Out of the night and the north... - Page 1

Train Dogs

Out of the night and the north;
Savage of breed and of bone,
Shaggy and swift comes the yelping band,
Freighters of fur from the voiceless land
That sleeps in the Arctic zone.

So goes the poem by E, Pauline Johnson which nearly every Canadian school child of my generation had to memorize. Sled dogs are as much a part of Canadian culture as the beaver.

This is my second winter in the north, and the second time I've attended the annual sled dog races in Kearney, a sleepy little town of 800 people, located about 15 minutes off Hwy 11, and about half an hour northeast of Huntsville.

On the first weekend in February the town comes to life as mushers and dogs pour in from all over the province.  Some come from other provinces and the northern States. Both this year and last year, the race featured a musher from Jamaica.

The races featured are a 40 mile race, a 4 mile and a 6 mile sprint race, and a 4 mile skiijoring race, with both a 2 dog and a 1 dog category. There is also a kid's mutt race.  This year, for the first time, a 120 mile overnight race was added. The mushers will have a 4 hour layover at the local ball diamond, where they will rest up and feed and care for their dogs, before heading out again at 2 am. They will cross the finish line sometime early tomorrow morning. Middle distance races like these are considered important tuneups for longer overnight races like the Iditarod.

Most of the dogs taking part are mixed breeds. There were a few teams of Siberians, but the other teams were a surprising mixture of breeds. One lady had a team of border collie/lab crosses, with her lead dog being a purebred border collie. Another team seemed to be mostly German shorthair pointers. Some of the teams taking part in the shorter races were obviously greyhound mixes. The musher's motto is "as long as it wants to run, I'll race it. Papers don't matter one little bit!"

I wish I'd gotten more pictures, but picture taking was difficult, due to the large crowds of spectators pressing in around the dogs at the start and finish of the races. Here's the album for the ones I did get: s14.photobucket.com/albums/a344/Sunsilver/Kearney%20Sled%20dog%20races%202010/

It looks like everyone had a good time!  I don't know if I could take being out in the cold all day but it sure would be exciting to be on a sled behind a pack of dogs at top speed.  Thanks for sharing.
Deb

Looks like a blast!  Ever think of joining the fun?  A Jamaican, reminds me of one of my favorite movies "Cool Runnings", about the Jamaican Bobsled team.  Thanks for sharing!

GSDTravels, guess what movie was playing on TV last night?

I also really liked the movie Snow Dogs, about an Afro-American Miami dentist who inherits a dog team from his late mother. He was adopted, and didn't know it until he got the news about the inheritance. His adoptive mom is played by Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura of Star Trek.)  It was a little schmaltzy in sections, but good fun overall.

You need at least 8 dogs to be able to take part in the sprint races, and at least 12 for the longer races. Sorry, much as I'd love to take part, that's too many dogs. I live in town, and the neighbours would be ready to shoot me. I'm already one dog over the limit with the three I have!

However, since I cross-country ski, I AM looking at getting the equipment I need for skiijoring! I was asking quite a few questions about that yesterday, trying to find a source for the equipment. I think I've found one right here in town. 

I just hope I don't break my neck... 

We had REALLY nice weather for the race. It was about -8 C, which is 17 F. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and if you were dressed for it, you could be quite comfortable. I had on a heavy sweater under a knee-length parka, and, of course, my Stanfield's long underwear. (You have to be Canadian to appreciate how Canadian THAT is!) I was fine, as long as I didn't stand in the wind coming off the lake too long. It really had teeth in it, and my cheeks got a bit windburned. A lot of the mushers came back from their runs with red, tear-streaked faces from the wind.

 

 

THats awesome Sunsilver!! I love sleddog races but I don't caare for the cold.lol I was going to move to Alaska and work with a sled teem and be an apprentice musher....but when they told me how cold it got I changed my mind. I moved back to IL north of Chicago and the weather was pretty much the same as Alaska that winter. Then I checked out a guy in Canada.He was nice and it wasn't as cold but I wouldn't have meen able to take my dogs. So much for that!! Maybe I can one day get one of those terraine carts they have and work them out here on some trails. A vet from down here is at the Iditorod right now.
~L~

Sunsilver,

Great story and pictures.

Mushing poodles

One day, John Suter went along for a snowmobile ride and was amazed that his miniature poodle could keep up with the snowmobile, at a reasonable speed. He decided to race standard poodles in the 1976 Chugiak Sled Dog Race. The poodles enjoyed running so much that they competed in the Iditarod Sled Dog Race in 1988 thru 1991. The poodles finished all four Iditarod Races, towards the middle of the pack. John and his poodles, also ran the John Beargrease 500 mile sled dog race in Duluth, Minnesota. Today, he enjoys spending time with his poodles, by going out on hiking trips.

Michele

That's awesome!!! Glad you posted that Michele.I have heard of that guy but never seen the pics.Poodles are great...the standard ones.When it full coat they keep warm and love to run and are built for that kind of work.That is why many of the mushers breed hound or some kind of sight hound for the big lung capacity. I keep in contact with a Musher up in Canada.He has some nice dogs and is such a nice man. I hope that I can get up there and meet him and his pack. Here is his site.
Stan Morgan with http://www.miortuk-alaskan-husky-kennel.com/   Love his dogs Amorook & Leo
~L~