Welcome back to Makin' Tracks. The word is that from Alaska to Maine the winter season is taking shape. Reports of normal weather extend all across North America. This is great news for all the mushers and sled dogs out there, especially after the last few years of poor snow conditions. This weather also provides some challenges and advantages to the hunters and their hunting dogs. We know they are enjoying it also. All in all this looks like a season that holds great promise for working dogs in the snow.

On the mushing front trails are being broken all over the place. Tourist rides are going strong, expeditions are in training, recreational and racing kennels are moving along. The race season has begun and so far no races have been cancelled to my knowledge.

Speaking of expeditions in this issue you will have a chance to hear from Arctic Quest 2003, "Four women, sixteen dogs, two sleds, one dream". This expedition team is setting out on a long journey with their dogs to challenge themselves, to learn new cultures, and provide a foundation for others to do the same.

As I sit at my desk a light snow is falling and beckoning me to come outside and play. I want to thank all of you who have contributed to Makin' Tracks. I want to invite everyone to share his or her thoughts, ideas, suggestions, and stories. Keep working those dogs.

Eric

Answers:

From Rob Lombard
The main reason I started feeding Redpaw Feed was to eliminate the need to supplement my feed with meat. I don't like the mess, storage, smell, or time consumption that mixing and feeding meat presents. I do not feed meat at all but do give the dogs whole herring snacks on the trail during long runs and during the heaviest running portion of the season.

From Eric Morris
To me this was a very interesting question and I was surprised to receive only one reply. I speak to many people and most of them use meat in their feeding programs one way or another. The uses range from using meat as small snacks up to using meat as the major diet component. There are also a variety of meats used for different applications.

We are going to leave this question open and if anyone wants to share his or her thoughts we will listen.

The snow has finally fallen here in interior Alaska. I hardly recognize our place with so much of the white stuff. The last few years we haven't been able to run on sleds out of our place before heading south for the stage races in mid-December for lack of adequate snowfall. We live up on a ridge overlooking the town of Fairbanks where the snow comes a little sooner than down in the valley. While other areas got freezing rain we were getting snow. SNOW, SNOW, SNOW!..we're so excited to finally have SNOW!!

The only downfall with so much snow is that the moose want to share our trails with us. During one night of particular heavy snowfall Gwen had an unfriendly encounter with a cow and a calf. The calf darted across her gangline, getting tripped-up in the process. It let out a squeal as it did a face plant in the snow on the other side of the gangline. The mother wasn't too happy about that and came after her team, running up and down the line trying to kick the dogs. Our pet sheltie, Little Bit, was riding on the sled with Gwen and she went after the moose, diverting its attention. Her leader, Capiche, decided to take matters into her own hands and spun the team around and took off for home. With the team running at full speed Gwen turned around to see if the moose was following. When she turned around all she saw was moose fur. The team was lit up with adrenaline and luckily the moose quit chasing after a quarter mile. Amazingly all the dogs were okay.

From the sounds of it, Mother Nature is being much more cooperative this year with mushers all over the North Country. This year we won't have any excuses to fall back on if another foreigner pulls off an Iditarod victory. With good training conditions we've been able to keep on a more steady training schedule this year. Gwen will be signing up for the Quest here any day and I just sent in my entry for the Kusko 300. Training longer this year for distance racing has certainly been a lot more time consuming than training in years past. We've already done a few camping trips with the dogs and they seem to really enjoy all being out on the trail together. With each camping trip we tweak and modify a little bit of this and that to make our routine as efficient as possible.

The dogs are holding up much better this year with the slower training speeds. Gwen set up a two-day clinic here in Fairbanks with Wes Rau. Wes is a physical therapist and musher from Oregon we stayed with while racing down south. He's a master at diagnosing and treating injuries on dogs and a leader in the field of canine physical therapy. He gave our team a good looking-over and said they're much healthier than before the Atta-Boy last year, presumably from the slower speeds we've been running this year.

We've been feeding the new 38/25 kibble and really like it. Usually we start feeding meat around October 1st but with this food we haven't had to feed meat yet. I'm excited to see how it performs in the distance races. By the looks of it, it's going to be a great addition to our feeding regimen.

Wishing you all a good training season and see you at the races,

Ken Anderson

First of all, thanks to all who responded to the last Freight Dog section article. There were lots of wonderful comments, requests and suggestions. My apologies for leaving out the Samoyed when listing freight dogs in the last article!

