Any dog, be they of a pure breed or a mixed breed, any dog may be used for the exercise of the harnessed canine and the pulling of a sled. Many dog breeds are used for pulling a sled, including the official American Kennel Club breeds, such as Siberian Huskies, Malamutes, and Samoyeds.
The kinds of dogs that pull sleds are the Samoyed, Alaskan Malamute, Siberian Husky, and Chinook breeds. The most iconic sled dog is the Siberian Husky, and the most famous sled dog, Balto, belonged to this breed. The best sled dog breeds are those which possess thick fur, moderate intelligence, and powerful muscles.
In the modern era, working sled dogs were crossbred with more athletic breeds, such as the English pointer and German shorthaired pointer, to increase desired athletic performance, either in short-term sprints or long-distance sled races. While distance-distance dog breeders have generally stuck with the other Alaskan breeds, short-distance dog breeders mix in other breeds, such as the English pointer, the Shorthaired pointer, and even the Greyhound.
An Appraisal of the Breeds Used for Dog Sledding
Some of the breeds that have been mixed into Alaskan huskies include greyhounds, sighthounds, hoarders, and even terriers. As a result, Alaskan huskies are not recognized as a distinct breed by the American Kennel Club — but Alaskan huskies are widely preferred by Iditarod mushers as the dogs that are the most likely to take them over that finish line at Nome first.
The people who breed Alaskan sled dogs are using them for their jobs, and they are not particularly interested in lobbying the American Kennel Club to recognize them as purebreds, said Heather Huson. Huson is expecting that the microsatellite of the sled dogs will lump them with Siberian huskies or Alaskan Malamutes, the breeds from which they are most likely descended.
In 2015, research using several genetic markers indicated that the Alaskan husky, Siberian husky, and Alaskan malamute all have close genetic relationships among themselves, and are related to Chukotka sled dogs of Russia. In its analysis of 199 Alaskan sled dogs and 141 other breeds, the study found that the Alaskan sled dogs represented a genetically distinct race, characterized by performance and behavior, not by physical appearance.
The same standards were found among sled dogs left over from that region 2000 years ago, as well as among modern Siberian Husky breed standards. While a single dog’s skeleton may contain his or her pointing ancestor and his or her Siberian precursor, the majority of skeletons are of a single Alaskan-specific sled dog model.
Reviews of the Breeds Best-Suited for Sledding
The animals Huson and others involved in the sled-dog race assembled into the teams could look different, bearing the marks of either shepherds or pointers, or of Huskys. Strong and covered with heavy hair, the Greenland dogs can endure harsh weather conditions and great distances.
This breed comes from the crossing of German shepherds with Siberian Huskies and an extensive variety of Inuit dogs, resulting in a domesticated, wolf-like dog who can work long hours, all the while remaining obedient and faithful family pets. The Canadian Eskimo dog, or Canadian Inuit dog, also known as an Equifax husky, an Esquimaux dog, and Qimmiq (an Inuit word for dog), has its origins as the indigenous dogs used for the use of sled dogs used by the Thule People in the Arctic region of Canada.
The Canadian Eskimo Dog was so robust, that the breed was used in many of the first expeditions to the North Pole and the South Pole. The Inuit, or Eskimo, Dog might be slower, but Inuit dogs are still a preferred choice of adventurers traveling on Arctic expeditions. They are not the fastest dogs, but they are built to endure, and they are capable of carrying a heavy load for long distances on rugged terrain with ease.
The Standard Expectations for Sled Dogs
They are expected to carry humans and sleds for a long distance, so they must have all these qualities to succeed, stay safe, to have fun. While they can make great family dogs when trained properly, they do require lots of exercises and physical labor — that may not work for everyone. You have to keep, look after, and train your dog throughout the year, and running dogs in competitions also means that you will need some gear and knowledge.
Mushers are very careful in choosing their dog sled teams, which involve multiple dogs doing a variety of jobs. Each sled puts pairs of dogs into several, yet equally important positions: starting with lead dogs, who follow a mushing team’s directions, and ending with the wheel dogs, who help pull and drive the sled. At the rear of the sled is a wheel dog, or wheeler, which is directly ahead of the sled, and is generally the largest and strongest dog on the sled.
The wheel dogs, who are typically the largest in the teams of dogs sled, are supposed to be able to break the sled if it gets stuck in the snow or ice. The dog’s harnesses need to fit each dog properly, to make the dog easy to move, yet fit snugly to disperse the heavy loads.
How Dogs Are Harnessed
Each harness is hooked onto a harness line, which is made of multiple pieces and allows the musher or handler to keep a handle on the dogs. The musher or driver stands behind a dog halter and controls the dog via a series of lines hooked on the dog’s harnesses.
As the four other dogs in his team of dogs, Paken and Lilyan are not huskies, Malamutes, or other dogs that are Arctic types. The term McKenzie River Huskies describes multiple, overlapping, local populations of Arctic-type dogs and sub-arctic dogs, neither of which is considered to constitute a breed.
Descendants of the breed of and used by the Chukchi people of Russia, imported into Alaska in the early 1900s, Siberian huskies were used throughout the 1910s in Nome, Alaska, both as working dogs and race dogs, frequently dominating All-Alaska Sled Dog competitions. Compared to other pack dogs, this iconic sled dog is fairly small in size and lighter weight, yet is amazingly powerful and able to carry heavier loads far farther than some others.
Due to physical characteristics such as the thick double coats, hairy tails, and leather-like feet that are found on different sled dog breeds, they are also capable of staying alive for hours in freezing temperatures and snowy conditions. Euro dogs are careful mixes of pointers and Alaskan huskies, which means that they are light, quick, and nimble on ice and snow.