Husky News

Mushers compete in dryland events at BIR.

Dog sled racing isn’t just a team of dogs pulling fully-packed sleds across the snow.

At Brainerd International Raceway last weekend, spectators watched dogs pull mushers on bicycles, carts, scooters and even on their own two feet.

Racers competed in four types of dryland sled dog events Saturday and Sunday at BIR – bikejoring, scooter racing, cart racing and canicross – the cross country running version. Sportsman, junior and professional competitors raced with anywhere from one to eight dogs leading the way.

According to the International Sled Dog Racing Association, sled dogs run because they love to and are born and raised to. How they run is a product of how they are trained and, like all athletes, they spend more time training than competing.

Sled dogs are bred for their ability and desire to run. More short hair breeds are being used in warmer weather, said Mike Marsch of Dog Daze Kennels in Neillsville, Wis. He has several with greyhound, pointer and shorthair ancestry.

Mark Cooper, Marsch’s handler and owner of Cooper Sleds in Elk River, also likes those with border collie bloodlines, saying that, with their intelligence, they make good lead dogs.

Another event at the East Meets West Dryland Challenge was a weight pull event hosted by the Northcentral Working Dog Club (NWDC). In the event, a cart is connected to a harness a dog wears, and the dog pulls the cart with weight increasing for each pull based on the numbers of cement blocks placed on the cart.

NWDC Vice President Randy Schroeder of Marshfield, Wis., said spectators could see the larger dogs pull weights of up to 2,000 pounds on the slight incline of the outdoor setup at the weekend BIR event. That compares to more than 4,000 pounds sometimes seen on a “perfect” indoor surface.

An old English sheepdog named Chewie pulled 1,250 pounds Saturday. The dogs didn’t pull as well Sunday in the colder, snowier weather, but Chewie, owned by Dawn Finch of the Mankato area, still managed to pull 870 pounds.

Small breeds, such as the 7-pound toy fox terrier named Acee, pull considerably smaller carts carrying much less weight. Acee’s owner, Donna Temple, said this was 10-month-old Acee’s first event and that Finch, her neighbor who also has family in the Brainerd lakes area, got her interested in the activity.

Source: pineandlakes.com.