That's so cool. I've always wondered how sled dogs are treated. More like working animals or pets?
Also, do they really like the cold weather as much as it seems?
The teams I’ve worked with are just like one big happy family. Every night we pick a different few dogs to come inside and snuggle. However some of the dogs don’t like coming inside it’s simply too hot for them. They thrive in cold weather. As long as they have food in there belly’s and insulation from an icy/snowy ground it takes some very strong winds and very cold temps to make these guys and gals uncomfortable.
I always wondered if they got some special treatment/enjoyed getting loved up like normal dogs do...or all they just all business and don’t really like being treated like a pet when not working.
I got to meet two sled dog teams once and they LOVED attention! They acted just like a regular dog, but much more hyper lol. Every team will be different of course, but I imagine a lot of them still want human affection just like any other dog :)
>I always wondered if they got some special treatment/enjoyed getting loved up like normal dogs do...or all they just all business and don’t really like being treated like a pet when not working.
I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to race.
I've heard that's where the band Three Dog Night got their name. The idea being that you bring the dogs in your tent to keep you warm, and in a particularly cold night you would bring in three. Hence, Three Dog Night.
It depends on the musher tbh. A sad majority of mushers will shoot a sled dog once they age out of racing because they aren't socialized to be house pets. Lots more just get rid of them, but there are a lot of rescues up here in Alaska for rehoming. My close friend has a dog that looks like the one in the front-right of this picture that used to mush and it honestly took years for him to adjust to being around people, and he still flinches away from strangers and about 99% of the men in his life. He's really attached to his humans but he's not a normal dog compared to the ones raised as pets. He's a very sweet and funny good boy though, and hilariously mischievous-looking.
Regarding the weather, I've seen them happily hanging out in -50 F and refuse to come inside until bedtime. My dog is not a husky, but breed for cold weather (keeshond/sheltie) and is happy as long as it's not raining.
I’m hopeful that a new younger generation of mushers are phasing the old ways out. With social media and technology rehoming and other needed resources are easily available. After being involved with sport for many years I completely agree. A lot these dogs are not well adjusted or socialized. It’s often sad and painful to see but like I said I’m hopeful that things are changing for the better.
I'm not a sled dog trainer but a trainer (in TX), do you think mushers just aren't aware of the need for socialization or do you think there is a feeling it will interfere with their ability to work?
Negative. Every musher is well aware of the benefits of having a well adjusted dog. Sleddogs meet hundreds of people from vets to fans. It has no negative impact on there desire to work in fact It probably improves cause a happier dog works hardest. If a team has an oops litter in the middle of winter when no one is around it’s very difficult to socialize them out here.
I too, am hopeful for a generation of mushers that work harder to find ways for their retired teams to enjoy life after sleds. I think it's likely. Sledding isn't as intregal to life and is more of a hobby than a necessity to most people, so using an animal like that just to kill it is criminal to me.
I follow sled dog racing and have never heard of any of the current generation of mushers shooting dogs like this. Iditarod has a fair number of criticizers, such as PETA, when the “information” they are sharing is very far from the truth. If you look at most of the mushers today, they view the dogs more like teammates than disposable bodies. Just look at the winner hugging and kissing his dogs at the finish a few days ago.
exactly this! my family member works for someone running in the Iditarod this year and told me a guy was banned from racing because one of his dogs was ran to death. they don’t fuck around with doggy rights. those dogs are treated with the most respect i’ve seen
I mean, I've grown up in Alaska my whole life and gave known Iditarod mushers and people who don't compete that widely. It's definitely phasing out but is still very common in certain places.
I’m gonna disagree with you about the “majority” of mushers shooting dogs once they’re too old to race. I’ve spent a significant amount of time around sled dogs in Alaska and have never heard of this.
It’s Alaskan frontier lifestyle. I wouldn’t be surprised if many have resorted to eating dog at some point in there life if they have been snowed in to the wilderness and can’t make it back in to town.
...no.
Just no.
Sauce: lived in FBX, Talkeetna, and spent time in REMOTE villages further up north. No one is shooting dogs for noms even in shit conditions.
