pet connection

The dogs at Westminster are primped and pouffed, then strut their stuff around a ring in a temple dedicated to the worship of sports. The Alaskan Malamutes and Siberian Huskies there might or might not have any experience pulling a sled–most likely not. But a few weeks after the canine beauty show at the Garden comes the other side of the canine coin: the Iditarod, the 1,150-mile-plus sled-dog race commemorating the 1925 emergency delivery of diphtheria vaccine from Anchorage to Nome.

You won’t find many–if any–prettified purebreds straining at the starting line in Anchorage next month. Instead, writes Grayson Schaffer in the current issue of Outside, they’re “high-octane mixes of huskies, Labradors and German shorthaired pointers, among others–who pull [Lance Mackey] for up to 16 hours a day in temperatures that can hit minus 70, often in whiteout conditions.” The half-page interview with Mackey–the other half is a picture of his dogs–spends most of its words on two-time Iditarod winner Mackey himself, but here’s what he says about his dogs:

I’m not going to say I’ve got the best dogs, but they’re mentally sound. One thing my kennel doesn’t have problems with is mental toughness.

Cool dog stuff for cold weather: If you and your mentally and physically tough dog spend a lot of time in the great outdoors, the same issue dedicates its Essentials page to swag for your dog: a pup tent (natch!), a Filson dog coat (I covet their bags for people, but a dog coat for a rainy day like today would be okay, too), booties for those snowy days, and a dog-travel kit that holds food, water, bowls and a flying disc.

Have fun out there!