Sled dog racing came to Elkford four years ago. Since the first year the grade 7's at Elkford Elementary have worked closely each year with the international teams which have participated. Their teacher has been fully involved organizing the event, hence the opportunity for the students.
The students are trained in the proper handling of sled dogs. They are capable of harnessing, unharnessing, and holding. During their training they have to learn the parts of the sleds and the associated lines which attach dogs to sled. Their vocabulary includes words such as neck line, tug, gangline, bridle, basket, rear stanchion, brake, runner, brush bow, lead dog, swing dogs, wheel dogs, etc.. They have to know these for the mushers (dog drivers) talk about them when harnessing and hooking up their teams prior to racing. When there are over 30 dog teams racing, start times become very exciting and noisy and the students must be competent.
The students are trained by their clasroom teacher. During the students training they gain practical experience by harnessing and unharnessing the teachers dogs in the classroom. More experience is gained when an actual 12 dog team visits the school and has the students help hook them all up to the sled. This is a great activity, usually because the entire school comes outside to watch.
The races take place over a weekend so the students must give up their free time to participate. Since the races have been taking place there has not been one class to miss this event.
The following are some weekend stories the students had to write for integration into Language Arts.
STUDENT STORIES ABOUT THE SLED DOG RACES
Wilderness Classic
Sled Dog Races
I'm writing about the sled dog races from the 22-24 of January, 1999. On Saturday the 23rd I woke up at 7:00 a.m. and got ready to go to the sled dog races. It was -13° C outside so I drssed warm.
When I got down there I walked around and introduced myself, and petted the dogs. At 8:45 a.m. I started to help harness and hook up the 4 dog teams. Then I held one of the dogs until it was time to take them to the starting chute. After the team I was helping left I went around and helped the other mushers with their dogs until all the teams were gone. Then I hungaround in the tent until we had to start helping the 12 dog teams around 9:45 a.m.. There were some 8 and 12 dog teams in the 12 dog class. Man! It was noisy down there. After we helped the 12 dog teams go we just walked around petting the dogs and hung around the tent. At 11:15 a.m. we started helping the 6 dog teams get ready. After they left I went for lunch. Then I went home.
On Sunday the 24th, I had to wake up at 7:30 a.m. and get ready to go. It was -26° C so I dressed warm. I left around 8:00 a.m.. When I got down there I started helping the 4 dog teams. Jason and I helped number 4 get ready to go and when we were taking his team to the start chute an official stopped him because he missed his start time. We went and helped other teams and after they left we hung around in the grade 7's shack. At 9:45 a.m. we helped the 12 dog teams get ready to go . Jason and I helped one guy put a sort of disinfectant goop on his dogs. After all the 12 dog teams left I hung around in the shack. Then Jason and I helped #28 with his 6 dog team. Jason and I helped him both days of the races. The names of the dogs that he used in the races were Skeeter, BVrando, Quick, Pebbles, Bandid and Sassy. After the 6 dog teams left I waited for them to come back in. When they came back in I helped number 28 unharness his dogs, then I went for lunch. After I had lunch I went home.
Sled Dog Classics
4th Annual
The first day was very cold but Mr. Conibear and friends put up a shack with a wood stove for us. We could go and warm up between races but I really didn't go in there Saturday afternoon. For the four dog races I harnessed about six, and unharnessed about eight. I also got to pick up poop. It wasn't really fun because it was fresh and I just about puked. For the twelve dog race, when you were done with one team in the starting chute you would have to rush to another team.
A friend got run over about 5 times by the dogs. Another friend got tripped by the lead dog and I got bit about twice so I gave the dog to another student. There was a puppy trying to beat up a bigger dog by biting his tail.
The 24th started out very cold at about -30° C. During the twelve dog races you had to be everywhere. When I was harnessing I had to take my gloves off. After harnessing it's like you can not even feel your fingers. And that was my weekend. It was fun.
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