Sunday, January 14, saw me getting up from my wonderfully warm bed in Frostburg to start my car up and make the 45-minute drive from my front door to the driveway of Mountain Maryland Kennels, LLC the home of Husky Power Dogsledding in Accident, Maryland.  Mike and Linda Herdering opened Husky Power Dogsledding, a dogsled touring business, in 2004 to share their love of the sport of dogsledding and the Siberian husky breed with the general public.

As I walked down the Herdering’s long hill of a driveway, I was greeted by the view of a large yard of dogs and the bundled up figures of the children from the Boy and Girl Scout troops that were visiting Husky Power that day.   Husky Power Dogsledding awards Girl Scout merit badges in dogsledding while Boy Scouts are able to earn participation patches from the dogsledding experience.

Having put my snow pants on inside the Herdering’s home, I joined the Scout Troops on the upper deck to hear Linda talk about the fascinating sport of dogsledding, which is still a necessity for travel and everyday living in many Northern countries as well as a recreational activity in some Northern states.

After Linda explained the principles of dogsledding and a little bit about the 20 Alaskan and Siberian huskies that she and her husband train, love, and care for, the children paired up with one another to take a brief dogsledding ride on a short trail beside the kennel.  This particular Sunday in the mountains of Maryland turned out to be a dreary, slushy day, and Husky Power’s trails were a little too icy for both the traditional dogsled as well as the wheeled sled.  Not be thwarted by the weather, a team of nine energetic and ecstatic huskies pulled an ATV providing traction brakes for the slippery ground.

As each pair of children left the front porch of the Herdering’s home to take a ride behind the nine dogs, they were visibly cold, unsure, and apprehensive.  Fourteen rides and about 30 children later, I stood staring at the alert, intelligent and disciplined dogs that had pulled an ATV carrying two small children and a musher perfectly along a trail of slippery ice with both ease and pleasure.  As for the Boy and Girl Scouts, the hesitation that colored their faces before taking their dogsled ride was replaced by a look of pure exhilaration and excitement upon their return to the porch.

Following the joy of watching three quarters of an hour of these dogs in action, Linda and the Herdering’s ‘MIT’ (or Musher-In-Training), Toni Oliveira, displayed and elaborated on some of the dogsledding equipment used at Husky Power Dogsledding, including custom made harnesses for each dog and various sleds used in the sport.  Toni, the current additional handler and musher at Husky Power has been with the Herderings since September of 2009 and will finish out this season in April of 2010.  A skilled musher and handler, Toni is excellent addition to the family at Mountain Maryland Kennels and, like Mike and Linda, is familiar with Alaska where she spent two recent summers as an interpretive guide at Denali National Park.

The dogs, the most important ingredient in the sport, were discussed extensively after the gear was shown.  Star athletes of the dog world, the twenty Alaskan and Siberian Huskies owned by the Herderings are constantly working with their three mushers to stay in shape and become even better at what they do.  An animal lover, I was understandably ecstatic when I learned that we were actually being taken into the dog yard to meet the furry wonders I had just watched.

However, my enthusiasm was nothing compared to that of the children, some of whom allowed the dogs to give them kisses and exclaim over the ‘cuteness’ of each canine.  Every dog had its talents and trademarks along with its own very distinct personality, and all were avid and obsessive lovers of their sport.

The children, having all made their rounds in the dogyard to visit all of the 20 huskies, began indicating that day’s Husky Power Dogsledding program was drawing to a close.  Interspersed with non-stop dialogue about their favorite husky of the day, the kids had begun complaining about the cold as well as grumbling tummies.  Loudly voicing their displeasure with the cold rain through runny noses and coughs, they were clearly ready to make their way back up the long driveway to their vehicles and the warmth and homemade sandwiches awaiting them inside.  Not being particularly happy about the leaving the dogs and Husky Power in general, but wishing to feel comfortable again, the children gave anxious parting waves and words of goodbye to the yard of huskies and the Herderings.

Following a long, cold three hour stint outside in Garrett County, I was finally able to talk to Mike, Linda, and Toni about the adventurous world of dogsledding and about their own history as well.

Having served in the United States Marine Corps for 31 years, Colonel Mike and Linda spent years traveling the world; during the 1980’s, the Herderings lived in Alaska where they decided to try out dogsledding, and where they subsequently fell in love with it.  During the two years following Mike’s retirement from the USMC, the couple gained experience in the sport at two large dogsledding kennels that offered apprentice-type training programs.  Mike and Linda first spent time in Chatham, MI, at Caribou Kennels helping train the 120 dogs there to win key dogsledding races.  They later spent time at Kuka Kennels in Glenwood Springs, CO, an establishment which mainly focused on a touring aspect of business outside of Aspen.

Wishing to open up their own dogsledding touring business, the Herderings moved to Maryland where Linda grew up.  An alumni of Frostburg State University, Linda was familiar with the area and she and Mike decided that it would be the perfect place to operate their own business.  For obvious reasons, dogsledding is neither a well-practiced nor well-known sport in most mid-southern states.  Since establishing their business in Garrett County, Linda and Mike have discovered an enthusiastic audience.  In western Maryland, they have found people with whom to share their love of this unique sport, and there is nothing they would rather do.

Husky Power Dogsledding offers programs year round that range from visiting the kennel to meet the dogs during any season, to learning to mush during the months from September to April.  To learn more about the wonderful establishment that is Mountain Maryland Kennels and Husky Power Dogsledding and their extensive offers and opportunities, please visit their website at www.huskypowerdogsledding.com.