By Herb Brambley
Target 2010 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail Finalist
When I was told that I was a finalist for the Target Teacher on the Trail, I had no idea what responsibilities would be bestowed upon me. I was thrilled when all the finalists were asked to help in some manner at the Iditarod Restart in Willow. It wasn’t too long ago I didn’t know that the race had a restart. What’s a restart I thought to myself? Then, it was explained to me that the race had a ceremonial start and then an official start in Willow. Why? This was necessary because of the growth in population and infrastructure in the Anchorage and Wasilla area. All the finalists had a choice of jobs. Two of us chose to handle dogs at the restart. We filled out release forms and then were informed we were to attend dog handler school. I know how to walk a dog I thought to myself. I’ve been doing it all my life. Well, I was about to find out there’s a whole lot more to being a dog handler at the restart than simply walking a dog.
Shawn Sidelinger was our instructor for our training. He is a four time Iditarod competitor who has had dogs for 16 years. He is very mild mannered and didn’t seem to be bothered by our chuckling at his unintentionally funny statements. For example, if a dog gets loose, don’t try to outrun it. Well, of course I know I’m not going to out run a dog that has been trained to run 1000 miles. I have a hard enough time making it from the couch to the refrigerator. Or, how about this one, if you fall down, roll out of the way of the sled. I know that too. Sixteen dogs lunging into their harness are not going to stop for some sorry looking human lying face down in the snow.
Next, Shawn talked about what we need to wear such as gloves with leather palms, boots that will keep your feet dry and warm, no spikes of any kind on your shoes. These dogs are worth a lot of money he said, more than you are. We don’t want their paws hurt by you stepping on them. Well, I know where I rate now! From the back of the room a voice inserted, “Don’t bring any cameras either or you’ll be asked to leave.” Now being in the dog house is one thing, but being kicked out of the dog house is something else.
If you have any arm, shoulder or back worries handling is not a good thing for you to be doing. But don’t worry, if you don’t know it, you will by the end of today he said. Oh great, I thought. There are going to be arms and legs pulled off.
Shawn went over the terminology for the equipment, such as gang line or tow line, tug line, and neckline. Those aren’t too hard to remember. Each is named according to the job that it does. I can remember that. Don’t put your hand where 2 lines meet he said, such as where the tug line and the gang line come together. He said he has seen many gloves going down the chute. Hopefully without the hand inside, I thought to myself.
That was about the extent of our instruction in the traditional school setting, and off we went to the great outdoors to try our hand at what we learned. Shawn got his dogs out of his truck, put them in harness, and hooked them to their tug lines. I was amazed at how smoothly our trial runs went. His style of presentation must have captured everyone’s attention because he didn’t have to correct one single person. I don’t know what Shawn does in real life, but I think he would make an excellent teacher.
One more thing, we have to graduate. Sara Lamont was in charge of giving us our official Dog Handler cards. I felt proud as I saw my name in print above our instructor’s. This is really cool!!! I can take this back and show my students that I went to school while I was away from school and I am now an official Iditarod Dog Handler. I just bet I can work this into a lesson back in the classroom. Ideas anyone?
