Dog Sledding Adventure with Hetta Huskies in Finland

At the very start and end of the season we train the dogs so long as the temperatures are below 5C.

We start and finish with the smooth trails on our own land and progress to longer trails as soon as the snow cover is deep enough to use them without putting too much stress on the sleighs and dogs. Early season we are using quadbikes and troll carts. Later on we are using sleighs.

When we use quadbikes we can run up to 16 dogs together at once and it is really interesting to watch the interactions between them as they run. When we use trollcarts we are normally only running with 6-8 dogs per cart so it is a little bit more like normal sledding in terms of dog team size.

Early and late season sleigh training involves far smaller numbers of dogs since, when the ground conditions are marginal, we want to reduce numbers to be sure that we can control the team.

Older puppies, training for the first time, gambol down the tracks whereas the older dogs switch back into serious work mode relatively easily.

If you are lucky enough to visit during autumn training, you are welcome to just do a 2km loop with us for the experience - but you will probably want to stay for the whole session (which could be up to 8 loops / 16km on our interconnecting farm trails).

NB: We can take a maximum of 3 adults or 6 children at the same time when training with quads. When the conditions are suitable for troll carts, we can take quite a few more.

2km Quad Taster Ride: NB: The 2km ride itself probably only lasts about 10 mins but the preparation and take down from it, including the farm tour, will easily last >1hour.

Full Quad-training session:

NB: This will involve at least 8km of running with the dogs. Early in the season we may have to swap the dog teams a couple of times to reach this distance safely. However, later in the season, we may do even more km with one team and you are welcome to stay for as much of the whole training session as you like. Make sure to bring warm hats, coats and gloves.