Dashing through the snow
The dogs start howling and yapping immediately as they start coming out of their quarters. The din rises in intensity as each is released and harnessed to the sled. Despite the lack of snow, two sled teams, one with nine dogs and the other with eight, will be pulling a 400-pound ATV along Little Coeur d’Alene River Road for 16 miles to get in shape for the next race.
“The slush and the warm weather are hard on the dogs,” explained Curt Roth, one of the sled team owners. “Because of that, we will run the dogs no faster than 12 mph.” The other owner, Mary Jane Davis, a veterinarian, gets her eight dogs together and looks each of them over to make sure all are healthy and ready for the two-hour workout.
Flash, one of Davis’ dogs, has a bandage wrapped around one of his front feet. “He hurt his toe last night, but there is nothing else wrong with him so I am going to let him run,” Davis said. She asks her technician, Gwendolyn Beebe, who is learning how to run dogs this year, to get her a bootie to put on Flash’s paw.
The Siberian huskies are bred to run and pull sleds. Harnessed in pairs, the dogs strain forward, howling and yapping, digging in their paws, waiting for the release of the ATV’s brakes. When released, all is suddenly calm, except for the low hum of the engine set in neutral and the dogs’ pads hitting the slushy snow.
The dog-sledding passion runs deep for Roth and Davis. It is a time-consuming commitment. Besides the daily care of 18 dogs, they like to run the dogs three times a week. Depending how strong the dogs are, the intensity of the workout may increase by two miles each week, up to 18 miles.
There are different lines of Siberian huskies. Roth and Davis run the Seppala line, bred specifically to pull sleds.
Roth got his start 12 years ago when his 12-year-old son saw a movie on dog sledding.
“We got one dog then we had to get another to keep him company. Then my son wanted to race and we needed three dogs and then we had to get a fourth so we both had two dogs to run with. Then he wanted to race midgets and we had to get six of them,” Roth said. “And you can see how it goes downhill from there.”
Although Roth’s son still participates in the sport, this year he is busy with school and work. Roth and Davis have already entered four races. Both mushers won many first- and second-place prizes over the years. Even with the wins, Roth does not believe his dogs are good enough to enter the famous Iditarod sled dog race.
Roth said mushers have to pay close attention when running dogs. Trail conditions can be hazardous, and wildlife can be a distraction.
“The dogs are bred to hunt,” he said. “One time, all eight dogs were vertical over a cliff, dangling, with feet still pumping trying to go after that deer. The older dogs were trying to get back to the road, one dog got out of his collar and another bit his tongue. Fortunately, the sled was held tightly by the snow hook. As I went over the berm to get the dogs the snow was up to my waist.”
Another time, a truck came through and created deep trenches in the road. “It was really slushy the dogs were wound up and I couldn’t stop them. The sled flipped and I was being dragged under the sled.”
Mental lapses can be costly for mushers. “I met several people who have lost the ends of their fingers because they’ll be untangling dogs and got the gang line loop around the finger and the dogs would pull tight,” Roth said. “That is a common hazard when working with these dogs.”
At the end of the run, the dogs are unharnessed and hooked to the trailer. Each receives a drink filled with protein and vitamins. Roth and Davis look each dog over before returning it to its kennel. As the team drives off, the dogs are a lot quieter than when they arrived.