Dr. Ron Moore – The Story of Our Vet
Dr. Ron Moore – The Story of Our Vet
Kearney Dog Sled Races has a vet on site at all times during race weekend. It ensures that all the dogs are monitored throughout the race from the morning dog drops on Saturday to driving home at the end of the weekend.
Our Kearney Dog Sled race veterinarian began his dog sled journey 20 years ago during a summer placement from vet school.
Ron Moore was looking for adventure when he signed up to go to the Yukon for his placement during his last year at school. His initiation with dog sledding was on dry land when a musher in Dawson took him out on a cart. Dog sledding has been a part of his life ever since.
As a busy vet in North York he still manages to participate in three dog sled races a year checking on all the dogs before, during and after the race. Dr. Moore has mushed himself in Algonquin Park with friends on an 80 km run. He says it is fun, but he is not too good on the curves, and the cardinal rule is never let go of the sled, or you will be running behind it for hours!
As for the dogs, he says he watches them often jump 20 feet in the air when the harnesses are brought out- they are just excited to do what they love to do- running. Some of the dogs will get up to 18 or 20 miles an hour as they race through the bush. Each dog is checked out before the start of the race, at checkpoint and again at the end. As much as they like to run, they are also happy to get into their den on the trucks at the end of the day, with two dogs in the space keeping each other warm.
Ron Moore has done this now starting in 1999, and will be on deck during the 2019 races here in Kearney. He is on site at our race for the entire weekend. In the past he has worked at Iditarod, Yukon Quest and Hudson Bay Quest among others. He says the Siberian Husky has been the most common sled dog with the Alaskan Husky and Hound mixes (for sprint races) now also very popular with mushers.
In March Dr. Moore will head into the far north for the Hudson Bay Quest in Churchill, Manitoba. Moore says the dog sled community is a close community with a focus on the dogs welfare and health and he looks forward to seeing the four-legged champions and the mushers every winter.
