Sled dogs learn from their "pack" or their team. But they also learn, like us, from their personal experiences.
The Black Team that Allen raced in Iditarod was our "young" team. In total, 8 dogs -- or 50% of the team -- were rookies to the race. They had never gone 1,000 miles. Therefore, they had no previous personal experiences to guide them this distance. With these youngsters it just takes time and patience. And each dog learns at their own rate.
Many people focus on the "running" part of a race. Yes, this is important. What speed is the team traveling? Or how fast did the team run from checkpoint to checkpoint? But, actually, the "resting" part of the race is more important than the "running". And with a young dog, the "rest" will often determine the speed of the "run".
Why is rest so important? A dog, like a human, can grind through a work day whether they had a good night's sleep or not. How many people go to work on very few hours of sleep? You can 'power through' the day, barely keeping your eye lids open. But, when you are tired, you don't really want to be at work and honestly, it's simply not as fun or productive! We never want a dog to think "Hey… this isn't fun!" And in order to actually make it 1,000 miles, a dog needs to be productive.
These photos are taken in Manley, only the second checkpoint of the race. At every checkpoint, the teams are allotted one bale of straw for bedding. Veterans Iditarod dogs love straw. It is cozy, warm, they can roll in it, sleep in it, hide in it… Straw is their signal to rest. And veterans know that resting is important.
(L - R) The Veterans: Beemer and Boondocks snuggle together; Lester has sweet dreams in his straw bed.
Rookie dogs don't always understand straw. Should they sit on it? Play with it? Pee in it? Eat it? It's all very confusing. They think "Shouldn't this straw be in my dog house? Hey… where is my dog house!?"
(L - R) The Rookies: Junior plays with the straw as Allen doles it out; Commando sits in his straw and watches birds fly overhead; Chipper embarrasses herself by falling asleep while sitting up.
These guys obviously have a lot to learn! Allen reported that most of the youngsters finally got the hang of resting by mid way through the race. Early on he had to manually lay a few of them into their straw beds for them to sleep. Chipper was the slowest to learn. She didn't want to go to sleep because "she might miss something exciting!" At the halfway point, in the Huslia checkpoint, Allen said the entire team finally understood: rest means rest. If you look at the team's rest time at that checkpoint you'll see that Allen choose to stay several extra hours -- simply because they were all sleeping so well. It was an exciting moment for the team!
The experiences that the Black Team members had during the 2015 Iditarod will mold their future as sled dogs. While walking through the SP Kennel yard this Spring, these now Iditarod Veterans look different and act different than only a few short months ago. Each dog processed the Iditarod differently but in the end, they all learned the most important lesson:
I CAN DO ANYTHING!
And better yet… they all want to know: When can I do it again?!?
(L - R) The 2015 Iditarod Start: Bug-eyed Commando and crazed Driver can't control themselves; Siblings Kodiak and Junior leave the starting chute in lead.
