Champions' Corner

Late fall/Early winter training in Willow, Alaska

By Egil Ellis / November 21st, 2009

By mid October we start to hook up our main team. That's when temperatures drop and usually by this time we already have had our first snowfall with a layer of snow to cover the hard frozen ground. We can start out running the dogs in teams on snow with the four-wheeler right away and save their feet a lot of wear and tear. This perfect scenario has worked out for us most of the years we have spent here in Willow Alaska but not this year. The first snowfall waited until November 11th. Running on frozen ground for a few weeks was hard on our dogs' feet so we cut back on team training and only ran them every third day for a while. This set us back some but shouldn't be a problem to catch up with later on.

October 16th and it is team training premier for the 2009/2010 season. We started out with 5-mile runs in 12 dog teams. By now the race dogs have about 350 - 400 miles of walker training in their legs and are in pretty good shape so they can easily handle this distance. Now we are mixing the teams with yearlings and adult race dogs, which is great for the inexperienced youngsters. We position them next to an older dog in the team and they quickly learn how the pros do it and all of a sudden they mature and behave much better than before when we ran all yearlings with only older leaders. The yearlings are not trained on the walker but are instead started in team training about one month earlier than the race group.

At this point in the early season we take our time hooking the team up and getting them used to waiting and standing fairly still in the team, we watch out for line chewing and just try to calm them down. Earplugs come in handy during the wait. After several times with this waiting around, most of the dogs have figured out that nothing will happen until I give the "get ready" sign and walk back to the four wheeler to take off. Many of the hotheaded youngsters are incurable at this point but oh well, they will eventually settle down.

The main goal with four wheeler training in the fall is to build up a solid physical base on the dogs, muscle tone and cardiovascular strength. Along with this come team routine, good manners and building confidence. We start out at a relatively slow speed, 15 - 17 mph; so all dogs are pulling hard but at the same time are able to lope at a comfortable speed for everybody. If we see that the dogs need a brake we slow them down to a trot or walk and let them catch their breath for a short distance, about 100 yards/meters or less, until everybody looks eager and ready to take off again at a lope. I like this way of "resting" the dogs rather than stopping completely. It seems like it is easier for them to take off running again and they pick up on the speed up command better this way, rather than starting out from a stand still. We are careful not to ask more than what we know that the dogs can accomplish in a good and happy manner at this point in training, always leaving a bit left in the tank for the final sprint into the yard. This short sprint into the yard is a routine we start with right from the beginning of fall training so it becomes a habit for the dogs. The distance from the yard where the speed up starts is slowly increased, as the team gets stronger and stronger so when we get to racing season they can hopefully sprint through the last few miles just as fast as they did the first miles. But again, we never ask them to do this unless we are sure that they can respond to the speed up command and act upon it. Back at the truck or the yard, after a few minutes of catching their breath the dogs are given a pint, 0.5 L, of water baited with Momentum while standing in the team. We have found this to be the easiest way to rehydrate the dogs after a run instead of running around the yard to the different spots. After we unharness the dogs they are all allowed to move around free and also drink more clear water out of a bucket.

Most of the time during fall training and early winter we train every other day or two days on, two days off. It is no use overdoing it early in the season, it is during the recovery/rest phase that the dogs rebound stronger and build up their physique. Pushing the training at this point can easily get you caught in a downward spiral rather than upward. Remember, a little fall training goes a long way. Keep cool and go for quality runs rather than quantity.

See you down the trail!

Egil Ellis www.egilellis.com