Musher Tryout
We require an on-site tryout to consider someone for the mushing position. Tryouts are conducted in September and October at our kennel in Fraser. Most tryouts will be scheduled to begin at 8:00 in the morning and last about three hours.
Stuff to Bring to the Tryout
- Work gloves.
- Shoes or boots you don't mind getting dirty or stepping in poop.
- Long pants you don't mind getting dirty.
- Shirt, jacket, hat as appropriate for the day.
- Running shoes and shorts.
Outline of the Tryout
- Weigh in and measure height.
- Test grip strength by squeezing our scale.
- Receive instruction on how to move dogs.
- Move the selected dogs from their houses to the staging area.
- Water dogs and prepare cart.
- Receive instruction on harnessing dogs.
- Go for cart ride. This is the best time to ask as many questions about the job as possible.
- Return dogs to home and clean staging area.
- Water the dogs.
- Pick up dog poop.
- Prepare for physical tests.
- Pullups and hangtime.
- Situps for 60 seconds.
- Pushups for 60 seconds.
- Bucket carry and curls.
- One mile run.
- Written test.
Standards to Strive for
- Weight and grip strength.
- We look for mushers between 140 and 180 pounds. We like the grip strength as measured by squeezing the scale to match or exceed the weight of the musher.
- Move and harness dogs.
- We are looking for you to retain the information you just learned and perform as instructed.
- Cart ride.
- We are looking for you to hold a conversation and handle any issues that occur during the ride quickly.
- Water dogs and pick up poop.
- We are looking for you to follow the pattern as instructed, water the dogs without spilling, and pick up poop efficiently.
- Pullups and hangtime.
- 10 pullups with a one minute hangtime.
- Situps for 60 seconds.
- 30 situps.
- Pushups for 60 seconds.
- 40 pushups.
- Bucket carry and curls.
- Walk the pattern carrying two, full, five gallon buckets of water without spilling or stopping. Then curl the buckets as many times as possible.
- One mile run.
- 8.5 minutes at our elevation of 8,600'.
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