What Is Dog Sled Racing?
Dog sled racing is a winter sport that happens in the Arctic region in the United States, Canada, Russia, Greenland, and some European countries. Dog sled racing is a sport where a team of dogs runs along a snow-covered cross-country winter course.
What Dogs Do They Use?
They use Alaskan huskies. They are known for their tough, durable feet, a coat that could withstand cruel and extreme weather, and with there want to pull something. Most of the dogs weigh between 45 to 55 pounds and the dogs are easy to train.
What Do They Feed The Dogs?
The dogs’ diet helps them prepare for the races that the dogs will run in. The owners of the dogs feed the dogs high-quality dry commercial dog food that has proper protein, fat, and carbohydrates.
What Type Of Races Are There?
The 30 miles or less are defined as sprints. The mid-distance are between 50 and 200 miles. The distance races are between 200 and 1,000 miles or more.
How Many Dogs Can Be On a Team?
Teams consist of 4 to 10 dogs with 18 or more used for some races. Most races run from point to point along the back roads and trails. A team of 6-8 dogs can pull a sled and run at speed more than 20 miles per hour. Teams start at intervals and race against the clock
Is Dog Sled Racing Dangerous?
Yes, dog sled racing can be dangerous. There have been over 180 dogs that have lost their lives racing. They have been killed in many ways and most of those ways were preventable ways. Most of the dogs died by suffocating after getting trap under the snow, getting hit by snowmobiles, and succumbed to acute pneumonia and exertional myopathy, in other words, running to their death.
What Is The Hardest And The Longest Race?
The hardest dog sled race is the Yukon Quest, because of the harsh conditions and that there is a lot to wildlife on the trail so the dogs and the musher have to deal with wolves and moose well they are trying to get to the checkpoint. The trail is 1,000 miles long and the temperatures are between -30 and -40 degrees or lower.
This is a picture of the Yukon Quest trail.
The longest dog sled race is the Iditarod trail, that trail is 1,100 miles. The start line is at Anchorage and the finish line is at Nome. The trail crosses two mountain ranges (Alaska and the Kuskokwim ranges), runs along the Yukon River for 150 miles, they cross frozen waterways, including the pack ice of Norton Sound. With the critics in the first three decades, 114 dogs died on the trail, but no top team has ever lost a dog.
There are 12-16 dogs on each team. In the early days of the race, the race took 20 days to finish, but now most teams finish in less than 10 days.
