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[Wind whistling]
- Narrator: At Willow Springs Garden,
a bitter wind whips across the hills.
The snowdrifts are measured in feet.
It's the dog days of winter.
[Dogs bark]
Perfect weather for a day of racing.
- Melissa: Are you ready?
Let's go.
- Melissa Omernick suits up for her turn on the trails.
She's an experienced dog musher,
but that's not why she's here.
She's competing in a different sport.
- Man: Okay, bring 'em up.
- Narrator: Skijoring.
- What made me decide to do skijoring?
I was a night shift worker, as a nurse,
and I was gaining some weight,
and I bought some skis for my brother and he didn't use 'em.
I need to get my money's worth outta these skis,
so I strapped 'em on and hooked up some of my sled dogs
and away I went.
- Go, girl!
- Narrating: Skijoring is a combination of dog sledding
and cross-country skiing.
- I did not know how to ski when I started out skijoring.
[Laughing]
It's not the best way to do a sport, just learn as I go.
- Narrator: Step one is finding a skijoring trail.
- You need a trail that allows dogs,
and most ski trails do not want dogs on it.
I am blessed with an amazing husband who grooms trails
for myself to use with skijoring.
[Birds chirping]
- Narrator: That's why she practices at her home
in rural Lincoln County.
Melissa has been skijoring for 12 years now.
She says it's become her favorite sport,
and her dogs agree.
- You guys wanna go for a run today?
On my days off, I like to go out and ski
to get warmed up a little bit,
and then, I'll hook up one or two dogs
and we'll go out on the trails.
Good girl.
And they know, they see my harness I'm putting on
and my ski boots, and they get excited.
Are you ready?
Let's go.
- Narrator: The dog is tied to Melissa's waist
using a bungee line.
Most of her dogs are huskies, but they don't have to be.
- Melissa: It can be a beagle, a boxer, a poodle.
I happen to use Alaskan huskies.
[Paws brushing on snow]
- She works her way around the trails on skate skis
reaching speeds of 20 to 30 miles per hour.
- Melissa: Go, all right!
There's all these fine nuances
to staying balanced on skis when you're going that fast,
as anyone who does downhill skiing knows.
Gee, gee! (Turn right)
- While also keeping an eye on the dog.
- On by! (Straight ahead)
- You have to train your dog to wanna stay in front of you,
not to heel, not to stay next to you,
and you have to train yourself
to balance while an animal's pulling you.
Their ears and their tails talk to me.
They see a squirrel,
we're goin' 20-some miles an hour down a hill,
the first warning sign I get
is their ears go up and their tail goes up
and I get my brakes on.
- Melissa and her dogs compete at events
throughout Wisconsin, from the Barkie Birkie in Hayward,
to the Willow Springs race in Wausau.
- This is my sport.
I don't snowmobile.
I don't go out trail riding.
I'm not a downhill skier.
I enjoy skiing, just plain skiing, and I love dogs.
Good girl!
It's a lifestyle for me.
- And a great way to glide past the winter blues.
- I do not get depressed in the wintertime.
I don't look forward to spring,
because I'm going out and playing with my dogs in the snow
and the time flies.
Before you know it, it's April.
So I feel like they're giving back to me
more than I can ever give them.
Whoo!
I think skijoring
combines the best of both worlds for a pet owner.
You are getting physically fit, and your dog is,
and you're havin' fun.
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