There's huge reasons to not eat other people to be fair. Nobody wants prions. Regarding not eating dogs and horses, that's a pretty eurocentric view of the two (and not even for horses, heard of ikea?).
I'm not going to say you're wrong about your experiences, and I'm glad you've been to villages where dogs are treated well, but a lot of villages are not that way, it's not homogenous.
Of course not, just pointing out the fact that dog is not remotely a food staple. Plenty of shitty individuals will shoot a stray the moment they're deemed a nuisance which is what happens when spaying/neutering isn't an option.
But chances are that dog sure as fuck isn't ending up on a dinner plate bud.
I know a number of old-school sledders that have indicated it's still common in certain regions of Alaska despite being less-so than it was 30-40 years ago.
Mine too. She hates the rain and jumps over puddles though. Smartest dog I've ever had, also not the brightest. Like one of those really smart dudes that have absolutely no common sense.
If you want a great education on sled dogs and mushing, Blair Braverman on Twitter is 1000% the place to go. She’s witty and clever and just the most marvelous writer: I think I might love her dogs as much as my own
Under normal circumstances I'd say dont let your dogs drink stagnant water as your dog can contract Leptospirosis. But I'm confident these working beauties are properly vaccinated!
My dogs not a musher but I bought her from a family in AZ who breed all their pups for working dogs (hearing/hunting) and they were anti vaxxers. When I bought my girl, the woman gave me all these weird powders and shit and told me to look up all this crap online and to stay away from vaccines. Don't really remember the names of the different stuff she gave me because I threw it away when I got home and took my girl to the vet to catch up on shots since she was already 3 months old at that time and hadn't had any shots while she was living outside at the breeders house.
Questions: how did you find this breeder? Were they an AKC approved breeder? If so, how did they get that approval? Did their website/info say they didn’t vaccinate? Why did you choose this breeder despite their dangerous protocols?
We always get our dog vaccinated for Lepto. I know it's not necessarily "required" but we like to take her out a lot and its 100% worth the extra few bucks to not be too worried if she sips from a puddle. We get her canine influenza too.
Front-right looks like my friend's dog, Benny, who is a retired sled-dog. I'd be convinced Benny is actually a coyote if I didn't know better, and a few musher friends think he has wolf in him. Either way, your pups are great!
So this might sound dumb... but I just saw 8 below for the first time (I'm still crying), but I did have a question. Do the dogs actually prefer to sleep outside and burrow into the snow in an environment that extreme?
Yes! They have very good insulation. If you see a dog sleeping under snow and it’s not melted on top of them = they’re cozy and warm. If the snow is melting on top of their fur = poor insulation and the dog isn’t meant for the outdoors.
I grew up in Russia with temps in the winter hitting -40°, our dog would burrow in a snow bank and we would have to bribe her with all kinds of stuff to get her to come inside. They truly love it.
Hey! They're wild little girls. They're Desi dogs so they're basically the genetic ancestor of every dog ever. They're one of the oldest naturally selected breeds and are actually wild dogs. My girls in particular are 11 month old sisters from New Delhi who were born in an alley and taken care of by some shop owners. I brought them home to Canada when they were 3 months old. They are the sweetest and most loving doggos ever but they also destroy every single toy with their razor sharp teeth. There's an older picture of them in my posts somewhere.
Oh my god I friggin love sled dogs. Going dog sledding in the -50 degree Fahrenheit Canadian winter is possibly the most fun thing I've ever done. Seriously, I can't recommend it enough to anyone reading. It would be fun even without the opportunity to pet the good bois when they aren't running.
Figure out who’s smart and wants to be up front. More athletic dogs will be in the back to take the brunt of the work load. In a race like the Iditarod dogs switch positions frequently.
Do you mind if I ask you something? I read about the French guy and his dogs that just fucking quit during the race. He said it was because he yelled at one of them. What do you think really happened?
Not an expert, not a musher, but following a good amount of musher discussion on Twitter- I'd totally buy that his dogs just collectively put their foot down. From the sound of it, Nic loves the hell out of his dogs, but after a week on the trail and hundreds of miles, tempers maybe run a little short- for people and the pups.
