Mushing in the UK.
One of the comments from yesterdays post about my dogs mentioned the fact that dog sledding (by definition) is supposed to be in snow and it got me thinking that a lot of folk wont know a lot about mushing in the UK.
From my understanding mushing in the UK is different from many other countries. We don't have the free open spaces and our weather is a lot milder than other places therefore we can't do the distances that other countries can. Having two dogs I am limited to 3-4 miles at races and these races tend to be sprints. It is recommened only to run dogs when the temperature is less that 12ºC which limits the training months to late september though to the end of March but even yesterday is was too hot to run the dogs as it was a balmy 16ºC.
Becuase of the lack of snow we usual use our land rigs to run our dogs. These are usually 3 wheeled "chariots" like in the photos in my last post but there are also 4 wheeled tilter rigs that steer like a sled and scooters for running 1 or 2 dogs.
here is a photo of my dogs being run on a scooter at the end of a 3 mile run. This is how I started out running with them before I got my van and my rig. they are great for people with only one or two dogs that don't have the space or money for a rig.
Running dogs can be difficult logistically in this country too. Some people have trouble finding a place they are allowed to train their dogs. In Scotland we are lucky that there are "right of access" laws which permits us to basically go anywhere we like as long as its not a motorised vehicle but people in England need permits to train their dogs in the forests and other public spaces and getting permits to some places is like finding hens teeth.
Despite all these difficulties, mushing is one of the fastest growing sports in the UK and I love being a part of it.
Here is a photo of my dogs pulling a traditional wooden sled on one of the rare occasions we had enough snow to use one:
Until next time... Cat.x
The Mushing rigs you show I think most folk over here associate with Just training. There was a Disney movie out a long time ago that I remember that showed the use of Mushing rigs! cant find the title of it now, on of the dogs was a tiny terrier...cute film though Highly improbable LOL
ReplyDeleteI live in Canada. We are used to seeing sled dogs here, in winter. The neighboring town has a mushing competition every winter. There's lots of space to run, especially along the frozen river.
ReplyDeleteI lived in Nome, Alaska for a year, and got to see the Ididarod races. That was fa-nominal. Your huskies are beautiful.
Yes Tia, i've seen versions of our land rigs used for summer training, its just that the snow here is so irregular we use them for competing too.
ReplyDeleteI have done some long distance dog sledding in Norway for charity and I loved it, it was totally different to how we do things in the UK. I also have a friend who has done the Iditarod twice. I don't think I would have the stamina for that though!