A group of Texas researchers are looking in to why sled dogs don’t seem to suffer from fatigue, most importantly when they are running a grueling 1,100 mile race like the Iditarod. Before a race the sled dogs metabolism is much like a persons but at some point while running a switch is triggered. Their metabolism reverts back to a basic resting metabolism except they are running 100 miles a day when this occurs.

Dr. Davis who has studied sled dogs found they didn’t use up their reserves or become fatigued. He is pursuing this research for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency on a $300,000 grant awarded last fall. Their goal is to figure out how the sled dogs are turning this switch on in order to apply it to human metabolism.

Read more on this NY Times article here.

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Misty and Kody begin the day with a little Sunbathing

Misty is wondering if I have come to take her for a walk (we often skip out and leave Kody behind - he pulls like a bull).

OK, we love seeing you but did you bring any biscuits with you?

Alright, it’s biscuit time!!

That was good, now what do we do?

How about a little fetch?

And some more fetch …

Ok, I need a break …

Come on let’s play!

Ok, Ok!

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A husband and wife team - Blake and Jennifer Freking - made history this year for the fastest Iditarod run with a dog team comprised of all pure-bred Siberian Huskies. When I read this recently in my e-mail alerts (I signed up for the Iditarod newsletter) I was surprised. I thought most Iditarod teams were using Siberian Huskies although I had noticed that they didn’t really look as bulky/husky as my dogs. Come to find out that’s because they weren’t Sibes, a lot of the dog teams have a good portion of Alaskan Husky dogs running. The Alaskan Husky looks more to me like a Sibe/German Shepherd mix. Below is the article taken from the Iditarod blog, complete with some great pics

Freking posts fastest run for Siberians

Date: March 14, 2008 at 2:33 pm

NOME — Blake Freking made history Friday as his dog team trotted under the burled arch in 51st place. With a time of 11 days, 21 hours and 40 seconds, Freking becomes the driver of the fastest-ever team of pure-bred Siberian huskies to run this race.

He and wife, Jennifer, ran the race together from the start, and the pair passed fellow Siberian dog driver Karen Ramstead in the last few runs along the Bering Sea coast. “We had some great run times, actually from Shaktoolik on,” he said.

While they were proud of the achievement, the couple was grateful simply to be at the finish line and the joy was tempered with grief over the loss of a dog earlier in the race. It was killed when a snowmobiler lost control at high speed and crashed into Jennifer Freking’s team.

While it was Jennifer who pulled in nine seconds ahead of her husband, she did not get credit for having the fastest all-Siberian squad in the Iditarod. Her team had a mix of dogs; five of her 10 dogs were Sibes, and the other five were Alaskan huskies — the standard racing huskies found in most teams.

Siberians are registered by the American Kennel Club as a distinct breed, like golden retrievers, beagles and chows. But the Alaskan husky is a different animal. Bred strictly for performance and not appearance, Alaskans are not deeply inbred so they come in all shapes and sizes. The Frekings dogs’ go back to lines developed by Earl and Natalie Norris.

The couple was all smiles at the finish line, but it’s been anything but an easy ride, especially for Jennifer, 27. She broke her pinkie finger on her left hand in a hard crash right at the start of the John Beargrease sled dog marathon on Jan. 27, and only had pins removed from her hand on the Friday before the race start. Then, as the couple was literally in the middle of this year’s run down the Yukon River, tragedy struck. They were stopped on the trail to snack their dogs, when a snowmobiler lost control as he tried to scoot by. His machine bounced off the side of the trail and careened into the middle of Jennifer’s team, killing one dog and injuring another.

“When it happened, I thought we were done,” she said. But the team of 11 dogs she had left all wanted to continue on. “As long as they were ready to go, I was ready to go,” she said. “I felt the accident had already taken a lot from me already, and I didn’t want it to take everything.”

This was Blake Freking’s second Iditarod. His first was in 2000. Jennifer was a rookie this year.

