Dog Sledding Legends

Balto the Sled Dog

June 26, 2010 by teamineka

Balto the Sled Dog

We mushers all have had a lead dog (or two, or three) that was of exceptional status on our teams. Many stories can be told how these dogs “saved the day”. Many movies and books have been written and shown of these courageous dogs with tremendous will and might. Many dog sledding fans know more about a musher’s lead dog than they do the (human) driver him/herself. The lead dog is often portrayed as the quarterback of the team. The one that all the other dogs listen to.

There is one dog that is probably the most widely known lead dog in the world. His name is Balto. There an animated movie about him (pretty good I might add) and he even has a statute in New York’s Central Park.

Let’s learn a bit about this famous sled dog: Balto
Balto (c.1919-14 March 1933) was a Siberian Husky sled dog who led his team on the final leg of the 1925 serum run to Nome, in which diphtheria antitoxin was transported from Anchorage, Alaska to Nenana, Alaska by train and then to Nome by dog sled to combat an outbreak of the disease. The run is commemorated by the annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Balto was named after the Sami explorer Samuel Balto.

1925 serum run

In January 1925, doctors realized that a potentially deadly diphtheria epidemic was poised to sweep through Nome’s young people. The only serum that could stop the outbreak was in Anchorage, nearly a thousand miles (1,600 km) away. The only aircraft that could quickly deliver the medicine was taken out of winter storage, but its engine was frozen and would not start. After considering all of the alternatives, officials decided to move the medicine by sled dog. The serum was transported by train from Anchorage to Nenana, where the first musher embarked as part of a relay aimed at delivering the needed serum to Nome. More than 20 mushers took part, facing a blizzard with −23 °F temperatures and strong winds. Katie Pryor interviewed the musher after he had finished. News coverage of the race was worldwide.
On February 2, 1925, the Norwegian Gunnar Kaasen drove his team, led by Balto, into Nome. The longest and most hazardous stretch of the run was actually covered by another Norwegian, Leonhard Seppala and his dog team, led by Togo. They came from Nome towards the end of the run and picked up the serum from musher Henry Ivanoff. The serum was later passed to Kaasen. Balto proved himself on the Iditarod trail, saving his team in the Topkok River. Balto was also able to stay on the trail in near whiteout conditions; Kaasen stated he could barely see his hand in front of his face. During a blizzard, Kaasen and his team missed the last sled dog team and had to take the medicine twice as far. At Nome, everybody wanted to thank Kaasen at first. He suggested giving fame to Balto as well.
Togo was the star dog for Leonhard Seppala even before the great 1925 Serum Run. Instead of celebrating the triumph together as one huge team, many became jealous of the publicity Balto received, especially from President Calvin Coolidge and the press. Seppala favored Togo, but the general public loved the story behind Balto, and so they would take a far different path after the celebrations were over. Balto was not welcomed at the ceremony in New York in which Seppala and Togo received awards from the explorer Roald Amundsen.

Citation: Wikipedia
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Dr. Robert Forto is the dog sledding examiner, a musher training for his first Iditarod under the Team Ineka banner and the host of the Mush! You Huskies radio show.

Dog Sledding in Cali

June 22, 2010 by teamineka

Dog Sledding in Cali?

By Robert Forto, PhD

This past weekend I was privileged to hang out with new friends, April and John Wood and their son Tyrell in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains in Central California. I went to california on business and of course I mixed in a little pleasure as well. It was great to get on the back of a cart with a team of Siberians again and it was well worth the trip!

You can hear more about April Wood and her dog sledding team by clicking here

The morning started early, as it always does for a musher. I was staying in Clovis, about 40 miles away, and I had to be up at the kennel by six a.m. so I left at sunrise in my rented Hyundai and drove up the mountain.

When I arrived at the kennel it was a very warm 57 degrees but a beautiful morning none the less. We all helped out loading dogs into the dog truck and took off to Jose Basin about 15 miles but nearly a 45 minute drive on the mostly hard-packed dirt road that was meant for 4×4’s not heavy dog trucks.

