Running the Dogs

Yesterday was a busy and fun day. We started with a puppy walk. Then we did an activity in which we had to design a race strategy for the Iditarod. I learned that mushers need to give their dog teams a lot of rest during the race. If you run your team for 4 hours, you should rest them for 4 hours. If you run them for 8 hours, you should rest them 8 hours. He thinks that Takotna is the perfect checkpoint to take your 24 hour rest. Where would you take your 24 hour break?
After this, we helped Vern with a group of middle school students who had come to the kennel. We had to put harnesses on some of the dogs, connect them to the gangline, and hold them there until Vern was ready to let them pull his big 4 wheeler full of kids. I felt like I was at the start of the Iditarod--the dogs were so excited. They took off from the dog yard and headed off into the woods on a trail.
When the team returned, we had to meet them with bowls of water. You know how important it is for athletes to stay hydrated? Well, these athletes need water too. As soon as they returned, Vern gave each dog a snack, we unharnessed them, and gave them lots of pets and affection, then made sure they went back to their kennels and clipped them onto their chain.
After this, we met together and learned lots of things we can do with our classes to make studying the Iditarod fun and educational. I learned some cool ways to start the year off with a stuffed husky that goes home with each student for a weekend. Would you want to take home a stuffed animal husky dog for homework? I think I will do this in September and see how my new class likes it.
Later, we went to a town called Talkeetna where I met a famous musher who runs a really good restaurant. His name is Jerome Longo. Can you find out what years he did the Iditarod and how he finished?
Oh my--I have to go. It's time to do today's puppy walk. Bye for now! Mrs. A.