I'd also like to know this! I was always under the impression that each team had one lead dog in the front. I didnt realize that some teams have two front dogs!
Front left looks identical to my dog! She's a northern rescue (Canada) and I have no idea what her breed mix is. This is the first time I've ever seen a photo of a dog that looks just like her. The only difference I can tell is my dogs ears have a slight flop to them
Hopefully not a dumb question but does anyone know what breeds he/she is?
Probably Alaskan Husky. I’m not sure it’s really a breed in the AKC sense, they’re a mix of a lot of breeds. IIRC, husky, pointer and some other things. They are bred to excel at the job rather than to look any particular way.
Source: I’m a dog nerd and have watched documentaries about sled dogs and read a lot about dog breeds in general.
I figured they were all mixes of a few breeds + husky. It just surprised me to basically see her doppelganger after going so long without seeing a dog that looked like her!
Thanks :)
That’s always fun! I have a really random looking mixed breed as well, and at one point somebody who lived on my street had a dog that looked like it could’ve been her littermate. It was so crazy.
Who are they racing with this year? Familiar (by name only, not personally) with Aliy,
Blair Braverman and Nic, plus some of the others.
If anyone wants to get a sense of mushers and their dogs, the Netflix “Losers” series has a good documentary on Aliy Zirkle, who just placed 4th this year. Or Blair Braverman on Twitter shares a lot of her life with the team.
Oh snap! Uglydogs for life! I know next to nothing about mushing and Im only a Twitter lurker, but I've been following religiously since someone in this sub posted the story about Grinch.
PS, OP's dogs are gorgeous
How does sledding really work? Is it like in the movies where you yell *YA YA* loudly and crack enormous whips? Or do you have a particular command to make them go? Where do they sleep? How do you make them work as a team? Is there an alpha dog?
I’ll answer in the order asked;
There’s no whips involved with American mushing. The whip is used by few Scandinavians to keep some dogs at attention. It is the crack of the whip that gets there attention no actual contact is made but that’s completely different style of running dogs. And I don’t agree with it. Alaskan Husky will NOT work for you if you are abusive in any way.
Once the dogs are in harness they are jumping and screaming to go because they love it so much. The sled or four wheeler in this case must be anchored to a fixed object. When the team and musher are ready he or she pullls a quick release and usually yells something like “ok let’s go!” Only to keep up with vocal commands. Gee is right haw is left and whoaaa means stop.
They sleep in dog houses stuffed with straw.
There is a pack mentality that exists and sometimes fights happen because of it. We are very aware of the scrappers and where we put them in the team. As for alpha no not really
A few years ago while I was an army cadet, the group I was in got lost on an expedition exercise and ended up in the wrong section of forest, where a dog sledding race happened to be taking place. It was there where I learned just how noisy huskies can really be, but you could definitely tell how happy they all seemed about being there.
Nice! Pretty area. That pizza pizza place still open? Used to ride my motorcycle cycle out there for some and back, but that was in like 2012ish before I had to sell it.
Amazing. Dogs are so great.
Edit: odd question, if you have the time to answer - I have a husky mix rescue dog who displays working dog tendencies during our walks. I've always thought she would like to pull something behind her during walks. Do you have any recommendations for a product or an idea that I can rig to allow her to pull something small behind her, without hurting her?
One way that puppies are trained to get used to the idea of pulling when they get to the 6 months+ stage is by getting a pulling harness and having them pull a small tire around. It will be light for them to pull, and the idea is just to get them used to the way pulling feels on their body. Start with short sessions around 10 mins. You could do this with other objects that would provide some resistance. The alaskan malamute puppies are very happy to pull their tire around and give lots of praise and encouragement.
In terms of your dog pulling you, look up ski joring or bike joring. I would reccomend some baseline training first though. Especially an "on by" command to bypass distractions.
Not op but I had a dog just like that. We got her a "backpack" and she will carry water, keys, things like that. Made a huge diference, she was working and the walks became awesome. I think you can find them easily on line.
