The rough life

When many people think of dog mushing, they think of standing on a dog sled being pulled by fluffy dogs with blue eyes through snow covered wooded trails; all that can be heard is the patter of the dogs feet on the snow as miles are covered. Amazingly, this is how it is sometimes. However, this is not what life is like at Goose Lake Kennels these days. First of all, there is hardly any snow (about 2 inches on the ground at the current moment), and second, there is a much more efficient way to run dogs this time of year. You must prepare yourself, though, because you will likely not even want to call this dog mushing.
Until we get more snow, we will be running the dogs hooked in front of Jeff King's 1 ton Dodge pickup truck. Yup, it's true. And we don't just run 8, 10, or even 12 dogs at a time. We hook up anywhere from 20 to 28 dogs up to the truck at once. We then take the dogs for runs of up to 80 miles (my puppies aren't going this far); this equates to about 9 hours of sitting in the truck at speeds of about 9-10 mph. Doesn't sound too romantic, hu? It's not romantic, but it's efficient. I can take my 20 puppies out by myself safely for overnight trips for this reason. On top of this there is nothing like heat blasting on your hands and face, Johhny Cash blaring over the radio, and 20 dogs strung out in front of you.
Don't get me wrong, though, I am looking forward to snow just as much as the next musher. However, until it comes, this is how life will continue. I took my pups out for an overnight trip at the beginning of this week and they did fantastic. I feel that when we all camp out together is when we really grow as a team.
The Iditarod start is less than 4 months away; it seems like a long ways away, yet when I think about it, my nerves start to run. There are many miles between then and now, but I know the day will be here before I know it.