

Sarah · May 20, 2015 ·

Racing season may be over but it doesn’t mean we stop training. For an athlete, the journey to better yourself and your team is never ending. How can we improve? What can we build upon? What do we need to do to continue our success? These are the questions that pour into our conversation at morning coffee.

Most importantly, what can we be doing right now to help us later on in the season?

Even though the snow has melted, our dogs still need to exercise. Exercise is a crucial part of any healthy lifestyle. When your job is to compete in 1,000 mile races staying in shape is a critical job requirement. Although the length of our sled dog runs may shorten due to the warming temperatures, it is important that our dogs still have an outlet for their endless energy. Running is required!

Lots Of Visitors Means Lots of Opportunity for Dog Sled Tours

During the summer, Alaska comes to life as visitors from all over the world flock to see our state’s majestic scenery and experience our unique Alaskan culture. Dogsledding is such a unique part of Alaskan culture that people can’t help but be interested. Before we started doing dog sled tours, curious visitors would pull in to our driveway at all hours of the day.

We’d happily great them, thinking they were lost, but they weren’t lost.

“Can we check out your sled dogs?” People would stop in asking, again and again.

Eventually our need to run our dogs, our passion for sharing our sport, and the curiosity of people passing by our kennel made doing dog sled tours an easy choice for us.

On a daily basis, we get to share our passion.

“I had no idea how much they loved to run!”

“I am amazed at how smart your dogs are.”

“They are so excited.”

Guests on our summer dog sled tour help us socialize our young puppies

We get so much positive feedback from people who are curious because dogsledding is something so foreign to them. By the end of our tour, many of our guests are hooked and continue to follow us along throughout the racing season – some of you may even be reading this blog post!

Time and again people are amazed at how much our dogs love their job. To a sled dog running isn’t work — it is a way of life. For a musher, running dogs isn’t work either. It’s a way to decompress and get away from the hectic chaos that defines most modern lives. When we are out on the trail, we must be one hundred percent focus on our dogs.

Our tours have now evolved into a crucial part of our training program. Just as collegiate and professional athletes train during the “off season” so do our sled dogs. When you go on one of our dog sled tours, you are not simply going for a dog sled ride. Our tour is about experiencing training in action. It’s about sharing not only what we love but about educating people on how sled dogs our trained.

The summer dog sled ride we give at our kennel incorporates two crucial components to help us maintain a competitive edge throughout the racing season. First, instead of simply running our dogs we are actually putting them through a strength training program. Second, we use each tour as an opportunity to work on training a new lead dog.

Dog Sled Tours As Strength Training

Running dogs in the warm summer months is inherently different than running in the winter. Careful considerations have to be made about how to best run the dogs and how to accommodate them to the warmer temperatures that summer brings. We are particularly lucky because our kennel is situated in a glacier valley and we often have cold wind that blows down off the Harding Icefield that helps keep our dogs cool. Additionally, we take precautions by resting our dogs frequently and giving them plenty of access to fresh water before, after, and even during our tours.

Because of the warm conditions, we generally run the dogs between 1 and 2 miles. We are fortunate that our trail system allows us to customize the length of our runs based on the weather so we can adjust how far we run them based on what is best for the dogs. On warm days, we run shorter than on cool rainy days.

We use an aluminum cart that weighs about 800 lbs without passengers and can seat 8 for our summer time mushing. Unlike some of the bigger dog sledding operations, we generally have between 4 and 8 guests per tour. This roughly equates to an additional weight of 600 to 1200 pounds that the dogs are pulling. So on average when we go out with our team they are pulling anywhere from 1200 to 2400 pounds.

We use this information to build a great strength work out for our dogs. At the start of the summer our dogs have generally had close to a month and a half of very light easy runs. They are no longer on the aggressive training schedule required for racing because that is over so we carefully work them into their new routine.

When the summer season begins, we generally hook up 14 to 16 dogs based on the size of the tour and rotate our dogs out after every run. That means the dogs run once and, if we have another tour, a completely different team is then hooked up. As the summer progresses however, we begin making changes so that the work outs continue to challenge our dogs.

Generally speaking, the weather in Seward caters to us strengthening our team. We generally see more temperate weather in the early part of the summer and we see more rain in the latter half. The latter part of July and August can bring wet, cool, and damp weather – which allows us to run our dogs longer and harder. As we enter the cooler and rainier stretch of summer, we take advantage of it.