This issue focuses on the Inuit Sled Dog and its history, as told by Genevieve Montcombroux, Inuit Sled Dog expert. Genevieve lives in the bush north of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, with her husband Michael and approximately 29 Inuit Dogs. Her passion for the breed was sparked when she was ten years old, while reading a story book of the majestic working dog of the North. In the late 1960s, she got her first dog. This was the beginning of an on-going mission to preserve the breed. Dance teaching and writing are part of Genevieve's diverse background. In fact, the only book written on the breed, The Canadian Inuit Dog: Canada's Heritage, was written by our featured expert.

Kingmik or Qimmiq, the name the Inuit gave to his dog, native of the Arctic, and can be traced back more than 4000 years. The Inuit people migrated from central Siberia, across the Bering Bridge, and along the northern coast of Alaska and Canada and into Greenland. They went no further as they did not have boats suitable to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

As the white man reached the High Arctic at the beginning of the twentieth century, he brought with him other dogs and there was the occasional mismating. The dog was an essential part of the Inuit survival. It hunted with them, kept polar bears and musk oxen at bay and pulled the heavily-laden sleds. When the hunt failed, they and their masters had little or nothing to eat. Yet the Inuit Sled Dog (ISD) worked with a great heart. It has an affectionate, loving, happy nature. It has no hesitation engaging in a fight for his food, his territory or his female but when the opponent is beaten, they both forget their differences and they are ready to work. He is a fighter but he is not needlessly aggressive.

The ISD is a primitive dog, still very close to his wolf ancestry. Like the wolf, he recognizes the hierarchy of the pack. There is an Alpha dog and a Beta dog, as in a wolf pack. The dogs fight, although the fights may not amount to much, for their position. The Alpha or Boss dog, once established, does not start any fight, but he breaks up fights between other dogs. Occasionally, a young male will challenge him without much effect, until the Boss becomes much older. Even in the happiest, best trained team, there will be some fighting. For instance, if a female in heat saunters by, or if one gets a bone and not the others, if they get crowded either playing or working.

Although he will readily fight his fellow dog, the Inuit Dog is very friendly towards people. He is enthusiastic about playing, running and eating. His unbounded enthusiasm makes him unsuitable around children.

A mature male will weigh 90-95lbs, a female 60-65lbs. The female is a devoted, loving and gentle mother who will regurgitate food for her pups - like wolves do. The Boss will also regurgitate when his pups lick his mouth. The puppies are miniature adults in looks and in behavior.

The Inuit Dog is not for everyone. He is a working dog, not a pet. He loves nothing better than a long run. Not a sprint, but a fast steady trot, pulling a load twice his weight. He is capable of some 70 miles a day. To the unaccustomed eye, his gait may appear awkward because the back legs move in line with the front legs with a slight abduction on the forward phase of the motion. Yet, this is a very well-balanced, most efficient working stride to pull a load, over long distances.

Extremely intelligent, he learns fast but gets quickly bored with repetition. A determined owner once took his Inuit Dog to obedience classes, then to a trial. He did the first set of exercises very well. Then on the lie down, he pretended to be asleep, until he jumped several feet into the next ring to retrieve a dumbbell which he proudly took back, not to his master, but to the owner of the other dog, before leaping all the hurdles in a third ring! That was the first and last Inuit Dog in Obedience.

Explorers to the Poles regarded the ISD as a key part of their accomplishments. Yet slowly, snowmobiles made their way to the North, and this splendid dog began to decline. Although in some regions, like Greenland, it was still extensively used, in other places it disappeared completely. By the seventies, it was estimated that there were only some 200 pure specimens left in the Canadian Arctic.

At this time, a Canadian government biologist working in the Northwest Territories, William (Bill) Carpenter, sounded the alarm. After consultation with the Canadian Kennel Club and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, he embarked on a research and breeding program to save the pure Canadian Inuit Dog. He searched out the more remote northern settlements for dogs that were purebred. Some Inuit were still using dogs and had preserved their traditional ways - including the breeding of their dogs. Bill found his foundation stock in settlements of the High Arctic, the Boothia Peninsula, Melville Peninsula and in Igloolik on Baffin Island. He was able to buy the dogs with grants by the Governments of Canada and the Northwest Territories. All of the present registered dogs come from the Canadian Eskimo Dog Research Foundation in Yellowknife, capital of the Northwest Territories. However, in 1986, the Foundation ran out of funds and closed. I (Canada) started the Friends of the Inuit Dog until my meeting with Sue Hamilton (U.S.A.), when the organization became the Inuit Sled Dog International (www.mts.net/~toadhall/). The aim of the ISDI is to preserve the breed in its pure state as a working dog.