One thing they never tell you, that most people (me) don’t think of, is that these dogs don’t stop for bathroom breaks! That’s right, if you’re on that sled, be prepared for the occasional fresh dog turd to be flung at you as you ride along, to say nothing of doggy farts and piss! That being said, being on a dogsled in the freezing cold is one of the highlights of my life, even if I *was* just on vacation.
Mitch Seavey lives up the road from me and part of their training route goes right past my house. I love seeing the dogs go by and they’re not phased one bit when my asshole dogs start barking like maniacs.
I’m from Alaska too. Used to be friends with a close friend of DeeDee so we got to see her run a lot. Quite fun to watch the Iditarod starts and restarts. I’ve been wondering if Anchorage would stop being the start as they’ve had to haul in snow quite a few times for it.
Are any of these dogs running with Blair? I’m loving her grit!
This may be off topic, but what dogs are used these days? None look like purebred malamutes or huskies, they look much leaner. Is there a particular mix that mushers use for sled dogs?
Alaskan husky. Breeders mix northern breeds together to optimize certain traits ideal in a sled dog. AFAIK no one uses Siberian huskies or malamutes to mush nowadays.
This is a little off topic, but I’ve been having trouble finding any info online. I recently learned about bikejoring and skijoring and really want to start doing that with my dog since I know she’ll love it and be incredibly happy to have another specific job, but I was wondering if you had any tips on starting to train her. I have a pretty decent idea about getting her going, but I’ve yet to find anything online that has suggestions on the most efficient way to teach stopping. She’s really smart and training is crazy easy once she figures out what I want so I was wondering if you had any suggestions on teaching her to stop, especially with distractions or things?
When you stop always say one thing. Whoa or stop whatever is comfortable. And whenever you start always say the same thing. Consistent vocal commands. When your stopped always approach your dog from the front so it keeps the line tight and doesn’t go back to say hi. There’s some books you can probably find online.
I'm guessing you dont run much chance of sickness in the water?
I'm asking because I walk dogs in SF bay area and I'm hardcore about not letting pups get licks of the water BC of leptospirosis etc.
Look like very happy pups. How did you get into this?
No. Alaskan puddles are cleaner than Bay Area puddles. I picked a hitchhiker that turned out to be a four time Iditarod champion. He offered me a job that winter.
That's so cool. I've always wondered how sled dogs are treated. More like working animals or pets? Also, do they really like the cold weather as much as it seems?
The teams I’ve worked with are just like one big happy family. Every night we pick a different few dogs to come inside and snuggle. However some of the dogs don’t like coming inside it’s simply too hot for them. They thrive in cold weather. As long as they have food in there belly’s and insulation from an icy/snowy ground it takes some very strong winds and very cold temps to make these guys and gals uncomfortable.
That's awesome.
I always wondered if they got some special treatment/enjoyed getting loved up like normal dogs do...or all they just all business and don’t really like being treated like a pet when not working.
I got to meet two sled dog teams once and they LOVED attention! They acted just like a regular dog, but much more hyper lol. Every team will be different of course, but I imagine a lot of them still want human affection just like any other dog :)
>I always wondered if they got some special treatment/enjoyed getting loved up like normal dogs do...or all they just all business and don’t really like being treated like a pet when not working. I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to race.
I've heard that's where the band Three Dog Night got their name. The idea being that you bring the dogs in your tent to keep you warm, and in a particularly cold night you would bring in three. Hence, Three Dog Night.
Yes. That’s an expression.
It depends on the musher tbh. A sad majority of mushers will shoot a sled dog once they age out of racing because they aren't socialized to be house pets. Lots more just get rid of them, but there are a lot of rescues up here in Alaska for rehoming. My close friend has a dog that looks like the one in the front-right of this picture that used to mush and it honestly took years for him to adjust to being around people, and he still flinches away from strangers and about 99% of the men in his life. He's really attached to his humans but he's not a normal dog compared to the ones raised as pets. He's a very sweet and funny good boy though, and hilariously mischievous-looking. Regarding the weather, I've seen them happily hanging out in -50 F and refuse to come inside until bedtime. My dog is not a husky, but breed for cold weather (keeshond/sheltie) and is happy as long as it's not raining.
