My dog, Bloon, is a six-year-old giant, fluffy husky rescue who has the eyes of an angel but the energy of a rabid raccoon.
She. Never. Stops. And, especially during the winter when it's dark and cold, it can get tough to find ways to keep her tame and me sane. But over the years, I discovered one way to truly tire her out (and also have fun in the process) is skijoring. It’s a winter sport where you essentially tie yourself to your dog while on skis and they pull you down a trail, kind of like mushing for one.
And even though I've been doing it for five years now — I've still got a lot to learn. So for Alaska Public Media’s new series, Alaska Survival Kit, I chatted with professionals to learn how to make the quirky sport fun for both you and your pup.
1. Don’t force it
Kelsi Johnson got her start skijoring after she adopted her first of three huskies more than a decade ago. Her advice is to make sure your dog wants to pull you.
A good indicator is if your dog often tries to pull on walks and loves to run around. Borrowing a harness from a friend is a great way to test your dog’s drive before purchasing gear.
It’s also important to wait until your dog is at least a year old, so you don't strain their growing bones and they don’t develop any joint issues later in life.
Johnson found out pretty quickly that her dog, Loki, was into it.
“I put him in a harness, fully prepared for him not to pull or do anything, and he took off, and we had a blast,” she said.
Since then, she’s been hooked. Now she’s the co-president of the Alaska Skijoring and Pulk Association, a nonprofit based in Fairbanks that promotes recreational and competitive skijoring in the interior.
“I think it's something really cool that I can share with my dogs. It gets them exercising. It lets them run at the speed that they want,” she said. “They always have this sort of stupid, happy look on their face when they're out there skijoring.”
2. Get the right gear for you and your pup
The type of cross-country skiing you do with your dog depends on preference and comfort level, but generally, skijoring with skate skis will be much faster than with classic skis.
Besides skis, you need a good harness for your dog, a sturdy line that connects you to your dog (preferably with a bit of bungee in it) and a good belt with a quick-release mechanism, in case your dog gets distracted. Johnson said a half-harness or a traditional X-back harness are great options to try.
3. Train your dog (and yourself)
It’s in your best interest to do what you can to avoid any unnecessary squirrel-induced wipeouts or running into trees at full speed.
Kelsi says teaching your dog some basic verbal cues can save you from a lot of wipeouts. She says a lot of people use “gee” for right and “haw” for left, but anything goes.
“As long as your dog understands that, and you've trained them to go through and learn that is what those commands mean,” she said.
4. Prepare for your dog to ... you know, be a dog
Dogs will be dogs — and that’s part of the fun of skijoring. But it also means things might not go as smoothly as you’d like.
Take it from Becky Shaffer, who is a part of the Anchorage Skijoring Club. She said skijoring with her dogs, Kai and Axe, is always the highlight of her winter. But, even after more than 15 years of skijoring, she still has challenging experiences.
“I mean, there's the classic, you have two dogs, and they run on each side of a light pole or a bollard, and then they hit the end of their line, and they kind of bonk together, but depending on how fast you're going, you hit the pole,” she said, laughing.
Bonus tip: Pick up your dog’s poop (please)
Tristan Knutson-Lombardo, the executive director of the Juneau Nordic Ski Club, said a beautiful, snowy trail can transform into a brown and stinky slip and slide all too quickly.
“Just being good stewards of the poop that our dogs leave behind and picking it up, knowing that there's going to be lots of people that come after us to use this trail,” he said.
So, you do your part and I’ll do mine.
This story is part of a new series at Alaska Public Media called Alaska Survival Kit, your guide to making the most out of life in the 49th state.
We want to hear from you: What other topics should our team tackle? Email news@alaskapublic.org or fill out the form below.