It has been an eventful season for musher Joe Gutowski and his team of sled dogs.
When last the Hadley resident spoke with The Citizen in October, Gutowski was entering his rookie season on the mushing circuit with dogs Monty, Munster, Paige, Zip, Bill and Nat. Back then he said he knew it would be difficult.
Now, Gutowski says he had no idea just how difficult it would get.
Gutowski, now 20 pounds lighter from the effort he has exerted into his sport this winter, sits at a table in the kitchen of his home. A couple of trophies are centered on the table, and maps of trails span the tabletop along with results from several runs.
‘I was scared to death; I didn’t know what to think,? Gutowski says of the moments before his first race.
Gutowski had good reason to be nervous.
December had brought with it nearly crippling news for Gutowski and his team. Lead dog Nat, short for Natural, was found one morning almost unable to move. The leader of Gutowski’s pack was soon diagnosed with chronic renal failure, the result of contracting Parvo as a puppy.
The diagnoses was a death sentence of sorts for the 3 year old Alaskan Husky. For Gutowski, the news was devastating. Not because it interrupted plans for his inaugural season, but because to Gutowski these are not dogs, they are best friends. To Gutowski, Nat is family.
Life for Nat changed after the diagnoses. He was put on a special diet and received the sort of pampering befitting a sick loved one. He must be kept warm and constantly be provided with water. Perhaps most importantly, Nat was no longer able to run with the other dogs, not like he had before.
Nat trots around Gutowski’s fenced in back yard as the musher recalls his difficulties regrouping the team as they were now left without a leader. A new dog, looking similar to Nat with the exception of a missing diamond shaped mark on it’s forehead, runs with beside the still powerful looking husky.
The dog’s name is Oz, and he is Nat’s son. Oz was the result of an unplanned breeding of sled dogs. Of the six in his litter, four died and one is blind. Oz is the lone healthy dog.
Nat, ‘will die young, but then we get this miracle puppy,? Gutowski says, his tone bittersweet.
Oz, Gutowski says, is being taught the ways of a leader by his father. The two unaltered males should, by all expectations, have reacted with some degree of hostility to each other. Gutowski has seen no such behavior. Nat, Gutowski says, seems to understand the need to teach this young dog.
And while Oz’s ability to serve as a leader is yet to be seen, one unexpected character has come forward to fill that role and, as Gutowski puts it, save the season.
Shy and submissive Paige, a diminutive, pumpkin colored dog, shed her passivity and took the lead on Gutowski’s team. Gutowski attributes the dogs new found confidence to the praise heaped upon Paige by Gutowski’s wife, Sara, who has always favored the lady of the pack.
Alongside Paige matching stride is newcomer, Tornado. Also new to the team is another female, Elastagirl.
The unusually warm winter delayed Gutowski’s first scheduled race, the Tahquamenon Country Sled Dog Race, from it’s originally slotted date of Jan.6 to Jan. 20. It was a grace period for Gutowski, who worked to strengthen the team, even though weather was too warm to actually practice racing much of that time.
As previously mentioned, Gutowski experienced, in the moments before the race, a mix of uncertainty and terror. He was reassured, however, by the sportsmanship of other competitors who helped him to ready his team.
‘As I found out happens in the musher community, other mushers…they see that you’re having trouble and they come over…? says Gutowski.
The team took their spot on the starting line, Paige in Tornado in the lead.
Then came the moment of truth.
‘When they let you go, you go from about zero to 35 mph almost instantly,? says Gutowski. ‘The minute the team takes off everything happens so fast. Then the nervousness goes, and it’s replaced with just trying to survive.?
Gutowski says it’s hard to overstate the amount of effort involved in mushing.
‘It’s an unbelievable amount of work. I knew it would be tough, but I had no idea how tough it would be,? says Gutowski.
Gutowski’s team averaged a pace of 10 mph on the 19 mile course. He placed 13th out of 19 finishers.
And while he was glad to have one race under his belt, Gutowski had learned much about a critical weakness in his team from the experience; Paige was afraid to pass other teams.
