Huskies put through paces in Muizenberg

Published Dec 23, 2019

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IT’S a scene straight from the Arctic: a sled pulled by a pack of huskies, panting and exhilarated by a tough run.

But the white surface they’re gliding over isn’t snow; it’s sand on Muizenberg beach. Mush It Up is a local organisation which exercises pet huskies the way they were bred for: by lashing them up to a pack of dogs and making them work together to pull a sled.

Husky lover Sam Gunter started Mush It Up in 2009 to safely exercise Nordic dogs in the South African climate. Mushing is a sport or transport method that uses dogs to pull a sled and is usually employed in cold countries where the sled can slide over a frozen surface like snow or ice - but Gunter has adapted it to the open spaces of Cape Town’s beaches.

“Huskies don’t belong in this country. In recent years, we’ve seen a dramatic rise in the number of unwanted, neglected and abandoned huskies,” Gunter said.

According to the Mush It Up website, huskies don’t make good pets for people who aren’t willing to exercise them hard, as they often need to run between 10km and 20km every day.

When people buy huskies for their gorgeous fur and blue eyes without being aware of the breed’s exercise demands, they often end up frustrated with dogs that can be destructive and unmanageable with their excess energy.

“We try to get people to stop buying huskies from puppy mills and adopt rather. They are athletes hardwired to sled,” Gunter said. “The sledding helps them get that sense of belonging to a pack, and it calms them down.”

With their thick fur, huskies are better suited to the cold, but Gunter said Mush It Up runs adhere to the same upper limit temperatures as in Alaska, where dogs won’t be run if it’s above 15ºC.

“The reason we run on the beach is because of the cool breeze. We change our times according to the season and we run in the water.”

Running in the shallows reduces drag on the sled and keeps huskies’ paws in the cold water.

“They are the most amazing creatures in terms of regulating their own body heat. When the water touches their tummy, that is their central cooling system for the whole body,” he said.

The pack runs every Saturday at Muizenberg Sunrise Circle beach, at 6pm in the summer months.

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