Next week Calumet will begin to prepare for the Copper Country’s premiere sled dog race. The CopperDog 150. Race weekend has sled teams, mushers, and volunteers found from Calumet on Friday to Copper Harbor on Saturday and Eagle Harbor on Sunday. Volunteer coordinator Krissy Tepsa says the race could not function without hundreds of volunteers who pick up the fences, shovel snow across the street, and keep cars and teams from getting too close.
The training is going to be at the CLK multi-purpose room. That’s just the room that we’ve always used for the last several years. So the first hour will be indoors there. Then the second hour will obviously be outside. And the training isn’t necessarily just for first-time people. It’s always a good refresher for folks that have trained in the past, just to get a refresher of what to do at those road crossings. It’s pretty important that you know what to do when cars are coming and the hand signals to use and all that stuff. It’s always good to have a refresher. – Krissy Tepsa, Volunteer Coordinator, CopperDog
Volunteers will have an opportunity to learn about handling dogs and the anatomy of a road crossing while with CopperDog organizers on Friday night. Tepsa says volunteers, new and returning, enjoy the chance to meet local musher Tom Bauer and his furry friends. The dogs, not the college students.
I think people actually underestimate, those who haven’t dog handled them before, I think they underestimated the power that those little dogs have. I think that people kind of assume like I did initially, they’re kind of small and little like they’re not gonna be pulling too hard. Oh, They can pull and they pull hard. So it is it’s pretty important that you learn how to handle those dogs prior to dog handling for the weekend, especially for people that are going to be handling at the start of the race on Friday night in Calumet.
there are certain hand signals and just certain things you need to do with flashlights or headlamps that people need to be aware of, especially at night for our crossings. So it’s a good opportunity to learn the do’s and don’ts of the crossing. Don’t feed the dogs. You can give something to the musher but don’t feed the dogs. Exactly what to do when cars are coming. You learn how to stop the sled if you have to. We’ll have a sled indoors and we’ll show how the whole sled operates as well with all the gang lines. So people will be able to know exactly what to do at crossings. – Krissy Tepsa, Volunteer Coordinator, CopperDog
Volunteer training will start with road crossings. Tepsa says volunteers will learn about hand signals and how to communicate as a team. Adding that lessons taught in the classroom come in handy at the race’s many road crossings across US -41 and other major roads.
There are quite a few of the bigger crossings that cross 41 all the way from Calumet and then even bigger crossings towards Lac La Belle. We will have fire departments, at least one member from a fire department staffing each location, but those are crucial crossings that we still have quite a bit of openings for. Those are the big crossings that we need a big group of people out at. – Krissy Tepsa, Volunteer Coordinator, CopperDog
After class, volunteers will work with Bauer and the Mushing Club at Michigan Tech to learn how strong the dogs really are. Tepsa says each year someone will fall down, which becomes an important lesson for the whole group.
It definitely happens there every time. Every time at a cross or at the training, you’ll see somebody fall and they learn real quick to duck and roll out. And it still happens, even dog handling at the start. So you’ve got to remember that lesson there, to tuck and roll away. Otherwise, those dogs aren’t stopping. – Krissy Tepsa, Volunteer Coordinator, CopperDog
Those interested in volunteering with Copper Dog on February 28th, March 1st, or March 2nd can register for a road crossing, dog handling, bag and vet check stations, and other ways to get involved online. Volunteer training on Friday will begin at 530 pm at Calumet Laurium Keweenaw Schools. Find more details here and here.
