Hike! Dogsledding With Winterdance

My heart palpitated with excitement from the moment we pulled up to Winterdance Dogsled Tours in Haliburton. You see, I’ve wanted to go dogsledding for years and this weekend my dream finally became a reality! I can honestly say that I am in love; dogsledding is the most invigorating winter sport I’ve ever experienced. Words can’t describe what it feels like to be surrounded by an energetic group of Siberian Huskies that are just yearning to run…

I’m not going to lie, my friends and I were a bit nervous at the beginning. As with any new adventure, there’s a lot to learn before taking off safely. The husband and wife duo who own Winterdance truly love their dogs and want to make sure they’re well-cared-for by visitors. I took as many mental notes as possible as our guide went through a list of safety tips (like how to untangle leashes and how to use our sled breaks). And although none of our huskies tried to make love or war, it was good to get the 101 about their behaviour since animals can be unpredictable!

Following our intro to dogsledding, our huskies were brought out one-by-one and split into teams of five. I may be biased, but I think I scored the dream team: Scrappy, Joe, Prince, Mustang and Blizzard. They were pure magic! After all our dogs were hooked up to their respective sleds, we headed out for three solid hours on the snowy trails (we took the half day tour). Initially, the dogs bolted ahead with excitement (approx. 20 km/hr), then they stopped for several bio breaks and picked up speed again for the remainder of the journey. One thing to note: although there are serene moments where you can sit back and relax as the dogs pull you along, you do need to chip in occasionally. Yes, this means stepping off the sled and helping your new best friends up the steep hills.

Dogsledding can be a good workout for both you and the huskies! Thankfully, Winterdance schedules a little break during the tour so everyone can relax a bit. This gave us time to enjoy some hot chocolate, snap photos and ask our amazing guides (Ryan and Tara) some questions. We learned so much about dogsledding and the family of dogs at Winterdance. I found out that one of my leader huskies, Scrappy, is a cancer survivor!

We also had a chance to play in the snow and give the huskies some much-deserved love before taking off again…

It’s hard to find the right words to explain how I felt during our tour. There’s just something so invigorating yet calming about a group of huskies silently trotting on a still, frozen lake…

What an adventure! We all fell in love with dogsledding at Winterdance and can’t wait to go back to try their full day and moonlit tours! It was so hard to say goodbye to the huskies: they stole our hearts!

Things to note before you embark on this unforgettable journey:

• If you aren’t a fan of using outhouses, go to the washroom before you arrive.
• Dress for the weather: make sure you have a warm jacket (we were wearing our Canada Goose parkas), snow pants if you own them, boots with good grip, warm gloves, something to cover your ears (it can get cold when you’re on an open lake) and sunglasses.
• If you head out on a relatively mild day like we did, your dogs will likely be hot and may stick their faces in the snow to cool off. They prefer running in temps closer to -25.
• The dogs are incredibly friendly: make sure you give them lots of love and they’ll love you right back!
• As with most animals (and humans), some of the huskies just don’t get along. The guides know which ones they are and will break up any fights that break out.

Some more info about Winterdance…

• They have over 50 km of private trails so there’s plenty of wilderness to explore!
• Owners Hank DeBruin and Tanya McCready have been running tours for 15 years and now have more than 150 purebred Siberian Huskies. The dogs are a part of their family and regardless of whether they run, they have a home at Winterdance for their entire lives.
• They also have a race team (which we were lucky to meet on our way out). They’re the first Siberian Husky team from Canada to finish both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod!

If you have a chance to go dogsledding this year (there are approx. three more weeks left in the season) or want to add it to your bucket list for next winter, I highly recommend checking out Winterdance Dogsled Tours! They are incredibly professional, knowledgeable and – most importantly – passionate about their dogs and the sport. Oh, and they’re only a three hour drive from Toronto!

The dogsledding tour was part of a press trip to Haliburton. My guests and I paid a discounted media rate. As always, all reviews and opinions are entirely my own.