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Sled dog history
Dog sleddinghistory and facts
Dogs have pulled sleds across the North for at least four thousand years. Here is how mushing came to the Yukon, and how a team works.
Home · Sled dog history
Sled dog history
Dogs have pulled sleds across the North for at least four thousand years. Here is how mushing came to the Yukon, and how a team works.
The first dog-pulled sleds appear, in Siberia or North America, where many Indigenous peoples used dogs to haul loads.
In New France, the coureurs des bois learn from Indigenous peoples and become the first European mushers in North America.
After the battle of the Plains of Abraham, the French command « Marche ! » shouted to the dogs becomes the English « Mush! ».
The Klondike Gold Rush brings sled dogs to the Yukon and Alaska. Jack London's The Call of the Wild immortalizes them.
Roald Amundsen reaches the South Pole with sled dogs.
About 20 mushers and 150 dogs relay diphtheria serum 1,085 km across Alaska in five and a half days to save the town of Nome.
At the front, they set the pace, find the trail in poor conditions and respond to the musher's voice. Intelligence and initiative matter more than strength.
Right behind the leaders, they swing the team through turns and curves.
In the middle, they give the team its power. Small teams may not have them.
Closest to the sled, calm and strong, they steady it around tight corners.
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