It’s been two years since my dogs were in a race. I’ve written before about how sprint races aren’t really my thing—I much rather just run my dogs casually, without the speed and competition. That said, I do want to try some longer races, in the 20 to 30 mile range. In order to prepare for such events, my dogs don’t just need to increase their endurance and learn to pace their speeds. They also need to learn about getting to the starting line, passing other teams, and resting when other dogs are nearby. These are all skills that I can’t teach them alone. The older dogs have raced before and they’re very good with the rigmarole a race entails. They’ve also trained with other dogs in the Pine Barrens, back before the move to CA and NY. The younger dogs, especially Hubble and Laika, are new to everything.
Earlier this month, I attended the Northern New England Sled Dog Trade Fair. My goal was to get the dogs back into an environment with lots of distractions (both human and canine). We parked and set up camp at a far corner of the camping field, just close enough to see other teams without being right on top of them. There’s a fun, 0.8 mile race the final morning of the fair, and I debated whether we’d run it. Hubble and Blitz’s paws were healed from their recent great escape, but I’ve been apprehensive about Hubble’s behavior with unknown dogs. He definitely needs work, but that also requires exposure to get him there. Laika has never been in a race environment before, and with her fear of new people, I wasn’t sure how she’d do. But, again, exposure is the only way to get through it.
I thought about running a team of four (Denali, Willow, Knox, and Blitz) like I did two years prior, but I decided to enter the 6-dog class—my first time running six in a race! I brought Hubble’s Baskerville muzzle with us, which allows him to pant and drink but not snap at a passing team, so I felt fairly certain we’d be OK. I also made sure we were last out the chute, so no one would be passing us. As it turns out, the teams all completed the trail so quickly, there was barely any passing at all.
The toughest part of the race was just getting the team to the starting line and waiting while the four other teams went out ahead of us. Thankfully I had help while we waited, and the dogs behaved themselves. Laika was very brave around all the excitement. The joy she has for mushing seems to override her fear of strangers. Hubble made a few angry grunts at leashed dogs walking by us, but he seemed more concerned with his pulling duties.
The race itself was smooth and flawless. There were a few tricky spots along the trail where I could see teams veered the wrong direction, but my gang listened to my commands. They came through the finish and we made our way back to the van without any problems. In the end, we placed third out of five, which I was not expecting at all. (The competition in sprint races is fierce!)
Of course, the other reason I attended the trade fair was to scoop up Sagan, our first Alaskan Husky team member. I’ll have to write another blog post, later, to talk about the differences between raising purebred Siberians versus Alaskans, but for now I’ll say she’s incredibly sweet, capable of being VERY loud, 50% legs and 50% ears. Although the thought of Denali and Knox retiring breaks my heart, I’m very excited to see what my team will look like in the coming years.
