Customer Reviews

Winning strategies for distance mushers

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I wish I had purchased this book instead of some others on mushing I already had. If you are a beginning musher, you will still probably need something like Miki and Julie Collins "Dog Driver", but if you are at all interested in distance mushing (for racing, work, or pleasure), this is a must read. There are some glaring typos and grammatical errors through the text, but I forgive these in favor of the superior content. Also, be prepared for some hyper-competitive threads. Joe didn't get to the top of the sport by waiting for the right opportunity to come by, but rather made his own opportunities and suggests the reader do also. Interspersed with the practical considerations of distance mushing are some anecdotes that Joe uses well to illustrate his points. These are not only entertaining, but enlightening. As far as practical training, feeding, and management advice for distance mushing, this one is hard to beat.

THIS WINNING IDITAROD CHAMPION has wriiten an excellent overall care book for the working dog. The title does not clue the reader into the entertaining stories that are contained between the cover. I was particularly impressed with the author's great sense of humor and his story-building abilities. Even more impressive is the fact that Runyan's book is Joe's creation and no professional co-authors who might have diluted the real character of the author. It's rather amazing to find a real Will Roger's amoung the ranks of writting mushers. His honest assessment of the sled dog racing scene--how it was and how it has developed into what it is today, can be appreciated by anyone. The "politically correct bug" never bit Joe and for that this reader is grateful. Joe's willingness to call a spade a spade is evident throughout the book. The book is largely on the authors experiences as a dog breeder, trainer, and racer, but a good portion is devoted to his observations as a commentator on the iditarod trail and can be used for any working dogs life. It makes for easy reading as Joe provides valuable information in a very entertaining form.