When I heard I’d be driving my own team of huskies in Svalbard I was excited, but nervous. What if the dogs drive me into a ditch? Worse still, what if I accidentally run one of them over? I’m a naturally clumsy person so the likelihood of one of these things happening is not unlikely.
Luckily, I discovered that husky dogs are very intelligent, trained to understand commands and have a great aptitude for spatial awareness.
But wait, don't you need snow?
I always thought that there needed to be snow to go dog-sledding, and while it’s usually a winter sport, you can do it on wheels in Svalbard. Since there are no trees or bushes that grow this far up North, the terrain makes it smooth and easy for such an activity.
Meeting the dogs
After getting changed into super sexy hi vis attire, it was time to meet the furry felines, and I couldn’t wait. Greeted with a chorus of barks and wagging tails – they were extremely excited to see visitors, vying to get attention.
It was really cute to see each dog with their own little house, complete with a wooden plaque inscribed with their own name.
Each pack of dogs are named with a theme in mind; like copper, silver, and gold for metals, and another pack were named after planets; Venus, Mars and Pluto (even though technically Pluto is no longer a planet). Giving them a theme makes remembering their names so much easier, something which can be difficult when the owners have over 100 dogs to look after!
The first thing we had to do was gather the husky dogs to the sleds. As it turns out, this is more difficult than driving the team of huskies (also known as ‘mushing’) because they are so powerful and energetic.
We did this by securing the dogs between our legs before putting on its harness. Usually at this stage you’re able to discover who the really intelligent dogs are because they’ll lift up their paws and almost dress themselves.
As you can imagine, I was seriously impressed by this. However, most of the time the dogs were too excited and jumped up and down every time I tried to put on their harness. I narrowly escaped a head-butt.
Jasper, our guide demonstrating how to put the harness on the dogs. He did it with such ease, but I on the other hand…
Interestingly, the most intelligent dogs are strategically placed at the front of the sled. It makes sense, as they are the ones who essentially direct where the other dogs needs to go. The back dogs are the strongest ones and are therefore usually the biggest in the pack.
Once the slapstick task of getting the dogs attached to the sled had been accomplished we were ready to go.
I was standing at the back of the cart holding onto the handlebars and my friend Katie was sitting in the front seat probably feeling more scared than I was because she was putting her trust in my ability to steer the dogs. An ability which I had no previous experience of doing.
Water break!
We ran up and down the side of the banking to fetch them water.
Directing the dogs with simple commands
To make driving easier, we were provided with three easy to follow commands, they were:
- Gee: meaning turn to the right
- Haw: meaning turn to the left
- Whoa: meaning stop
The word or sound which I ended up using the most was ‘Whoa’. Since it means ‘stop’ I was probably erring on the side of caution. Also, tone of voice is important when communicating instructions to dogs, and in the case of whoa, it’s supposed to be spoken in a really deep and stern voice.
I was really impressed by how responsive the dogs were to my commands but admittedly, I didn’t want to take any chances so I did gently put my feet on the breaks as well! During our safari I noticed other people using teams of husky dogs and was later told that some of the locals keep a few for private to use as a mode of transport. Living in such a unique and protected place the dogs can be preferable to cars or snowmobiles because they don’t damage the environment with the release of carbon emissions.
However, the dogs did release their own gas… yep that’s right, the dogs kept farting in our faces as they ran gleefully along Adventdalen, and it especially hit poor Katie who was sitting right behind them on the seat in front of me! But as we turned around to return back to camp, Katie and I switched places so it was time for me to endure my share of doggy pooping which was further accentuated by the speed we were travelling at. Aside from the wiffy presents that the dogs kept generously dropping, it was really spectacular sitting back on a seat shaped like a deck chair, enjoying the supremely beautiful Arctic scenery of snow-capped mountains, clear sky and the odd reindeer.
A big kiss goodbye!
Though there are lot’s of ways to explore the Arctic tundra, few are quite as joyous as spending a few hours in tow with these furry fellas!
As a final departing gift, we also got the chance to see some adorable newborn huskies. So precious!
14 Responses
That really looks like fun. Such great dogs too. I guess if you want to do it during ‘light’ season then it’s probably on wheels. Could be cool on snow in the winter too if the moon on the snow is lighting up the permanent night.
I would love to try it in winter too! Doing it on wheels was definitely a funny experience and strangely therapeutic – the wind, the scenery, the motion of going forward – ahhh bliss!
Oh the arctic, awe-inspiring! Missing the polar environment.
It’s definitely one of my favourite places, aren’t we lucky to have visited… Greenland next eh? 😉
Some cracking photos there, especially the top one of the never ending tongue!
Thanks Richard it was easy to get carried away snapping these cheeky canines! Haha the dog with the big, sloppy tongue is my favourite photo too 😀
This looks so fun even with the dog farts 🙂 The Arctic scenery is spectacular and what a great and memorable experience for you. I’d love to do this someday. Gorgeous photos, Shing. Those dogs are adorable!
Haha, secretly I enjoyed all the dog farting 🙂 The scenery was so beautiful, and so untouched it made me feel really privileged to experience it. I hope you get there Mary… it’s easy to get to from the mainland of Norway.
Shing, this is one of my favorite blog posts that I’ve ever read. Totally serious. I’m a life long dog lover and the light of my life is my Golden Retriever, Phoenix. I’ve always, always wanted to go dog sledding with a real team like you did. That is absolutely brilliant how they have team names to remember the individual dog names. And how awesome you got to hold some puppies (puppies are my Kryptonite…they undo me). I’m so envious of you and I would love to go to Svalbard right now! Thank you, thank you for this 🙂
Dogs really are a man’s best friend eh Mike? I really hope you get to experience driving a team of your own huskies – for a dog lover like you, you’d be in your mecca! Really happy you enjoyed reading it 🙂
What a fantastic landscape and a great experience. While I didn’t get to drive when I recently went on a husky dog sledge ride, it was the highight of the trip for me and even more thrilling than seeing the Northern Lights. Jealous of you seeing the husky pups! so cute 🙂
I agree, I had way more fun husky sledding than searching for the Northern Lights! If these gorgeous fellas don’t put a smile on your face then nothing can! 🙂
This looks so fantastic! I’ll be in Svalbard this June and I definitely need to try out husky sledding – what company did you arrange it through?
Hi Flora! Ahhh you’re going to fall massively in love with Svalbard! The company I used for husky sledding is called Green dog Svalbard. Their website is quite basic so you might want to book through Spitsbergen Travel as I know they use this company for their dog sledding tours: http://www.spitsbergentravel.com/start/adventures/summer/dog-sledding/Dogsledding-Adventdalen/
To get you excited pre-trip, here’s a link to Green dog’s fb page: https://www.facebook.com/GreenDogSvalbard/?fref=ts
I didn’t do it myself as I unfortunately didn’t have the time, but if you can you should try and get out to the abandoned Russian town of Pyramiden. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have anymore questions. Otherwise have an incredible time!