During the middle of the summer, our will adjust to pulling heavy loads. We can’t up the weight but we can increase the number of reps our dogs do so when the weather is sufficiently cool we may “camp” our dogs in between tours. Camping refers to the practice of leaving the dogs hooked up but resting on the line so that they are ready to run again. This is commonly done in checkpoints and during races.

Young dogs learn to camp inbetween dog sled tours — Young dogs, Wrangler and Carhartt, learn to camp inbetween dog sled tours. Wrangler finished 11th and Carhartt 10th in the 2015 Iditarod.

Camping the dogs allows us to spend less time hooking dogs up and more time interacting with our guests. It also starts teaching our dogs the basics of racing: first you run, then you rest, then you run some more.

Finally, towards the end of the season we may even start to use fewer dogs. The number of tours we do each day significantly decreases towards the end of August and at this point our dogs are officially body builders so instead of hooking up 14 dogs we may only hook up 10 or 12, depending on the number of guests we have.

This great strength training program helps our dogs stay in shape throughout the summer and ensures that every dog is ready to begin working on building their endurance come the fall.

Lead Dog Training Is The Best Part Of Our Dog Sled Tour

The tours we do in the summer don’t just serve as weight training. They are a vital component to our lead dog training program. This year, we realized how special our kennel is because of the number of high quality leaders we have. This is a direct result of the emphasis we place on making our tours a training exercise for our guests to be a part of rather than simply a ride.

It is very easy to hook up well-trained leaders to make your runs go smoothly. It’s much more difficult to take dogs who have never run lead and work with them up front while communicating with guests. That, however, is what we have chosen to do. We don’t stick with our go-to race leaders, instead we focus on building new leaders. This gives our kennel tremendous depth.

The first step involves identifying potential leaders. This is generally easy as we already know the dogs. Each spring we identify about a dozen dogs in our kennel that we think could possibly run lead. Then, we make a goal of trying to get those dogs in lead as much as possible. We challenge ourselves, we challenge our dogs, and we keep our guests thoroughly entertained because seeing a lead dog develop is truly exciting.

Every other dog sled tour we have ever seen in the summer time has a set course that they operate on. The dogs (and even sometimes the musher) eventually go into “autopilot.” The dogs aren’t taking commands, they are simply going through the motions. This is not good training and, in our mind, is actually un-training the dogs.

So we don’t have a set course.

We have a system of trails and each time we go out for a tour we never know exactly where we will go. Sometimes commands are called at the very last second and guests are awed by how our leaders quickly take the command or sometimes they watch as we patiently work with our dogs until they correctly figure out what we are asking.

To effectively train lead dogs over a short 1 or 2 mile run requires having multiple intersections so that the dogs can constantly be tested with their commands. Throughout our tours the lead dog or pair of lead dogs need to take, on average, about a dozen different commands. The commands we use are “gee” for right, “haw” for left and, occasionally, we use “straight ahead” to tell the dogs that they are to continue down the trail without turning.

When we start a new dog off in lead, we generally partner it with a more experienced leader. Zema is one of our go to dogs for partnering new potential leaders. She know her commands better, I think, than most people know their right and left. She turns on a dime and having her up front means you can go anywhere you want. She is the ideal tutor for our younger dogs.

When we start training a new young dog up front we hook them up with Zema and Zema (or another well-trained lead dog) shows them the ropes. This usually lasts 1 or 2 weeks. After that, we start hooking up the young dog on their own in single-lead or with another young leader who has been running up front but still hasn’t “mastered” the commands.

That’s when the magic happens.

We start giving commands and we can see how much our dogs have or haven’t absorbed from their previous times up front. Instead of relying on the wisdom of the older dog, the new young pup must now rely on their own intelligence. Sometimes, the new leader gets the commands right from the beginning but that is very rare.

Instead, they make mistakes. We stop. We work with them. Honestly, after doing this for three years, I think our visitors actually enjoy seeing the dogs mess up because they then get to see how we work with the dog to get it to make the correct decision.

Training a lead dog is actually a very simply process if you own high caliber dogs and know what you are doing. A sled dog wants to run. To train a lead dog we simply must channel this desire.

When we approach an intersection we will call a command such as “Gee!” to that the leader will go to the right. If the leader goes to the right nothing happens; the dogs got the command right and the reward is that they get to keep running. If, however, we call out “gee” and the dogs get the command wrong, we suddenly stop the team.

