Monday, February 1, 2016

Racing.


February 1.  January is gone.  And we do not yet have a luge run for a driveway.  All is right with the world.

So.  Today is Rachel Scdoris’ birthday.  Recognize the name?  Actually, I had to do a bit of homework on this one, but it yielded an interesting story.  Rachel is a dog musher from the US.  And what is very interesting about Rachel - in 2006 she completed the 1,000 mile Iditarod Dog Sled race across Alaska.  Which is a huge accomplishment.  But what makes it even more huge – Rachel was the first LEGALLY BLIND person to finish the race!

Since then she has also competed in the Paralympic World Championships in tandem cycling.  Today she and her husband run Sled Dog Tours in Oregon. 

My human went dog sledding in British Columbia, Canada 5 years ago.  While she was initially a bit taken aback with the fact that the dogs live outdoors – in small,  wooden houses – she quickly realized that they are well cared for – and they LOVE pulling a sled. 


 The tour company that my human visited had a very good reputation and the dogs were checked regularly by a veterinarian.  The owner was a man with more than 30 years experience working with dogs and racing.  
  
The sledding experience was one my human will NEVER forget.  No – she didn’t actually operate the sled – she just sat and went for the ride.  And what a ride it was!  It was actually a rather rainy, icy day – and boy did that sled go.  Or it certainly FELT like it was going crazy fast.  Here’s a short clip from that ride!


Although there have been teams of purebred Siberian huskies used in racing, most of the dogs seem to be a mix of several fast, medium sized breeds.  But no PONs as far as I can tell.  Paxton COULD pull a sled – but I doubt it could win any race.  He’d be too busy stopping to eat snow.  And a team of PONs…well they would no doubt go where THEY wanted to go.  And they would have to be wearing special snowsuits to keep the snowballs of their coats.  And all the other sled dogs would laugh at them.  While we DO have the speed and the brains to outmaneuver our competition, I’m just not thinking it would work.  Yes – I think I’ll stick to being a spoiled house dog.  But I DO admire those who compete in the sport – human and canine in a TRUE partnership.     

Now.  Excuse me while I sneak into the DFZ and curl up by the fireplace….

Happy birthday Rachel!

©  Linda Wozniak

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