This is how WE raise and train sled dogs for tours at Husky Holiday.
If you are not used to the kind of dogs powering the sleds along the trails, you will probably be as surprised as most guests coming to our kennel to experience how loving these huskies are. Amongst the first comments we get to hear is about how they are a lot smaller than expected. Then somebody pulls out a harness and the excitement about the possibility of being hooked up in front of a rig is beyond comprehension. Are we going? Am I coming with? Please take me-me. These athletes are ready to move with a power, speed and endurance which move us from amazement to respect.

Breeding-Feeding-Training
Behind this is a lot of hard work and a basic love, understanding and care for the animals. It all started hundreds (thousands) of years ago when the Eskimos pioneered breeding dogs for the purpose of pulling. The most frequently used sled dogs these days are the Alaskan Huskies. The web is full of information on the Alaskan Husky which is a multi purpose dog with a great ability to run fast and has endurance to even make it all the way in one stretch from Anchorage to Nome-1800 kilometres/1100 miles in the Iditarod, covering some 200 k or more per day. The Siberian Husky is a commonly used dog with a number of excellent qualities, is a registered breed and is often kept as a pet as well as performing in races and work.

The puppies are for us the highlight of what we do.
We breed a couple of litters every year. The selecting of males and females to be used is a source of many thoughts and discussions. In order to have the best of breeding material we see the need of buying dogs from kennels with the best possible available long distance competition dogs.  Our L-litter after Asjera and Davies are coming up 8 months in June 06. During last winter about a hundred visitors went along for puppy walks with the L-s and us– which is fun but also the most serious training you can imagine. Pups run free in the woods and over fields in the deep snow. They develop enormously in every respect during the months before we put them in harness.

Most mushers like to have the puppies in the spring/early summer, so do we. For many it’s a time of year when one has more time to be with the pups and they can then be trained like the other sled dogs during winter. The spring born pups gives the mother time to rejuvenate before the fall training starts in August. All to do with timing.

For us it is also nice to have a litter born here sometimes in the autumn. A litter of husky pups brings a lot of pleasure to our guests. Few have ever had the experience of a pack of 4 months pups roaming around their feet on walks in the snow. The last tours we do before we put them in harness are done walking them on a leash. Then we let them do the opposite to what most people consider being good dog training: they shall pull on the lead. This they do automatically when their forward movement is restricted for the first time. We put them in harness at the age of about 6 months. If we have snow and guests here, we pull out the stand-up sled, which accommodates 3 helpers. We don’t make much scene about the whole issue, but it is very useful to have some people around the first time. We put in 4-6 pups together with the veteran huskies and drive off very slowly. Pups normally have full power on the tug line from the word go running and pulling hard as if they have never done anything else. First round is short, 2 – 3 kilometres, but after this day, which is always a great event; it’s just a question of finding the possibility to pack in as much training as possible to build these fantastic creatures into the greatest sled dogs in the world. Every litter will be the best.

Feeding of the pups is very important. Well, you can imagine the consequences if one doesn’t.
We start with a meat and fish mix going together with a chicken based kibble from Arktis/Söcla when they are 2-3 weeks old. Our feeds work well, and we stick to the same diet for the dog’s entire life. We don’t put all the eggs in one basket, nor do we make many changes. Stability, high quality foods and good feeding procedures are the safest ways of keeping our dogs and us out of trouble. It is not as if to say feeding of dogs is simple, it is on the contrary share artistry making sure they are fed individually to keep the right weight and condition
Huskies have an enormous ability to consume and digest large quantities of fodder when they are put to endurance tests. We do not, with the type of work the dogs are put to here, come up in the 10.000 calories per dog/day that they talk about in the Iditarod. Amounts will vary a lot during the season depending on work and temperatures, but to give an indication we recon we use about a kilo of fresh meat, fish and dry fodder per day.

In the feed plan is what we call watering included. The dogs do not drink fresh clean water in the winter, but we give them a warm soup made of mixed meats and water every morning and most times after runs. It’s all about keeping the dogs well hydrated which involves teaching them to drink what we consider adequate at any time.

Husky dogs sleep outdoors all year round-have a little hut filled with a thick layer of insulating straw on the floor as shelter. That keeps them conditioned for going out on tours in any temperature. I have the simple belief that it does both humans and dogs good to live outdoors in relatively clean air as much as possible. That is one way of securing ones good health.

Mid summer is a period of rest and recovery for hard working sled dogs. One can not train the dogs in harness when the temperature is above 15 degrees C, it should preferably not be above 10C. The warmer time can still be a positive one by training obedience and agility. We try to let groups of dogs run free in the dog yard for an hour or so every day. All while we look forward to cold and winter again.

