THE CANINE BEHAVIOR SERIES By Kathy Diamond Davis Author and Trainer

Both professional and amateur dog owners participate in the sport of sled dog racing. Skillful skiers can work with one dog in skijoring. People with less than a team number of dogs can join with other interested hobbyists to make up a mixed team.

Races on all levels exist for Siberian Huskies and other northern breeds to participate. Many are fun days for the dogs and humans, short distances allowing for participation without a lot of training or conditioning of the dogs. Breeds other than the typical sled dog breeds are frequently allowed to participate. The Alaskan Husky, which is not an AKC breed, is the product of sled dog racers breeding for the traits they want in their teams.

Big events attract big-name professional mushers, and enforcement of strict rules attempts to keep competition fair and to protect the dogs from preventable harm. Due to sponsorship and prize purses, the sport--like golf or tennis--is a professional pursuit for some participants. Those who do the work of putting on the races are generally volunteers, though. Besides the excitement of the sport and what is learned from research on the extremely athletic dogs, big sled dog races can bring tourism dollars to an area.

Controversy

As more attention has been focused on the Iditarod in recent years, some have voiced concerns for the welfare of the dogs. While a hobbyist musher may keep only a few dogs living indoors with the family; serious competitors are more likely to house them outdoors, tethered at their dog houses. Those who find this mode of confinement acceptable for the escapist breed point out that the dogs get to do a lot of running off the tether.

Dogs do get injured and die from sled dog racing. This situation has been improved, probably greatly so, by the media spotlight critics have focused on the problem. Volunteer veterinarians enforce strict rules to prevent all possible deaths by pulling dogs in questionable condition from the race. In recent years about one dog per year has died in the Iditarod. Experts necropsy the bodies of dogs who die in major races, and the results are released to the media.

The dogs love to run, and as evidenced by dogs who have taken their mushers out of the race by quitting, they can’t be forced to run. Drug tests check for any chemical enhancement that would mask pain and keep a dog running in spite of sickness or injury. The long list of prohibited drugs includes aspirin. Race veterinarians are specially educated to practice this type of medicine, and face keen competition for the coveted volunteer spots working the race.

Three major races are the 1000-kilometer La Grande Odysée (France, Switzerland, and Italy), the approximately 1100-mile Iditarod (Alaska), and the International Pedigree Stage Stop. The International Pedigree Stage Stop that starts in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, was founded in 1996 by Frank Teasley, and features eight days of racing with a stop each night in a different community for festivities. Sponsors call it “dog friendly” because it includes so much more rest, and it has become the largest sled dog race in the lower 48 of the United States.

Particulars

Airplanes and snowmobiles have replaced the essential role sled dogs once played in the polar regions of the world to transport people and freight. These days dogs bred for the job race in sport races, compete in weight pulls, and provide the power for tourist sled dog rides.

Different races can have different rules, so anyone planning to enter needs to get the rules in effect for that event and become thoroughly familiar with them. The entry fee for the Iditarod in 2006 is $1850.00, and mushers have many other expenses in addition, so this is not a cheap sport.

Equipment includes a sled or toboggan, and as many spares as the rules allow (three sleds per musher are allowed at the Iditarod), as sleds are commonly damaged. The dogs all have to have the right kind of harnesses and the other lines needed to safely hook them together and to the sled. Lines may have to be cut to free dogs from a hopeless tangle, so extra lines are prudent.

The musher is responsible for providing dog food and having it delivered to the proper points of the route. Emergency dog food, a cooker, pot, and fuel to boil water must be carried on the sled.

The sled must also have a sled bag that, among other things, is used to cover a dog riding in the sled due to sickness, injury, or death. The musher is also required to have on the sled a proper cold weather sleeping bag, an ax, show shoes, booties for each dog (the Iditarod requires eight booties per dog) and a veterinarian notebook to be checked throughout the race by veterinarians and race officials.

The musher is intended to be self-sufficient for the purposes of the competition, so such things as the aid of a motorized vehicle accompanying the sled are not allowed. Competitors can carry electronic devices for location or communication purposes, but turning the device on will disqualify the musher from continuing the race.

