Arctic Lapland offers excellent conditions for training and conditioning sled dogs. The sledding season is long, beginning in November and lasting through April. When snow melts in the valleys, Fjellborg Arctic Journeys relocates to the nearby mountains where the dogs can be trained on snow even in May. Few places in the world boast such great sledding conditions.
When spring turns into summer the Fjellborg Alaskan Huskies receive a well deserved rest. After the last run of the season dogs and people enjoy a peaceful life at the Homestead and while the dogs are on holiday, the people devote their time to summer chores, building doghouses, repairing equipment and constructing new pens. At the Fjellborg Homestead summer also means puppies, and this is always a big event. The kennel only breeds females that are in season from March through May in order to concentrate the arrival of puppies to the warmer season. From May to August the midnight sun brings renewed life to Lapland, and just as nature burst into life due to the great abundance of light, puppies born in summer receive a great start.
For the Fjellborg puppies, socialization with people begins at an early age. The family’s children love to play with puppies and often bring friends home to meet the new litters. For many weeks, puppy life is all about playing, resting, eating and sleeping and getting to know the exciting new world around them.
Alaskan Huskies have an innate desire to run so puppy training is geared toward channelling that enthusiasm into a controlled activity. During the first few months the Fjellborg family and staff take the puppies for daily off lead walks, encouraging the puppies to follow them around, pay attention and obey basic command, such as “come here”. When the puppies are a little older they are encouraged to chase the four-wheeler along a short track. This rarely takes much encouragement as most huskies, and puppies of all breeds, love to chase! Around the age of six months the puppies are tried in harness on short runs limited to 1/2 to 1 km. Puppy training sessions are always kept brief and are intended to show pups what to do, not to condition them physically.
At 10 months of age the puppies are usually ready to go on shorter rounds which will gradually increase in length during their first year. Yearlings are always trained separately from the adult dogs in order for them to learn at their own pace. In August-September the regular off-snow training begins. The Fjellborg team train the dogs using a four-wheeler which is very practical as speed and load can easily be adjusted to suit the needs of the dogs. Off-snow training is carried out four days a week.
In order to excel as sled dogs, yearlings and adults must be trained in various terrains and on different trail conditions. For this, the wilderness surrounding the Fjellborg Homestead offers the ideal setting. There are big lakes, deep forests, hills and mountains and during their first year all dogs are accustomed to running in deep snow and on glassy ice, on open expanses and along narrow trails. The proximity to busy village life in Jukkasjärvi provides great training too. Socialization to different situations and environments is an important part of early training.
By the end of their first year, the yearlings at the Fjellborg kennel have gained plenty of experience from the trail. Some of the youngsters have begun their training as lead dogs while others have learned to run in different positions on the team. As summer arrives in Lapland the dogs are quite happy to rest for a few months. But only until the temperature drops – after the first night of frost in August-September the Fjellborg Alaskan Huskies are more than eager to return to their happy life on the trails.