Nat, always a dominant dog and with an Iditerode in his resume, had never been afraid to stare down a rival team and breeze past them during practice runs. But Paige, for all her intelligence, lacked confidence. She fumbled commands and faltered when she needed to assert herself to urge her pack forward past other racers.
Gutowski knew he needed to address the issue immediately, and spent the time leading up to his next competition helping Paige learn to assert herself in a sport dominated by larger males.
The training paid off. Gutowski’s team dominated their second race, The MiDD Wooden Nickel 30, taking home a trophey for second place.
Gutowski says he was most impressed to see his team getting faster, instead of slower as the race went on, a testament to their athletic conditioning.
The race took such a toll on the other 11 teams that only Gutowski and another musher finished the track.
‘The training paid off,? says Gutowski.
Gutowski ended the race with a move that impressed even him. Instead of being led back to their trailer through the veritable obstacle course in front of them, Gutowski’s team took commands and navigated the path on their own. On lookers were stunned; so was Gutowski.
‘I couldn’t do it again if I tried,? he laughs.
‘That was a big turning point for (Paige),? says Gutowski. ‘She gained a lot of confidence in that race.?
The dogs went on to come in fourth on the first day of races at Sleepy Hollow State Park, before taking second place again on the second day.
With each race, the dogs were getting faster.
With all his races, Gutowski says he can not over stress the importance of the volunteers at these events, and his gratitude for them.
‘You can’t thank the volunteers enough. You can’t thank the local sheriffs enough,? says Gutowski.
For his most recent race, the Jack Pine 30, Gutowski says they he considered his team a strong contender to win.
He had no idea what he was in for.
The evening before the event, Gutowski and other mushers were warned of a particularly dangerous part of the trail referred to as ‘the cliff.? The cliff had given several, more experienced teams trouble in a ‘midnight run? race the day before Gutowski’s team was set to go. So treacherous was the path, three teams elected to drop out rather than face the risky journey ahead.
‘I’d talked to people who had run it and they said it was sheer terror,? says Gutowski.
Gutowski started out the race, and soon became aware of another musher, a young woman, who appeared to be having difficulties controlling her team. Gutowski and his dogs came upon her team and found them tangled up along the trail. Gutowski realized then he had a decision to make; Make better time, or help the young woman.
Gutowski chose the latter.
‘I stopped and helped her because a dogs leg can get broken like that,? says Gutowski. ‘She was fine when I left her.?
From that encounter, Gutowski headed into the most dreaded part of the race, the cliff. As he approached the sharp dropoff, Gutowski heard a scream.
‘The girl had lost (control of ) her team,? Gutowski says. ‘It’s a runaway dog team and they’re coming right at me. There isn’t a worse place to encounter a runaway team.?
Acting on instinct and adrenaline, Gutowski made a split second decision as the dogs began to pass his team and lunged for their harness. He caught hold of one of the dogs, grasping the woman’s team with one hand while trying to maintain control of his own team and sled with the other. Gutowski’s sled flipped, and unsure what to do next, he stood holding both pack of dogs.
Soon, another musher showed up on the trail with the young woman in tow. The teams were restored and the three of them proceeded onward past the cliff, only to have to help the young woman untangle her dogs again down the trail.
When all was said and done, Gutowski estimates his efforts cost his team 45 minutes in the race. He placed 16th.
‘I wanted to do better, 16th was a disappointment,? says Gutowski. But now I look at it as a learning experience. It’s reassuring that I’ve grown that much as a musher.?
‘In hindsight, I would have done it the same way,? Gutowski adds.
Gutowski’s final race of the season will be the 40 mile long Sweetwater Challenge. It’s what Gutowski describes as a fun race, not a pressure situation.
‘The most important thing I learned is how unbelievably intelligent, loving and brave these dogs are,? says Gutowski. ‘These dogs are smart in ways I never dreamed. Every command is responded to with the correct response.?
‘Some people,? he adds with a laugh, ‘have to say ‘sit to their dogs three times, just to get them to sit!?