The Inuit Dog's sharp intelligence is best displayed on the trail. He does not require a groomed trail; he is just as happy ploughing his way cross-country as on the flat, snow-cushioned surface of a lake. But he senses thin ice or other dangers. The Inuit Dog always finds the trail back home even in the worst of weather and remembers a trail traveled only once before. Many stories tell of lives saved when a musher would give a command only to see his lead dog head in different direction avoiding unseen hazards of river or sea ice breaking up, or again, a musher trying to push on in a blizzard thinking a cabin lay ahead but the team pulling off the trail... straight to the cabin or to a sheltered spot where they could curl up to wait out the storm.

The Inuit Dog is loyal to his master. Often dogs that were on loan to another musher did not work well; they left their hearts behind with their true master. Brought up in the pack, as opposed to individual housing in a kennel, he will stay by his mates. This is especially true of the Alpha and Beta dogs although the Boss dog will breed with other females. The mature males are powerful, well-muscled, with a slightly standoffish air about them. They can be trained to be gentle and are always affectionate. Although they'll knock you down in their joy to see you, they will eagerly sit or lie beside you for a long time being petted.

Like all northern dogs, the Inuit Dog has a thick double coat. It comes in a variety of colors and markings, the most common being white with black ears, head or patch, cinnamon & white, black & white on the belly and/or legs, grey & buff or white. Many Inuit Dogs have the "takoolik", a white spot above each eye. and a long bushy tail which curls up and down to the side. And of course, he sheds his undercoat in the summer. The mouth has a slight down-turn on the corners, which gives to the dog a haughty appearance. A characteristic of the Inuit dog is the longer fur that grows like a mane over the neck and shoulders forming a triangle with the point towards the middle of the back.

The Inuit Dog is free from known genetic defects. The only special care needed is the large amount of daily exercise. As for nutrition, he cannot properly digest cereal-based (wheat, oats, etc.) commercial food (in the Arctic he eats seal, walrus, fish, etc.) and needs a much higher proportion of fat than that commonly found in ordinary dog food. ISDs that are fed a diet of raw meat (including organ meats), rice and fat tend to be in the upper range of the weight whereas those fed on ordinary commercial food are consistently smaller.

The Inuit Dog is becoming increasingly popular with outfitters and operators of guided tours who find him a steadfast, reliable and friendly worker to take a party on a sledding trip.

Dear Eric:

I have really enjoyed reading your newsletter and find it fascinating, educational and fun! I have been running dogs for myself since 1995, and other people since 1988. Each time out with the dogs gives me some kind of perspective on a dog's world, training techniques and maybe life in general. Learning from each other is a big advantage to trying to go it alone.

My thoughts are that we should have a column which focuses on money saving tips. Very rarely does a person do a financial analysis of what it costs to keep a team of sled dogs. Mostly, we just romanticize about mushing dogs, dive into the sport, and then are surprised by sticker shock.

I think it would be really helpful for people to learn how much it costs to start a recreational team and what it costs to keep it going. I would also like to hear from some people with professional sponsorships to see what that world is like. Then it would also be great to hear from some of the really seasoned mushers who have been able to run their dogs on a "shoestring". Money saving tips are always a big help to me. I know there are people who know how to get by with much less than I tend to spend on my dogs.

What do you think?

Thanks!

Janet Cismoski

From the editor:

We thought Janet's suggestion was a good one. It would be great for others to share their experiences on this topic so that people who want to enter dog sports have a more realistic idea of the costs involved.

You can help by sending us your estimated costs. We would also appreciate any tips you have found for saving money. We'll compile readers' responses and then share that info (anonymously) with our audience. If we get enough input we will try to make this a regular feature of this newsletter.

We've put a survey form on our website to make it easier for you. Please take a moment to share your thoughts with the rest of our readers.

Although it seems that everyone's ganglines look the same, it is quite interesting when you look closer that they are definitely NOT the same in many ways. I have done some research to determine why that is and what makes people decide to do the little changes that they do to their ganglines. Although the materials that make up the gangline play a major role in gangline choice, you will see that the way they are used is also a big factor in how individual ganglines are setup.

First lets discuss the materials out there and the general makeup of a gangline. There are three basic types: Poly rope, cable and poly rope with a cable core running down the middle. Most distance and mid-distance races require that the main gangline and necklines are made of cable to reduce the chance that a section of dogs gets loose from one of the dogs chewing the main gangline in the middle of the team. In asking around, most people wether they are recreational, sprint racers or distance racers prefer to train their dogs using a form of cable gangline for safety reasons and reduced risk of injuries and accidents during training. Sprint racers tend to put the poly gangline in place during the actual race to help reduce the overall weight of the equipment to help in speed. It should be noted that in most cases even when dealing with a cable gangline that the tug lines are almost always made of poly rope to help absorb the shock that the dogs encounter when pulling and lunging, however there are manufacturers that will custom make the tuglines with cable core if requested.