We unloaded the eight dogs, all seasoned sled dogs, and hooked them up to the cart. With April at the wheel and me as the “co-pilot” we took off in a quick sprint down a steep rocky trail. Anytime you are training on a cart it can be difficult to balance because it is a bit top heavy. We cruised around the first turn and the dogs worked in cadence.

About a mile into the run one of the leaders stopped at a rocky overpass and looked like he caught of whiff of something. I jumped off the cart to line them back out on the trail and get them going again and no sooner had I jumped off the team took off down the steep embankment. I heard a high pitched. “Noooooooo” from April as the dogs wrapped the cart around a tree and tangled themselves up in the lines.

I ran down the embankment to untangle the dogs and line them back out and looking back to see if April was okay. She looked fine so we jumped back on the cart.

A little ways down the trail the dogs had to cross a cattle guard. Spending most of my time running sled dogs in Minnesota, I had never seen a dog team cross a cattle guard and I was amazed at their tenacity. As soon as they crossed I jumped off the cart again to turn the team around and no sooner did they get turned around and me back on the cart that April took a nasty spill trying to get back on. April said, “I don’t usually jump on from the side.” as she was examine her cut hand.

We made it back to the truck without further problems from the feisty team that hadn’t been in harness since easter weekend and we did what every other musher does; tell the others stories about the run. Just like fishermen, we all have tall tales to tell!

It was great to get back with a team again and I was impressed with the Siberians. As April and I talked about the adventures with the crash and her spill we chalked it up to the feisty dogs. Hey, thats how it goes on a training cart! I have been stupid enough to train up to 12 dogs at a time on those carts that are designed for much smaller teams. But who has any fun if you are not living on the edge a bit, right?

After we returned to the kennel and settled the dogs, April and I recorded an episode of Mush! You Huskies on her property with the free-roaming horses walking by looking like they wanted to steal my equipment right off the table!

Later that evening we “talked dogs” for hours and made some plans to run races together in the near future.

What a weekend. In two weeks I will be in Alaska looking at a property that is very close to the Iditarod trail. I cant wait!

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Dr. Robert Forto is the dog sledding examiner and a musher training for his first Iditarod racing under the Team Ineka banner. Dr. Forto is the host of the Mush! You Huskies radio show.

Scotty Allan on Mush! You Huskies

June 13, 2010 by teamineka

Scotty Allen
By Robert Forto, PhD

The summer season of the Dog Works Radio Show: Mush! You Huskies with stories of the Dog Sledding Legends of yesterday and today continues. On today’s show we talk about my greatest inspiration as a musher. Scotty Allen.

Listen to the show now: Scotty Allan on Mush! You Huskies

Scotty Allan journeyed to Alaska, attracted by news of the gold strike in the Klondike. Around him were men of action from many different countries, dependent on in a large measure upon animals. It was not long before Allan had a wife, a baby and a dog team, and with his uncanny knack with animals, was well on his way to being a first class dog-puncher. His first leader was named Dubby, a Mackenzie River Husky from the stock of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Dubby led the team the day his venturesome owner decided to sledge across the Bering Strait to Russia. While in Russia, Allan visited some Siberian Eskimos and then headed back to Nome, impressed with the self-sufficiency of those people.

Scotty Allan joined with Judge Albert Fink and other Nome citizens to organize the All-Alaska Sweepstakes, the first official series of sled dog races anywhere. From these races emerged a new kind of hero in the far North, the racing sled dog driver. In preparation for these 408-mile non-stop races, Allan put his team and himself into training. He watched everybody’s diet, gave up smoking and even practiced going without sleep. He must have done something right, for the first eight years of the Sweepstakes, Scotty Allan never finished lower than third and had three firsts and three seconds to his credit. His team consisted of lop-eared freighting dogs, mongrels, and he was proud of their ability on the racing trails.

In more than one race, however, Allan could look back over his shoulder and see John “Iron Man” Johnson’s long string of Siberians slowly gaining on him.

Johnson led a team of culls from Fox Ramsay’s other two imported Siberian Husky teams to a record setting win for him in 1910. The handwriting was on the wall for the mixed-breed freighting teams. Johnson’s Siberians beat Allan’s team by nine hours in 1914, and then Leonhard Seppala and his Siberians wrapped it all up in the final three years of the Sweepstakes.

