Husky News

“What a hoot,” Brynn Acheson laughed, patting Don Quixote, her German shepherd-chow. “He did wonderful, but mom kept falling.”

After trying to skijor once, the Whitefish cross-country skier hopped into a race with her dog. Tethered together, he pulled, she skied.

In a state where dogs may outnumber gun racks on trucks, it’s no wonder that a sport that combines mushing and skiing is creeping into popularity.

Popular in northern Europe, Minnesota, and Alaska, skijoring is gaining a loyal dog-lover following in Montana, where skijoring with horses has long been the norm.It’s a way of exercising both the family pet and yourself when snow smothers the ground.

“It really hadn’t caught on until the last five or six years,” said Pam Beckstrom, “but now we’re shipping equipment worldwide.”

Beckstrom and her husband. Jack, own Adanac Sleds in Olney. The 30-year-old company manufactures dog mushing gear. This year, they’ve found it difficult to keep up with the demand for skijoring gear.

The sport doesn’t throw high profile events yet in Montana, but a groundswell of aficionados grows under the radar. Talk around Nordic skiers, and you’ll see dog-lovers’ eyes light up when you mention skijoring.

“It doesn’t get any better in this life — man’s best friend,me and the outdoors,” said Beckstrom, as she hooked up two dogs for a skijor.

Many cross-country skiers tether one, two or three dogs for cruising logging roads and snowmobile trails — the same places dog sledders go. Groomed cross-country areas that permit dogs also attract skijorers, especially for skate skiing.

Glacier Outdoor Center in West Glacier resounded with yips, barks and yowls on Jan. 19 when it hosted its first doggie skijoring races.

A crowd of competitors and onlookers — both human and canine — coaxed pooches through the finish line after they raced 1.5 kilometers in 7 to 9 minutes with a skier in tow.

Skijoring requires no special breed of dog. Any mutt — border collie, black lab, dog pound Heinz 57 — will do as long as it has the urge to pull and weighs at least 30 pounds. Minimum weight, however, depends on the skier the dog is pulling.

The 18-month-old 30-pound Laika, an Alaskan husky, easily tows the petite Manolita Connor of Missoula.

“Laika is from racing stock. She has all the instincts and heart,” said owner Chris Connor. “She was bred for dog sledding, but is too small for competitions.”

More canine weight does not equate with more speed. A 150-malamute first time skijorer certainly had strength, but plodded steady-like rather than raced.

While some canines may be naturally bred to withstand cold — Alaskan and Siberian huskies, for instance — most dogs can handle the winter outdoors as long as they have thick fur. Most also instinctively want to pull; however, because many puppies are reprimanded when they tug on leashes, some skijorers find they must train their pets to pull rather than heel beside them.

Lucy, an 85-pound pitbull, was having trouble learning to pull.

“She just doesn’t get the whole idea,” explained owner Gus Flint of West Glacier.

Flint hopes his 90-pound bulldog named Porkchop will be able to teach Lucy a thing or two.

But when Kelly Powers hooked up to race with Porkchop, he ran backwards barking at her skis before getting the hang of pulling.

With skijoring, dogs are helpers, not primary power.

“You especially aid the dog by helping him get up to speed,” explained Karsten Carlson, one of the organizers of the Glacier Outdoor Center race. “You’re still able to use your poles, so you have control.”

The skier, using either traditional cross-country or skating gear, still works, skiing and poling as usual. Except for Peter Steele of Whitefish. He ditched his poles in favor of letting his skating technique and Australian shepherd do the work.

“They just got in the way,” he said.

Besides pulling, many skijorers teach their pets commands: “Gee” (turn right), “haw” (turn left), and “whoa.” Others just yell, “Go, go, go.”

Sheila French of Whitefish has skijored a couple times with her 75-pound malamute-mix named Chloe. But commands aren’t in the repertoire. French explained her predicament: “She doesn’t know commands. Just ‘go!’”

To get into skijoring with Fido, you need some specialty gear.

“The important thing is getting a good fit on the dog,” pointed out Beckstrom. Dog harnesses, costing $16 to $24, distribute the pulling weight across the dog’s body and come in 10 standard sizes. You’ll need a four-inch-wide padded nylon belt for yourself, which tethers to the dog via a quick-release snap, a bungee section, and a six-foot tugline. That package runs around $43 — more if you want to hook up to two dogs for more speed. Some skijorers add fleece, cordura, or Tough-tek booties to protect the dog’s paws from sharp snow crystals.

The quick-release snap is for safety. Most skijorers recount at least one time when the dog sped along a trail only to cut a 90-degree turn into the trees after a squirrel. Some racers almost needed to unclip after leaving the Glacier Outdoor Center start. Tuglines caught around more than one pair of skis — causing at minimum a tangle to stop to undo, or for one racer a flip into the snow bank.

Glacier Outdoor Center is at the forefront of Montana skijoring. The center, which permits canines on their trails daily after noon, is the only groomed cross-country course in the state to rent the skijoring gear. They also rent classic and skate skis and pulkas for pulling tots, They do not rent dogs.

Groomed ski areas that permit dogs are rare. Most shun pockmarked tracks, urine stains on the snow, and skiers getting droppings on their skis when owners fail to pick up after pooches.

But this year, Bohart Ranch outside Bozeman is experimenting with admitting canines on Wednesdays after 3 pm.

Most skiers just have a dog in tow, but at least one skijorer hit the tracks.

“So far so good,” reported Sarah Mayer for the Nordic center. In the Flathead Valley, Stillwater Mountain Nordic and Round Meadows — both outside Whitefish — permit dogs on some of their groomed trails.

“This part of Montana is dog city,” laughed Connor. “It only makes sense people want to skijor.”

Source: Great Falls Tribune