| Born to work It's obvious from talking to Laurie Brandt, Montrose's resident retired pro mountain biker and skijoring enthusiast, that she absolutely loves her dogs— and she loves to let them do what they were born to do.
She's told me before that most dogs are bred for a job, like hunting, sniffing out mice, herding, etc. And when dogs get to do these activities, they really light up.
For Brandt's mutts, this includes running and pulling. This weekend, she'll strap on her harness, tie up to her dogs and compete in North America's highest-elevation dog sled and skijoring race.
By the way, you can add skijoring, a sport where skiers and sometimes snowboarders are towed behind dogs and horses, to the list of sports I'd never heard of before I moved here.
A few weeks ago, horses in Ridgway towed riders over some major jumps and turns, where the pros got enough air to clear a pickup truck.
But this isn't the only iteration of the sport; Brandt straps on cross country skies and ties up dogs for her style of racing, which she says is a sport many dog owners can get into.
In tomorrow's Outdoors page, we'll tell you more about how Brandt gears up for the big race— and in an unrelated article, just how cool ice climbing really is.
Cheers for now, Kylea from the newsroom Courtesy photo/Laurie Brandt
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