The Frekings also won the race for fastest Siberians in this year’s Iditarod. Karen Ramstead was on the trail from White Mountain, taking more time than usual, but there was no immediate word of trouble from race officials.

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I have been following the Iditarod and Yukon Quest races for several years. There is one musher in particular that I follow closely because I believe he exhibits a true love of the dogs. Lance Mackey won both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod race last year. He won the Yukon again this year and is in first place so far in the Iditarod.

He is a life long Alaskan, born June 2, 1970 in Anchorage, Alaska. He’s married to his high school sweetheart, Tonya, who is also a musher. They have four children, Amanda, Brittney, Alanah & Cane. His main hobby is sport fishing and running with his dogs.

Lance was diagnosed with throat cancer after the 2001 race and underwent extensive surgery as well as radiation treatment. He started the 2002 Iditarod but had to scratch in Ophir and took 2003 off to regroup. He is now considered cancer free and has a solid, fairly young team of dogs with another year of experience on them. ‘Mackey’s Comeback Kennel’ is a small, low budget kennel.

This year Lance gratefully accepted the Yukon Quest Banquet awards and then went up to his 2 new sled dogs, “Rev” and Hansom”. “These are the real athletes and superstars,” he said. Lance also won the “Veterinarian’s Choice Award” and here is the excerpt regarding his presentation and winning from his website:

More importantly, Lance was awarded the “Veterinarian’s Choice Award”. Lance was visibly choked up. To Lance, this is winning, really winning. An award chosen by the Yukon Quest’s team of 14 veterinarians for his superb dog care on the trail, the man they call “invincible”. Lance finished with 11 dogs, more happy healthy dogs than anyone else. Eleven dogs who came into checkpoints with wagging tails and eager to continue on to the next check point. “This means more to me than winning this damn race,” Mackey said, his voice breaking. “Thank-you very much.”

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Last winter we still had 3 huskies. In the spring our oldest dog, Tommy - who was a mixed breed husky, died of a failed liver with complications. He was our first family dog so it was very traumatic. A couple of months later I was driving home from school with our daughter and my husband called to say Kody (our male Siberian husky) had been struck by lightning and it didn’t look good. We were only a mile from home but it felt like an eternity before we got there. I was very upset at the idea of losing another dog. The storm had been so quick. The lightning struck a tree in our yard and Kody was in the house directly under that tree. My husband heard the loud crack of the lightning hitting the tree. He ran to the back window and Kody was on his back convulsing. He dragged himself to the high grass and my husband thought he was going to die there.

By the time we reached our house Kody had walked himself over to the back door. He was having trouble getting around, but was standing. We rushed him to our vet (Chestnut Ridge Animal Hospital) who gave him a cortisone shot to shrink his blood vessels. Apparently the lung sacks filling up is the greatest risk. His eyes were red, his breath smelled of smoke, and his lungs sounded raspy as if they had been compromised. It was a very tense 24 hours. We took him back to the vet the next day and she was absolutely amazed, she said he looked almost normal and his lungs sounded much better. She didn’t know what long-term effects he could suffer from but it looked good. She gave me cortisone tablets to give him for 3 more days.

It has now been about 9 months and Kody is still with us. He sometimes seems to have neurological/muscular issues but nothing that keeps him from living life as a normal Siberian Husky. They truly are amazing!

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By Christine Briel / Skaneateles Design

My husband Cary and I own Siberian Huskies. Misty (girl) and Kody (boy) are great dogs, I spend a lot of my non-work time playing around with them. They are extremely gentle, friendly and best of all very vocal. Not barking incessantly vocal - they like to howl and talk to express themselves. They are also very easy to get going

Below are a few pics of my pride and joy:

As you can see, they are pretty much glued to each other 24/7 like a true married couple

Here is Misty posing for the camera:

And is here is Kody being shy and lingering (or more accurately being stubborn):

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