The latest equipment I noticed was reflective poly rope which aids the musher in keeping an eye on the gangline and especially the tug lines as they are running at night while at the same time providing better safety for the team and musher during night running by making them more visible to snowmobiles and other vehicles. Another great new technology is bungee necklines which ease the jerking of the dogs during stressful times like hookups, lunging during a break and tight corners.

Generally the makeup of a poly gangline is as follows:

• One or two dog section is 8" while some are 9" and made from 3/8" rope
• Necklines are usually 12" and made from 3/16" or 1/4" rope
• Tuglines are between 40" and 55" made from 3/16" or 1/4" rope
• Leader tuglines are usually around 20" made from 3/16" or 1/4" rope
• Necklines, Tuglines and leader tugs generally use anywhere from 1/4" to 5/8" Italian brass snaps with 1/4" generally seen on necklines and no smaller than 5/8" on tuglines.

Generally the makeup of a cable gangline:

The cable makeup varies but the most significant types are open braided cable and plastic coated cable. The plastic coated cable helps eliminate the sharp spots presented by the bare cable , however some are reluctant to use coated cable because the coating hides any weak spots in the cable itself. The cable could be rusted out or worn under the plastic and you might not know it until it breaks. Swivels are a must where the tuglines attach to a cable gangline giving the dogs the freedom to switch sides frequently without twisting the tuglines around the gangline. If the necklines are made of cable then they should be attached to the gangline with something that acts as a shear pin. I have seen "S" hooks used that will separate when force is applied rather than using the dogs collar as the weak link.

Care for your gangline:

Sunlight is a one of your ganglines worst enemies as it will fade the color, make them more brittle and therefore more susceptible to wear from the dirt while fall training. The brass snaps will fill with sand or gravel and will not operate when you need them to so a spray down of the rope and snaps with the hose will help prevent lockups. That is until it is freezing when the snaps will tend to get clogged with moisture from the dogs saliva or from the trail snow/slush filling them up, generally you can warm them up in your hands for a few seconds and that will free them up enough to operate, however this is why it is best to bring your gangline in the warm house to dry after your run to make sure the snaps last as long as they can and to help ensure that you can easily attach and remove the snaps from the dogs. If you are using a cable gangline make sure that you visually check it over for wear and replace any sign of frayed cable sections.

One more important piece of equipment in the gangline setup is the shockline, some sleds have a shockline built in but it is usually not enough for a team of dogs and needs the addition of a shockline attached between the sled bridle and the gangline. This shockline is intended to absorb shock in a impact situation and is not supposed to stretch under normal training situations. Now it may stretch during hookup while the sled bridle is attached to a snub post but once you are going down the trail it should not be stretching going up a hill as this is wasted energy for the dogs. So it is important to fit the shockline to the team that you are running, and what I mean is that the shockline should stretch easier when you are running a 4 dog team versus the aircraft shockline that is designed for a very large team of dogs like a distance race team or open sprint team of 14-20 dogs.

Tips & Tricks

Make the center line a different color than the tug lines or neck lines to save time in a tangle.

Make or purchase sections that are modular so that you can easily add a section or remove one to adjust to the size of the team you want to run.

Make the tuglines and necklines with loops on the ends so it is easy to replace snaps or the tugline itself into a main section.

Add additional snaps to some tuglines when you have a shorter dog to help keep the noses of the two dogs in one section nose to nose or to put one dogs nose a little further ahead to encourage the other one to pull harder to "catch up".

Play with the overall lengths of the sections and tuglines to custom fit the sections to your own dog team. Shorter sections help with mobility with larger teams on twisting trail.

What is Arctic Quest?

In February 2004, sixteen dogs, four women, and two sleds will make their way from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories to Churchill, Manitoba and raise $250,000 for an endowment fund. This fund will allow seven deserving youth to attend a winter Voyageur Outward Bound School course every year.

This expedition will create awareness of the Voyager Outward Bound School's winter program and will draw upon the strength, determination and character of the four Outward Bound instructors. This will give expedition members profound experiences to share with the students they instruct. -Editor

In 2001, Arctic Quest bought its first dog, Solo, who was expected to whelp a litter within one short month. With the arrival of her six puppies, Arctic Quest had the beginnings of its kennel. As our dream of traveling across Canada's Northwest Territories into Nunavut and Manitoba was taking shape; we began accumulating more dogs and raising scholarship funds for the Voyageur Outward Bound School (VOBS). Two years later, our goal is twofold: challenge ourselves by completing an all women's 1300 mile dog sledding expedition; and secondly, raise scholarships for low-income youth to attend a one-week dog sledding course here at Outward Bound so that they can have their own rewarding experience. But first we had to raise a dog team!

