Mush!
Years ago I met my first sled dogs: on a tiny island off the coast of Virginia, Chincoteague. Heather Hanna has huskies, and has had them since she was eleven, and considered responsible enough to care for a dog. She loved Kipling's "Jungle Books" (as I do, though Bagheera was always my favorite), and wanted a wolf. Of course wolves belong in the wild, not in your living room, so the next step was what dog most looks like a wolf? There are lots of northern breeds and herding breeds that are wolflike, and some, like the Afghan hound, who have many wolf markers in their DNA. Heather decided on Siberian huskies, bred by the Chukchi people (relatives of North American "Eskimos") of SIberia. I admired her dogs, but she spent a lot of time explaining that they weren't for everyone. Unlike a Golden Retriever, they do not come when called, they take a message and get back to you. They laugh at four foot fences and tunnel under taller ones (unless watched or foiled by earthworks like a foot of wire below ground), they laugh at "invisible fences". They'll eat your cat (they can be trained, but don't ever let them alone with a prey item), your hamster, your guinea pig. Perhaps ferrets could hold their own, but I'm not sure. They're great watch dogs: they watch the burglar come in, and help him carry stuff back out. They're not very dog aggressive, but have a strong sense of pack order inherited from their (very close) wolf ancestors. They shed. Not just foozles and fluff; great wads when they blow coat, wads that drift through the house like ghost hamsters. Not dust bunnies, dust tyranosaurs.
And you can never, ever, ever let 'em off a leash.
So, of course, I've ended up with half a dozen of them (so far) over the last dozen years or so. The first, Nikki, got my goat (the goat lived, and eventually found a better home). When Nikki passed on, she sent me a new Siberian friend. "Chasseur" was rounded up trying to catch someone's goats. Chasseur was the name of a privateering vessel (sharp-built schooner or Baltimore Clipper) of the War of 1812, and she is definitely a sharp little pirate chick who'll do stupid pet tricks as long as there are bikkies involved.
Anyone can do a little mushing. A couple of thirty to seventy pound dogs (any athletic breed) hooked to a mountain bike (with a proper gangline and sledding harnesses, stupid cheap online) work well. Larger, well-trained dogs might still work on a bike; or use a rig, a scooter, or skate or ski behind them. Even toy dogs can do weight pulling with a special harness (probably twenty Schipperkes or Beagles would pull a rig nicely). Sleds can be found used, and most parks have user-friendly hiking/ski trails. Of course, you have to train your dogs, and there are a number of good books out there. The basic commands are gee: right, haw: left, whoa: stop, and the most important (besides good brakes) is ON-BY!!!! (leave the chipmunk/skunk alone, or "you did not really see an entire dead deer up there on the trail"...).
And you can never, ever, ever let 'em off a leash.
So, of course, I've ended up with half a dozen of them (so far) over the last dozen years or so. The first, Nikki, got my goat (the goat lived, and eventually found a better home). When Nikki passed on, she sent me a new Siberian friend. "Chasseur" was rounded up trying to catch someone's goats. Chasseur was the name of a privateering vessel (sharp-built schooner or Baltimore Clipper) of the War of 1812, and she is definitely a sharp little pirate chick who'll do stupid pet tricks as long as there are bikkies involved.
Anyone can do a little mushing. A couple of thirty to seventy pound dogs (any athletic breed) hooked to a mountain bike (with a proper gangline and sledding harnesses, stupid cheap online) work well. Larger, well-trained dogs might still work on a bike; or use a rig, a scooter, or skate or ski behind them. Even toy dogs can do weight pulling with a special harness (probably twenty Schipperkes or Beagles would pull a rig nicely). Sleds can be found used, and most parks have user-friendly hiking/ski trails. Of course, you have to train your dogs, and there are a number of good books out there. The basic commands are gee: right, haw: left, whoa: stop, and the most important (besides good brakes) is ON-BY!!!! (leave the chipmunk/skunk alone, or "you did not really see an entire dead deer up there on the trail"...).