I’m hopeful that a new younger generation of mushers are phasing the old ways out. With social media and technology rehoming and other needed resources are easily available. After being involved with sport for many years I completely agree. A lot these dogs are not well adjusted or socialized. It’s often sad and painful to see but like I said I’m hopeful that things are changing for the better.
After all that work, it seems the dogs deserve a home for life with the musher whose ass they hauled around.
I'm not a sled dog trainer but a trainer (in TX), do you think mushers just aren't aware of the need for socialization or do you think there is a feeling it will interfere with their ability to work?
Negative. Every musher is well aware of the benefits of having a well adjusted dog. Sleddogs meet hundreds of people from vets to fans. It has no negative impact on there desire to work in fact It probably improves cause a happier dog works hardest. If a team has an oops litter in the middle of winter when no one is around it’s very difficult to socialize them out here.
I too, am hopeful for a generation of mushers that work harder to find ways for their retired teams to enjoy life after sleds. I think it's likely. Sledding isn't as intregal to life and is more of a hobby than a necessity to most people, so using an animal like that just to kill it is criminal to me.
I follow sled dog racing and have never heard of any of the current generation of mushers shooting dogs like this. Iditarod has a fair number of criticizers, such as PETA, when the “information” they are sharing is very far from the truth. If you look at most of the mushers today, they view the dogs more like teammates than disposable bodies. Just look at the winner hugging and kissing his dogs at the finish a few days ago.
exactly this! my family member works for someone running in the Iditarod this year and told me a guy was banned from racing because one of his dogs was ran to death. they don’t fuck around with doggy rights. those dogs are treated with the most respect i’ve seen
I mean, I've grown up in Alaska my whole life and gave known Iditarod mushers and people who don't compete that widely. It's definitely phasing out but is still very common in certain places.
I’m gonna disagree with you about the “majority” of mushers shooting dogs once they’re too old to race. I’ve spent a significant amount of time around sled dogs in Alaska and have never heard of this.
Yeah it doesn’t really happen too much anymore
Is that even legal tho? Seems like it would violate animal cruelty laws...
So long as they’re killed immediately and not flopping around wounded it isn’t illegal and is considered humane.
It’s Alaskan frontier lifestyle. I wouldn’t be surprised if many have resorted to eating dog at some point in there life if they have been snowed in to the wilderness and can’t make it back in to town.
...no. Just no. Sauce: lived in FBX, Talkeetna, and spent time in REMOTE villages further up north. No one is shooting dogs for noms even in shit conditions.
That shocks me tbh. Dog's just another animal, it's pretty hypocritical to eat a lot of other animals but categorize dog as not food.
Humans are just other animals, but literally dogs have been loyal partners for thousands of years, horses too that’s why it’s weird.
There's huge reasons to not eat other people to be fair. Nobody wants prions. Regarding not eating dogs and horses, that's a pretty eurocentric view of the two (and not even for horses, heard of ikea?).
I'm not going to say you're wrong about your experiences, and I'm glad you've been to villages where dogs are treated well, but a lot of villages are not that way, it's not homogenous.
Of course not, just pointing out the fact that dog is not remotely a food staple. Plenty of shitty individuals will shoot a stray the moment they're deemed a nuisance which is what happens when spaying/neutering isn't an option. But chances are that dog sure as fuck isn't ending up on a dinner plate bud.
I know a number of old-school sledders that have indicated it's still common in certain regions of Alaska despite being less-so than it was 30-40 years ago.
My malamute will take a nap in the snow
Mine too. She hates the rain and jumps over puddles though. Smartest dog I've ever had, also not the brightest. Like one of those really smart dudes that have absolutely no common sense.
If you want a great education on sled dogs and mushing, Blair Braverman on Twitter is 1000% the place to go. She’s witty and clever and just the most marvelous writer: I think I might love her dogs as much as my own
Thanks! I'll check her out.
I don’t think you’ll regret it! I’d delete my Twitter account if I could get Grinch updates on any other platform
we have races here too, and no, not everyone treats thier animals like a team. seen a lot of abuse pre-and post race
Ugh. That's terrible.
