Sled Dogs - Little Known Facts

Did you know:

• That pound for pound, sled dogs are the most powerful draft animals on earth?
• That a team of twenty dogs averaging perhaps 75 pounds each can easily match a team of horses weighing more than twice as much?
• That sled dogs can average 8-12 MPH over hundreds of miles (including rest breaks)?
• That most racing sled dogs are mutts? Although there are purebred sled dogs (Malamutes, Siberian Huskies, Samoyeds), most racers are bred from a mishmash of breeds that exibit certain desirable characteristics, such as the love of running, speed, stamina and being "easy keepers" (having slower matabolisms that allow them to do heavy work, without needing a lot of extra feed)
• Because of the aforementioned mixing of breeds, that dogs are usually referred to by their linage - as in "That's a Buser Dog," or "That one's from Diana Moroney's Ruby line"?
• That one dog has pulled 1/2 ton in weight?
• That the dogs dine like kings during the race, wolfing down 5,000 calories or more each day? Their food includes lots of protein, fat, and other high energy stuff. Some mushers make their own concoctions from ingredients like fish, hamburger, beef, horse meat, lamb, beaver, moose, caribou, and sometimes even seal meat
• That a Cessna 185 or 206 with the seats removed can hold 18 or even 20 dogs?

Most of this information was retrieved from the official Iditarod website. The part about desirable characteristics was something I remembered from a source that I don't remember (probably a book) such as Mush! from the Sierra Nevada Dog Drovers, Inc.

Comments

[patricia sedota]

To Whom It May Concern:Many believe that the lead dog is the dog at the very front of the sled. I remember once being told that this is a myth,its actually the dog closest to the sled that is the lead dog.
Please comment/correct me on this.
patybear

[Bogie]

I believe your friend was confused. The 2 dogs just in front of the sled are the "wheel dogs". They are the ones that provide a lot of the power to get the sled moving.

The "lead dog" (or dogs) are in the fron tnad pick the trail according to directions from the musher and trail intelligence.

Here is the list of terminology used (and one of the places that I checked my facts at).

[Cop Car]

It's an education each time I read your blog. Thanks, Bogie!

[wat]

well umm ok