Mushing Club at Michigan Tech Vice President Brynn Santi having fun with the Alaskan Husky Storm while caring for the dogs at Otter River Sled Dog Training Center and Wilderness Adventures. | Article/Image: Ben Garbacz, Daily Mining Gazette - Houghton, Michigan 
Mushing Club at Michigan Tech hosts Dryland Dog Demo
The various clubs and interest groups at Michigan Tech have begun their debut events to invite new and interested students into their folds, and the Mushing Club at Michigan Tech started with their canine athletes pulling new students on wheels. On Friday evening, the club hosted their opening event of the school year, the Dryland Dog Demo at the Michigan Tech Trails. The event was put on to get people interested in the dogsled sports and to teach simple and beginner mushing information with an introduction to dryland dog sports before the winter brings dogsled racing.
“What I try to teach people is that we don’t have to own a kennel to mush,” President of the Mushing Club at Michigan Tech Ben Amat said. “We have some club members that own their own dogs and they mush them individually. But we’re just trying to be accessible to other people and teach this really unique way of life that’s been going on for 2,000 years.”
The Dryland Dog Demo took place in warmer weather than what is preferred, so the club had brought extra dogs to continuously rotate so none of the dogs would become overheated. After Amat had given a demonstration of how to place a harness on a dog, he went over basic mushing terms utilized during a mush and then gave a demonstration of bikejoring. Amat had attached a strap from the dog harness to his mountain bike, and then after giving the dog Triton the command to go, Triton began pulling Amat. They rode up and down a path on the Tech Trails for 10 or so yards then came back to offer new students to try it themselves.
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