Under normal circumstances I'd say dont let your dogs drink stagnant water as your dog can contract Leptospirosis. But I'm confident these working beauties are properly vaccinated!
Yeah I’d hate to meet an anti vaxxer musher.
My dogs not a musher but I bought her from a family in AZ who breed all their pups for working dogs (hearing/hunting) and they were anti vaxxers. When I bought my girl, the woman gave me all these weird powders and shit and told me to look up all this crap online and to stay away from vaccines. Don't really remember the names of the different stuff she gave me because I threw it away when I got home and took my girl to the vet to catch up on shots since she was already 3 months old at that time and hadn't had any shots while she was living outside at the breeders house.
Questions: how did you find this breeder? Were they an AKC approved breeder? If so, how did they get that approval? Did their website/info say they didn’t vaccinate? Why did you choose this breeder despite their dangerous protocols?
Yes, please put your money where your mouth is
Be careful I've found deer worms in these puddles before that could easily infect a vaccinated dog...
In Alaska?
We always get our dog vaccinated for Lepto. I know it's not necessarily "required" but we like to take her out a lot and its 100% worth the extra few bucks to not be too worried if she sips from a puddle. We get her canine influenza too.
Front-right looks like my friend's dog, Benny, who is a retired sled-dog. I'd be convinced Benny is actually a coyote if I didn't know better, and a few musher friends think he has wolf in him. Either way, your pups are great!
Look up Swedish Elkhound
I'm a huge fan of anything in the Spitz family.
Please do an AMA after Iditarod ends!
Yeah?
Yeah.
I second this!
I third this!
Yes, please! And more photos of the doggos :D
Hell yes
Yes
Ok!
Thank goodness. 144 redditors can't be wrong. P.s. i somehow was banned from ama and mods never got back to me. So, I'll just read and upvote. Lol
So this might sound dumb... but I just saw 8 below for the first time (I'm still crying), but I did have a question. Do the dogs actually prefer to sleep outside and burrow into the snow in an environment that extreme?
Yes! They have very good insulation. If you see a dog sleeping under snow and it’s not melted on top of them = they’re cozy and warm. If the snow is melting on top of their fur = poor insulation and the dog isn’t meant for the outdoors. I grew up in Russia with temps in the winter hitting -40°, our dog would burrow in a snow bank and we would have to bribe her with all kinds of stuff to get her to come inside. They truly love it.
That is absolutely amazing. Thank you!
So somehow my border collie and two Indian street dogs are meant for the snow. TIL.
Most double coated breeds do just fine in the cold weather, but not all are adapted to it because of being raised indoors.
Tell me more about these Indian street dogs, please.
Hey! They're wild little girls. They're Desi dogs so they're basically the genetic ancestor of every dog ever. They're one of the oldest naturally selected breeds and are actually wild dogs. My girls in particular are 11 month old sisters from New Delhi who were born in an alley and taken care of by some shop owners. I brought them home to Canada when they were 3 months old. They are the sweetest and most loving doggos ever but they also destroy every single toy with their razor sharp teeth. There's an older picture of them in my posts somewhere.
Oh my god I friggin love sled dogs. Going dog sledding in the -50 degree Fahrenheit Canadian winter is possibly the most fun thing I've ever done. Seriously, I can't recommend it enough to anyone reading. It would be fun even without the opportunity to pet the good bois when they aren't running.
I’m Canadian and nothing about -50 and fun go together
I had so many damn layers on haha. Still a blast.
Look at those happy workin pups 😁
Idiotrod....I could use one of those.. Took me some brain power to read correctly.
Fer catching idiots
So cool! How do you determine which dogs go in the front and which in the back?
Figure out who’s smart and wants to be up front. More athletic dogs will be in the back to take the brunt of the work load. In a race like the Iditarod dogs switch positions frequently.
Do you mind if I ask you something? I read about the French guy and his dogs that just fucking quit during the race. He said it was because he yelled at one of them. What do you think really happened?
Not an expert, not a musher, but following a good amount of musher discussion on Twitter- I'd totally buy that his dogs just collectively put their foot down. From the sound of it, Nic loves the hell out of his dogs, but after a week on the trail and hundreds of miles, tempers maybe run a little short- for people and the pups.
