A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to escort a group to on a "Sled Dog Training Camp Adventure." We visited a camp where several professional mushers train with their dogs during the summer. It was a lot of fun and I would definitely recommend it to anyone look for a fun, low-key excursion.
We started with a tour of the camp's extension bridge. It wasn't at all relevant to mushing, but it was really pretty.
After the bridge, one of the guides talked to us about the dogs and their training. I was really interested to learn that they start training the dogs when they are just a few months old and start racing them after a year or two. I also learned that the dogs they use now, the Alaskan Husky, is a fairly new breed. They used to use Siberian Huskies or Alaskan Malamutes, but the size caused some problems. Alaskan Huskies are a little bit smaller with shorter, but denser, hair. Their diets are very high in fat because they are outdoors all winter and high in protein to keep their energy levels up. She also introduced us to a dog who is nine years old and still racing. She said that once a dog retires, the musher either keeps them as a pet or tries to find someone to adopt them. If I was a musher I would probably have 150 Alaskan Huskies as pets because I don't think I would be able to set rid of a dog to whom I had grown attached.
Next, we all loaded into what looked like a golf cart without an engine. A team of sixteen dogs pulled us around the camp for about 15 minutes. It was amazing how fast they went and fascinating to watch them make the turns and work as a team. We met the dogs afterwards and they were all attention hogs!
After being pulled around camp, we learned a little more about the Iditarod. The highlight of the excursion was getting to see the new puppies! The camp had a litter that was ten days old and they were SO CUTE! I want a puppy!
Again, I really love my job! It's not every job that you get the opportunity to do things like this!
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