You must know by now that training dogs on 4-wheelers is a necessary evil. Necessary because we have a lot of dogs to train no matter how little snow there is. Evil because riding on four wheelers is noisy, uncomfortable and really, really cold.
So, Aliy and Allen were pretty darn excited when we got a little more snow late in the week. They took advantage of it by hooking up some smaller 8 dogs teams — because that’s all they felt they could control under braking with still so little snow — and hitting the trails for their first sled run of the season.
It’s pretty obvious in this video how excited they were… Allen even says it was “Perfect!”
Incredibly jealous right now. We're still on 4-wheelers (having only gotten our first significant snow this past week), and even though we don't have much mileage on them yet, an hour on a 4-wheeler is still an hour freezing your butt off. Not to mention hauling the trailer for the 4-wheelers around is a pain, and the dogs can't hydrate as well…
Glad you guys have snow. Hoping we here in ANC get some more soon.
City person question: How is riding a 4-wheeler colder than riding a sled? Looks like you're outside without a windbreak either way, going at similar speeds.
Not such a city person question, really… There's no real difference in the "physics" of cold, speed, windchill, etc… The real difference is that on a sled you can "move around"… Stamp your feet, swing your arms, even "pedal" or run up hills… All of which help you get your blood flowing, work up warmth, etc… On a sled, you just have to sit there without moving and bear the cold the best you can… Make sense?
Enjoyed the video! I noticed all dogs wearing the short back dog harnesses. What are the advantages of using them? Dave In NC
More questions for Aliy and Allen when they have the time – I know training is #1 right now and they can't just sit around satisfying our curiosities – there's dogs to run!
You've talked a few times about needing to train on four-wheelers until there's enough snow on the ground to stop and control the dogs.
What about during race conditions when there isn't a whole lot of snow – say parts of the 2007 Iditarod – how do you keep the dogs stopped if you can't set a snow hook?
Excellent training and trustworthy dogs are probably a huge part of it, but any other tricks? Find a tree and wrap the snow hook around it? Tip over the sled? I imagine a fully loaded Iditarod sled is darn heavy…