What’s it like driving your own team of husky dogs in Arctic Norway?

When I heard I’d be driving my own team of husky dogs in Svalbard, I was both excited and nervous. What if the dogs drive me into a ditch? Worse still, what if I accidentally run one of them over? I’m a naturally clumsy person so the likelihood of one of these things happening is not unlikely.

Luckily, I discovered that husky dogs are very intelligent, trained to understand commands, and have a great aptitude for spatial awareness. All the qualities I don’t possess myself.

But wait, don’t you need snow?

I always thought that there needed to be snow to go dog-sledding, and while it’s usually a winter sport, you can do it on wheels in Svalbard. Since there are no trees or bushes that grow this far up North, the terrain makes it smooth and easy for such an activity. Plus, the sleds are on wheels, so it’s slightly different than your typical typical sled.

Meeting the dogs

After getting changed into super sexy hi vis attire, it was time to meet the furry felines. I couldn’t wait. Greeted with a chorus of barks and wagging tails  – they were extremely excited to see visitors. Each one vying to get attention.

It was really cute to see each dog with their own little house, complete with a wooden plaque inscribed with their own name.

Each pack of dogs are named with a theme in mind; like copper, silver, and gold for metals, and another pack were named after planets; Venus, Mars and Pluto (even though technically Pluto is no longer a planet). Giving them a theme makes remembering their names so much easier, something which can be difficult when the owners have over 100 dogs to look after!

Harnessing the husky dogs

The first thing we had to do was gather the husky dogs to the sleds. As it turns out, this is more difficult than driving the team of huskies (also known as ‘mushing’). They have the energy of five-year old kid on a trampoline. It’s hard to control them but they did eventually settle down.

We did this by securing the dogs between our legs before putting on its harness. Usually at this stage you’re able to discover who the really intelligent dogs. The smart ones will lift up their paws and almost dress themselves.

As you can imagine, I was seriously impressed by this. However, most of the time the dogs were too excited and jumped up and down every time I tried to put on their harness. I narrowly escaped a head-butt.

Jasper, our guide demonstrating how to put the harness on the dogs. He did it with such ease, but I on the other hand struggled.

Interestingly, the most intelligent dogs are strategically placed at the front of the sled. It makes sense, as they are the ones who essentially direct where the other dogs needs to go. The back dogs are the strongest ones and are therefore usually the biggest in the pack.

Once the slapstick task of getting the husky dogs attached to the sled had been accomplished, we were ready to go.

I was standing at the back of the cart holding onto the handlebars and my friend Katie was sitting in the front seat. She probably felt more scared than I did. Her safety was in my hands! I had no prior ability of doing this, so it was going to be interesting to say the least.

Water break!

We ran up and down the side of the banking to fetch them water.

Directing the dogs with simple commands

To make driving easier, we were provided with three easy to follow commands, they were:

• Gee: meaning turn to the right
• Haw: meaning turn to the left
• Whoa: meaning stop

The word or sound which I ended up using the most was ‘Whoa’. Since it means ‘stop’ I was probably erring on the side of caution. Also, tone of voice is important when communicating instructions to dogs. In the case of whoa, it’s supposed to be spoken in a really deep and stern voice. 

I was really impressed by how responsive the dogs were to my commands. Admittedly, I didn’t want to take any chances so I did gently put my feet on the breaks as well. During our safari I noticed other people using teams of husky dogs. Later, I was told that some of the locals keep a few for private use as a mode of transport. Living in such a unique and protected place the dogs are often preferable to cars or snowmobiles because they don’t damage the environment with the release of carbon emissions.

Farts galore!

However, the dogs did release their own gas… yep that’s right, the dogs kept farting in our faces as they ran gleefully along Adventdalen. It especially hit poor Katie who was sitting right behind them on the seat in front of me! Katie got her revenge, after switched places on the way back. It was time for me to endure my share of doggy pooping which was further accentuated by the speed we were travelling at.

Aside from the wiffy presents that the dogs kept generously dropping, it was really spectacular sitting back on a seat shaped like a deck chair, enjoying the supremely beautiful Arctic scenery of snow-capped mountains, clear sky and the odd reindeer.

A big kiss goodbye!

Though there are lot’s of ways to explore the Arctic tundra, few are quite as joyous as spending a few hours in tow with these furry fellas!

As a final departing gift, we also got the chance to see some adorable newborn huskies. So precious!

Final thoughts…

I loved my time with the dogs. What an adventure! It was definitely one of the highlights of my trip to Svalbard. It’s great that you can still experience ‘wintery’ activities out of season. If you’re looking for more activities over the summer check out this Svalbard activity guide.

You might also like: A Boat Trip Safari to Von Post Glacier in Svalbard

Book tours: Browse and book a full range of tours in Svalbard via www.hurtigrutensvalbard.com.

Would you like to go dog sledding on wheels in Svalbard?