A good sled dog does not like being stopped. If we are giving a command, our leader knows it is supposed to be doing something but perhaps it does not know what. The connection between the word and action has not yet solidified so the dog will make guesses. We repeat the command “gee” and when the dog tries to go to the right we say “yes! Gee! Gee! Gee!” release the brake, and the team can continue to go.

It’s really magical watching this process happen and some very lucky guests got to be part of this last year as we worked and refined many leaders. Last year, we made Fidget a leader through our summer tours. This year, we reaped the reward from that effort in Iditarod. When several of our leaders became injured right before the race, Fidget really had to step up her A-game. She led 700 miles of Iditarod either in single lead or with a partner. She was able to do this because we invested time in training her to run up front during our summer tours.

Running sled dog tours during the summer has helped us build a competitive kennel with a tremendous amount of depth. After the summer season is over the new leaders we have built spent much of fall training running up front on the open river bed in front of our house as a kind of “final” exam. Out on the river bed, there is no trail to follow and the wind can often reach 30 or 40mph. Amazingly, our dogs seem to have no trouble.

We love getting to share our passion with guests and inviting them to be with us as we train future champions.

Training Sled Dogs in the Fall and Why It’s Important For Success

Sarah · October 7, 2014 ·

Although it is called “dog sledding,” much of the important training that happens to a competitive dog sled team actually happens in the fall on ATVS or carts long before there is any snow. While perhaps strange to those unfamiliar with the sport, fall training provides a crucial first look at the team a musher has to work with for the coming season and puts on the early fitness foundation required for later success.

Most mushers generally start fall training some time during the month of September. Our kennel generally starts towards the end of the month as many of our dogs run all summer long doing dog sled tours and a few weeks off between the last tour and the official start of the season are needed for both dog and musher alike. After a few weeks, however, it is back to training. A team, especially one training for Iditarod, needs to build a solid conditioning foundation and this often takes several months to accomplish.

Iditarod is a 1,000 mile long dogsled race but at its core, is really nothing more than a canine marathon. The race is an endurance event that requires high levels of physical fitness and mental preparation from both the dogs and the mushers that run it. Just as humans need months to prepare for a marathon, our dogs require several months of training before they set out on Iditarod.

Training Sled Dogs: The First Few Runs

Fall training starts out in incremental steps where we slowly build mileage up for our dogs. First runs generally are between 5-7 miles in length and are highly dictated by the weather: huskies cannot run in warm weather so most runs are done in the early morning or at night, when temperatures are coolest. Often, these runs require numerous stops that allow the dogs time to pant so that the dogs can get rid of excess heat. Mushers also cater their training runs to hit water sources such as rivers, streams, or even large puddles where the dogs can drink and cool off.

Training Sled dogs during the fall requires finding water sources. Here the team stops at a creek next to the road we train on.

Training Sled Dogs On ATVS

All-Terrain-Vehicles (ATVs) are equipped with numerous features that allow mushers to maintain maximum control of their team during fall training. The ATV is a good choice because we have both gas and brakes at our disposal as training tools. The ATV can also be put into various gears to determine how much the dogs will pull. When put into 1st gear, the dogs have to pull against the gears of the machine making for a tougher pull. Higher gears ease the pull and allow the dogs to travel faster by having to pull less. Generally, mushers vary gears throughout training.

We primarily run in 2nd and 3rd gear as well as neutral but will occasionally put the ATV in 1st gear and require the dogs to do some tough pulling. Other mushers, of course, do it differently.

Training early on in the season allows mushers to look at their dogs with fresh eyes from the previous season. With another year on their belt, dogs that previously ran in the team may now show qualities that warrant their training as a lead dog. In the fall, we run enough short runs that it is a great chance to try new dogs up front.

Positioning Sled Dogs in the Team

The fall is also a good time to bring younger dogs up onto the main team. During the fall, we spend run after run looking at how we match our dogs and where we place them in the team to maximize our efficiency.

For example, earlier this week I ran a dog named Cricket towards that back of the team. No matter what speed we traveled at, Cricket always trotted. As a young, energetic but smaller dog, if she is going to make our race team it will probably be as a lead dog. Knowing this later in the week I ran Cricket behind our swing dogs. I wanted to give her more experience up near the front of the team where, some day, she will hopefully end up. Up that far, Cricket trotted but whenever we started moving at a faster pace she loped. Our travelling speeds were no different than the run I had taken her out on earlier in the week. The team was also identical. The only thing that changed was Cricket’s position and that, it seemed, affected her gait. In general, we want our dogs to maintain a nice steady trot. Does this mean I will run Cricket in the back of the team? No, it means I need to work with her so that she can have her smooth trot further up in the team.

