mushing

I was surprised at how small the dogs were - probably averaging not more than 40 pounds each. I was also surprised that very few of the dogs appeared to be any of the northern breeds (e.g. huskies) but I suppose that doesn't matter too much on a 25 mile loop (run in under 2 hours).

The dogs were rearing to go - howling and barking and yipping. It was quite a scene.

dogs

Incidentally, there were dogs EVERYWHERE in Alaska. People brought them to work with them. At least every other pick-up truck had a dog sitting in the bed. On top of that the dogs I saw, apart from those in the race, were completely chill. Perhaps it is so cold in Alaska that dogs have really slow metabolisms that keep them calm at all times. At any rate, it was clear to me that Alaska, despite the cold, is a great place to be a dog. In fact, I bet that if you developed a dog happiness index Alaska would be one of the states with the happiest dogs.