A great team

So at the Allright kennel we have been having a rather slow week the past week, i myself have been home down south spending quality time with my family and just trying to recover from a flue. Dogs have been having a therapy week with massage that my dad is providing us with. But just to kind of get something out i wanted to write a post about some toughts.

What is a good team?

So what makes a good or great sleddog team? This is a topic that offcourse is in every ones own opinion but just to tell what i feel is a great sleddog team, so this is just my opinion and what i belive is a great team for me.

So just to tell a little story about me and keep it short. I started working with sleddogs back in 2015 and got to start training my own dogs in the fall of 2018. So i dont really have that much experience but i think i got a clue of what i want and think is a good team. In my first two seasons of racing i runned a borrowed team of my friend who i was working with. since 2021 i have runned my own team and my own dogs.

So what really makes a great team in my opinion? Well a sleddog team is much more than just a bunch dogs infront of the sled, it also takes a good human team behinde the musher. I am lucky that i have a great team of people to back me up. My parents are a good help around the dogs and they both have been handlers for me on races, mum was my handler on Finnmarksloppet 600 in 2022 and my dad has been on Pasvik trail, Lapland Quest and Gold Rush Run 501. I ussally say that my mum is our puppy trainer, my dad takes care of the dogs physique and maintain the kennel while im gone, my job is just to mush and take care of the financial stuff :D

Also behinde me i have offcourse a great wife who takes care of our home while im gone working and racing, there is a saying that behinde every stong man there is a stronger woman. That is so true, i appreciate how much my wife stands and do just so i can focus on financial stuff and the dogs so i can do what i love to do.

Offcoures you also need a good sets of friends to back you up, while mushing is still a pretty lownely sport there is nice to have friends to talk to about dog breeding and training. Also your friends can help you out if your in truoble and need someone to help you out or just to listen.

So what about the dogs?

Sure the dogs play a big role in the team too and they are the superstars. What goes in to building a great group of dogs? Breeding, training, feeding, physique and mental stuff. Dogs need to fit you perfect and also be loyal to you so there is a both sided respect bond between the dogs and the musher. I never ask the dogs to do anything they are not abel to do, sure like in all sports you need to push the limits a little bit but that are a demand of training and reading the dogs. But still we only tend to do things that dogare trained for. I still have alot to learn about dogs and breeding but i im lucky that i have some "old school" mushing friends that i listen to and try to learn about what to do and what to not do :D Sure also racing gives you a idea of if you are on the right path.

To maintain a great team you need to put in alot of work and now i feel that i have a group of dogs that is easy to work with, they are still working hard but they are also pretty calm and decent and very easy to handel. Sure i got a idea of what i want to have i lets say 10 years from now. But i feel that we are on the right path with the dogs and our back up crew.

Finnmarksloppet 600 2022, start of the race in Alta

In the picture above you can se in my opinion almost a great sleddog team, the team is from Finnmarkaloppet 600 in 2022. In that team we had Jack Daniels, Moonshine, Irwin, Capitano, Miranda, Sulo, Trevor and Pelle. In that team we had a mix of young and eager dogs and one old timer who had experience. Sure our standing did not say that we had a great team and offcourse our first time running a 600km race but i was very happy with how the dogs preformed on the trail. In 2024 we are about to hit the FL600 trail once again but still a bit unsure what dogs to bring to the starting line, but thats sure that Irwin is out due to retirement. But i still got a great group of 14 dogs to choose from.

Start of Pasvik Trail 240km in 2023

In 2023 we only did two short races, in january Lapland Quest 250km and in april Pasvik Trail 240km. In the picture above we are at the starting area of Pasvik Trail getting ready to hit a very icey and fast trail. I runned a 12-dog team and once again i got to run a team that i choose, a picture perfect team with 3 first timers. In this team we had Moonshine, Trevor, Honey, Hissu, Sisu, Capu, Sulo, Pelle, Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Mora and Martta. This team was a pretty decent team, sure we had some challenges along the way but we still did finnish good.

So what is my dream team?

This sure is a kind of a hard question but what i consider my dream team is a team of decent well mindsetted dogs that are running smoothly and preforming at a high level. My main goal is FL600 so a team of 8 dogs that are as much similar to each other as possible. I also have a idea to bring back the old school type of sleddogs, the dogs that are kind of heavy duty. We have not had any major issues with feets or that kind of thing but i want to have dogs that have so called bomb proof feet. Appetite is another thing i valuve high, a dog that wuold eat your shoe if you give it to him is what i want. Fur and body built, fur need to be thick mut not to fluffy. Body built need to be a decent mix of hound and arctic, long legs but not to long and back need to be long but not too long :D

I mean i like to run fast pace but sure it is nice to look at a dog team thats running in a decent trot, but i want also to have the chance to run fast gallop if needed. That is a training think mostley but it also comes down to breed dogs that are abel to prefore like that.

A few years ago i had an idea what i wanted and that im going to breed that and that and that dog, probably had about 10 out of my 20 dogs at that time that i wanted to breed. Now my mindset has changed an i only have a few females and males i consider breeding dogs in my kennel.

Tähkä (Out of Dixie x Gråbein)

In the the picture above is Tähkä, a dog i consider the best dog i ever had. She was well built and had good appetite. She cuold run in a decent trot and a fast gallop if needed. She is the mother of my first race dog litter and her offspring are very good and decent dogs that preform at a good level. If i cuold copy Tähkä i wuold to some point, she had a bit of a problem with feet problem but nothing to big of an issue. She runned all my early races as a leader untill she sadly passed away in the spring of 2021.

General toughts

So all of this is my on opinion and thing i think about for the future, i have a breeding plan and an idea of where we want to be in 10-15 years. Its hard to think what is the perfect team and the perfect dog couse all dogs are great and perfect in there own way. But its nice to think about the future and make plans, and like i said at the moment im very pleased with the dogs i have and how they preform. I guess the musher is the weakest link in the team and this is a learning process. I shuold probably write about hte same topic in lets say 25 years and se what ive learned and developed.

But for now lets just be happy with the dogs we have and mush on every body!!!!

#sleddogs #Mushing #Allrightracinghusky #Agreatteam #dreamteam #breeding #Training