Spending her winter days out in the snow as a dogsledding musher lets Andrea Nelson experience the season in a different way.
“At a pace that has you going somewhere but also has you really seeing things,” she told CTV News.
Nelson is a guide at Sundogs Excursions where she helps train, care for, and lead a team of sled dogs. Their training kicks into high gear once the snow falls.
Nelson refers to herself as a coach, and as the leader of the team it’s important she builds up the dogs physically as well as technically.
“Conditioning is where you’ll build the muscle mass, tone, stamina, and endurance,” said Bradley Muir, owner of Sundogs Excursions. “Training is learning to pull the sled the right way.”
The dogs begin training in the fall by pulling a cart on wheels so once the snow falls they are ready to take on the sled, which is smoother and faster.
Many of the dogs Nelson and Muir work with are retired from racing but still want to run, so they train the dogs for shorter passenger runs.
“They love it,” Nelson said. “You’ll see their very excited for it.”
The dogs are ready to take passengers out for those who want to experience Northern Saskatchewan winters in a new way.
