It’s the harness that connects the dog power to the sled and there are a variety of harnesses out there. Mikhail Telpin uses a harness called the half harness. It’s really a musher, dog choice as to what harness is used. This style harness is good for preventing harness rub. It’s also sometimes used for large barrel chested dogs. Here are a few pictures of Telpin and the Chukchi Dogs as they left McGrath Thursday Morning. For comparison, look at the X-Back harness and H-Harness.  To make his departure a little more interesting the checkpoint volunteers, school children and spectators learned two Russian phrases, “Let’s go” and “Good bye.”