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Dr. Robert Forto is the Dog Sledding Examiner and the co-host of Mush! You Huskies radio show. Dr. Forto is training for his first Iditarod under the Team Ineka banner.

Candlelight and Books=4-Peat for Mackey

June 10, 2010 by teamineka

Candlelight and Books=4-peat for Mackey

By Robert Forto, PhD

4-time Iditarod Champion, Lance Mackey, will go down in history as the only musher (to date) to do the unprecedented, win the Iditarod four times in a row.

Mackey, 39 was born and raised in Alaska. The back-to-back-to-back-to-back Iditarod Champion and four-time Yukon Quest champion and current record holder says he began mushing “at birth.”

“I grew up around racing and the Iditarod. I was at the finish lie in 1978 to see my father, Dick, win by one second. In 1993, my older brother, Rick, won. Both my father and brother won wearing bib #13 in their sixth Iditarod.” says Mackey.

Mackey’s finish today was like no other in history. Not only did he win the ‘Last Great Race’ for the fourth time in a row he did it in typical Mackey style with little to no-rest and blowing past the competitors, King, Baker, Neff, and 2010 Yukon Quest champion, Hans Gatt. In an interview this year on the website http://www.mushing.tv Mackey explains how he prepares for racing the Iditrod with little to no sleep at all. He explains that he starts off by turning out all the lights and turning the heat on full blast and reads by candlelight. He increases the time each day until he has no problem staying up for extended periods of time.

The winner of this year’s Iditarod wins $50.400 and a new dodge truck. Does Mackey really need another truck? He has won the prize the last four years in a row! I think last year he claimed a new car for his wife Tonya. He does have three children: Amanda, Britney and Cain, all of driving age. Maybe they can start a Mackey convoy!

Citation: The Official Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Guide 2010.

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Dr. Robert Forto is a musher training for his first Iditarod in 2013 mushing under the Team Ineka banner. Dr. Forto hosts a radio show, Mush! You Huskies that can be heard at http://www.mushingradio.com. Dr. Forto can be reached through his website at https://teamineka.com

Fox and Goose

May 9, 2010 by teamineka

Fox and Goose

By Al Magaw

One winter evening, my family and I watched seven, four-month old puppies play under the yard light in the snowy field in front of our house. The seven puppies followed each other around in a circle making a packed trail about 60 feet in diameter. Then they followed one another, single file, to make several paths that intersected the circle. The pattern made in the snow was indistinguishable from the circle that children make when they play the game, “Fox and Goose”. We were all crowded at the window, the lights in the house turned off so we could see better. We watched, at first in amazed silence, then with peals of laughter, and finally with disbelief of what we were seeing.

One puppy would take his place at the intersection of the crossed trails and the other six puppies evenly spaced themselves around the circumference of the circle. As if at a signal, the puppy in the centre dashed out the spoke of the wheel, turned onto the circle and grabbed a madly fleeing puppy by the tail. After a brief scuffle, the puppy that had been caught went to the centre of the circle. All of the puppies on the circle sat down facing the pup in the middle. They waited until the pup in the centre bolted to the outside circle. Again there was a mad dash around the circumference until another pup was caught. To our amazement, they played this game for about 3/4 hour, sticking rigidly to their self-imposed rules. I had never seen or heard of such behavior at the time we watched the puppies play Fox and Goose, but a few years laterI read in the National Geographic Magazine of a scientist observing the same behavior in a group of wolf pups.

We would love to hear your comments regarding this article. Please let us know at live@dogdoctorradio.com

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Al Magaw is a musher from Salmo, BC. Al keeps a medium sized kennel of 20 – 45 alaskan huskies as well as several pet dogs of various breeds. Al has been training and racing for the last 33 years. Before becoming involved with sled dogs, Al, along with his family, kept and competed with horses for many years. Al can be reached through his website at http://www.spiritofthenorthkennels.com Al is a guest blogger for Denver Dog Works and can be reached through our website at http://www.denverdogworks.com