Joe Runyan does in his book “Winning strategies for distance mushers” introduce the expression MUSHDOM in connection with dog sledding. Not that it tells me much, but lets get down to the nitty gritty-the hard work of steady training - building the huskies stamina and muscles, rather than me going over into history as one who spent his life talking about dogs and driving. The first and best thing to do is not to take on too many projects not involving dog training from August onwards, like building houses to be ready before the winter season starts. The second is to throw out the television. Thirdly break the attachment with the computer screen. Fourth, and in our case maybe the most important; get some good handler or kennel helper to take turns in the dog yard and with the training. When all this is said-make no mistake-the training is great. Many superlatives to be used about the training. I stick to my idea of 50 dogs involving 8 hours work and 4 hours pleasure per day. Who else on this earth have so much fun?

How do we actually train when we don’t have snow? We use a quad bike-a 4 wheeler-also called ATV-all terrain vehicle as a sled substitute during what they call the dirt training. With ATV you are in the best of control of your team when you line them up in front of the machine.  A quad offers possibilities for a very controlled training regime where you can let the dogs pull this quad very heavily, or give throttle and them run light and fast. One can even stop and give the dogs a break and some water en route without running a risk for the team disappearing. Breaks are efficient.

The size of team to be hooked up varies. It’s not really important either. Just get the dogs out training.
We are lucky enough to have almost unlimited forest trails available for training. I used to take the dogs on runs towing the quad through the village. This was excellent training. A perfect chance for old Davies to host one of his many seminars for potential leaders. Meeting cars, dogs, cats, horses, people, turn left, right, passing obstacles is all valuable experiences for the huskies. But when we got a new neighbour who decide to start his own Zoo of free running husky prey, we chose to drive directly into the woods. Bears and moose seem to keep out of our ways.

We start very carefully after the summer break driving only 5-10 k, and only every second day the first week. But we increase with a few kilometres every week until we are at a top of some 30 k before we are on snow in November. How fast do they run? I don’t know? The speedometer on the quad shows anything between 5 and 25 k an hour, I often use an hour and half on an 18 kilometres run. We take the time to water and rest the dogs on the tour. We also make sure we move the dogs around in the team, try new leaders and give the dogs a chance to pull on either side of the gang line. The plan is that each husky dog shall run 5 days a week, not rigidly, but the target is that all our dogs shall get a mighty lot of training before our tourists arrive at the end of November.

In the period of transformation from dirt training to snow covered trails mushers have a challenging period in the late autumn. Temperatures can vary from quite warm during the day to an extreme low of -20 C at night. We get some rain, sleet and snow which results in dangerously slippery ice-surfaces.

The conditions often require booties in the fall. The feet can simply get serious damages from running on gravel/dirt tracks without the protection of a little bootie. We need to use some booties during the winter also, and one might as well make the dogs used to putting on the damn things. And make an old back used to standing bent over dogs when putting on the same damn things. The feet of the dogs don’t seem to have improved over the years since booties are better than using good feet as criteria for choice of studs. Or is it?

Harnesses are important. We use 3 different types of harnesses, X-backs, R-X-backs and type of tracking harness. We often have to run through mud, gravel puddles and water dams. We rinse and dry the harnesses after each training. If we don’t they are like sandpaper rubbing the dogs chests from which open sores can appear. Ideally the harnesses shall be as good as new, kept clean and dry and fit the dog as perfectly as possible.

Snow-that is what it is all about in the end. Put in as much training as possible, as many dogs out pulling the sleds as you have time and possibility to take every day. Over-doing it is hardly a problem for us, but we hear about it happening to long distance competition mushers who set high goals for themselves and their team of husky dogs. The risk of getting injured and burnt out dogs is much bigger if you are unable to train steadily and build the dogs up gradually. We will run our first Mushing Survival tours from Funesdalen in late November. It better be lots of snow by then.

What would we like to do more of?
Train, of course. I would actually like to load the dogs up in the trailer and the truck and go places for training. It would be good for all of us to get out from time to time. We will see-training our 50 mad hatters is in itself time consuming, but also very rewarding.

What changes should be made?
I hope to get the most necessary practical items such as building new dog pens ( Swedish know it all authorities do no longer look between their fingers with us having the dogs on chains), painting the guest house and finishing off the flat we shall live in, out my system so as to be able to concentrate on training dogs from August 06. A friend told me about how he lined up a big team, took with a lunch for himself and his dogs and set off for a six hour ride. Stopped out in the bush somewhere, parked the team, gave the dogs a good snack of salmon, made a fire, grilled some sausages. He made a tour out of the training. We love our animals, and would like to do more of what they love: run and pull.

Did you read all of it? Then you have seen how Kim and Bergsvein raise and train their husky dogs.
Lots have been said and written about the topics taken up here. Any method is disputable, so are our methods for raising pups and training huskies to be first class sled dogs. Sure, there are numbers of ways leading to Rome, and we are constantly revising ours, but one thing stands; Huskies can run and run almost endlessly if they are well trained. We have so far not had the possibility of testing our teams against others; it has not been an important issue. The commitment to provide best quality dogsledding adventures for our guests has taken all our time. Some of you have chosen to join us in the care and the training of sled dogs at Husky Holiday both in spring time and during the fall.
Please get in touch with us if you would like to come here to experience the happy hard working huskies.

/Bergsvein