In my opinion, running a dog team is the only way to see Alaska. It is very quiet, unlike what you may have seen in the movies. The dogs make a lot of noise when we are getting ready to run. They jump up and down and pull on their lines because they are so excited. Once I pull out the snow hooks and release my lines that hold the team, they immediately stop making noise and just take off like the wind. Sometimes they even pull the sled completely off the snow.

After a bit, generally a quarter mile or so, they've settled down into a nice trot and maintain that for quite some time. All you hear is the sound of their feet hitting the snow and the "swishing" sound of the runners gliding across the snow. (If you have ever skied, it's much the same sound that skiis make).

I've done some patrols on snowmachines (snowmobiles as you may call them down south) and although it was fun, the constant noise and exhaust smell soon becomes obnoxious to me.

As we're running, we can generally get quite close to different kinds of wildlife, particularly birds. One thing I like to see, but from a fair distance, are the moose. On the same hand, the one thing you DON'T want to see is a moose right next to the trail, or even worse, one standing on the trail. Sometimes they will charge a team. Sometimes the dogs will go after the moose. Either way it can be very dangerous. Fortunately for me, my team isn't very interested in them.

Last winter we had a "funny" incident with a musher and moose on one of our local trails. Apparently the moose was standing in the trees along the trail as the team started to go past it. It then jumped out onto the trail as the team was passing it and several of the dogs went under it's belly. (They stand really tall so a dog team, and the sled were able to pass under, sort of like a car going under a bridge). The only problem was that the musher, who stands on the runners behind the sled, didn't go under. He hit the moose, face first, broadside. The next thing he knew, he regained consciousness and found himself lying on his back in the middle of the trail with neither team nor moose in sight. Luckily his team was caught not too far down the trail. He wasn't hurt, except for a tremendous headache (which I think turned out to be a concussion) and some bruises.

The only time I've had any serious trouble was once when my team and I broke through the ice while crossing a stream. It was the most frightening sound you can imagine as the back of the sled broke through and I fell into the icy water. Then the cracks continued forward as first the sled, then the dogs, two by two, fell in also. (That was also the winter two mushers died, along with their teams, going through the ice -- one in Yukon Territory, Canada and the other in Minnesota).

Sometimes when we are going up a hill I jump off and run behind or alongside the sled and push it to help the dogs. At other times, if one of them gets a leg over their lines or some sort of tangle that doesn't require us to stop, I'll run alongside the team and just grab the dog and lift them over the ropes. I generally get some pretty funny looks from the team. Sort of like "Hey, who's driving?"

Depending on how much we've worked during the season, we take a lot of breaks when the team starts to show signs of getting tired. Generally though it is only for a minute or two and then they're ready to go again. They let me know by standing up and starting to tug on their harnesses. I have a couple of dogs that I actually have to insist that they stop or they would probably run until they hurt themselves.

Depending on the snow conditions, we have "booties" made out of polar fleece that we put on the dogs feet to prevent ice balls from building up between their toes. Occasionally a dog will hit a sharp piece of snow or ice and get a cut pad. Booties are also handy as bandages in cases like that. You can tell by watching how the dogs are running if they are having problems.

A good musher always stops and gives the dog whatever attention they need. When you stop, the dogs ALWAYS come first. That includes getting fed and watered. Treating any injuries. Making sure they've got a soft bed to lie on (generally straw or spruce boughs, etc.). After the dogs are taken care of, then the dog driver can eat.

I've got 13 dogs, 11 of which ran with the team last year. I have two, two-year old pups who will get their first chance in harness this winter. It's pretty easy to train them, they just do it naturally. If you've ever had a dog, from the time it was a puppy, you probably noticed that when you took it out for a walk, it wanted to pull out front on the leash. Most people break their dog(s) of this habit so you don't see it with most "pets." In the case of sled dogs, we encourage them to keep pulling. Several of mine are so big (like 80 to 100 pounds) that I put their harness on them and have an old tire behind them as a drag to both slow them down so I can control them, and to give them some exercise. It looks kind of funny having a dog pulling a tire down the street, but they really love to do it.

There has been a lot of criticism of the sport of mushing dogs leveled at us by various organizations, especially the Humane Society of America. While there are some individuals who do not treat their dogs very well, they are by far and away a very small minority of those who have teams. In my opinion, those people should not be allowed to have dogs at all. In the case of my dogs, they are all part of our family. Some of us just happen to have two legs while some have four.

With the exception of a couple of my dogs that were given to me as adults, we have raised all of ours from puppies that we bred. I have a very tight breeding program so we don't have any extra puppies to place in homes. My wife runs her own home daycare and with the three litters of pups we've had, she's made sure they were all born in the house, while the daycare kids were there (well, one litter was born at night). The little kids get to hold the puppies from their first day so they grow up being very socialized and comfortable around people. We also try and take the dogs to our local elementary school for the kids to see and interact with. But, this does create its own problems. While the dogs are extremely comfortable around a class of second graders, they get nervous around adults.

Getting back to your question, running a dog team is fun. It's quiet. It's exciting -- especially going down a hill covered in ice and your brake doesn't work. It can also be very cold. I have run my team in temperatures as low as -50 degrees. That may sound really cold, but when you factor in the windchill, we travel at about 10 miles per hour most of the time, it gets really cold. I have a beard and by the time I get back to the truck or my cabin my face is generally covered with ice. It just takes a while to let it all thaw out.

One of the funny things with running my team is how people deal with my two "rules." First, you always keep one hand firmly on the driving bow (the curved piece on the top you hold on to and control the sled with). Second, and never, and I mean NEVER, say "Okay." (My dogs associate that with "GO LIKE THE WIND!") Several years ago I was giving a ride to some folks from Hollywood and I told the one on the sled behind mine about the two rules.

When I asked if he was ready to go, he promptly replied, "Okay." At that point he realized he also did not have hold of the sled either. So, after violating not one, but BOTH of my rules, he found himself planted firmly, butt first, in the snow as the team took off down the trail!

Thanks for asking the question. I hope this answers it for you.

Happy trails!