Team Ineka

Mushin Down a Dream

sled dogs

Training Run 1/25/10

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Date: January 25, 2011

Distance: 23 miles. 2:00 hours

Weather: 18 degrees and heavy snowfall

Equipment: Sled

Trail Conditions: punchy

Dog Positions: 10 dog team. Bird-Shifter, Snap-Sparrow, Zambonie-Eddy, Jane-Scoter, Shirkle-Widegon

Music Choice: McQueen Street, Godsmack

Notes: Great run! Packed up the team into the truck with the help of the handler. (Thanks Austin!) and headed to the community center to run the “Willow Swamp Trail”. We started off without a hitch and then it started to snow very hard as soon as I hit long lake. By the time I was mid-way across the lake it was almost a white-out and could not see the next marker in front of me.

Shifter ran in lead and did very well. All the dogs did very well!

 

 

Robert Forto | Team Ineka | Alaska Dog Works | Mushing Radio | Dog Works Radio | Denver Dog Works

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Dr. Robert Forto is a musher training for his first Iditarod under the Team Ineka banner and the host of the popular radio shows, Mush! You Huskies and Dog Works Radio Shows

 

Mush! You Huskies: Dick Moulton

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On the latest edition of Mush! You Huskies we continued our Dog Sledding Legends segments. This week we profile Dick Moulton.

It would be hard to estimate the number of miles Dick Moulton has traveled by dog sled. Compared to most mushers, it would be unapproachable. Considering the mileage and the time spent watching, thinking, figuring and reading his dogs behind his running team, Moulton’s achievements follow smoothly. He has competed in races all over North America, and won each one several times. He has been honored as “Musher of the Year” and is inducted in the Dog Mushers’ Hall of Fame.  As the autumn of his career arrived, Moulton said, “even though I am getting old and slowing down, you can still find me out on the trails in the late fall, working for that ultimate dog team.”

Listen to Mush! You Huskies: Dick Moulton

Mush! You Huskies is hosted by Robert and Michele Forto. Robert is in Alaska training for his first Iditarod and running his qualifying races this year. He is racing under the Team Ineka banner. Michele is the lead trainer at Denver Dog Works and specializes in services dogs and board and train programs.

We welcome your comments suggestions and concerns. Please comment below or send them to live@dogdoctorradio.com

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Dr. Robert Forto is a canine behaviorist and the training director for Dog Works Training Centers. Dr. Forto is a musher currently in Alaska training for his first Iditarod under the Team Ineka banner and the host of the popular programs, The Dog Doctor Radio Show and Mush! You Huskies.

Dog Sledding Legend: Jean Byar

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Dog Sledding Legend Jean Bryar on Mushing Radio

On the popular Mush! You Huskies Radio Show we are continuing our summer series on the dog sledding legends and those people that made this sport what it is today. This week we will profile one of the greatest women mushers during the 1960’s and 70’s which so many great mushers followed her lead such as Libby Riddles, Susan Butcher and Dee Dee Jonrowe just to name a few.

Mush! You Huskies: Jean Bryar

Jean Bryar became the foremost woman sled dog driver in the world during the sixties and seventies. Although her husband, Keith, is remembered as the third factor in the Lombard-Belford-Bryar hegemony, Jean was no backseat member of the Bryar team. She worked her way through the New England racing circuit, usually finishing near the top against some of the toughest competition New England has ever had. Having developed one of the best Siberian Husky racing teams in the Northeast, the Bryar’s made the big jump to Alaska with the other New England competitors in the early sixties. They, too, were entranced by the abilities of the Alaskan dogs, and in 1962 they bought a superb example of this racing husky, a leader named Brandy. They paid $1001.00 for him.

During the next four seasons Keith and Jean both drove Brandy at the head of the team that won several of the most important sled dog races in North America. In 1963 they captured the Eastern International at Quebec, the World Championship at Laconia and the Women’s North American Championship at Fairbanks. In Alaska in 1962, 1963 and 1964, Jean paralleled “Doc” Lombard’s wins in the men’s North American with wins of her own in the women’s.

Following Keith Bryar’s successful bid for the Men’s North American Championship in 1965 and his subsequent retirement from racing, Jean Bryar maintained the Norvik Kennels in Center Harbor, New Hampshire and expanded her racing schedule. Coordinating her training and racing talents with those of another champion driver and dog musher, Dick Moulton, Jean went on to secure her own reputation in the sporting world, selecting only the most challenging professional races for their teams. Bryar and Moulton left well-defined tracks wherever they competed.

Bryar had the determination and flexibility of an all-time great sled dog driver. In her first try at the North American, for example, Bryar’s lead dog was of a breed never before known to qualify for such a position, a small longhaired Border Collie. She tended to pamper her dogs a little more than some of her colleague’s thought was necessary, but her achievement as a racer and trainer justified her techniques. Energetic and personable, Bryar was completely dedicated to her dogs. During the off-season she managed her kennel and worked as a real estate agent. When the cool mornings of fall arrived it was back to the business of training puppies and stretching the veteran’s muscles for a new racing season, leaving her work as a realtor to the warmer weather.

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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 popular, Mush You Huskies Radio Show

 

The Future Home of Iditarod Dreams: Mush! You Huskies Radio Show

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The Future Home of Iditarod Dreams: Mush! You Huskies Radio Show

As promised, yesterday, I wanted to showcase the sister show to our highly popular, Dog Doctor Radio Show to my rabid reader, fans and friends– Mush! You Huskies, better yet, MushingRadio.com was brought on board on the Dog Works Radio platform to fill a need for the future followers of Team Ineka and my quest to train for, and run the Iditarod in 2013.

