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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

This isn’t just puppy love


Alaskan huskies Jasmine, right and Belle, pant and fidget while waiting for their sled dog class (with driver Clifton Fisher, 14) to start. 
 (Jesse Tinsley photos/ / The Spokesman-Review)

PRIEST LAKE, Idaho – Some of the athletes howled with impatience as they waited for their turn through the starting gate.

Teams of Alaskan huskies lined up three and four deep for the Priest Lake Sled Dog Race on Saturday. Frantic lunges testified to their eagerness to run.

“They love this. It’s everything to them,” said musher Nancy Pruitt of Pasco. “They don’t want to stop.”

The 36th annual event drew 60 teams of dogs and mushers. Spectators could almost follow the sound of barking north from Priest Lake to a snow-covered airstrip. Trailers with kennels lined the parking lot. Panting dogs lapped up bowls of Glycocharge, sort of a canine version of Gatorade. Their owners sported fleece vests covered with dog hair.

Both Pruitt’s husband and her 18-year-old daughter competed in the 6-mile sprint Saturday. Dog sledding is a serious hobby for the family. Each of their Alaskan huskies puts in 200 to 300 miles of training before competition. Workouts start in late fall, when the weather cools. Lead dogs are carefully chosen. They need the self-confidence to stay out ahead of the pack, and the ability to follow voice commands.

The dogs love the swiftness of the trail. So do the Pruitts.

“There’s nothing quite like the adrenaline rush behind a team of dogs on a hard, fast trail,” Nancy Pruitt said.

“It’s an amazingly addictive sport,” said her husband, Doug. “You really form a team with the dogs. It’s hard to give it up, because you’re always looking for the perfect run.”

Diane and Darrell Stewart were in Priest Lake for their 30th competition.

“It all started when we bought a cute little Siberian husky,” Diane Stewart explained. “Then we met people who had a team. We thought, if we had three dogs, we could have a team. Then we had to buy a place with property.”

The Stewarts now have 25 dogs on an acreage in Molalla, Ore. Darrell Stewart does the racing. Diane is chief trainer, feeder and poop scooper.

From Siberian huskies, the couple have advanced to Euro hounds. The breed is a cross between German shorthairs, Alaskan huskies and English pointers. The dogs’ sleek bodies and lanky legs hint at their speed. Saturday’s conditions – a foot of compact snow with a light covering of new precipitation – created a fast trail.

“It’s quite an adrenaline rush to run as fast as we were today – three-minute miles,” Darrell Stewart said.

In between competition, other dogs growled, yapped and strained at their harnesses. Jeff Parsons’ eight malamutes curled up into fuzzy balls and snoozed.

“Alaskan huskies are like a bullet being shot out of a gun. They want to go,” Parsons said.

Malamutes are a different breed. Their sturdier bodies were bred for hauling freight, not for speed, according to Parsons. On the trail, they’re a bit like teenagers – curious and easily distracted, he said.

But malamutes’ mellow, affectionate personalities make them favorites with the couple. Carole Parsons trains the dogs several times a week on the Wenatchee National Forest near their home in Dryden, Wash. She’ll go 18 to 20 miles at a stretch.

“You’re out in the quiet with the scenery and your six best friends,” she said.

That’s worth the 50 pounds of kibble and 250 pounds of specialty high-protein feed the dogs consume each month.

“We’re empty nesters, so these are our kids,” Jeff Parsons said. Packing up eight dogs to travel to a competition is a lot like taking a bunch of children to a Little League tournament, he said.

Ten-year-old musher Anne Glines of Newport eyed the different breeds wistfully Saturday. She started racing with two dogs owned by family friends. She’d really like her own pair of sled dogs.

“It’s something we’re discussing,” said her dad, John Glines.

He’s not sure the family’s yard can accommodate two more dogs – the Glines already have two. Or whether the neighbors would approve.

Anne Glines competed in the “Teddy Bear” division Saturday. Her course was one-half mile out, and a half-mile back.

“It’s just peaceful when you’re out with the dogs,” she said. “It feels like you’re flying.”