Introduction to Sled Dog Racing

Fast, exciting, well trained sled dog teams are the result of careful behind the scenes planning and hard work. Successful mushers are knowledgeable in such diverse areas as kennel management, canine behavior, nutrition, veterinary care, psychology, physical conditioning, housing and transportation. Wise mushers soon learn that success or failure in any of these areas affects performance dramatically. Considering this fact it is obvious that the welfare of the dogs is of paramount importance.

Team and driver develop a close, trusting relationship because of the amount of time they spend together. To betray that trust by not meeting all of the dog’s needs runs counter to the goal of having a happy, healthy, highly motivated team. What you see at a race is the result of long hours of work and planning to ensure that the team is prepared to test its abilities against the trail and the competition.

So what makes sled dogs run? Sled dogs run because they love to run, they are born and raised to it. How they run is a product of how they are trained. If they are well trained they will run in perfect harmony. If they don’t it is the failure of the musher, not the dogs. One of the great mushers of all time summed it all up when he said "the dogs never make a mistake".

Sled dogs, like all athletes, spend more time training than competing. By the time you see a dog running a race, the dog will have logged hundreds or more miles of training.

For more information on dog sledding history and what makes sled dogs run, visit:
http://www.mtpioneer.com/archive-born-run.htm