Students at Minden Elementary School were acquainted with the sport of dog sledding on Monday.
"The dogs are adorable. I want to learn how to train them and have them pull me somewhere," said fifth-grader Jillian Holcomb.
Owner of Running Creek Sled Dogs Chris Miller, who gives tours in Kirkwood Valley, brought three Siberian huskies, nine Alaskan huskies and a variety of sleds to the school's playground.
Miller, who lives in Topaz with his family and 20 huskies, has been dog sledding for 14 years.
"I want to get out of the touring business and focus on racing," he said. "I would like to race in the Iditarod in Alaska. That's like the Super Bowl of dog sledding."
Miller's daughter, Kendra, is a sixth grader at Minden Elementary.
"I grew up with this," she said.
Like her father, Kendra enjoys dog sled racing.
"I race up near Truckee," she said. "I'm going to be in the junior league soon."
Fifth grader Luis Becerra was fascinated with one Alaskan race dog named Fred.
"He's so nice," he said. "Dog sledding looks like fun."
Fifth-grade teacher Bill Harvey said the presentation was an excellent opportunity for his students to see something in real life that they had read about.
"We just read about researchers using dog sleds to get to the Arctic and study global warming," he said.
Kendra said her favorite dog is her new puppy, Juno.
"Named after the movie," she said.
