AKLAVIK - Andrew Charlie's time goes right to the dogs.

For 30 hours a week, there's the feedings, the exercise and the regular training. But race day makes it all worth it.

Andrew Charlie of Aklavik preps his team for the dogsled races held as part of Inuvik's Sunrise Festival on January 8. - Katie May/NNSL photo

When he hits the trail rushing 30 km/h carried by 22 hound-bred canines, the race is all Charlie thinks about.

"You get a little rush going through your body. It's the speed and how you can control your dogs through voice commands. And it's the conditions of the trails, too," the Aklavik resident said. "For each trail that I've raced on, I haven't seen one that's identical in all the years I've raced."

And he should know.

In his efforts to uphold the rapidly dwindling tradition of the mighty dog musher, the father of four has raced across the NWT, the Yukon, Alaska, Alberta and B.C. since he first acquired a team of six dogs nine years ago. On Jan. 8, he tied for first place in the Delta's first dog race of the year on an 8.5 mile trail along the Mackenzie River outside of Inuvik. His time was average for his team: about 26 minutes, 10 seconds. The five teams involved split a donated $1,000 purse.

"Not up here, you can't do it for the money. But I've been in races before where the prize could be pretty big. So it can be worth it sometimes," he said. "It's a lot of work."

Though his parents kept a dog team that he grew up looking after, Charlie had no great dreams of taking up the reins. He saw early on how much work and money goes into racing - about $2.50 a day per dog just for food.

But in recent years a resurgence of musher pride hit Aklavik as a group of young men took it up again, "tried to get back into the sport, the tradition" and Charlie joined in.

"It just happened one day. I decided to try it to see if I liked it, then ended up taking more dogs so I just carried on from there," he said. "It's a stress reliever for me. Usually you go out and that's all you think of. It kind of takes the stress away for me and that's why I still do what I do here."

Now, though, there is only one other Aklavik resident with a dog team and Charlie is the only one who races regularly.

He'd like to see more community support for dog racing, particularly among youth, but Charlie won't recommend it to just anyone.

"If you don't have the time or the patience to do it, I don't know if you'd want to get into it. I think it's more for a seasonal worker," he said.

Charlie owns his own business, AC Contracting, and services the hamlet's water and sewer needs while working construction during the summer months, so he usually has winters free to train the dogs. But if, among his four children, there perhaps exists the potential to carry on the racing spirit for a third generation, Charlie hasn't seen it yet.

"I don't think my kids would be interested in something like this. They're more interested in hockey, soccer," he explained. "Once it comes to a race, though, they're more than happy to jump on the sleigh."

And at the race, prior training is crucial - the dogs are already raring to go.

"Once I pull the dog truck into the dog yard and start loading the dogs, they get all excited. They know they're going to a race."

To prepare, Charlie thoroughly checks each dog to make sure none are hurt.

"That's probably the only worry I have, is that when I go to a race, I don't want to go on with a dog that's a little bit limpy or lame," he explained. "You don't want to be using a hurt dog - you'll just end up carrying the dog in the bag on the sleigh and that puts on another 50 pounds."

On the trail, musher and dogs have their own special language with each other. Charlie has trained them to follow voice commands, most associated with the varying volume of his tone, to make them go faster.

"I say a few words that I can't say right now," he joked. "Anything I do on the racecourse, they're familiar with it through training."

"They know what it means to be on the way home."

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