Two years ago, Tom Benson and Brian Fredericksen introduced us to Redpaw. Upon ordering, we were impressed by its low cost and easy shipping; but it wasn't until we began feeding Redpaw to our own dogs that we were convinced of its high quality. With a variety of products available we are able to adjust our dogs' needs without changing companies. Even our finicky eaters finish their Redpaw kibble and by mixing meal with fat and water, our dogs have easy treats to eat on trail. Because we are so impressed with our dogs' performance on Redpaw, this year while traversing the Canadian tundra, we'll be feeding 38/25 and also making a new snack concoction using kibble and fat.

In March 2003, we traveled to Northern Quebec to hone expedition skills on sea ice and train dogs in the windy cold weather extremes of James and Hudson Bay. Exploring the Eastern coast of the bay, we visited many Cree villages, including Natagam and Chisasibi. All of the villagers spoke English and showed great generosity and hospitality to the "girls from Minnesota". Although we did witness pressure ridges and heaving ice at river mouths and island shores, they were rare. This yielded relatively easy traveling, with the exception of strong headwinds accompanied by extreme cold and slow, wet snow. Temperatures bottomed out at -35 degrees (not including wind chill). Snow depth on the ice varied from over your hips (inland) to one to three inches out on the bay.

We spent three weeks on the ice, initially running on some snowmobile trails and then heading out to the sea ice. There were often options of running on inland snowmobile trails (locals were great about drawing them in on maps) or one could simply follow the coastline. Because we were confident with our navigation skills and traveled with a GPS, we chose not to use a local guide; however, the elders provided strategic local information about our route and we gained their respect by humbly asking for advice. Admittedly, we were an oddity with the Cree because we were the "Girls from Minnesota" and ran dogs to boot. Dog teams were a novelty to the Cree, who have replaced their traditional dog travel with snowmobiles. Our larger Inuit dogs were the favorites of the locals and often reminded the older men and women of dogs from their youth. James Bay is a beautiful area to visit and offers endless space to run dogs, but you do have to be willing to camp out in sub zero conditions. If you can tolerate the cold, sleeping under the stars guarantees you to see some of the most gorgeous sunsets and northern lights above the 60th parallel.

In January 2004, we head north to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, the start of our culminating expedition: 1300 miles by dog team from Yellowknife to Hudson Bay. Once on the ice we will travel eastward across Great Slave Lake, stretching 200 miles of frozen water east to the barrens. Connecting with the Thelon River system, we'll weave our way north east for 600 miles without a town, until we reach Baker Lake, the only Inuit community remaining inland of Hudson Bay. We'll explore the Western coast of Hudson Bay, visiting the closely linked Inuit villages including Arviat, Rankin Inlet, and Whale Cove. Four re-supply points will be used to pick up more food and equipment along the way. The remainder of our route will travel the remote sea ice and polar bear territory of Hudson Bay, arriving in Churchill, Manitoba by mid- April. During this time, we will be linking with our partner schools to update the participating students on our progress and who will be the source of scholarship students for an Outward Bound dog sledding course. This trip has been a dream for us for the last four years and we are thrilled to be finally doing it.

For more information on our expedition or about travel in James bay, please contact arctic2004@hotmail.com and or check out our website at www.arcticquest.org.

Remember, this newsletter was created for you. We encourage your input on any sporting dog related topic. If you have tips, questions, or suggestions, please send them to us.

Training Tips: training@redpawfeed.com

Dog Health or Yard Maintenance: dogyard@redpawfeed.com

Traveling with Dogs: traveling@redpawfeed.com

Feeding Strategies: feed@redpawfeed.com

Gear Reviews or Suggestions: gear@redpawfeed.com

Question of the Issue, Either your answers to the current question or to pose a question: QOTI@redpawfeed.com

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What is Mush with P.R.I.D.E.?

P.R.I.D.E. stands for Providing Responsible Information on a Dog's Environment. The relationship between sled dogs and humans is one of the oldest bonds of its kind. Modern sled dog owners are proud of their dogs as canine athletes that are bred and trained to do what they love: run as part of a team. Mush with P.R.I.D.E. supports the responsible care and humane treatment of all dogs and is dedicated to enhancing the care and treatment of sled dogs in their traditional and modern uses.