Hike! You Huskies

The old desert trail winds its way silently around the mesquite and palo verde trees and stretches out across the flat land, waiting to be warmed by an early morning sun.

Close your eyes and you can almost hear the long ago voices of men working straining horse and mule teams through the ruts, the creak of leather harness and the crushing grate of iron shod wheels.

But on this brisk winter morning no lumbering vehicles are using the old path. And instead of the raucous-voiced cuss of the teamster your ears have caught a new and strange sound.

The sharp command of "Hike! Hike!" shatters the stillness, as a three-wheel cart drawn by a barking team of huge sled dogs rounds the bend and races past a saguaro cactus.

The Desert Dog Drivers are at it again! Sled dog racing in Arizona? Yes, and surprisingly, it isn't new here. It actually got its start several years ago when some members of the Central Arizona Malamute Association, the Arizona Samoyed Club, the Siberian Husky Club of Greater Phoenix and the Southern Arizona Husky Club of Tucson became interested in sled racing and training dogs for team competition.

Undaunted by the lack of snow in the Southwest, the dog "mushers" began training and conditioning their dogs with desert racing, the animals pulling threewheel carts instead of sleds. So popular did it become that last year members of a segment of the breed clubs formed their own group: the Desert Dog Drivers.

In addition to serving as a rallying point for dog mushers, the club tries to hold two major racing events each year.

One such race recently sponsored by the group was a two-day competitive event held at Mormon Lake, south of Flagstaff, which attracted teams from California, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and even from as far away as Oregon and Montana.

In these kinds of races teams start one at a time at regular intervals. And each team is timed separately. This helps avoid a tangle of teams on the narrow parts of the trail and allows each team to set its own pace. The fastest team not necessarily the first one in is the winner.

Weight pulling events added to the variety at Mormon Lake. Tested one at a time, each dog pulled a designated weight 20 feet in 90 seconds. Winners of these tests of strength sometimes pull more than 650 lbs. of dead weight.

But even though everyone looks forward to these trips to snow country, they also know that a goodly portion of time must be spent in the desert training the dogs to obey voice commands and to run well together.

"Mush, you huskies!" that famous cry of Sgt. Preston of the Yukon, who thrilled millions of kiddies on radio and TV with his half-hour epics of northland daringdo, is out. Sorry. To modern sled dogs the command has no meaning at all.

Today these dogs respond to a sharp forward command, such as "Hike!" and an order to stop.

The lead dog, the most important member of the team, responds to "Gee" (right) and "Haw" (left) commands, basing the degree of his turn on the sound of the driver's voice. He also learns to obey "straight" in confusing terrain, and "no" for any potential wrong turn, in addition to other specific commands.

But that isn't all he needs to know. This highly trained animal is also responsible for setting the pace (over 15 miles per hour when trail conditions are good) and controlling the direction of the team. In no uncertain terms he can make or break a race.

Then after a dog is trained to lead he must be matched with others to form a team. Also no easy chore.

"Dogs are a lot like people. They have special talents as well as likes and dislikes," says musher Mike Neel of Phoenix. "It takes quite a bit of experimenting to find the right combination of dogs who are willing and able to work well as a team."

Neel, himself, spent a lot of time training his Samoyed as a lead dog, and created a working team by matching her with two other "Sams."

Traditionally, the breeds sought for this sport have been the Siberian Husky, Alaskan Husky, Malamute and Samoyed. But often other breeds are used, too.

"We have no restrictions on breeds entered in any of our events," says Carl Noggle, President of the Desert Dog Drivers. "Ordinary pet dogs can race as long as they like to run and are sound. Some professional teams have even used Irish Setters, German Shepherds, Coonhounds, Labradors and assorted mixes."

But whether or not they have a team of "Sams" or matched coons, for most club members sled dog racing has become a family affair. And almost every weekend, fall through spring, you'll find them gathered somewhere in the desert along with visitors who have come to watch the training sessions and cheer at the carting races.

"You don't need to have a purebred dog to enjoy these events," says Mrs. Alan Bown of Phoenix. "We'd like to see more people come out with just their pets and see if their dogs would like to run. It's really a lot of fun."

"And it's quite different from the pressures of obedience trials and show ring activities," adds Nancy Thurston, a Phoenician who raises Siberian Huskies.

Fun it most certainly is, for families and for dogs, too. But a few members, such as Carl Anderson and Clyde McKoy, both of Phoenix, have taken the sport one step further and entered their teams in regional competitions out of state."These professional races have different categories of competition," says McKoy. "There are three-dog classes, which run a two to four-mile course, a five-dog class on a five to seven-mile trail and an open dog class in a twentyfive-mile race. And the prize money can run anywhere from $500 to $50,000!"

But for those content with simpler pleasures there are prizes, too, like the pure enjoyment of raising, training and running fine sled dogs, the cost for which can be adjusted to suit most any pocketbook. Sure, some dog mushers maintain kennels filled with costly canines, but most are content with much less. Many often combine the use of dogs and equipment to save money. And you can make your own training cart and sled, complete with steering gear and brakes, for around $100 to $400. The rest of the expense comes in the form of harness, leashes and dogs.

And the cost of dogs doesn't have to take a big bite out of your budget, either. "A person can start racing with a pair of mongrels or pay as much as $1500 for a trained lead dog," says one dog musher.

"But no matter what kind of dogs or equipment you have," she adds, "you're faced with one other big expense, too. And that's your time, because you have to be willing to put a lot of hours into training, if you expect to develop a good team."

Most of the Desert Dog Drivers do their training during early morning weekend sessions, both in the Phoenix, and Tucson area. But some are fortunate enough to live at the desert's edge where there is room to run more often. Here they can maintain a daily training schedule, running a five-dog team for three to five miles each morning before the sun rises.

This may not always make drivers giggle with glee. But the dogs themselves seem happy when in harness. Running in the desert, they usually fill the air with excited barking amidst a flurry of tailwagging.

For even though the trophies may be won at the big races in the snow, they seem to know that it is here on the desert trail that most of the work must be done.

(Left) The Husky is the traditional breed for dog sled racing; but there are no restrictions.

(Below) While trophies are won at races in the snow country, the real work is done here on the desert trail.