Questions & Answers Wk 02
Every week Team GoNorth! answers ten questions related to the module topic from student explorers -- so stay tuned and submit YOUR questions!
No, we all have to travel together, we can not replace dogs or change them out if they get hurt. That is one of the things that makes being on an expedition different from being back at the kennel training, or even in a dog race. We can on very rare occasions maybe find someone to take care of an injured Polar Husky in one of the communities we pass through - and then have them bring the Polar Husky to us when they get better. But otherwise we either have to stop traveling, travel with the injured Polar Husky for example in the sled, or find a way to get them home. We treat the Polar Huskies no different than we would any other team member.
Do you ever have to change dogs on the expedition because one was injured, if yes, which dog?
Megan
C.R.E.S
Fifth Grade
46.48 93.96
Hi, this is Mille! This is a great question. It depends a bit on how cold it is, and how wet Paul gets. Let us imagine it is a very cold day and Paul falls all the way into the water...
When one of the team members fall through the ice we of course first need to get them out. We carry 'throw ropes' on the sled - that is a bag with handle on one end and a long rope inside which stick out with a tied loop on the other end.
I would grab that bag, throw it to Paul, then throw the loop of the rope over the handle bar on the sled so that the bag is 'anchored.' This way Paul can pull himself in while I help by pulling on it, but it is safely attached to the sled. I will have to be careful not running to Paul and possibly all falling through the ice as well.
Once Paul is out of the open water, he will role around in the snow. The snow acts as a sponge, it sucks up or out the water. I will pull the bivy bag (the large bag with our sleeping bag system that travels on the very top of the load on the sled) off the sled, grab any warm water bottles and get Paul in the bag where he can is insulated from the weather and can get some heat from the warm water bottles. Then I set get the tent off the sled and set it up, immediately getting the small gas stove going inside of the tent so I can get Paul inside. If he is very cold I will lay next to him in the sleeping bag to warm him with my body heat. If he is getting warm from the stove and being in his sleeping bag, I would go outside and situate the dogs and get the camp ready for the night.
If we just get a 'wet leg or foot' for example - we do the same in that we put snow on it to get as much water as we can sucked out away from the skin, then we warm the foot i.e. with my body heat by him putting his foot on my belly - and then we pull out some dry clothing from the spares bag so we can continue traveling for the day!
What if Paul falls in the ice?
jacob
Minnewasta
First Grade Grade
Excelsior, MN
We need to fix it! We only have the gear that we have with us - but we have a large spare bags with sewing kits, tools and so on, so that we can fix whatever breaks. Sometimes we have to come up with some pretty different solutions to 'fix things' but it very important we always make repairs as soon as possible and not postpone it, because we can never know when we will really need what broke!
What do you do if your gear brakes?
kaitlyn
minnewashta
first Grade
excelsior,mn
We are going to eat 5-6000 calories a day. A calorie is a measure for how much energy we get from the food we eat! It usually means we each have to eat 2-3 lbs of food every day - and mostly food with a lot of fat in it. That is a lot of calories and a lot of food, like double as much as a normal adult should eat every day. But because we are outside in the cold our body burns lots of calories just to stay warm - even when we go to sleep at night - and during the day we are on the move, working hard for 11-13 hours a day. So, we actually need it to stay healthy and have enough energy!
How much food are you going to eat?
Luke
Minnewashta
First Grade Grade
Excelsior, MN
We yell Woooaaaaaaaaaaaaa. We use our voices and commands to let the dogs know what we would like them to do. We may grab onto the front of the sled or run into the team if the dogs are not stopping and we need them to do so immediately. We do have brakes, this piece of metal with teeth, on the back of the sled - plus what is called a snow hook - but that really can not stop the sled. However, the dogs do know that when we use one of these two it s because we are asking them to stop.
How do you make the dogs stop?
lucy
minnewashta
first grade Grade
excelsior, mn
We start moving around, like doing jumping jacks or skiing harder to make the blood flow faster. We get warm from the blood flowing around in our body! When you move fast, like run fast, your heart has to pump your blood faster and that is why you get to feel warm, maybe even sweaty. Now, for the body to be able to make all that happen it needs energy, and we get energy from what we eat. So the other thing we do is that we eat something, like an energy bar or some chocolate. That is like a burst of heat! This will help us get warm because the body will 'burn the food' and that makes us a bit warmer, and it also gives us energy to move around!
