MONDAY Q&A: Sled dog racer builds team to stay ahead of the pack
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EDITOR’S NOTE: Mush Lapper! Mush Cody! on Shadow and Teddy! no, Santa hasn’t renamed the reindeer. those are just a few of the names of the canines that make up Roger Carnahan’s competitive sled dog team. Carnahan, who is keeping a close eye on this week’s annual Iditarod race in Alaska, recently chatted with staffer Lauren Daley about his life behind the reins.
Question: do you remember your first time on the sled?
Answer: I tipped it over, just from not knowing how to really control the sled. I actually ran up on a bank and kept going on over. my oldest brother, he’s 71 now, at the Warren (County) Winterfest this year, he completely rolled his clear over and came up and the dogs never stopped. he actually did a barrel roll and they kept on going. … one time my boot got caught on the snow and pulled me clear off the runners. so I was holding onto the handlebars and (the dogs) kept dragging me. They must have drug me 100 yards. everybody I know that’s been doing this has had experiences like that. The hardest thing is skijoring – that’s letting them pull you on skis. you fall and get about halfway back up and they take off and they drag you.
Question: I have to admit, my knowledge of sled dog racing doesn’t go past the movie “Iron Will.” Could you give a quick primer on racing? Answer: Well, we don’t have dogs to race but we do race because we have dogs. We do four sprint races a year. There’s different classes – there’s one- and two-dog skijor on the snow; two-dog junior, four-dog sprints, six-dog sprint, eight-dog sprint and then unlimited, and mid-distance of 20-30 miles. Two-dogs and the skijoring usually run a mile or two. Four-dog sprints usually run four or five miles and six- and eight-dog run six or eight miles and unlimited usually run 12 miles. I usually run four-dog sprints. I have two brothers in it and each have several dogs. They mostly do the four-dog sprints. I also have four young teenagers from Heilwood who run with us: Skyler Eckenrode, Christian Eckenrode, Nick and Adam Miller. We just did the Warren County Winterfest.
You’re timed from the time you go out to the time you go back. If you run the International Sled Dog Racing Association, it’s a points system just like NASCAR. and there are specific rules if you ran the ISDRA.
Question: So do you have to train dogs to do this?
Answer: They have to want to do it. some dogs want to, some don’t. Siberian huskies – most of them do. Occasionally you’ll get one that doesn’t. There’s no particular breed that’s required. you can run with most any dog as long as he wants to pull. (They learn through) repetitions and learn to run with other dogs. We also hook them up to bicycles.
Question: Are dogs in condition for that kind of work?
Answer: You have to build them up to the mileage. when we start out, we don’t run them any more than 2 miles. then we get them up to run 8 miles for four-dog sprints Question: So you just hook the dogs up, and they know to go?
Answer: you hook a young dog up with experienced dogs. The experienced dogs are going to go and the young dogs are going to follow along and the next time out they’re going to know what to do. … you want all of them to keep their tug line tight – it means they’re all pulling. They need to set a pace.
Question: How many dogs do you have?
Answer: Fifteen. I have Siberian huskies, some Alaskan huskies, Samoyeds. I have a German shorthair, which is unusual for a sled dog but he does real well. He’s one of my lead dogs. … it takes me about an hour a day to come out and feed and water them.
Question: do the dogs ever get distracted?
Answer: A lot of dogs want to socialize with the other dogs so when you try to head-on pass they want to go over and visit, which is hard to break them of that.
Question: I bet that can lead to amusing situations.
Answer: At the race at Warren Winterfest this past January I gave the boys at the church my better dogs to run so I only ran three dogs in the four-dog sprint. I got out to the turnaround and I realized – about the same time one of my males realized – the female I had on was coming in heat. so they just would not go anymore. so I took the female off the line and put her in a sled bag -. we have sled bags that go on the front of the sled you can zip open. I put the dog in there and zip them up. so I had to go to the front of the race with two dogs.
