Musher Wes Guerin, 24, hooks up sled dogs to a cart at Muddy Paw Sled Dog Kennel in Jefferson, NH. - Jefferson, NH. 
Radio Field Trip: Dog Sledding Without Snow
It’s a beautiful spring morning in Jefferson, New Hampshire. I can see the mountains in the distance, and I’m about to go dog sledding.
“That’s a pretty foreign thought – dog sledding in the spring, in any time of the year when there’s no snow,” musher Wes Guerin says. Wes works at the Muddy Paw Sled Dog Kennel.
Yes, dog sledding season is in the winter, but mushers still take the dogs for runs in the spring for training and to keep them in shape.
There are about 70 dogs here today.
Rows and rows of dog houses line a field all painted with names like Mudd, Popcorn and Pickles. But I can tell right away these are not your average house dogs.
They’re technically mutts, but you can tell they have Alaskan blood. The dogs are trim with long, lanky limbs, but they consume an average of 5,000 calories a day in the winter.
“They have an athlete’s body,” Wes says. “So they’re going to be a little more leaner than your typical house dog. It’s just like us if we sit in an office all day, versus comparing our bodies to Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps, they’re going to be in incredible shape compared to us.”
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