The Silent Mush

Northern Michigan is no stranger to winter sports enthusiasts. When snow blankets the woods and the air is crisp under an ice blue sky, for many it's the perfect time to enjoy the great outdoors. But when you add a team of dogs and the rush of the air as the sled they pull carves across the snow at 15 miles per hour, you have the particular winter sport that captured the interest of Bruce and Monica Magnusson: dog sled racing.

"My father-in-law is the one who got us hooked," Monica explains. She describes coming up north to see him race: "I'll never forget. There were 600-some dogs, all excited, barking and ready to go. We were hooked."

After years of snowmobiling, the Magnusson's knew they loved winter sports, but taking on dog sled racing was an entirely new prospect. Now they have 83 dogs on property they purchased from Le Grand Ranch just south of Cheboygan. They split time between Novi, Michigan where they live and work and the three to four days a week they spend with the dogs.

"It's more a lifestyle than a hobby," Monica quips. "The dogs require constant year-round training. They're like Olympic athletes and we have to pay attention to everything from their nutrition to physiology." The Magnusson's have three people who help care for the animals up north and Monica describes training the dogs as "a disciplined process." They work with the dogs pulling ATV's until the snow allows for training with a sled.

Getting involved in racing doesn't come with a guidebook. Bruce and Monica learned all they know about racing by trial and error, gleaning what information they could from other mushers and reading everything they could find. Mentors have also helped them along the way. "This is not something to take lightly," Monica points out. "It takes over your life." She recommends to anyone considering getting involved in mushing that they find a reputable kennel and volunteer to handle dogs and do a season working with them to get experience and see if this is something they want to do before ever buying a single dog.

The truth is that racing dogs are definitely not pets. While some may question putting dogs to work racing sleds, Monica vehemently disagrees with any of these objections. "This is pure enjoyment for them," she explains. "They love to run and run fast. And these animals receive better care than most pets. Pets lay on the couch all day and how often are they taken for walks or to the park?" But the Magnusson dogs receive daily exercise and even time to socialize in packs with the other dogs in free run pens.

The dogs are given the best nutrition, which is sent to labs for analysis to be sure it meets all their dietary needs, and they are physically checked by vets prior to and after racing. "I've been up until midnight massaging animals during a race," Monica says. "There's just a bond with these dogs because when you're out there you're all surviving together. You depend on them and they depend on you."

Their biggest race is the International Pedigree Stage Stop race in Wyoming, which is an eight-day race coming up at the end of January and beginning of February. For this race, performed in eight different stages and locations, the Magnusson's will begin in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and end in Park City, Utah. As opposed to the famous Iditarod in Alaska, a continuous race covering 1,150 miles at an average speed of 5-7 miles per hour, stage racing such as the race in Wyoming only covers 45 miles. The dogs run at speeds of around 15 miles per hour. "It takes adventurous types to get into this sport and you have to completely enjoy being with the dogs," Monica laughs.

In the meantime, to prepare for Wyoming, they attend local races such as the Midnight Run in Marquette, Michigan, which they have done in the past. "I'd encourage people to find local races and just come share in the excitement if they're at all interested. We're all just a bunch of dog lovers really."

Monica's father-in-law was somewhat unique in that he didn't get involved in the sport until he was 65, but it's never too late to start something new. As for the Magnusson's, they are avid about what they do.  "There's a level of adrenaline rush to it because you are racing extremely fast," says Monica, "yet it's so peaceful and quiet at the same time. And you see places in winter and in the mountains that you typically can't get to which is really, really cool. During the 40 to 60 mile races you're in the middle of nowhere and there's nobody out there... just you and the dogs." And this is exactly why the Magnusson's and their dogs can't wait each year for the snow to fall so their sleds can run again.

Maggie Catchick-Houghton is a teacher, poet and freelance writer from Cheboygan.