Moffat controls canine collars and wins 600 dollars

Author: Brooke Farquhar

A fear of chipmunks is not a quality commonly attributed to athletes.
The appearance of chipmunks is, however, Leslie Moffat's '10.5 biggest fear since chipmunks serve as her sled-dogs' biggest distraction. But at this year's Laconia World Championship Sled Dog Derby held March 3-5, Moffat had nothing to worry about, as her focused team led her to the winner's circle - and not off course in a chipmunk chase.
Oakie, Alex, Tater, Biscuit, Doughboy, Perry and Moffat came in second out of nine teams in the six-dog class. Moffat and the dog team raced the six-mile course on day one with a time of 22:10, and on day two, shaved off two whole minutes to finish in 20:12. Moffat made about $600 in winnings on the weekend, but she gave all the money to her neighbor Fran Plaisted, whose dogs pulled her in the race.
"Even if I wasn't using my neighbor's dogs," Moffat said, "I would still give all the money to the person whose dogs I'm racing."
Moffat first met Plaisted when she was four years old. The Moffat family moved down the road and sold their home to the Plaisteds, who set up kennels and left Leslie the open invitation to come and train with them whenever she wanted.
Moffat quickly accepted the invitation. She learned the commands "gee" (right) and "haw" (left) before she learned how to use a blinker.
At the age of 11, Moffat entered her first sled dog race in Meredith, N.H. She raced a three-dog team in the junior class, going three miles with dogs Ranger, Chip and Dale.
If you have not yet noticed, the inspiration for sled dog names is unlimited. Whether it is based on animated Disney cartoons, like "Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers," or on the food the dogs are fed, anything is fair game.
"The names get pretty creative," said Moffat, "because people have so many dogs."
The saying, "You are what you eat", also applies to the dog world - especially the dogs who raced with Moffat at Laconia.
While Muffin could not race because of a shoulder injury, her brothers Biscuit, Tater and Doughboy did. All four are descendents of their German Pointer father who Plaisted fed bread and pancakes to gain weight. His offspring adopted the name "Carbohydrate Litter" in his honor.
As a Feb, having the fall semester off was advantageous for Moffat. Training usually begins in the fall because the weather is cool enough for the dogs to run comfortably. With no papers to write or exams to take, Moffat commuted to Cobble Hill Kennel in New Haven, Vt. to work with the huskies, who were all six months or older.
A puppy usually begins training at six months old with a small team of older dogs, running in dirt or sand to avoid injury and pulling behind them a four-wheeler to build muscle. After months of getting used to dragging a couple hundred pounds of weight, these dogs fly with a 30-pound sled, plus the varying weight of the driver behind them.
At this point in training, the dogs begin to anticipate racing.
"The dogs know when you switch them from a four-wheeler to a sled," said Moffat, "and they start to get more competitive."
Moffat is not sure if Santa trains his reindeer with the same system, but she thinks his sled probably weighs more than 30 pounds, and he probably weighs more than the average sled-dog driver.
Sled dog competitions are set up according to the number of dogs in a team, and the distances range accordingly. Six-dog teams run about six-mile races, and eight-dog teams run eight miles.
The biggest competition is the Open Classic event, which can span anywhere from 15-20 miles, and the number of dogs is unlimited. The largest number of dogs Moffat has seen hitched up in an Open Classic is between 22 and 24.
Although not as competitive, a normal race day also includes a one-dog junior class for younger kids. "They are very cute to watch," said Moffat.
Unexperienced spectators at sled dog competitions may be shocked to see how skinny the dogs look, but on a cold winter day in which a team is running a long distance race, each dog will consume 10,000 calories.
On top of carbo-loading, just like athletes the canine competitors spend more time training than competing.
Plaisted said her dogs, "usually have about 200 to 300 miles on them before their first race, which includes both dirt and snow miles."
Their training tapers a few weeks before the Laconia race, and the racing schedule is constructed accordingly, with a weekend off in January. During the race the dogs learn to pace themselves, just like cross-country runners, though their pace is a little bit faster than the average human sprinter. The dogs run approximately 22 miles per hour for the full time.
Being pulled off the course at 22 miles per hour is a pretty terrifying experience. As Moffat explained, "Although these dogs go through years of intense training, any dog will chase a chipmunk."
In the event that a chipmunk crosses in front of the dogs during a race, the driver will resort to one of the many brake contraptions on the sled. On the bottom of the sled is a snowmobile tread that the driver can step on to slow down. There is also a "snow hook", which acts as an anchor that catches so the driver can get off.
When asked if she felt like it was bad luck to be pulled by dogs who were named after cartoon chipmunks in her first race, Moffat answered, "I do remember one time when we were training and [Ranger, Chip and Dale] dragged me off the trail after a chipmunk, but they were good dogs and they knew they were supposed to take care of me."
You might be disappointed to learn this, but according to Moffat, the word "mush" is not used commonly in the sport. She refers to the use of the term as a "Disney creation," that is consistent with their misrepresentation of teams made up of Siberian huskies in films such as "Eight Below."
The dogs used in real sled dog races are Alaskan huskies, often with German Pointer bred into them. Pointers are athletic and have long legs, so they are ideal to cross breed with the thick fur coats of an Alaskan husky.
Do the dogs know they are in a race? Until a chipmunk comes along, it seems they do. According to Moffat, as the announcer approaches the signal for the start, "the dogs know what fiveÖfourÖthreeÖtwoÖone go" means.
A question often asked of jockeys in the Kentucky Derby is whether they think the horses know they have won. When it comes to sled dog competitions, Moffat had mixed feelings.
"I don't know if the dogs know if they have won or not," she said, "but they know what they're there for. They know when they are in a race because they will see a team ahead and speed up."
Although Moffat has yet to be steered off course by her dogs during a competition, she has seen her fair share of mud over the years.
"To start with, Leslie always ran an old-style wooden sled," Plaisted described. "The first time we let her run the high tech Danler Sled, which you can steer, she tipped it over, dragged along the ground and came back covered in mud. But she never let go of the team, and the mud never seemed to bother her."
Moffat's family owns horses, not dogs, but she hopes to keep racing in sled dog competitions while she is a student and even after she gets her undergraduate degree from Middlebury.
In Plaisted's opinion, Moffat is cut out for the job.
"She never complains, no matter how dirty she gets," said Plaisted.