What do you do if you get really cold?
kaya
minnewashta
first grade Grade
excelsior, mn
We use Polar Huskies because it is the best way of transportation for what we set out to do. When you are on a dog team you do not need trails, you do not need gas and they never 'break down'! As long as it is safe, you can travel anywhere you want to.
We need to travel on the land to observe, explore and do field research. Traveling slowly on the land with the Polar Huskies visiting communities along the way lets us do just that!
One thing most people probably don't think that much about is that Polar Huskies have senses. That is very helpful and makes for safer travel. For example, when you are traveling by dog team - if you have a team of eight dogs, you have eight pairs or eyes and ears besides your own to explore the land. And nothing is safer than traveling down the ice on a river than if you have a good lead dog out front. They can hear the ice, and they can feel it through their paws - so they know if the ice is good travel and will let us know if they are uncomfortable so we can start checking to make sure it is safe travels. Or imagine a polar bear comes into camp while we are sleeping. Well, as Timber has proven many times, no polar bear sneaks by him - if he senses a bear (and he is very good at that) he barks like crazy in a very certain way to let us know what is going on.
Why do you use dogs?
john
minnewashta
first grade Grade
excelsior, mn
The Polar Huskies sleep outside! On the expedition they they dig a hole in the snow - or we help them if the snow is really hard so that it goes a bit faster. Once they have a hole, the Polar Huskies curl up in it with their backs to the wind while they tug their nose and head underneath their tail. If it is blowing, they let the snow drift over them like a blanket and they are nice and warm!
Where do the dogs sleep?
Lola
minnewashta
first grade Grade
Excelsior, mn
We have had all the Polar Huskies in the Kennel since they were born, but Timber. Timber was given to us when he was two years old. Beacon was born and grew a lone pup with his mother Freja. He is five years old - so we have had him for five years!
Have you read the Beacon Blog?
How long have you had Beacon?
Abby
CRES
4th Grade
Crosby
Yes, we have run in to numerous polar bears over the years. The single one expedition with most polar bear sightings was in 2001 on an expedition fron Churchil to Grise Fiord in Canada - we had encounters with five polar bears on that expedition alone.
You are exactly right that one of the great benefits of traveling by dog team is that the dogs react. They are actually the best possible bear-protection - not just polar bears.
When we came dogsledding into your community, Arctic Village, in 2006 we actually had just one of those situations, but instead of it being a polar bear it was with a brown bear. We were traveling on the trail getting pretty close to Arctic Village. This is one of the most beautiful areas I have ever traveled in the Arctic. I was out in lead with my team - Disko was my lead dog - and we were just flying. The dogs definitely had sense of something and I started seeing all these 'dig outs.' It was only early April, so a bear did not come to mind.
For those of you not from Arctic Village, this is so far inland in Alaska, that there are no polar bears. All of a sudden I saw these large bear tracks and I became rather terrified in that I realized we were on the chase of a bear! We stopped the sleds in a large open meadow deciding to have lunch and give some space to the bear. Throughout the entire lunch Disko never laid down to rest. Instead he was on alert the entire time, making very deep bark noises and constantly looking towards the woods. We never actually saw the bear - but we have no doubt the bear saw us. S
o that is what the dogs do - they warn, they bark and some of them will literally stand nose to nose with the bears. In 2004 Timber faced a polar bear that stocked us - he crawled up on camp in cover of huge pushed up some-7-8 feet tall ice chunk. By the time he stepped out he was nose to nose with Timber and less than three leaps from our tent. All the dogs got up and faced him, Disko barked the deep bark once in a while - and Timber went nuts barking in his face. Eventually the polar bear turned and walked away ever-so-slowly...
You can read the report that tells about that here: "Its a ....Bear!"
To experience what we did during our wonderful stay in Arctic Village check out the report "The Caribou People" also from the 2006 program.
Have you ever run into Polar Bears on your expedition? If so, what did the dogs do?
Jordan Felix
Arctic Village School
8th Grade
Arctic Village, Alaska
