But with several hundred dogs this close, and the prospect of breakaway flight looming, Benny and Jets have started padding back and forth and taking periodic pulls at the bumper. Other dogs are pinwheeling toward beserk. From the back of the truck Salmon pulls out skis and a long strand of bungie cord. Skijoring is a Norwegian word. Done correctly, skijoring works like so.
Skier gives the command to go.
Dog lunges forward, bungie jerks taut. If the skijorer remains upright, off they go, dog eagerly bunching and unbunching in fluid surges of power, skier skiing behind. Lacking a brake or any kind of steering device skijorers rely on verbal commands, their sport to waterskiing it's a reasonable analogy, except that boats don't leap into embankments to roll in the snow or stop abruptly to pee. But the pulk can be heavy and difficult to maneuver, so in skijoring one simply gets rid of it. Scandinavian immigrants actually introduced skijoring to this country more than 100 years ago, hardy souls donning skis, then schussing along behind a galloping horse.