For anyone who has ever been dragged around the dog park by their excited four-legged friend, this might just be the sport for you.
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Dog sledding.
There may be a lack of snow and ice in Tasmania, but that hasn’t stopped a bunch of enthusiastic dog-lovers from taking up the sport.
They’ve taken ski runners, replaced them with wheels and voila a land-sled is made.
The ‘sleds’ used range from big-wheeled scooters to three-wheeled chariots.
Then there is ‘canicross’, where the dog is attached to their owner and they both run.
The Tasmanian Association of Sleddog Sports Inc. started in 2014, and the sport is growing in popularity across Tasmania.
The club meets are filled with excited baying, howling and barking as dozens of dogs meet, mingle and mush their way around the track.
When the starter sounds eager dogs are either held back until it’s their turn or encouraged (if encouragement is needed) with cries of “Hike, hike!”.
While the term sled dog traditionally refers to breeds like huskies, Alaskan malamutes and samoyeds, TASSI promotions officer Kim Sellers said lots of other dogs can also take part.
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a sled dog, it can be any dog that is over a certain body weight, which is 15 kilograms, and who loves to pull so it can be lots of different breeds,” she said.
While there is a serious competitive side to the sport, with some dog sledders competing for points in a national championship, Ms Sellers said many of those in the club are just there for the fun of it.
You’ll hear people giggling their way around the tracks because it's just so much fun with their dogs.
- Kim Sellers
“You’ll hear people giggling their way around the tracks because it's just so much fun with their dogs,” she said.
Michèle O’Brien joined the club a year ago with her dog Bazinga.
“He enjoys it, it’s not for us it’s for him,” she said.
“It’s brilliant exercise for the dogs and I think they really enjoy it, I don’t think I’ve seen a dog not enjoy it … they might not know what to do but they’ll enjoy it.”
Mrs O’Brien said sledding is not that hard, they key is teaching the commands.
Ms Sellers jokes that ‘stop’ is an important command to master.
“My two [dogs] just ignore me still ... so even at the meets I just have to do canicross and hope that they're not going to get swept up with the other dogs and take me at the same speed as everybody else,” she laughs.
“They have to actually learn commands, so they have to learn right and left and stop and slow down because you do start to really move with your dogs so you can get up to 20km/h at different parts of the race.”
Many in the club are still learning, and Ms Sellers said the sport is very family friendly.
“[The sport] is growing at a pretty massive rate and I think that’s due to ... a focus on family fitness at the moment,” she said.
“Most of us are in it just for fun and doing something with our families and our dogs.”
TASSI is holding a bootcamp weekend at the start of the dog sledding season on May 13 and 14 at Myrtle Park for people to try out the sport.
The bootcamp will let dogs and their owners discover if they enjoy it, go over safety and teach the directional commands.
“What we do at our bootcamp is go through some different bits and pieces they need to know as far as the rules go and how we set up our dogs and the type of equipment they’re going to need,” Ms Sellers said.
Ms Sellers said it is a cheap sport to get into, “It only has to be as expensive as you want it to be.”
She adds the bootcamp will introduce people to the sport gently, but she warns, “As soon as you go to one of the bootcamps you’re hooked.”
People (and their dogs) can register between 10am and 11am on the day for $25 and spectators are also welcome.
Equipment will be available to try.