First training day

Hello from Jukkasjarvi where I landed on Sunday.

I'm taking care of about 53 siberian huskies for a dogsled tour company.

After a lazy Summer, the dogs need to be trained for the Winter season. We started today and my skills as a handler were tested... It is probably important to mention that I have almost no experience of handling dogs as I never had a family pet. My only experience is back in May-June this year when I stayed 20 days at the same kennel to get a first taste of what the life as a handler would be.

It all started wrong when I was asked to get the first dog, a female living in a dog yard with 2 other females. Me, the rookie, tried to grab the dog while standing outside of the dog yard. First mistake as one of the other females forced her way out, opening the door wide enough for the 2 other females to run free too, leaving me swearing at my lack of agility, speed and strength to stop them in time.

Fortunately, they ran straight to the main dog yard, like well trained soldiers who know the drill of a training exercice. Indeed, the main dog yard is where a dog team is gathered before hooking them up to the gangline.

The second handler, even less experienced than me, but a "dominant" male, helped me to get the two dogs back in their dog yard.

Once the 8 dogs were in the main yard, we started to put their harnesses on. Once again, holding the dogs between my legs so I can put their harness on, proved to be challenging. Some dogs will hold fairly still and will hand you their front legs quite easily. It seems that the dogs I picked had a different idea of how dogs should behave in that situation! Finally, after some twisting and collar dragging, we got the entire team hooked up to the line and I jumped at the back of the ATV while the kennel owner took the driving seat.

I felt that, although the main point of this exercice was to train the dogs, the handlers got much more training!

The last challenge of the exercice was to take the bxxxxx harnesses off. Again, one of the dogs decided not to cooperate and refused to lift up his front legs. I then remembered the words of my German guide telling me that the dog didn't need to "want to" but "had to". In short, it's up to the handler, not to the dog...

Although it feels like a distant future, I am confident that these gestures will become second nature and that I will manage to get dog teams together for our tourist tours without so much trauma! At least, let's hope so!