When is it too Cold?

The thermometer read -43ºF on the porch this morning. That usually means that it is even colder in the yard below the house. Ryne Olson – whose kennel is 4 miles to the east – texted me that it was -48ºF at her place. (Glad I don’t live in her neighborhood. Ha!)

Yes… that’s cold, but I know what you’re thinking: “It’s not -50ºF.” Right? Okay… only some of you crazies are thinking that! The question in everyone’s head is: “When is it too cold to go mushing?”

Honestly, I think it would be okay to mush a team right now. If I had to. I would dress them up in warm, puffy jackets, dress them all in booties and carefully place pee pee protectors on all the boys. Most of the SP Kennel dogs have nice husky coats and no one is skinny. So… it can be done. You will see us mushing teams on races at -50ºF. Those of you that followed the 2018 Yukon Quest watched Allen and the dogs win a fantastic race in temperatures averaging -40ºF! My favorite quote from Allen when he was asked ‘How did you stay warm?’ he said: “I endured. I never said that I was warm.”

One thing I worry about is our dogs losing weight while training in cold temperatures. These dogs are athletes. They do not carry much extra fat – they are lean and strong and mostly muscle. They will use extra calories just being outdoors at -40ºF+, so increasing their metabolism and effort by also going on a training run will draw even more calories.

During a race, the dogs (and mushers) are in a unique “running/eating mode”. Their appetites become enormous somewhere about mile 200 or 300 (depending on dog and musher.) At this point it is easy to fill their tanks with calories – over and over. (I saw Allen eat a dozen eggs at the Mile 101 Checkpoint and look for more.) The dogs are in the same mode. Eat. Eat. Eat. Right now, neither dog nor musher are in this mode… yet. They eat what they need right now but not a lot of extra. So we are careful to note how much everyone is eating in relation to how many calories they are burning. And at -40ºF+ – Watch Out – your dogs might just lose weight simply through metabolism.

Also look at the wind chill effect on the temperature. So you said it was only -43ºF this morning? Well what happens when you are trotting your team down the trail at 10mph? Look to the graph on the right. (You now have permission to shiver!)

The other thing I think about is the dogs’ muscles – warming and cooling. Dogs stay warm while running, especially if they have on warm dog coats and other gear. Their normal body temperature is 101ºF and their working muscles and core will become even warmer. But what happens when they get home? They get undressed, stop running and take a nap. Those large shoulder, back and hind end muscles that were just 103ºF (or more) during the training run are now cooling off – rapidly. Unless dogs are dressed in full body jackets, wrapped up in a big pile of cozy straw, sleeping under a fleece toss or snuggled up in a dog barn post run — then they are bound to get some chill in their muscles. Once again, think about this in terms of an athlete. You need to keep those big muscles warm and healthy. We are very conscientious of those during races – especially the Yukon Quest which is often raced in quite cold conditions. The Dawson dog Camp is set up with a #1 Priority: Keep the Dogs Warm and Happy (Sorry Allen you’re #2 😕.)

Every time a dog team stops to rest on a race – whether it be the Copper Basin 300, Yukon Quest or Iditarod – the priority is the dogs’ health and comfort.

This morning, at SP Kennel, we are not harnessing up for a training run. Despite the fact that we really want to be out on the sled runners (especially stretching out the Copper Basin 300 team.) We are not. The benefits do not outweigh the negative possibilities.

Instead we had every one romp around this morning at the kennel. A little fun, socializing and some muscle movement. An easy day, for sure, but at this point we will err on the side of caution. We captured a few of the dogs running around on video until the phone froze… ENJOY!