• Monday-What'sUP March 6 - 03:30 pm

Edie and I had a chance to catch a bit of the Copper Dog 150 yesterday, as the teams came across Phoenix Farms Road just up the hill from Phoenix Church. It was a beautiful day, with perfect conditions - lots of snow, not too cold, even some sunshine now and then. Here's a short video clip of one sleds crossing. You'll hear the rider say, "Thanks for making this happen for us out here!" What a fun trip it must have been from Copper Harbor to Calumet, along the old railroad line, which today is one of the best snowmobile trails in the country.

Speaking of snowmobiles, this week attention turns to the 2012 SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge at Michigan Tech's Research Center. Hopefully we'll have some coverage of that exciting event toward the end of the week.

For more on the results of the Copper Dog 150, see copperdog150.com. For the Red Jacket Cyclotron bike race winners, see rjcyclotron.com

Fun pictures!! For some reason, I knew we'd be seeing something like this this week:)

Wonder if those sled dogs are wearing Nike's running shoes for canines?

Nike's, no doubt...and I wonder if they get to eat them after the race.

That team would be right at home in the Ohio Valley this morning....after the devastating tornadic weather on Friday, we woke up to 3" of snow. Go figure.
Love their little 'booties'!

I've never thought I'd care for dog sledding. But this video clip does catch my attention. Great fun and endurance it looks like. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the pictures and story, Charlie, but especially for the video. You just don't get the real feel of it, unless you can experience those dogs and mushers whizzing by you as you stand on the side of the trail and your video gives everyone a good idea of what it's like.
We watched them cross 9th Street in Lake Linden, near the Traprock Bridge on Friday night and even were active in getting the dogs back on the trail, as they would be disoriented in the dark and several tried veering off into the openings in the crowd. That's why you see the folks all standing with outstretched arms and almost joining, so the dogs wouldn't think the opening was the trail. It truly is amazing to witness in person. :-)

Didn't not the video clip before...Neat-o!

...notice, even.

SOME HOW I FEEL SORRY FOR THOSE DOGS--MAYBE NEXT TIME THEY SHOULD RIDE THE SELD !!!!!!!!!!!

Think I have to agree with you, Ted. I'm one of those types who never liked to see any animal used in sports....including horse-racing and steeplechases.

Those dogs live to pull, it is in there blood and it truly makes them happy for them it is play and not work. It is like a Lab they are very loving pets but once you take them in the woods to run them or hunt with them they come to life and you can see how happy they are by the way they act.

Non active dogs, horses, etc. have the same human conditions that non active people have.

Hi
Ted, I have watched some starts of dogsled races. The dogs are very excited, literally bouncing up and down while waiting their turn. And if our Alaskan Malemute was anything to go by, frequently very competitive---she did not like anyone walking or skiing ahead of her. Horses can also be competitive; a friend and I were riding side by side on a trail and we had to pull them back because one kept trying to get ahead of the other.

Kathryn, so true about horses being competitive about being a leader. When I was a kid I barreled raced my mare for many years, she won 85% of the time or finished in the 2nd or 3rd placings and it wasn't because she hated doing the race!

Good analogy, Janie T. That certainly goes for their emotional as well as physical condition. Those dogs are pretty impressive, and they sure love what they do!

Sorry, didn't mean to open a 'can of worms', and I didn't mean that it's wrong, I just said I personally don't like to 'see' competition where animals are involved. As I posted on here one time, after my husband and I bought this large piece of property we talked about getting a horse, but my husband said if we did, I'd want to bring it into the house in bad weather....so no horse. Of course he was kidding...I think.;)

Yooper Joe's vet, Dr. Matt Sturmer from Bruce Crossing, has 8 beautiful sled dogs. They love to run. When there is no snow, he let's them pull him on his 4 wheeler. I have seen the excitement in the dogs when he gets them all harnessed. They were born to run.

Read some of Jack London's books, it will change your minds about sled dogs.

Shirley, I agree with you about some of the races but this one is totally different.

I've read a couple of London's books, Hollidays, and I know there are dogs who are "born to run" (sounds like another Michigan native, Bob Seger), and now I realize my mistake in my initial post, I should have used the word "watch" instead of "see". Saw a horse have to be 'put down' at a steeplechase in Camden, SC because of a terrible injury years ago, and it really affected me.

Shirley, rest assure more horses are put to sleep due to colic than anything else.