We started the show to coincide with the start of the 2010 Iditarod in March and we followed the progress of the mushers on the trail and gave daily insight and commentary  about the race. Not being a sportscaster, our shows had more of a statistical bent to it but hey, we will get better in the future, right?

This summer, we started our very popular Dog Sledding Legends series and did shows profiling the greats such as Leonhard Seppala, Scotty Allan, Doc Lombard, to name a few.

Our goal is to chronicle the adventures of my training and racing career though the show. I plan in the future of offering interviews of me (by my co-host, wife and business partner, Michele Forto). I hope to have other musher’s interviews as well.

I would also like to showcase our sponsors on the show and allow them the opportunity to take advantage of this unique advertising medium. As any musher knows, in order to get to the “big race” we have to run miles, miles and more miles, and we are often dependent on our generous sponsors in helping us reach our financial goals.

By continuing to use the BlogTalkRadio format we are able to bring the cutting edge technology of the platform and have the ability of adding video, chats, remote interviews, email, call-ins for our guests and of course an international audience. With this perfect marriage of technology and social media it is our hope to bring the sport of mushing and one man’s quest to make his own personal history a reality.

As we always say… Never Forget Your Dreams and we will see you on the trail!

I welcome your comments and suggestions. Please comment below.

Robert Forto | Team Ineka | Alaska Dog Works | Mushing Radio | Dog Doctor Radio | Denver Dog Works

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Dr. Robert Forto is a musher training for his first Iditarod under the Team Ineka banner and the host of the popular radio shows, Mush! You Huskies and The Dog Doctor Radio Show

Willow Dog Mushers Association Symposium

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The Willow (Alaska) Dog Mushers Association is holding its annual Symposium next weekend!

Two amazing days of dogs, information, history and fun! Keynote speaker: Mary Shields, first woman to run and finish the Iditarod (in 1974)! Speakers, demonstrations, hands-on workshops and activities for ALL breeds of dogs, awards, gear swap, vendors, movie, dinner, and a silent auction. The Mushing History Conference will be held in conjunction with the symposium. Come join us! Please invite your friends by sharing this event. All dog lovers are welcome!

When: Saturday, September 25 at 10:00am – September 26 at 6:30pm

Where:

Willow Community Center

MP 69.9 Parks Hwy

Willow, AK 99688

For more information please visithttp://www.willowdogmushers.com

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

You are Never too Old to Run Sled Dogs

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You Are Never To Old Too Run Sled Dogs

By Robert Forto and Mac McClanahan (Nov. 2000)

About three weeks ago, Robert “Mac” McClanahan gave us a call and said that he received a copy of The Gangline and wanted to learn how to run sled dogs.

I said, “Sure come on over!”

This is his story.

Mac McClanahan is 82 years old and full of life. He said that he has done just about everything; flew helicopters in the Korean War, forced landed three planes, paraglide, walked the Colorado trail, but nothing compares to being behind a team of dogs. Mac said it was one of the most emotional times of his life the first time he was behind a team of dogs and that was just a mere two weeks ago.

Mac was looking for a dog last year that could meet some pretty rigid requirements. After months of research and reams of paper on the internet, he and his wife Melba, decided on a Siberian Husky.  They put their plan into action and happened to find exactly what they were looking for. They found a female, open faced, gray, with blue eyes that had the build of a sled dogs, according to all of the books that Mac had read. Why a female? On Melba’s insistence, she said that you can’t get smarter than a woman and if you wanted a lead dog you needed a female.  They must have made the right choice because it just so happens that the dog that they picked is a sister to one of our sled dogs here at Team Ineka, Nixon.

For the past year, Mac had been working with his new dog and friend, Chukchi, which Mac says means “sled puller”. Mac says, “I thought I would give her a name and hope that she can live up to it. It is her destiny!”  They walked miles and miles and even walked a portion of the Colorado Trail this summer. Mac says “I was walking with friends 30 to 40 years my junior and if it wasn’t for Chukchi I might not have made it to the top of that pass.”

Mac’s goal is to run with some of Team Ineka’s dogs this year in a race or two with a team of three or four dogs. He is working very hard on his training and he and his dog are doing great.  Right now they come over for a “session” twice a week and we try to teach something new each time.  He is learning quickly.  He has been dragged, had a dog fight with a dog on the trail, and even gotten lost when his team took off too fast for me to catch him with my team.

We talked about the future of the sport and what he thought about the Iditarod and he said he thinks the future is very bright. Mac said that this is a “word of mouth” sport and he will do his best to promote it.  He said that he has lived in Colorado for seven years and has seen lots of dog trucks driving around but nothing else. He said that needs to change.

There needs to be more advertising in local papers and different forms of media. Mac said that he is telling everyone that he talks to that he is running sled dogs.  When he does everyone stops, their ears perk up, and they want to know more and more.

That is what this sport needs. More ambitious people like Mac.  His spirit keeps me motivated and all I want to do is train and train.

Mac ended by saying, “I don’t know if she (Chukchi) has the ability to be a good lead dog or if she ever will, but I do know that she has a mind of her own and when she wants to listen she will do just that.”

Well, we are going to try our best to make that dream happen for Mac and Chukchi, she is a natural in harness and will be running in races this year. I have already promised him that.