A good Samaritan rule in the Iditarod provides that a musher is not to be penalized for providing emergency aid to another musher. If you watch the start of a race, you’ll see teams starting one at a time on the trail. In order to determine who runs the race fastest, times are adjusted to allow for the difference in start times. One place time adjustments are made is at the mandatory rest stops.

When one team comes up behind another on the trail, after 15 minutes of maintaining that position, the following musher can require the leading musher to move aside and make way for the following team to pass. The leading team stops for no more than one minute for the pass. This doesn’t apply in the “No Man’s Land” part of the trail at the Iditarod, though. On this last part of the trail leading into Nome, the leading musher does not have to relinquish the lead to a musher behind.

The Iditarod commemorates a famous run with diphtheria serum to save lives. Twenty drivers in a relay covered 674 miles in less than five and a half days. By contrast, of the approximately 12 to 16 dogs a musher is allowed for the timed Iditarod race, at least 5 must finish the 1100 miles on the towline at the end of the race. No dogs can be added during the race. Dogs cannot be tied behind the sled or running loose: they must be either on the towline or in the sled.

Dogs are dropped from the race and transported to safe care (sometimes by the volunteer Iditarod Air Force) whenever the musher, a race official or a veterinarian makes the decision. Dogs leave teams in this manner—by the hundreds—but mushers are not allowed to add dogs during the race. Obviously a wise musher takes very good care of the dogs who must run 1100 miles.

Training

Sled dogs start training young by pulling something lightweight. Every pulling experience is made as happy as possible for the youngster. At a year or so of age the pup can start running in a team of experienced dogs. Careful observation will help determine the dog’s position on the team.

The lead dog is the one who learns “steering” commands of Gee for right turns, Haw for left turns, Hike for starting or speeding up, and Easy for slowing down. A wheel dog is one running closest to the sled. It is possible for sled dogs to get into fights, so part of training the team is determining which dogs run best near each other.

Dogs need cold temperatures for sled dog racing, because the activity raises the metabolism and body heat so much. In cold weather without snow, though, some practice can be done with a wheeled cart. Skijoring practice can be done on roller skates.

If watching the smiling sled dogs makes you want to adopt one, be sure to do your homework first. These dogs often wind up in rescue because people didn’t do research. Dogs bred for sled dog racing carry thick, heavily shedding coats. They may be predatory with small animals such as cats, and even with human infants under two months of age. They often like to howl. They need a lot of exercise.

Dogs bred for sled dog racing are famous for escaping fenced yards and going off on treks. They have the instincts to run in harness, not to come when called while running off-leash. Though they look like a happier version of a shepherd breed, actually they are independent-minded, having neither the shepherd desire to obey commands nor the shepherd desire to work closely with a human.

Life as a house dog is certainly feasible for a sled racing breed, if you can provide the right management. A little recreational sled racing or skijoring could be just the thing for the dog’s exercise. When running on anything other than soft snow, be sure to protect the dog’s feet with booties.

Spectator, Participant, Volunteer

Being a spectator at sled dog events is yet another way to observe dogs and learn more about them. There’s the excitement of a competitive event many people enjoy.

As a musher you can participate on a casual level or get serious into the pro ranks. Unless you live in a place like Alaska, the lifestyle of a professional musher could be hard to sustain, but lots of people just get out for a weekend day now and then.

Volunteers do the work of putting on the races, and they have a great time. Medical knowledge beneficial to dogs has come from monitoring the serious athletes because they are checked by veterinarians so many times before, during, and after the event. Volunteers can be a part of that as well as of the economic benefit a big race brings to an area.

Date Published: 12/18/2005 5:17:00 PM

    

Kathy Diamond Davis is the author of the book Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others. Should the training articles available here or elsewhere not be effective, contact your veterinarian. Veterinarians not specializing in behavior can eliminate medical causes of behavior problems. If no medical cause is found, your veterinarian can refer you to a colleague who specializes in behavior or a local behaviorist.