Hello friends,

Bow WOW! The 50th running of The Last Great Race is less than 2 weeks away. Drop bags are packed and sent, mushers are doing last minute preparations, and dogs . . . well . . . are dogs. They are well trained and can sense the excitement. My K9 friends are ready to run!

We are ready to go!

In training and during the race, mushers know the number 1 rule – NEVER let go of the sled. It doesn’t state this specifically in the Official Rules, but, as I mentioned above, the dogs are ready to run, and they will run whether there is a human or not. So what happens if the human falls off and the team keeps going? Rule #19 says, “A driverless team or loose dog may be stopped and secured by anyone. The driver may recover his/her team either on foot, with assistance from another musher or mechanized vehicle and continue the race.” Each year there seems to be a story about a musher letting go while the team keeps happily racing. Follow this year’s race to see if it happens again.

If you have a question for Zuma, please email me at askzumadog@gmail.com. Questions will be answered in a future post.

Tail wags,

Zuma