Dog Team 1920; uncanny resemblance

I bought this postcard at a flea market at our neighborhood mall a couple of weeks ago. A wonderful find for a retired dog musher and postcard collector. The card is postmarked from Juneau, Alaska, July 19, 1921. Published by the HHT Company, the card was addressed to "Mrs. Wm. Watson Jr., Monto Rio, Calif." The message reads: Dear Jean, We're having a wonderful time & lovely weather to-day. Ruth"

This postcard caught my eye for several reasons: a watercolor like composition, a good image of an historical dog team, and the good condition of the card. Yet the clincher was that the lead dog in this scene is a near spitt'in image of the hardest working and by far the most bizarre sled dogs I ever owned. His name was Lauper. He was a cast off dog from another musher. After a fight in which he was malled by an entire dog team, his heart stopped on the operating table. Six weeks later he finished the Iditarod. He was an unusual sled dog with a small head. The tip of his right ear was lopped off, thus the name, and his snout, legs and torso was crisscrossed with scars. Yet even in defeat he was never defeated. He had a swagger to his step, the kind that said, "Come on, give me your best shot." He was a committed fighter, a stupid fighter to be sure, who always picked fights with bigger and tougher dogs and he always lost. Yet, he'd never back down and even go out of his way to challenge another male. I swear, he could antagonize another male dog who was minding his own business on the other side of the dog yard. He was an idiot but I think that is what made him a great sled dog. I don't think he had enough gray matter to imagine anything other than his current condition. Had he just got drug beneath overflow or kicked by a moose he didn't remember it the next moment. Therefore his work ethic was off the charts. When traveling down the most bone-jarring trail he was unfazed. His tug line was always stretched like a banjo string. The greatest thing about him, like many dogs, is that you were the center of his universe -- the fixed and perfect star in his warped universe.

Lauper 1990-2004

Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race Winner

This is the sled dog team of Sebastian Schnuelle, winner of this year's 1,000-mile Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race. The photo was taken this morning on the Chena River in Fairbanks, Alaska, one mile from the finish line. The temperature was minus 2 Fahrenheit, ideal for dog mushing. Schnuelle's team of ten dogs are confidently passing by the Hamilton Acres and Island Homes subdivisions. The trees in the background are on the Fort Wainwright Army base. Schnuelle's team completed the race in a record time of 9 days, 23 hours, 20 minutes, the first nine day Quest race.

This is one of many photos I am considering making into a post card to commemorate the event.

A Canine Disagreement

In contrast to the peaceful resting fellows of the previous post, these two canines have issues. There may be a piece of meat between them that one chose not to eat but is nevertheless protecting. Or it could just be two males who can smell a female in heat up ahead in the line and they are "discussing" who might lay claim to her.

Note that the dog on the right is tethered by a tow line (longer) and the other dog gets a short neck line tether. It may be that the dogs in the previous post were less cranky because the straw focused their attention on rest rather than competing for a spot on hard-packed snow.

The caption on the reverse side suggests another scenario: "What do you mean, I didn't pull." While that's possible, usually a dog that is upset with another will not wait for the checkpoint to settle the score.

This postcard, dated 1994, was published by Leader Publications of Fairbanks, Alaska. An internet search did not turn up a Web site. The photographer is Vladimir Vinitzki. See another Vinitzki phototgraph at Picture.com.

Enjoying a day out with the dogs

The caption on the reverse side of this card states: "The sport of sled dog mushing is becoming a popular way to enjoy winter."

This was true in the early 1990's in Northern Michigan as several sled dog races were founded and many people began running dogs simply for the pure joy of riding the runners behind a team of panting huskies. Though sprint mushing (10-30 mile events) had been popular in both the lower and upper peninsula of Michigan for decades, the Upper Peninsula saw an explosive growth in mid-distance races (50-200 mile events), including Michigan's primier event, the UP200 and Midnight Run, run out of Marquette, Michigan.

This post card's picture shows my friend Dennis passing though the pine barrens near Marquette, Michigan, circa 1994. The photo was taken by Tom L. Porn. Dennis was out running his entire kennel -- eight very friendly and loveable Siberian Huskies. Dennis and family now live in Alaska and keep a small kennel of very friendly but roudy sled dogs. The lead dogs in the picture are Cassie and Raven.