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KA'A'GEE TU/KAKISA - A new generation of dog mushers is getting its start in Kakisa thanks to a school initiative.

Two years ago Sheila Hilliard, the teacher and principal at Kakisa Lake School, wanted to offer an outdoor activity with ties to the local culture. After Allan Landry, a local dog sled racer, offered her one of his dogs, Hilliard decided to draw on his expertise.

Dalton Simba built this dog house that Special lives in as part of Kakisa Lake School's dog sledding program. - photo courtesy of Sheila Hilliard

"I just thought it would be a really neat thing for them to experience," said Hilliard.

And so the school's dog sled program was born.

During the program's first winter season, 2007-2008, Joey Lacorne, Dalton Simba and Waylon Simba, the three oldest students at the school, were introduced to the basics of dog sled racing.

Landry taught the students how to harness the dogs, take them off their chains and hitch them to a sled.

"It's quite a big deal," Hilliard said.

Moving the dogs is physical work because they are eager to go out running, so they pull whoever's holding them, she said. The task wasn't always accomplished successfully the first time.

"We had a few loose dogs," she said.

Although they didn't run the dogs that first year, the three students got the feel for the activity by standing on a sled while Landry pulled it with a snowmobile.

The program's goals expanded that spring when Landry offered Hilliard a dog in April. When he offered three other dogs a month later, Hilliard decided to create a dog sled team for the school.

The school now has four dogs - Special, Boots, Oscar and Babe - and they borrow Cash from Landry to use as the team's lead dog. To house the team, the three students each built a dog house, which earned them a Career and Technology Studies (CTS) credit.

This season the students started again by practising hitching the dogs and riding the sled before taking charge of the team. Dalton Simba, 12, was the only student who stuck with the program to the point where he could run the team.

During the winter, Simba ran the dogs approximately six times over a two-mile trail around the community.

"He was so pumped up that first time he went out," Hilliard said.

As a safety precaution, Landry always drove ahead of the team on a snowmobile. One day all of the students at the school were taken outside to watch Simba run the team.

"It was so neat to see," Hilliard said.

Running the dogs is a lot of fun because they move really fast, Simba said.

Simba said he "got excited" when he first heard about the plans to start a dog sled team because he'd never been on a dog sled before. The dogs don't need any encouragement after they're hooked to the sled.

"They're all excited and ready to run," he said.

The dogs know where to go on the trails so the driver just has to stay on the sled, Simba said.

"Some corners you have to lean or else you're going to fall off," he said.

Simba said his feet have slipped off the sled's skis before, but as long as the driver has a good grip he can pull himself back on. Simba is already looking forward to next winter.

Hilliard said she plans to continue the team and the program next year and is currently looking for funding sources to purchase a sled.