#you're just not going to be running iditarod or yukon quest bc they require all northern adapted breeds now

[darkwood-sleddog]

Tips for someone who has been obsessed with mushing since a kid, but doesn’t think they will ever mesh well with northern breeds. Can I build a small team (this is just for fun of course) with a non traditional breed? Is there a certain minimum size I should keep in mind?

I have said this before and I'll say it again. ANY breed can mush:

In several mushing venues, such as Dryland Mushing for example, non-traditional breeds are THE dog (German Shorthaired Pointers & mixes of such are the breed of choice for dryland). Even most long distance winter races such as Iditarod and Yukon Quest feature Alaskan Huskies, a landrace mix breed that can vary widely in its appearance.

And you can absolutely do it with smaller dogs just watch THIS video of dachsunds bikejoring for example. Or follow THIS instagram account that has a Shiba Inu in their malamute team. There are also videos of full spaniels teams on both winter and dryland although I cannot find them right now for the life of me. When you have a smaller dog the only thing I would caution would be to help the dog out with the weight it is pulling, especially over longer distances. This can be pedaling your bike, or having multiple dogs in team to take the brunt of the weight.

In a world where Poodles have run the Iditarod more times than Malamutes breed does not matter.