Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Fur Rondy - Dog Races

I love the dog races, but once you've seen about three or four teams go by, you've kind of seen them all. Kind of like the 26 Glacier Cruise....I always wonder why anybody wants to see 26 glaciers. 2 or 3 is cool, but 26 is overkill. Anyhoo...I digress.

Last minute check of the sled.

Dogs are waiting to be hitched up.
Getting the team lined out and ready to go.
Yip, Yip, Yip, Yip, Yip, Yip, Yip, Yip.
translation - "Let's go, let's go, let's go. I want to run!"


And they're off!

6 comments:

A Free Spirit Butterfly said...

Are they having fun. Their faces don't look like it. But maybe it's because I'm cold just looking at the pictures. I keep changing my mind about moving there. On some of your post, I'm half packed and then when I see the enormous amount of snow and the people wearing coats and blankets outside, I'm thinking don't zip it just yet (lol)

Love you and thanks for coming by the picnic. Which dish was yours?

PAK ART said...

AFSB - Yes, they love it. If you could only see and hear them. They leap up and down in their harnesses, yipping and lunging, trying to go forward. The sled has to be anchored to keep them from pulling it away until the musher is ready. I brought potato salad!

crochet lady said...

Some of the dogs don't look like what I think of as typical sled dog. Will any dog work with sledding? I know the main breeds I am thinking of are Malamute and Husky.

tainterturtles said...

I loved all the doggie pictures. I feel like I'm right there in Alaska! Wish I could be there to see all the festivities.

Aunt Krissy said...

They have light skinny dogs for the fast races.

I miss that high pitched bark and the high 4 legs off the ground jump while they wait to get hooked up

PAK ART said...

To all: The malamutes are considered too large a dog for racing. They might be used in villages for freight hauling or just for family use. All the racing huskies are these lighter, thinner, yet furry dogs. Most weigh around 35-40 lbs and they are husky mixes. Although most mutts in AK seem to be mixed with husky somewhere in their linage.