The future home of Iditarod dreams: Taking the prettiest girl to the dance

If you can remember way back to when you were in the sixth grade, I bet you had dances at your school didn’t you? Talking to the guys here: I also bet you wanted to take the prettiest girl to the dance too right?

Well now that I have this image entrenched into your memory, those dances weren’t about much of anything where they? Us guys sat around glassy eyed with our goofy friends in our dad’s ill-fitting ties and scruffy Sunday-best shoes.

The girls on the other hand would sit around and giggle and go to the bathroom a thousand times.

Nothing ever happened at those dances did they? And not a heck of a lot of dancing either. Even if you were the star football player and your “girl” was the prettiest.

What is the point of all this?

For a long time I have had my sights set on taking a Siberian Husky team on the trails and had dreams of racing them in the Iditarod. Everyone knows that the Siberian Husky is the “prettiest” dog on the Iditarod trail. But there is something to say about superficial beauty isn’t there?

[ Rewind: The Siberian Husky ]

Alaskan Huskies have been whipping the booties off of Siberians for the better part of a century, well at least since the 1930’s – 40’s. The Alaskans have what it takes. They have heart and they have braun. They have been bred for many generations to do one thing: pull the sled. Not to compete in the dog show ring or in obedience trails. Just pull.

Don’t get me wrong, these dogs are not a cheap “date”. Many of these canine athletes are bred and sold for thousands of dollars but the emphasis is not on beauty like many Siberians are. The emphasis is on heart.

While my goal is still to run the Iditarod with a team of Siberians. I am going to take my time and do it right. I want to breed a line that will have the “heart” of their Alaskan Husky brothers. I don’t care if they are pretty and I don’t care if they would do well in the show ring. In fact, I don’t care if I ever step into a conformation ring again!

 

[ Rewind: The Alaskan Husky ]

Breeding this line of Siberians so that they can do what they were originally bred to do will take a lot of time (courting if you will, if we still want to use the 6th grade dance analogy…), but I want to doit right.

In the mean time these supreme athletes known as Alaskan Huskies are teaching more than I ever knew.

Who do you want to take to the Dance?

Robert Forto | Team Ineka | Alaska Dog Works | Mushing Radio | Dog Doctor Radio | Denver Dog Works

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Dr. Robert Forto is a musher training for his first Iditarod under the Team Ineka banner and the host of the popular radio shows, Mush! You Huskies and The Dog Doctor Radio Show