CORNER BROOK Raising and training a sled dog team requires love and affection, but is a full-time job, says a local owner.
Elaine Pinard got started with 11 huskies approximately 18 years ago. A full-time jeweller at the time, she says she wanted a change of career and lifestyle. That’s exactly what she got.
She and a partner in Quebec had up to 250 dogs within two years. To pay for dog food alone they began offering rides, and the business grew.
More than three years ago, Pinard moved to Newfoundland. She resides in a remote area near Wiltondale these days, owning a team of 50 dogs. She continues to offer rides to help make a living, and sells puppies to keep the revenue flowing.
She says she sells an average of 30 puppies a year, including some to people who have a desire to start their own sled dog team. Some families have increased their team to four already and want to buy more, she said. She cautions people to be ready to dedicate their lives to these animals.
“It’s not like a passion, it is a vocation,” she said. “Everyday you have to be at it. It’s not a decision you can make, and then change your mind the next month.”
That is a common issue with many animal owners, she said. They get a puppy and sometime later no longer want it. However, she said there are also many pleasures that come from owning a dog team.
Living in a remote area is a necessity, according to Pinard, partly because of public misconception around the animals.
“People are scared of them because they don’t know them,” she said of her dogs. “All my dogs are nice with kids because I have been training them that way for 18 years now. I am working with schools and kids all the time, and I am not afraid to leave any kids rolling in the snow next to my dogs. My dogs are like kids too.”
Pinard said it has been a struggle maintaining a market, especially since people have such a fear of the dogs. She encourages people to visit and play with the dogs. Even though she knows the dogs relish the attention, she admits it is a hard sell.
It is her belief the primary market for dog sledding is local. She said there was too much emphasis on the European or American tourists through her previous partnership, whereas she wants to create a following of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.
Pinard said authorities commonly come to her in response to public complaints. She said most of the problems with dogs in the area are pinned on her, but she claims her dogs are never the issue. In more than three years, she said only one of her dogs got loose and ran away, and the puppy was caught again quickly.
There is a problem with dogs in this province in general, she says, but does not think it is appropriate for people to single out sled dogs.
She said cabin owners come to the area and let their dogs roam freely, causing all sorts of distress, and often it is blamed on her. However, her dogs are tethered or secured at all times, she says. There is also a common call to have dog teams licenced, but Pinard said that should be the case for all dogs, regardless of breed or purpose.
There have been problems associated with sled dogs attacking people and other animals, even involving incidents of their owner. Most of these cases have been in northern areas of Canada. Pinard says most attacks involve household dogs, and sled dogs raised the right way do not have to be feared.
“I can see fear in every family because they are not sure,” she said. “Once they meet my dogs, they change their minds.”
There was a team of 12 sled dogs recently left abandoned in Bide Arm after their owner died. Provincial animal health division employees killed the dogs following consultation with the Bay of Island SPCA, local RCMP and town representatives. It was determined they were a risk to the community, according to a provincial spokesperson.
LeeAnn O’Reilly, public relations for the SPCA, said its members had attempted to contact sled dog owners across the country hoping somebody would take them in.
However, Pinard said she was not contacted, and would have taken the dogs. She had no concerns about the temperament of the animals, and said her first team of 11 huskies had to be trained in such a manner.
“I felt really sad because I didn’t know about it,” she said. “It’s too bad for (the dogs). I guess (authorities) treated the thing as fast as they could and the way they know how to. I have a trailer, I could have gone up there and taken all the dogs. It would have been easy for me.”
Pinard questioned the SPCA’s claim they did not have the facilities or resources to take in the 12 dogs. She said the fenced-in area at the shelter could have accommodated the animals.
She said a friend has agreed to take her dogs if anything happened to her, and her partner in Quebec would also come get them if need be. She also said her dogs would not be as difficult to care for because they are well trained and well behaved.
