Sled Dog Care

Sled Dog Care and Mushing

Sled dog care is the mantra of all dog mushers and dog handlers. I had the personal experience of working side by side with Jennifer Cochran. Jennifer is an experienced musher and veteran finisher of the Yukon Quest. Jennifer is well known in the mushing community for her love of all dogs. She is also someone who lives her life chanting the sled dog care mantra.

The most important lesson I learned from Jennifer was If you can't take care of yourself, you can't take care of your dogs!

What is involved in the care of sled dogs? As you might have guessed a lot of work outside! Adding straw to the dog houses, prepping the food, scooping poop, and thawing out...everything. One thing about mushing, it is a cold weather sport!

It seems you are in a constant state of rearranging. Always figuring out the best way to keep your most important things from freezing...your water bottle, dog medication and creams, dog food (the already saturated food), your body parts, and clothing. And yet, you are also trying to keep it all from thawing (except the body parts) because when things thaw they become wet.

Dog Food Just like pet dog people, mushers have their favorite dog food. It is usually a high protein food, but not necessarily something you would easily find at the big box pet stores. (learn more about dog food).

The dog food is mixed with warm water and allowed to soak for at least one hour. Soaking allows the dog food to become saturated with water. This way the dogs get a decent water intake. If left outside, the water freezes during the winter months.

Most sled dogs eat twice a day while at home, several times a day on the trail, and often get frozen raw meat (horse, moose, salmon) depending on their training, weight, and weather. Yes, the weather. Different meat has different fat content, the colder it is the more protein and fat dogs need to stay warm. What We Feed Our Dogs

Dog Houses Many of the dog houses are made of wood, but sometimes the big blue plastic pickle barrels are used. It really depends on the climate where the dogs are living. If it is rainy all the time, plastic might be a better dog house choice. Read more about dog houses.

Straw is the most popular dog house insulator. Pet dog beds are not warm and can be destroyed (or eaten) by a husky in no time. Occassionally huskies are allergic to straw and mushers are forced to use blankets or some other method of insulating the dog house.

Keeping the dogs safe from bears, moose, wolves, and from fighting is why dogs are contained on dog chains. It is important that every dog have his own dog house, food and water supply while being able to see what all the other dogs are doing, and be able to watch his environment. Loose mushing dogs are often shot, hit by cars, killed by moose, or starved after getting into a porcupine. Securing a dog team is imperative. Read about proper containment here.

Nail Trimming Okay, so you think trimming your house dog (or two) nails is a chore. Try trimming the nails of 50 dogs. And they don't like getting their nails trimmed any more than your house dog. But tail trimming is an important aspect of sled dog care. Click here for more on foot care | click here for more about dog booties.

Medicating Yes, sled dogs get supplements and medications too. Usually you can hide the supplements in the dog food, but sometimes you have to open a mouth and pop down a pill.

Rearranging the dogs and the dog yard Now here is the time for the sled dog care mantra! Not everyone plays well together. One day two dogs decide they do not like each other, but you can't move them until you move so-and-so. Pretty soon you end up rearranging the whole dog yard just so everyone gets along...until the next time.

The Dog Sled For me, this was the biggest equipment difference between horses and dogs. Horse equipment takes care and cleaning. You cannot just let your saddle hang out in the barn getting moldy. A dog sled, on the other hand, hangs out strapped to the roof of your dog truck the entire winter. The only time that thing gets any care is when you are using it. I kept wanting to bring it inside the cabin and give it a good cleaning. About dog sleds.

The Dogs The caring of sled dogs is the same care you would give your house dog. It is just under different circumstances. Sled dogs are kept outside so they stay acclimated to the weather. They also spend time indoors for many reasons including being sick, old, injured, friendly, happy, lucky, lonely, or cute.

Mushing The fun part! Learning how to mush is accomplished on the trail. This is where the care of sled dog mantra becomes Nirvana. Nothing beats driving a team of dogs in the White Mountains of Alaska under a full moon! Until of course you come across a moose. Learn about mushing training!

The biggest difference between pet dogs and working sled dogs is that sled dogs are used for what they were bred to do. Sometimes, as pet owners, we forget our husky dogs were bred for a specific task. Yes, even our little yorkies had a job.