Question: does this hurt the dogs at all?
Answer: No. The dogs love it. You’d have to go to a race to actually see it … They’re just chomping at the bit to get running.
Question: Do your dogs have any trouble running in this deep snow?
Answer: We didn’t run much at all in February. We have to have a compacted trail if it’s deep. We’ve been training over on the Ghost Town trail where they’ve been running snowmobiles so it’s packed down. At a lot of the races we do, the trails are groomed.
Question: What are the sleds made out of?
Answer: Mostly white ash. We have a training cart that we run on dry land races; it’s like a big tricycle. you stand on it, hook your dogs to it and steer.
Question: What’s the terrain like at these races?
Answer: it depends on the races and the clubs that are putting them on. The race in Allegany State Park in new York has some steep hills and has some hard right-hand and left-hand turns. The race at Warren Winterfest is pretty flat. you go out 2.5 miles, have a lollipop turnaround so you go back the way you came out, so you have a lot of head-on passing. The race at Allegany State Park is a loop trail, it’s a tougher trail but there’s no head-on passing.
Question: What kind of speed do you get with a crew of your best dogs?
Answer: I mostly run the Siberian huskies, they’re slower. but the Alaskan huskies and hounds like German shorthairs, you get up to 22 or 23 miles per hour.
Question: do you communicate with the dogs when you’re doing this?
Answer: you talk to them. I have a couple dogs – if I have to stop they’ll sit and stay for me and that’s important if you have to get off and switch somebody around.
Question: do you have control on the reins?
Answer: no.
Question: Uh, so who’s steering?
Answer: The lead dogs. You’ve got to have dogs that will stay on the track and keep going. There’s no physical control. I’m along for the ride (laughs). If you get the steep hills, you can get off and run behind them and push and kick to get them up the hills.
Question: This isn’t a winter sport you hear a lot about. How’d you get into it?
Answer: about 15 years or so ago, I went down to a dog weight pull at Hidden Valley Ski Resort. I ran into some people who were also into sledding and got involved with them and that’s how it got started.
Question: What do you like about this so much?
Answer: It’s an experience to understand it, but you’re out there all by yourself, just you and the dogs. you don’t hear anything except the patter of their feet on the ground.
Question: and the biggest challenge?
Answer: The upkeep. They’re a lot of work. I say that for myself because I’ve got a lot of dogs, but you can do this with just one dog.
Question: ever see yourself doing something like the Iditarod?
Answer: I wouldn’t want to do the Iditarod. It’s a survival race. You’re out there 1,100 miles. you might be out there for 100 miles at a time between checkpoints in all kinds of weather. it costs tens of thousands of dollars to run that race – that puts it out of our reach. The most we’d like to do is do a weeklong camping trip with dogs somewhere like up in Adirondacks.
Question: any other aspirations?
Answer: I’d like to see more people do it. They don’t know it exists. People don’t know this sport is even out there and that’s probably why there isn’t as many in it. For anybody who likes to do things in the winter, this is an ideal sport.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Do you know someone who would be a great subject for the Monday Q&a? If so, please call Jason Levan at (724) 465-5555, ext. 270. Age: 65
Roger Carnahan, at a glance….
Job: Retired from Fisher Scientific
Residence: Kenwood
Where I grew up: White Township
Family: Daughters Michele and Kelly, wife Donna
Hobbies: Sled dogs, fishing, backpacking
Favorite food: Cheeseburgers
Food I refuse to eat: Spinach
Favorite movie: “Jeremiah Johnson”
Last book you read: “First Light on the Water,” by Ron and Al Lindner
Favorite way to spend a day: with my grandsons or fishing
Pet peeve: Pessimists
Life goal: Be good at whatever I do
Person who most inspired you: my grandmother because she put me on the right path, faith-wise
Something most people don’t know about you: I run sled dogs.
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MONDAY Q&A: Sled dog racer builds team to stay ahead of the pack
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