The dog sled skidded across the snow towards us before pulling up.
"Hi, there!" My mum greeted Roxy, as she stepped off of the sled's skis.
"Hi," Roxy smiled.
"You must be Roxy," My mum smiled back as she took off her gloves. She placed them on the sledge and went over to the dogs.
"Yes. And, you're Adam's mum, Mrs. Eldon," Roxy nodded.
"You can call me Lani," My mum began to feed the dog some kibble.
"They're very well trained," Roxy complemented.
"They can still be a bit of a handful a times..." Mum laughed. "But, thank you, anyway,"
"How long does it take to train a dog to do that?" Roxy asked, obviously very interested.
"Depends," Lani explained "Some dogs take longer then others. Easily trained ones may only take about two months to learn the basics. Some might take months; others might a year, or maybe two,"
"Huh..." Roxy sighed "How many dogs do you need to pull a sledge?"
"The average team consists of eight dogs but some only have six. You need eight to run the Iditarod race. To practise I've had one dog at a time pulling a smaller sledge. But, I've also seen teams of twelve dogs before," Lani explained. Roxy nodded.
"What sort of age should you start training them," Roxy pondered.
"A year old would be ideal, nothing younger, but they could be any age really. Anything under five would be perfect," Lani began to take the lead dogs' harnesses off.
"Okay..." Roxy nodded, before falling silent. I smiled at both of them.
"Want to go inside for food, while my mum puts the dogs away?" I asked Roxy.
"That's a great idea," Roxy smiled. We left to go back inside and find something to eat.
YOU ARE READING
Hearts and Diamonds
Teen Fiction{The third and final book in the Ace of Hearts series}~ Set nearly fifteen years from Two Hearts, Lani and Ryder are married and now have a son of their own. His name is Adam Eldon, and just like his mother he has a love of all things wolf and dog...
