It’s all about bringing out the best in the dogs. If the lead is too fast, the team will get worn out, but if the lead dog is too slow, the lines will bunch up and get tangled. Speed and strength are key components to matching the four-legged team members. And if the lead dog is having a bad day? No big deal, the musher or guide can hit the brakes during the trip and switch out the dogs’ positions to make it a great run for everyone. In fresh, heavy snow, the lead dogs also have the job of breaking the trail, so the mushers will put their larger dogs out front. The position of the dog also varies depending on locations and trail conditions. “So we put our bigger dogs back there, where it’s more physically demanding.” The most mentally challenging position for the dogs is the lead dog, who must be in tune and following the voice commands of the musher. “The wheel dogs take the brute force of the sled,” say Vogel. Some dogs run well in all positions, from lead dog to wheel dog, while others prefer to stay in the middle of the pack. The position-and-team combinations of the dogs depends both on individual personalities and physical attributes. And just like you’d expect from your own canine companion, the personalities of these sled dogs runs the spectrum, from low-key to off-the-wall crazy. Starting at about a year-and-a-half old, the young dogs train with the older, more confident dogs to learn the basics of working as a team. Getting a team to run well together takes a lot of work. Running a dog sled business is not as simple as exercising a pack of happy dogs. Guests also have the option of driving a team on their own, but guides will be in every other sled to keep things running smoothly. This is a common strategy for guest tours: the tandem sled acts almost like a driver’s education car, with two sets of brakes. The bigger teams run tandem sleds, which have space for both a guide and a guest driver. Teams for guided tours are comprised of 6-12 dogs, and most operations have enough dogs for a half-dozen teams. Weather permitting, they open the day after Thanksgiving and run straight through March. Hannah Vogel and her husband took over Absaroka Dogsled Treks just three years ago, though the operation has been operating out of Chico Hot Springs for 22 years. Dogsled operations are scattered all across Montana, with a busy location running right out of Chico Hot Springs in Paradise Valley. Montana’s landscape and lengthy winter provide an ideal setup for both leisurely and competitive dogsledding, making it a popular winter activity for tourists and locals alike.
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