Young American woman takes up dog sled racing in the Northwest Territories

The dog sled racing season kicked off on the weekend in Fort Providence, N.W.T., with the Deh Gah Christmas dog sled races.

They included a first time dog sled racer 21-year old Julie Ahnen of Bessemer, Michigan.

Ahnen is a dog handler-in-training for Susan Fleck and her husband, the legendary racer Danny Beaulieu, who together run the Deh Gah Mushers Club in Fort Providence.

She landed with Fleck and Beaulieu after answering a posting on a work exchange website.

"I always wanted to do dog mushing since I was a little kid. I sent them an email and I came up here," Ahnen said with a laugh.

Her job includes feeding and watering the dogs, scooping poop, and harnessing the dog teams. It's her first time in the North, and her first time working with sled dogs.

"I don't know if I'll ever be a professional dog musher but I'm going up to Alaska and I want to work with dogs for the rest of this winter, for sure. I'm hooked already," Ahnen said.

As an animal rights advocate and a vegetarian Ahnen had misgivings about the sport, but working with Fleck and Beaulieu put those fears to rest.

"Danny's [Beaulieu] been doing it since he was a little kid. Susan's [Fleck] been doing it for the last six years. They treat their dogs with respect, maybe not everyone does, but they do," she said.

"We're never dragging them out of their kennel, they are jumping on top of you, wanting to get harnessed up. It's more beneficial for a dog to be out and on a race team than being domesticated and stuck inside a house.

"I'm so grateful for the experience. I've learned to handle dogs and live in a cabin with a wood stove. [They] know so much and they've taught me everything I know. I'm really grateful for them."

Fast field

Ahnen raced for the first time on Sunday. She finished fifth in her category, ahead of several members of the Beck clan. Anthony Beck of Hay River won the 12-dog class, while TJ Fordy of Hay River won the six dog class.

Fleck, who organized the race, said the 15 racers and 200 dogs were a record for the annual event and meant Ahnen was racing in an elite field.

"The dogs have gotten dramatically faster," Fleck said. "Turns are much more exciting and if you fall off the sled there is no way you are going to catch the teams if you are running behind."

The Northwest Territories' race circuit is intense. It kicks into high gear in February in Fort Chipewyan and races every weekend until April, when the season wraps up in Enterprise.