Dog team

The job of a dog team is to pull a sled or cart. The dogs should of course also listen to the musher's commands and carry them out without hesitation.

Setting up a team
To make sure everything works, every dog ​​in the team has a specific job. Every musher knows how difficult it is to put together a suitable dog team, because every dog ​​has its own character. If two dogs running next to each other don't get along well, chaos is inevitable. Well-trained dogs concentrate fully on their work, don't allow themselves to be distracted by anything and listen to the musher's commands. There are also dogs that prefer to run on the right side, others only work when they can run right at the front.

Setting up a dog team
The strength of the dog is also a decisive factor in the position in the team. Of course, there are stronger and weaker animals in every pack. That's why it's important that the musher knows his dogs well.

Wheel, swing and lead
Two dogs are harnessed directly behind the sled, which are strong and always pull well. These are called "wheel dogs". Depending on the size of the team, two or more so-called "swing dogs" are harnessed. These help to steer the sled or cart. The lead dogs (leaders) are then at the very front. They must listen to the musher's commands and lead all the other dogs. A good leader is particularly valuable to a musher.

Problems in the dog team
Sled dogs are "just" animals and a good musher will never force a dog to do anything. That's why it takes a lot of patience and experience to get a good dog team together. It can always happen that a dog is not concentrating or simply doesn't want to run with the team because he doesn't feel like it today. There are also arguments between the dogs from time to time. Or the dogs get tangled up with each other or in the rope. In such cases, a musher must of course intervene immediately and prevent anything worse from happening. Correct training

If the dogs are trained correctly and regularly, there are rarely serious problems. And if they do, it is usually the musher who is doing something wrong. Despite all of this, it often takes very strong nerves and a lot of patience when working with animals.

The size of the team
In theory, a dog team can be infinitely large. However, the team should only be as large as the musher can still control. Even with four dogs, this can be a major challenge for a beginner. And this certainly begins with harnessing the dogs, as you will find out. In long-distance races, a team can consist of 8-12 dogs. The more dogs, the longer the team becomes. That is why a team of 6 is already quite long.

The fan team
Especially in Greenland, where there are no trees or other obstacles for miles, the dogs are harnessed next to each other in a fan pattern. So all the dogs run next to each other, instead of behind each other as is usual. This has the advantage that the team is easier to control and the dogs are less likely to get tangled up in the leashes. Disadvantage: If an obstacle comes, it is difficult to avoid it. That is why such a team would be hard to imagine for us.