dogs dogs dogs dogs dogs

I got to see sled dogs for the first time today while sitting at lunch! I could see the morning handling class have go of it in the parking lot and my heart started beating faster just seeing them trot by for a second, because I hadn't seen any yet and I knew I'd be out there with them in a couple hours.

The handling class was good. Heard from the start and restart handling coordinators (I'll just be handling at the restart) about logistics and then from a past Iditarod musher about what to expect and how to handle the team.

(the photos got posted backwards, so start at the bottom)

Going onto one runner to avoid the parked car.

Pausing for instruction.

Even just on this little run around the parking lot, the dogs are just fighting to pull.

Getting the dogs hooked onto the line.

This is only a 10-dog line. The ones we'll be handling at the restart are full 16 dog lines, which are around 84 feet long.

The musher's dog truck full of kennels.

The dogs' power and energy is phenomenal and it's so clear that these dogs just simply love pulling a sled. Each dog's personality still comes through, though, and dogs needed to be switched around based on who was overly excited, peeing and barking at everyone, and who was shy and liable to just lie down in submission to the dog next to it.