Mushing

France was the first European power established in the Canadian Shield; accordingly, the coureurs des bois and the voyageurs of New France used the French word marche!, meaning "walk" or "move", to command to the team to commence pulling. Marche! became "mush!" for English Canadians.[1] "Mush!" is rarely used in modern parlance.

An Alaskan musher in 1909

The practice of using dogs to pull sleds dates back to at least 2000 BC. It originated in Siberia or North America, where many Native American cultures used dogs to pull loads.[2]

In 1534, Jacques Cartier discovered the Gaspé Peninsula and claimed the land in the name of Francis I of France.[3] For the better part of a century the Iroquois and French clashed in a series of attacks and reprisals.[4] That is why Samuel de Champlain arranged to have young French men live with the natives, to learn their language and customs and help the French adapt to life in North America. These men, known as coureurs des bois (runners of the woods), were the first European mushers in North America, extended French influence south and west and in 1609, New France controlled all the Canadian Shield. In 1680, the intendant of New France, Jacques Duchesneau de la Doussinière et d'Ambault, estimated that there was not one family in New France who did not have a "son, brother, uncle or nephew" among the coureurs des bois.[5] During the winter, sled became the ordinary transportation in the north of New France.[6]

In 1760, the British Army completed the conquest of Canada and gained control of the Canadian Shield. Many coureurs des bois accepted British rule and continued to use the sled dog. The French term Marche! became Mush! in English.

During the Klondike Gold Rush, many prospectors came in the Yukon with sled dogs. This "Last Great Gold Rush" has been immortalized by American author Jack London in The Call of the Wild. Sled-dog became the common mode of transportation in Yukon and in the new US Territory of Alaska.

In 1911, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen used sled dogs in a race to become the first person to reach the South Pole. He succeeded, while his competitor Robert Falcon Scott, who had instead used Siberian ponies, tragically perished.[7]

By the time of the First World War, mushing had spread to European countries such as Norway, where dog sleds were used for nature tours, as ambulances in the woodlands and mountains, and to bring supplies to soldiers in the field.[8]

During the 1925 serum run to Nome, 20 mushers and about 150 sled dogs relayed diphtheria antitoxin 674 miles (1,085 km) by dog sled across the U.S. territory of Alaska in five and a half days, saving the small city of Nome and the surrounding communities from an incipient epidemic.

La Grande Odyssée 2005

Mushing can be utilitarian, recreational, or competitive. Mushing as a sport is practiced worldwide, but primarily in North America, northern Europe and the Alps. Racing associations such as the International Federation of Sleddog Sports (IFSS) and the International Sled Dog Racing Association (ISDRA) are working toward organizing the sport and in gaining Olympic recognition for mushing. It is the state sport of Alaska. The most famous sled dog races in the world are :

• Finnmarksløpet in Norway
• Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska
• La Grande Odyssée in France and Switzerland
• Yukon Quest in Alaska and the Yukon

Although dogsled racing gets more publicity and is seen now as the primary form of mushing, recreational mushing thrives as an unorganized sport providing a healthy outdoor form of winter exercise for families.

Mushing for utilitarian purposes includes anything from hauling wood or delivering milk or the mail to rural travel and equipment hauling. Dogs have been replaced by snowmobiles in many places, but some trappers and other isolated users have gone back to sled dogs, finding them safer and more dependable in extreme weather conditions.

Mushing graphics

Dog team members are given titles according to their position in the team relative to the sled. These include leaders or lead dogs, swing dogs, team dogs, and wheelers or wheel dogs.

Lead dogs steer the rest of the team and set the pace. Leaders may be single or double; the latter is more common now, though single leaders used to be more common during the mid-20th century. Sometimes a leader may be unhitched (a loose or free leader) to find the trail for the rest of the team, but the practice is uncommon and is not allowed at races. Qualities for a good lead dog are intelligence, initiative, common sense, and the ability to find a trail in bad conditions.

Swing dogs or point dogs are directly behind the leader (one dog if the team is in single hitch). They swing the rest of the team behind them in turns or curves on the trail. (Some mushers use the term swag dog to denote a team dog.)

Team dogs are those between the wheelers and the swing dogs, and add power to the team. A small team may not have dogs in this position. Alternatively, the term may be used to describe any dog in a dog team.

Wheel dogs are those nearest the sled and musher, and a good wheeler must have a relatively calm temperament so as not to be startled by the sled moving just behind it. Strength, steadiness, and ability to help guide the sled around tight curves are qualities valued in "wheelers."

Originally, sled dogs would run in either one or two straight lines, depending on how many people were driving the sled (two lines if there was one person, one line if there were two people). However, now, all dogs run in two lines, even if there is more than one person.

Start of a Bikejoring race

Bikejoring is dog mushing similar to skijoring, canicross, and dog scootering. A dog or team of dogs is attached with a towline to a bicycle. Bikejoring is a non-snow season, or dryland, activity. Bikejoring and canicross probably developed from skijoring and dogsled racing. Bikejoring is also sometimes used to train racing sled-dogs out of season.

An easier and maybe safer alternative to bikejoring or dog-scootering, especially for use in urban and built up areas, is to attach a dog to the side of a bicycle using a number of designed dog-bicycle attachments. However, these side attachments are designed to allow a dog to run beside a bicycle, rather than to pull it from ahead. These dog-bike attachments usually include some sort of shock absorption, usually a spring. Some of these side attachments can be fitted either side of a bicycle so that two dogs can be exercised at the same time. Examples of these dog-bicycle attachments are the WalkyDog, Springer, bikejor converter and more recently the bikejoring attachment.

Dog scootering

Another way

Dog scootering uses one or more dogs to pull a human riding an unmotorized kick scooter. It is similar to mushing, which is done in the winter, but generally with fewer dogs and with a scooter instead of a dogsled. The dogs wear the same harnesses that sled dogs wear, and are hooked to the scooter with a gangline. The gangline usually incorporates a bungee cord to smooth out the shocks of speeding up and takeoff. Dog scooterers get together for fun runs, where a number of dog scooterers run their dogs and scooters on the same trails. Fun runs may be just a morning run, or can be a weekend-long activity with multiple runs scheduled. This is still a maturing activity, but there are a few formal dog races that include scooter events.

• American Dog Derby
• Carting for dryland mushing
• no:Finnmarksløpet - world's northernmost dog-sled race (Norwegian article)
• Montana Race to the Sky
• Yukon Quest
• All Alaska Sweepstakes