Iditarod Puppy Training

If your sled dog can run the Iditarod, it can run any trail in the world. The 1,050-mile Iditarod is the ultimate sled dog race. As with any endurance athlete, training must begin early. That is true of the sled dog, too, perhaps moreso because for dogs wrong habits are difficult to unlearn.

  1. Sled Dog Breeds

    • The Siberian husky is a highly favored sled and family dog.

      Some of the main breeds and categories are Alaskan husky, Alaskan malamute, Canadian Eskimo dog, Chinook, Greenland dog, Samoyed and Siberian husky. You can also find many kinds of mixed breeds, including ones with timber wolf.

    Training the Trainer

    • The puppy slated to be a champion in races like the The Iditarod is a huge investment of time, money, experience and emotion. If you're new to training sled dogs, you want a trainer or breeder from whom you can seek advice. Check out her track record, how her dogs have done, who her clients are. Spend enough time to sense how her dogs relate with her. See if both trainer/breeder and her dogs relaxed in each other's presence and if there is respect both ways?

    Newborn to Six Months

    • This pup is well on the way to becoming an Iditarod champ.

      This is a time of nursing, sleeping and growing fast (an average gain of a pound per week). It is a time to build their "people skills," so let adults and children pet and gently play with them. You also prepare the puppies for future footwear and dental hygiene by regularly examining their paws and jaws.

    Two to Six Months

    • Time to "become one" with the environment. Take your pups out for walks and exploration. Now they become comfortable and agile with all kinds of terrain--snow, mud, woods. Continue their socialization with humans and other dogs. Reinforce everyday commands--"sit," "stay," "come." Tune in to their distinct personalities and tailor your relationship to your dogs as individuals, not as a pack.

    Six to Seven Months

    • Like children, young dogs learn best by imitating others. In the Denali sled-dog training, the staff mingle the pups with adult sled dogs. The young dogs observe the adult dogs being harnessed. On the National Parks Service website, the trainers describe the freedom they give their dogs to have fun while being trained: "At first they run loose beside or behind the team, observing the adult dogs and experiencing a variety of winter conditions---glare ice, blowing snow, wind crust, overflow." After a few weeks of this, the dogs are harnessed but not yet hitched to the sled. They run beside the team dogs. Gradually, the pups often fit right into formation, showing they're ready to join the team.

    Seven Months to One Year

    • The easy trails first, then harder ones--and then the Iditarod.

      Time to try the harness themselves for short runs, running beside the best of the team dogs. As the pups gain ability and confidence, the runs become longer and tougher. By the time the pups are a year old, they should have 200 to 300 miles running in a team. Their training as pups sets the foundation for their training as adult team members, a training that never ends as long as they race.