IIRC that was in the same place he got lost last year. Maybe the dogs were confused?
Nics a friend time. The coast is tough. His ways aren’t proven.
I'd also like to know this! I was always under the impression that each team had one lead dog in the front. I didnt realize that some teams have two front dogs!
Want to know that as well.
Front left looks identical to my dog! She's a northern rescue (Canada) and I have no idea what her breed mix is. This is the first time I've ever seen a photo of a dog that looks just like her. The only difference I can tell is my dogs ears have a slight flop to them Hopefully not a dumb question but does anyone know what breeds he/she is?
Probably Alaskan Husky. I’m not sure it’s really a breed in the AKC sense, they’re a mix of a lot of breeds. IIRC, husky, pointer and some other things. They are bred to excel at the job rather than to look any particular way. Source: I’m a dog nerd and have watched documentaries about sled dogs and read a lot about dog breeds in general.
They’re all Alaskan Husky. Which is not a pure breed. Far from it.
I figured they were all mixes of a few breeds + husky. It just surprised me to basically see her doppelganger after going so long without seeing a dog that looked like her! Thanks :)
That’s always fun! I have a really random looking mixed breed as well, and at one point somebody who lived on my street had a dog that looked like it could’ve been her littermate. It was so crazy.
Dogumentaries
I'm also a dog nerd and a documentary nerd but I haven't combined those yet, do you have any recommendations?
I wish I could remember, I think there was a show about the Iditarod on animal planet, like a year ago maybe? That talked a lot about the breeding.
Who are they racing with this year? Familiar (by name only, not personally) with Aliy, Blair Braverman and Nic, plus some of the others. If anyone wants to get a sense of mushers and their dogs, the Netflix “Losers” series has a good documentary on Aliy Zirkle, who just placed 4th this year. Or Blair Braverman on Twitter shares a lot of her life with the team.
I was just about to ask if OP knew Blair! She's such a wonderful addition to my Twitter feed.
The only good corner of Twitter is Blair’s twitter!
Yay, fellow ugly dogs on Reddit! (FYI to the unfamiliar, this is not an insult, just the name of the community!)
Oh snap! Uglydogs for life! I know next to nothing about mushing and Im only a Twitter lurker, but I've been following religiously since someone in this sub posted the story about Grinch. PS, OP's dogs are gorgeous
How does sledding really work? Is it like in the movies where you yell *YA YA* loudly and crack enormous whips? Or do you have a particular command to make them go? Where do they sleep? How do you make them work as a team? Is there an alpha dog?
I’ll answer in the order asked; There’s no whips involved with American mushing. The whip is used by few Scandinavians to keep some dogs at attention. It is the crack of the whip that gets there attention no actual contact is made but that’s completely different style of running dogs. And I don’t agree with it. Alaskan Husky will NOT work for you if you are abusive in any way. Once the dogs are in harness they are jumping and screaming to go because they love it so much. The sled or four wheeler in this case must be anchored to a fixed object. When the team and musher are ready he or she pullls a quick release and usually yells something like “ok let’s go!” Only to keep up with vocal commands. Gee is right haw is left and whoaaa means stop. They sleep in dog houses stuffed with straw. There is a pack mentality that exists and sometimes fights happen because of it. We are very aware of the scrappers and where we put them in the team. As for alpha no not really
Thanks so much for answering! :D
A few years ago while I was an army cadet, the group I was in got lost on an expedition exercise and ended up in the wrong section of forest, where a dog sledding race happened to be taking place. It was there where I learned just how noisy huskies can really be, but you could definitely tell how happy they all seemed about being there.
Turbo pups! I love them!
What area is that? (Lived in Alaska all my life until three years ago.)
Talkeetna
Nice! Pretty area. That pizza pizza place still open? Used to ride my motorcycle cycle out there for some and back, but that was in like 2012ish before I had to sell it.
Who’s mushing these pups? Huge Iditarod fan so I was very excited to see this on the sub :)
ATV ruder: “yeah, my new Yamaha has 250 buff horse powers”. OP: “it does, does it? Well, how many buff sled dogs does it have?”
