A Dog’s World

I don’t know what yahoo Christopher Reynolds (“Dog Sledding Business Snowballs for a Reason,” Jan. 17) rode with, but sled dogs are not, I repeat, not driven by reins. My associate and I have bred, trained and professionally raced sled dogs in Alaska for the past 13 years. Every team has one dog that leads the team by voice command from the driver. The line attached to the sled is called a “gangline.” The dog’s harness is attached to it at the back with a “tug” line and at the front to the collar by a “neckline.” Dogs may be in pairs or singly along the gangline.

You might think that it adds spice to your article to state that sled dogs have been bred to be nice to people, but aggressive to other dogs. As I am writing this, my thermometer outside reads 50 below zero. Looking out my window I see 35 real sled dogs. How long do you think you would live in that temperature if your dogs were fighting each other and going nowhere? Any dog that shows aggression to other dogs is never in a real dog team.

LOA BUSCHE

Snowdancer Kennel, Delta Junction, Alaska