Sibersong Sleddogs - Adventures in Dog Mushing

February 20 2005
Derek and I headed out early this morning to do a 40+ mile run with the Can-Am 60 race team pool. The run was being split into 2 in order to get the mileage in. We planned on getting to Dorchester to do a 20 mile run very early before too many snowmachines got out there, then would go to Sandwich Notch Road to do another 20 miles or so.

We didn't get to Dorchester quite as early as I'd wanted to, because as usual it takes us longer to get out of the house than I anticipate. But snowmachine traffic was still pretty light when we got on the trail around 8 am.

We were running 10 dogs with 2 sleds: Anthem & Kadee in lead, then McKinley-Maja, Darka-Sahara, Linc-Dodge, and Alec-Storm in wheel. (Side note: Alec is not actually part of the 60 mile team due to a prior injury earlier this fall, but he and Piper were doing 20 miles each as stand-ins for Magik who is healing from an injury). The dogs were running great, and it was a beautiful morning with beautiful snow conditions on the trail.

About 5 miles into the run the dogs' ears perked up and they suddenly picked up the pace. I assumed they heard a squirrel or chipmunk up ahead. We came around a slight curve in the trail and suddenly the dogs darted into the woods and started going crazy, which is fairly unusual for them unless a chipmunk actually runs under their noses. I slammed on the brakes and yelled "On-By!!" automatically, then glanced in the woods to see what they were after.

Standing there, not even 50 yards into the trees and about 2 dog's length from my leaders, was a mother moose and her calf.

It's funny how your body has this sort of emergency switch that turns on when confronted with situations like this. You can actually FEEL the adrenaline kick in and I swear my thought processes speed up. Yet at the same time, time itself seems to slow down and everything appears to happen in slow motion. Probably only 2 minutes passed from the moment the dogs darted into the woods to the time the whole incident was over, but it felt like 10.

As soon as I saw the moose I screamed something like, "Holy Shit, MOOSE!", grabbed the snowhook and while sinking it and holding the team back, and started yelling at Derek, "Get the dogs out of there!! GET THE DOGS OUT NOW!"

Had I been alone I would have just sunk both snowhooks quickly and gone up there myself. But with two of us there I knew we had an even better chance of controlling them with one of us staying on the brake. Since I had the better brake and both the snowhooks on the front sled, I thought it best to have Derek go get the dogs out while I held back the team from lunging forward any further. After what seemed like a minute (and really was probably only 10 seconds) I realized Derek wasn't going to get off his sled fast enough - that he either didn't hear me, was frozen in shock or didn't understand what I wanted him to do. (Later he said he thought I couldn't hold the team back on my own so he didn't want to get off his brake.)

At any rate, I was in the process of sinking the 2nd hook so I could get off the sled and run up there myself when suddenly every nightmare about moose and dogteams you've ever heard came true in front of my eyes: the mother moose came over to my team and started stomping on my leaders.

Looking back I don't know if I screamed or stayed silent in shock. I can't even recall what I felt, other than just total fear for my dogs. I waited to hear dog screams, but everything was perfectly silent. Luckily after only a few seconds the moose stopped her attack and walked away, gathered up her baby, and rambled off into the woods.

To my great relief my team instantly jumped up and tried to take off after the moose, so I knew none of them were seriously injured. It took both Derek and I awhile to drag the dogs out of the woods, since by now they were tangled up and wrapped around all sorts of branches and young trees and they were fighting our efforts in their attempt to chase the moose. Once we finally got them back on the trail and lined out I started to examine the dogs thoroughly.

I pressed, I poked, I prodded, I bent legs and wrists and inspected feet and bodies and faces - but with the exception of a tiny cut on one of Anthem's rear feet there wasn't a single injury on the dogs. And the cut was so tiny I suspect he cut it on a branch in the woods rather than on the moose. It was a damned miracle. Somehow the moose must have stomped all around the dogs but not actually hit any of them with her hooves.

For the remainder of the run I kept a close eye on the dogs for any signs of limping or injuries and gave the leaders and point dogs another thorough exam at the end of the run, but everyone was fine. Anthem's cut foot didn't even cause a limp - he finished up the first 20 mile run and went on to do the second run without a problem.

The rest of our run wasn't without other inicidents however. Derek twisted his ankle badly during the moose encounter and was limping for the remainder of the day. He fell off his sled at least 4 times, also injuring a shoulder in the process. In fact we lost him twice and had to wait for him to catch up. Some crazy snowmobilers almost hit us at Dorchester, startling both Derek and I into screaming loudly as they came flying around a corner at about 60 mph (we never heard them) and skidding to a stop in front of the team. Then on the second run we had to play "swap the leader" for the first 3 miles until we found a pair that actually wanted to lead the team in a second run. When we finally settled upon the best leader pair for the job, the point dogs caught up to the leaders during a slight downhill section in the trail where I wasn't paying close attention to them, and next thing I knew McKinley (in point) and Kadee (in lead) were in a nasty fight.

We separated them pretty quickly, but not before each dog got a few good bite wounds in the other. Kadee had a small puncture on her lower lip that was bleeding profusely all over the snow (and she just HAD to shake her head a few times and splatter blood all over us and the dogs around her). McKinley had a few minor facial wounds but wasn't bleeding much. We dug out the first aid kit, stopped the bleeding on Kadee by applying pressure, and continued with the run. McKinley got moved back to wheel position to avoid any further conflicts.

Since having a fight break out in the middle of a run with my team is pretty damned rare, my guess is one or both girls are coming into heat. But hey, the way things have been going for me this winter it just wouldn't surprise me to have them go into heat right before the Can-Am race.

Despite moose, crazy snowmobilers, Derek's injuries and fighting dogs, we still managed to finish our 40 mile run.

And returned home to a message on my machine from the Campton police department: the Campton Citgo station accused me of driving off without paying for my gas on the way home from the run. Thankfully I had a receipt to prove my innocence.

Stiff drink anyone?

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