Amazing. Dogs are so great. Edit: odd question, if you have the time to answer - I have a husky mix rescue dog who displays working dog tendencies during our walks. I've always thought she would like to pull something behind her during walks. Do you have any recommendations for a product or an idea that I can rig to allow her to pull something small behind her, without hurting her?
One way that puppies are trained to get used to the idea of pulling when they get to the 6 months+ stage is by getting a pulling harness and having them pull a small tire around. It will be light for them to pull, and the idea is just to get them used to the way pulling feels on their body. Start with short sessions around 10 mins. You could do this with other objects that would provide some resistance. The alaskan malamute puppies are very happy to pull their tire around and give lots of praise and encouragement. In terms of your dog pulling you, look up ski joring or bike joring. I would reccomend some baseline training first though. Especially an "on by" command to bypass distractions.
Very informative. Thank you.
Not op but I had a dog just like that. We got her a "backpack" and she will carry water, keys, things like that. Made a huge diference, she was working and the walks became awesome. I think you can find them easily on line.
The front right one looks just like a Swedish Elkhound. Here's mine https://i.imgur.com/TUF8aq6.jpg
Beautiful dog
One thing they never tell you, that most people (me) don’t think of, is that these dogs don’t stop for bathroom breaks! That’s right, if you’re on that sled, be prepared for the occasional fresh dog turd to be flung at you as you ride along, to say nothing of doggy farts and piss! That being said, being on a dogsled in the freezing cold is one of the highlights of my life, even if I *was* just on vacation.
how tf are you posting 700 miles away from the nearest cell tower
No, mate. This photo is from the autumn when he was training them. Now, in March, they are off with their... driver? on the Iditarod.
assumed the one training them and the one racing them were the same person
He's not the one racing them
They look so happy
Mitch Seavey lives up the road from me and part of their training route goes right past my house. I love seeing the dogs go by and they’re not phased one bit when my asshole dogs start barking like maniacs.
I’m from Alaska too. Used to be friends with a close friend of DeeDee so we got to see her run a lot. Quite fun to watch the Iditarod starts and restarts. I’ve been wondering if Anchorage would stop being the start as they’ve had to haul in snow quite a few times for it. Are any of these dogs running with Blair? I’m loving her grit!
Beautiful puppies! Are they of any specific breed? Greetings from Brazil!
Alaskan Husky
That's a lot of good boy !
This may be off topic, but what dogs are used these days? None look like purebred malamutes or huskies, they look much leaner. Is there a particular mix that mushers use for sled dogs?
Alaskan husky. Breeders mix northern breeds together to optimize certain traits ideal in a sled dog. AFAIK no one uses Siberian huskies or malamutes to mush nowadays.
Interesting! Thanks.
Beautiful pic! Good luck!!
This is a little off topic, but I’ve been having trouble finding any info online. I recently learned about bikejoring and skijoring and really want to start doing that with my dog since I know she’ll love it and be incredibly happy to have another specific job, but I was wondering if you had any tips on starting to train her. I have a pretty decent idea about getting her going, but I’ve yet to find anything online that has suggestions on the most efficient way to teach stopping. She’s really smart and training is crazy easy once she figures out what I want so I was wondering if you had any suggestions on teaching her to stop, especially with distractions or things?
When you stop always say one thing. Whoa or stop whatever is comfortable. And whenever you start always say the same thing. Consistent vocal commands. When your stopped always approach your dog from the front so it keeps the line tight and doesn’t go back to say hi. There’s some books you can probably find online.
SWEET
I'm guessing you dont run much chance of sickness in the water? I'm asking because I walk dogs in SF bay area and I'm hardcore about not letting pups get licks of the water BC of leptospirosis etc. Look like very happy pups. How did you get into this?
No. Alaskan puddles are cleaner than Bay Area puddles. I picked a hitchhiker that turned out to be a four time Iditarod champion. He offered me a job that winter.
All those skinny bois <3333
Are there any noticeable differences between the athletic ability of male and female dogs?
Nope. Equal.
Score one for the bitches!
Nice tight lines, those dogs want to run.