Chemistry: Finding The Right Match for Sled Dogs

In dog sledding, finding the right match for your dogs is also important. A good pairing of dogs can bring the best out in each dog while a bad pairing can bring out the worst. Often, we find that dogs can be paired with one or two other dogs. We aren’t talking about getting along: all of our dogs get along well. When we talk about pairing, we talk about having two dogs that work and move in sync and that also motivate each other to work hard.

Ideally, we want a team that moves as a single unit, rather than as 16 disjointed pieces. A well-trained dog team should move in sync, the legs of the dogs moving synchronously so that as one dog swings his front legs forward, they all do. Having good pairs is important because it is the pairings that comprise the team. Mushers often talk, admire, and want beautifully gaited dogs because the dog is the first building block of smooth team.

Moving Sled Dogs Around

In training sled dogs, especially in the summer during tours and in the fall when we are more focused on short runs, we can try many new pairings. Many mushers like to move dogs around during runs but we generally do not do that in our kennel. We want our dogs to know that if they are hooked up in a certain position or next to a certain dog they will finish the run in that position next to their partner.

There are some exceptions to this, of course, but most of those involve working with young dogs. With young dogs, our goal is to focus on making their time out on the trail positive and to inspire confidence. This is no different than we do with young kids: we don’t start off pitching curve balls to first graders, they hit a ball off of stand. We make things as easy as possible for our young dogs and build their confidence thus setting them up for success later on in their careers.

How Do We Pick Sled Dog Pairings?

So if pairings are so important, how do we pick them? Really talented mushers usually just know after a few runs. These are the dog-savy people who just innately have a gift of understanding and communicating with dogs. For the rest of us, it’s trial and error. Often, there are many clues that dogs will run well together. Typically littermates or dogs from similar genetic backgrounds will run well together as, genetically speaking, they should have similar builds. Similarly sized dogs also generally do well together. Other than that, it requires assessing a dog’s gait. Believe it or no, most top mushers do not have perfectly gaited dogs — what they have is well-paired dogs.

Training Sled Dogs: Finding A Lead Dog

The fall also lends itself as a great time to train new lead dogs as the control of the ATV makes it easy if problems arise or commands are perfectly followed. We say “finding” new leads dogs as, with any leader, the dog must have certain traits that cannot be trained into it. Lead dogs are generally some of the most eager to run dogs on a team as well as the most athletic. While most people believe that intelligence is important, it is actually the least important trait that our leaders have.

In our kennel, we look for three traits: athleticism, attitude, and aptitude. In some dogs, these traits stand out in a dog even as a young pup – at that time it’s clear this dog is a leader and should begin some form of leader training. Other dogs, however, mature into having the all-star can-do-it attitude that mushers look for and rely on in their lead dogs.

In any event, when we find lead dogs training them in their initial runs in lead on an ATV can be very beneficial as the ATV maximizes our ability to reward our dogs. Our dogs naturally want to run and pull – they wouldn’t be sled dogs if they didn’t – so training a lead dog is all about channeling that pull in the right direction. The commands we use in mushing are “gee” for right and “haw” for left.

Using the ATV, we can reward the dogs when they get a command correct by giving the ATV a little gas. If the dogs do not get the command right, we simply stop the team. Because these dogs want to run and because they hear us talking to them, they will try to do something different – like try a different direction – to see if that produces their desired result which is, of course, to resume running. That is it. That is the great secret to training commands to our lead dogs. While it takes lots of patience, we aren’t doing anything extraordinary. We are simply using our dogs love of running as positive reinforcement.

Why Is Training Sled Dogs In Th Fall So Important?

Fall training is important because it is a time of trying new things and getting back in the groove of training. Properly conditioning the dogs for long distance events such as Iditarod is important and requires that mushers start months in advance so that when it is time to race, the dogs are at their peak physical condition and have a solid foundation. It is also the start of that season’s adventures and we are always excited with possibility about what our team will be able to accomplish in the months to come.

You can learn more about fall training from an earlier post we did: Fall Training For Sled Dogs.

Seppala Kennel‘s also has an excellent post about the progression of training from fall to winter.