Dog Mushing

Dog mushing is not just for adults. Kids can do it, too, even with just one dog pulling a little sled. Most kids who mush have parents who do it, too. Kids as young as three or four years old can go if the dogs know where they are going. There are a lot of dog mushing races around Alaska for adults, and there are races for kids, too. The longest race is the Iditarod, which begins the first Saturday in March. The mushers and teams race for 1000 miles, from Anchorage to Nome. The mushers have to camp out in the freezing cold weather. Other races are sprints, where the dogs run really fast but not for a long time. If you come to Alaska, you can pay a dog musher to take you for a ride in the sled. In the summer, they put wheels on the sleds so the dogs can still run and practice for the big races in the winter.