While in Yellowknife I had a chance to ride in a dog sled.
The kennels were several hundred square meters of chain link fence and hyper-excited dogs. Also lots of poop. I’d say there were at least 100 dogs in the place.
Twelve dogs were harnessed to our sled, which carried 5 passengers and one driver. The sled itself was a long plastic base with a large canvas sack on top of it, in which we sat.
I learned a few important things about dog sledding that day:
- 12 dogs pulling 6 people don’t go that fast. Maybe at a quick jogging pace, despite all their canine enthusiasm.
- The key to pulling a sack of humans is maintaining momentum. Sometimes we’d stop and the driver could just shout at the dogs to get them going again. One time though, the best time, I (as the person sitting in the front) had to get out and help the driver pull the sled to get it moving, before then diving back into my designated spot in the moving sled. Fun times!
- Flying over bumps in the snow in a large sack on a bit of plastic, it can be rough.
- Some dogs can poop while running!
- Almost all dogs can nip at each other, deliberately bump each other and otherwise interact socially while running.
All in all, a fun adventure. I’d recommend it!