Gary's+Dogs

On this page, write an essay about Mr. Paulsen's dogs. Be sure to include information about the Iditarod, how he cares for his dogs, and the training process. Refer to #8 in your packet for additional help. (Lucas V.)

[|Gary Paulsen's]dogs have houses and they sleep in straw beds to stay warm. For breakfast they have about 3 pounds of either beef fat, pork, meat, pork fat, or lamb sausage, He has about 26 dogs that He feeds so it takes awhile to go around and feed all of them. You do all this during breakfast in the dark, Then after they’ve had there breakfast,then he checks His dog’s feet to make sure they’re good for running. After he comes in and has a bagel, Although, It wasnt really a good bagel because They were shipped up from Seattle, and they’re not that fresh. Now its on to training the dogs ! He rubs their shoulders in order to keep them in shape for running just as you would with human athletes. Then he goes out and starts picking the dog team that he is going to run that day. All of the running up there happenes with sleds. And the problem with sleds is that you can’t train as many dogs. While he was in alaska training and racing for the iditarod, He was down to 13 or 14 dogs he thinks he will be able to make the run. If he gets down to 10 dogs, He will not race that year. If trail injuries occur or they catch a flu he can’t finish training the dogs and get the miles on them that he needs. During His training back in Minnesota he usually likes to run on wheels. He'I take a Toyota pick-up with no motor in it and pull that with 20 dogs up to 80-100 miles a day. He has a young man helping him, He runs one team while Gary is running another. They stay full of fire and they cover 50 miles in 3 ½ hours ! He has one dog named Flax and he says that he's amazing and that he's the best lead dog he's ever had or ever seen. He’s very fast and dedicated, and loves to run. [|Gary Paulsen]ends his day with dinner, He and his dogs all have grilled chicken just to give the dogs alittle treat.