Dog sledding has been something I have wanted to do for the longest time so on my return to Iceland I made sure I booked myself a lesson. I absolutely adore dog and Huskies are my favourite so I was super excited to go see these adorable wolfies even though it was 17 below freezing and one of the coldest days that Iceland had experienced in a while.
Luckily the dog sled team provided us with some thermal suits for extra warmth, I was already wearing several layers but I wasn't going to refuse another one that day, once suited up we were then taken out to meet the dogs.
They had different varieties of Sled Dogs at the center, Greenland Dogs, Huskies, Malamutes and some puppies which I think were a mix of Pointer and Spaniel, if you couldn't already tell I'm a bit of a dog nerd and the guys at the center both found this amusing and impressive, you can thank my childhood obsession with Puppy in my Pocket
for that!
I loved these dogs so much they were so friendly and the huskies howling and "talking" was the best thing ever, one of the reasons I love huskies is because they're so chatty (anyone remember Mishka). We were then given brief instructions on how to harness the dogs and then got to work suiting them up.
After harnessing up all the dogs we then attached them to the "sled", as there wasn't much snow we used a trolley instead of an actual sled but it was still dog powered and man are those doggies strong. I was taught some simple instructions in Inuit to give to the dogs then it was my turn to drive the sleigh, which was SO much fun!
I imagine doing it on an actual sleigh would be much more challenging as you've got the added problem of trying to keep yourself balanced and upright but on the trolley I found it relatively simple (this coming from someone who can't drive) and I would love so much to do it again.
Our sled dog trainer seemed to be quite impressed with how I handled the dogs and I was so in love with them at this point I could have spent the whole winter with them so when he mentioned that I maybe should think about applying for a job next winter I totally gave it some serious thought...
So who knows maybe I'll be spending next winter living with huskies in the land of ice and fire, it seems hard to imagine but after my day dog sledding with these cuties how can I resist.
Dog Cuddles & Snow Angels
Cate
xoxo
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