Flagstaff is Going to the Dogs

FLAGSTAFF GOES TO THE DOGS

Text by Dan Dagget Photographs by Christopher C. Everett "Mush, you huskies!"

Many a fan of old-time radio or early television can clearly recall the cry of Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, protagonist of a serial drama of the same name, ringing out over the airwaves as he sped across some frozen tract of the Far North.

Sergeant Preston would have felt right at home in wintertime Flagstaff.

There, impressive numbers of wintersports folk are hitching up dogs to their sleds and mushing out on the snow trails that crisscross the foothills of Arizona's highest mountain. All for pure enjoyment.

At the heart of this old and new sport is a character right out of one of those classic radio thrillers. Dressed in a kneelength red wool coat that looks as if it had been cut from a Hudson's Bay Company trade blanket, James McVay fulfills the appearance of a dogsled freighter. That's just what he was for 15 years, thriving on unrelenting isolation, brutal

As the mushers grew in number, the sport became a natural for the newest event on Flagstaff's calendar: the Winter Festival, with visiting racers from California and Colorado filling out the ranks.

At a recent running, I talked with some of McVay's students. Each, I discovered, was a die-hard sled dog racing devotee who thought nothing of caring for and feeding from three to thirteen hungry animal athletes.

"I want to take my dogs on a moose study that my husband and I have been hired to do in Maine," said Colleen Marzluff, a recent graduate of NAU's biology department. "Now that our dogs can pull, they'll be able to come along and help."

McVay had also taught the Marzluffs the art of skijoring, a Norwegian sport in which a dog (or horse) pulls a skier rather than a sled over the snow-an activity they'd also find handy in tracking moose.

"How do the dogs feel about racing?" I asked another McVay student.

"Some of them love it, and some don't," said Cheri Pleger, who took up the sport when her husband was transferred from Phoenix to Flagstaff. "One of my collies really enjoys pulling, and the other would rather stay home where it's warm."

One individual who first had doubts about using dogs for sled racing was Tom Holden, recreation land management officer for the Coconino National Forest, which administers the land on which the annual race is run.

"When we were first asked to issue a permit for this event, one of my major concerns was the possibility of cruelty to animals," Holden said. But in monitoring the races, he has not seen any evidence of such practices. "The dogs come in tired, but they look like they're feeling good about what they've done," he said. "That is, if you can tell what a dog is feeling."

In support of Holden's inference, a chorus of canine competitors waiting for their chance at the starting gate began howling, moaning, yipping, and yowling encouragement to their fellows already harnessed and ready to go.

"Hike! Hike!" shouted the racers as they took turns sending their teams charging down the course. (No one yelled "Mush!" It's not an imperative or sharp enough command to urge the dogs forward.) The teams kicked up sprays of snow as sled and driver bounced along behind, sometimes becoming airborne as they sped over the bumpy track. Unlike Alaska's marathon Iditarod, which covers 1,049 miles and takes up to 12 days to complete, this race was a sprint. Arizona's races are run in a series of short heats varying in length as well as in the number of dogs used. Typically, there's a six-mile event for six dogs and a three-mile race for three dogs. There's also a longer race covering 26 miles, which requires a team of up to 12 animals. Running time is about two hours, with the winners receiving trophies. As the last of the two dozen teams prepared to head out onto the course, one young musher lost her footing when her sled sailed off the starting line and lurched from zero to nearly 20 miles an hour within a few yards. While her dogs raced on, 13-year-old Calico Harvey of Tucson skidded along behind, mostly on her knees, but never lost her grip. Finally, with a determined effort, she pulled herself onto the sled and regained control of her galloping team. "It's a good thing she didn't let go," said another racer, a distinguished-looking

FLAGSTAFF GOES TO THE DOGS

older woman. "Those dogs would have kept right on running for a mile or more." If anyone dispelled notions I may have had about these dogs being forced to do something against their will, it was Bonnie Brasseur. A veteran sled dog driver from Phoenix, she said the only command she ever had trouble getting her dogs to obey was "Whoa!" Have I given you the impression that dogsledding is new to Arizona? Actually it has been here since the mid-1970s. (See the February 1977 Arizona Highways.) But the sport was definitely on the wane until enthusiastic practitioners like McVay, Desert Dog Drivers President Matt Cusick, and his wife, Michelle, revived it. Today, lovers of this cold-weather sport are no longer restricted to Arizona's northern climes. Many live where snow is rare. To keep their dogs in shape, they hitch them to wheeled carts and mush around the cactus-studded Sonoran Desert. Not surprisingly, these desert dog teams turn a lot of heads as they go yapping and panting by. "We run our dogs just north of Scottsdale in the winter when the weather is cool, and take them to Flagstaff on weekends so they don't forget what snow is like," Matt Cusick said. Thanks to the sport's zealous fraternity, more Arizonans are becoming dog drivers every year, and new race events are appearing. Mushers can now add to their schedules an event in the White Mountain community of Alpine. And others are being discussed. There's even the possibility that one day races will be held in the desert, with carts instead of sleds. Sergeant Preston would have loved it. Author's note: The Alpine Sled Dog Races will occur January 6 and 7. The Flagstaff Winter Festival Race is scheduled for February 17 and 18. For race information, contact Matt Cusick, Desert Dog Drivers of Arizona, 10402 N. 38th St., Phoenix, AZ 85028, telephone (602) 494-0826; Robert Pleger, Mountain Mushers, 410 Homestead Ln., Flagstaff, AZ 86004, (602) 526-9536; or James McVay, Mountain Mushers, 148 Valley View Dr., Flagstaff, AZ 86004, (602) 527-0236.

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