Racing Guide Book

This is a special guide book designed to help you out from joining Mountain View to your first race, to making your way to the top

Sled Dog Racing Information

Mushing Terms
Here you will find many of the terms use for sled dog racing, including commands, parts of a sled, members of a team and more!

ISDRA Sled Dog Racing
Introduction, general information and news regarding sled dog racing.

The Official Site of the Iditarod
A great way to learn and get inspired by the real thing!

Yukon Quest
Another excellent way to learn about sled dog racing and to get inspired by the real thing! Nice site with lots of great photos in a well organized gallery!

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Types of Poses and Racing Photo Examples
Here are examples of all the different types of photos you may need for various races. Please make sure you familiarize yourself with them and read the notes on the images as well.

Here is an example of a Vet Exam photo.

Here is an example of a Rest photo.

Here is an example of a Check Point photo.

Here is an example of a Racing photo.
This is the most common type you will be using here at MV.

Since these images can tend to be pretty big, please don't panic if they are automatically re-sized by the image host you use. Sometimes it happens and as long as the judges can still clearly see what's happening in the photo then it should be OK to use. If you ever have any questions or concerns about this don't hesitate to check with me (admin) or another judge.

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How Races Are Judged
The general idea is to make the photos as realistic as possible! So here is a description of the different positions that make up a real sled dog team (starting from the front and working our way back).

Lead Dogs: Your most reliable intelligent dogs go up front. They lead your team, listen to your commands and really set the pace for your team.

Swing Dogs: They follow the Lead Dogs, help set the pace of the team and steer/turn the sled.

Team Dogs: The engine! They are your power source!

Wheel Dogs: The largest/strongest members of your team.

HOW THE RACES ARE JUDGED
1. The races are judged based on how neat and tidy your team looks.

• Do they work well together?
• Is everyone running nicely in line?
• Is everyone going the same direction?

2. Are the individual parts of your team doing their jobs?

• Above I have given descriptions for all the different positions. How well can you make your dogs look like those different positions?

3. Have you followed the rules?

4. Eyes?

• Dogs may be looking either at the camera or ahead. They may NOT be looking behind or in any other direction that is not ahead or at the camera.

5. Legs?

• Be creative. Look at real team photos. The dogs may be running with outstretch legs or tucked in. You do need to think about which dog is going to be posed which way.

• Ex. Lead dogs are moving forward, they are leaders. How would you pose a dog who needs to look like they are a leader who is moving forward?

I hope this helps! Good luck!

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Harnesses

Here's the link to the awesome harnesses that we recommend you all use when racing your dogs!

Supernova

They are currently for Petz 4 only, however I have made an overwriting converted file for the black harness only for Petz 5. It shows up as the halo in the clothes closet. Let me know if you need me to send you a copy of the file!

All credit for the harness goes to Nova @ Supernova! You rock!  

Also remember that harnesses are not necessary for racing photos, but they are recommended as they add to the realism of the sport.

Sled Dog Show Example 

Do your best to show off your dogs sledding and showing potential.