Thursday, June 10, 2010

Alaska- where the men are men and women win the Iditarod! Today we went to the Husky Homesteader Tour. I believe Carol and Ray did this when they were here with Princess Cruises. All of the people on the bus with us were from the cruises. But we had a coupon for 20% off because we had a land book!
In the Iditarod the dogs are the athletes, not the people. The people don't have to be extremely muscular or healthy. But they need to be able to do with little sleep. It is run from Willow Creek in Fairbanks to Nome, Alaska the first Saturday in March. The trip takes 9 - 14 days and is 1100 miles long. The route is staked out with iridescent wooden stakes; but some dogs have done this SO many times they know the route without the stakes. Ahead of time the mushers ship food out to their stopping places because it is too much to carry for the whole trip.The only things that they actually take with them in the sled is food for the musher and the dogs, extra batteries, sled parts and boot liners and mittens for the dogs paws. The sleds have GPS on them just for the audience to follow them.Usually at the different camps where they stop for the night there are about 35 - 40 veterinarians who leave their jobs to be there for the dogs. Before they can run, the dogs receive a complete exam with EKG, blood work and orthopedic exam and they have a microchip installed in their necks. The sled is loaded with a cooker to melt snow for water and to mix food for the dogs. They stop every 2 hours for a potty break and a snack. For dinner they eat 100 pounds of beef, moose and caribou. The magic number of dogs is 9; but they usually take 16 so they have extras if needed. But the sled runs just as fast with 9 dogs as it does with 16. Sometimes dogs are sent home with sore shoulders or when their needs differ from that of the group. The dogs need 1 hour of resting for each hour of running, and 12 hours of sleeping and eating. So they usually do 6 hours running 6 hours resting. Their speed is about 10 mph; but after 6 hours running you have to convince the dogs to rest because they just love running. Then the musher has to give them straw for a bed, feed them and massage their feet., repair the sled if needed. Out of the 6 hours off, 4 and a half are spent on chores. You get 90 minutes of sleep.
This is the ranch of Jeff King whoi has won the Iditarod 4 times now. They have 65 Alaskan Huskies and 4 Border Collies. We didn't see Jeff King, just his wife, Erica, and 2 daughters. Jeff came from California when he was 19 to work for the summer at Denali Park. He stayed and never went back. He started raising his own Iditarod team His wife was from New York and was working in Minnesota when she came here for the summer to work at the Park. They literally ran into each other with their teams of mush dogs. And the rest is history, as they say. They have 2 daughters who are very adept at dog mushing. The girls were born at this ranch and were on the mushing sleds by the time they were 3 weeks old! For the last 15 years they didn't even have electricity. They have gotten that in the past 2 years. The girls went to school in Healy, a small coal mining town to the north with a K - 12 school of 200 students. The 1 daughter just graduated this year in a class of 14 students! The schools in Alaska are very well funded and equipped because of the oil funds going to education. When the temperature gets to -50 degrees the students who don't live in the towns are allowed a "snow day" because the buses can't run. School is never cancelled and they never even calculate wind chill!
I was able to hold 1 of the 2 month old puppies, a girl Prada- named after the designing divas. She was so sweet! Daddy only took pictures. These Alaskan Huskies are bred to run and deliver their pups in the summer because it's so cold here. When the dogs are retired from running the Iditarod, they are sold to the amateur teams and families that run dogs. These dogs are bred to run and they have to do it to be healthy and happy. They have a retired husky named Salem who won the 2006 Iditarod that helps with the other dogs' training and he sires new pups. Alaskan Huskies are not AKC registered like the Siberian Huskies. The only requirements to be an Iditarod musher is to be very sociable and adapted to the northern climate. Their ancestors came over the land bridge from Siberia. They have a double coat system of fur: the top layer is greasy so it is water repellent and the underfur is soft and cushioned to keep them warm. Their fur is so thick that they cannot stay inside a house for very long before they start panting. They also have to eat lots of calories to keep warm; usually for a 50# dog they need to eat 10,000 to 15,000 calories a day in the winter. So their food is extremely high protein and high fat; a normal dog that is not a work dog could not eat this food. This is equivalent to over 50 Big Macs.
The sleds weigh 50 pounds, supplies weigh 100 pounds and then the musher. So the dogs can pull 300 to 400 pounds and you usually only need 9 to 10 dogs to effectively pull this weight. The dogs aren't strained at all. They have placed a tug monitor on them and each dog only pulls 4 to 6 pounds a piece. Remember, the sled glides along the ice. These dogs are not bred for pulling, but for long distance marathon running. They only use females for 10 to 20 % of the team because they can go into heat during the race and then the male dogs will not cooperate. One time Jeff King had a female leader that went into heat during the race. He had to send her home and put another in her place. The rules require that all of the dogs you will use in the race have to start the race. Therefore, most of the time they all start with 16 dogs with some being weeded out when they can't run or keep up. All of the dogs have to be running at the same pace; they cannot have needs different from the group or they'll pull the whole group down. The first dogs are the lead dogs which are extremely important. These dogs display leader qualities whent hey are pups, so they are groomed for this position. The middle pairs of daogs are called swing dogs, they give the most power. The last group of 2 before the sled are called the wheel dogs. They control the sled which is very important.
In the summer they still run everyday. They don't pull a sled instead they pull an ATV around the lake or they swim in the lake single file and it helps keep them cool. The water is still pretty cold so they wear neoprene vests to keep warm but not life jackets. They are born being able to swim. Sometimes they are so strong that they have to put a motor behind them in reverse to hold the dogs back.
In 2006 a man started running the Iditarod at 50 years of age and won. He still does it every year so far. The first woman to win the Iditarod was Libby Riddles. Then Susan Butcher won in '86, '87, '88, '90. We went to her husky ranch earlier this week. There are sled races run every weekend in the winter, it's just the Iditarod is the most famous.
We went to eat at the Salmon Bake and it was delicious. Daddy had fired halibut with shredded cabbage, chopped tomatoes, cilantro and onions. I had a bison burger. Yum!!! They name their streams and creeks oddly: Fox, Antler, Dragonfly, bison gulch, iceworm gulch, etc. Byn the wat, Alaska's state bug is the Dragonfly! It should be the mosquito!!!
After the Husky dogs we decided to try canoeing on the lake close to our RV Park. If we are going to get a canoe( and we have been looking at them) we need to be sure I like them and will go with Daddy in one. So we went out for an hour or two. They gave us 2 life preservers. We thought we would see some moose along the waterway because they like the wetlands areas. We saw some ducks, only 2, and they were sitting on a rock. Well, Daddy decided he wanted to find his water bottle on the floor of the canoe behind him. I have never been in canoe before, but thought we were doing pretty good. I had the camera in my hand taking pictures and the cell phone in a plastic bag in my pocket. Daddy leaned back to grab the water and he said I freaked out. All I know is we were both in the lake and the canoe was full of water. But I saved the camera! Not the cell phone. Now Daddy has to buy another cell phone. This is the 3rd phone since the beginning of March! And he had promised me he wouldn't tip the canoe over!!!! So now we are soaking wet and that lake was COLD!!!! I don't think I like canoes. Give me a rowboat instead!