The Core

>I've seen them

Did they act like mine?
http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/2416499

....because if not, then I would guess you are talking about dogs that might be used to drag around that 2000lb sledge I showed you.  Not saying it's not cool but what you saw was more a donkey ride on the golf, than what I did.  What I'm talking about are racing dogs.  Mine were mid-distance dogs.  But that 17 dog team you see there was tied to an ATV, which I put in gear and let them drag with resistance. I don't use the throttle and neutral is way too fast.  Eventually they will pull just me and a 30lb sled. 

Remember, there are no reigns, no way to actually steer them.... it's all voice control, and you run many times at night with a headlight that barely sees your leaders.  Add to that big mountains and mega storms at the passes, and you start to get the picture.... what you have here is a freight train. Considering that most people couldn't walk their dog around the block off a leash.... well... if you are a hyper competitive, control freak, like me, a big race team is like this is crack:)

Believe it or not, I used some of those dogs for touring. I present to you, my now defunct touring company, Wild Dog Mushing Company:
http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/343256

...as seen on The Today Show:
http://www.myspace.com/video/rob/the-today-show/1303167

...as seen on E! TV with Brook Burke:
http://www.myspace.com/video/rob/e-tv-with-brook-burke/1303232

...and my first truly viral video, with 80,000 plays: Wait until you see what comes out of this gigantic dog house
http://www.myspace.com/video/robvalli/100-lbs-of-pure-dog/48502

...but when you watch these, note that usually there aren't more than 8-10 dogs and 2-3 people on a huge sled, with the brakes maxed full on, even departing.  In the Video on E!TV you get to see the beginning of 'fast', on the last downhill shot, but those were really touring dogs, not pure race dogs, like these guys were, just chilling around my truck, at a race on an island in the St Laurence River, above Quebec City:
http://www.myspace.com/video/robvalli/my-sled-dogs/343419

...playing loose, in the kennel:
http://www.myspace.com/video/robvalli/play-time-in-a-sled-dog-kennel/10676780

anyway, yeah, this was the essence of sledding for me...



















...that was life on a grander scale.  Most difficult thing I ever did.  Most arbitrary as well.  Life on fire.

>appealing at -5ºF
that is maybe the perfect temperature, actually, for running dogs.  Snow is nice at that temperature.

>better make sure he has a couple of new (gas-powered) sleds before he gets back into dogs though,
got to have something to groom the trail, if he is going to sprint:)

>they're talking about making them nice little pet house dogs, which no type of husky is particularly well suited for.
ah, if that is what he meant, I agree...

Basically 'Alaskan Huskies' are not a registered breed... that black pup (and later, dog) is 1/8 German Shorthair Pointer.... but pointers that were bread to run, not hunt.  Greyhounds, Salukis, Setters have all been bred into the old Siberian Lines and the Indian dogs to make a sled dog mutt that is not defined by any physical attribute, but by what they do.... sprint, mid-distance, distance.

So my dogs were crazy, but they were also trained... but it all starts with good genes and breeding for function, not form. But only some would be decent house dogs.  Most would just destroy it in a few hours, bouncing off the walls and peeing on whatever they couldn't break.   

>appealing at -5ºF
that is maybe the perfect temperature, actually, for running dogs.  Snow is nice at that temperature.

I could totally see that. You don't have to worry about ice shattering under your axes because it's too cold, and you don't have to worry about windburn/frost bite, because you're not moving *that* fast. Running dogs is probably the IDEAL thing to do at -5. :-)

got to have something to groom the trail, if he is going to sprint:)

Hell, the mush-heads around here groom the neighborhood trails for their distance dogs... If you want to run sprint, there are separate trail systems closer to town all groomed up for them all winter. hehe They don't call this area the dog mushing capital of the world for nothing. ;-)

Basically 'Alaskan Huskies' are not a registered breed...

I have to keep remembering that when people say Husky... lol  That's why I made the sled-husky vs. show-husky point. Nobody but mushers or people who know mushers think of the crazy race dogs when they say "husky". hehe

(to everyone but dogboy... ;-) Sled dog "huskies" range from scrawny little-bitty 20-30lb. sprint race dogs, to the mid-size distance race dogs dogboy had, to big ~80-100lb. freight pulling dogs, none of which are "Huskies" in the show dog world. And most of them look like misfit mutts even though they're all custom bred to the same degree show breeders customize their dogs. But sled dogs are bred for performance & health rather than looks. It is a separate world where dog breeding is concerned.

But only some would be decent house dogs.  Most would just destroy it in a few hours, bouncing off the walls and peeing on whatever they couldn't break.

And that's why, sadly enough, the Fairbanks borough dog shelter is always full of "huskies" they foster out to recreational mushers who send back a description of how they would perform in a team for their adoption "sales pitch". Most of them would never make good house dogs, and most of them stay on the adoption list for as long as the shelter has room. (The local shelter doesn't euthanize until they run out of room and foster homes... there's an "Alaskan husky" there today who's been on the shelter's Petfinder list for a couple of years.)

Anyhoo, I'm not even anything close to a musher. I have a Belgian shepherd and a pitbull... they're like Laurel & Hardy. :-) I just get long winded about the race dogs because I live in the middle of mushing country, and so many people (like the interviewers mention on dogboy's Today Show clip) think mushing is mean to the dogs.... Those crazy dogs are NEVER so happy as they are when they know they're going for a run. :-)

Ehhhh. I also just talk a lot some times. hehehe (shutup 4eyes... ;-)

Quote

shutup 4eyes...

I couldn't find a gap to 'shut up' in

I gotta win some kind of prize for that!

>One is for show, one is for go ...and there is essentially no overlap. 

I was actually unhappy when I heard that Border Collies were put in the AKC...Sadly, there will soon be "one for show, one for go" -- or in their case "one with brains, one with not" -- very very soon.