Owner Sarah Overington has been getting her dog into skijoring, skiing behind him as he pulls.

"He loves to run and he loves to pull," Overington says. "He just thinks it's the bee's knees!"

Skijoring is the scaled-down version of dog sledding. For those who already own skis, it can cost as little as little as $100 to get equipped with a dog harness, line and belt.

Overington says she started skijoring last year with a car restraint harness, but she stopped using that when she found out it wasn't good for her dog. This year, she's waiting for her new harness to arrive by mail order. In the meantime, she's teaching her dog the commands -- gee for right, haw for left and whoa for stop!

"The really hard part is teaching him `whoa,' or not to stop at something he wants to check out," Overington says.

At Inuvik's Arctic Chalet, owner-manager Judi Falsnes has been helping Overington get set up for skijoring.

"It's especially nice for people who enjoy skiing and who like dogs too, because it just adds that much more fun to the whole thing," Falsnes says. "You can go faster because you've got a bit of help there, but you actually work together with the dog."

Although training a pet to skijor may seem a bit daunting, Falsnes says most dogs can be trained in no time. "You can train any dog who has the desire to pull," she says. "If you're on skis and you just have the one dog, you can pull the line and say the command. Even with ski poles you can help a little to guide him the right way."

For anyone interested in getting into skijoring, Falsnes suggests contacting Tanzilla Harness Supply in Whitehorse. The company sells packages which include a training manual. The company's Web site is www.tanzilla.ca.