MINNESOTA CITY, Minn. - "I love animals," Megan Fort said.

Boe settled down and looked off into the distance with his haunting, icy blue eyes.

"Good dog, Boe, good dog," Fort said.

Megan gives Boe a treat to prevent him from resuming his tug of war with her and the leash, the next best thing to towing a dog sled for Boe. It helps Megan bond with the young, male Siberian husky.

The self-proclaimed animal lover is getting serious about dog sledding. Megan talks of sled dogs like family members, a canine clan of diverse characters like Isis, Nugget, Goldie, Keasha and Loki. And, of course, Boe, who she began training on a 50-pound wagon. "In the second day I had him pulling 700 pounds, so I was proud of him," she said.

Megan helps give sled dog presentations for the Girl Scouts and plans to do a program at Winona Middle School in February. Her interest led a writer for Dog Fancy magazine to interview her for the upcoming spring issue.

Megan took an interest in dog sledding two years ago at Winona's Big Muddy Rendezvous, where she met Mike and Darnele Huerkamp, owners of Winterhaven Dog Sledding in New Richmond, six miles south of Waseca. They asked her to come for a visit, she did, and that's where the 16-year-old Minnesota City girl spends her free time, training Boe and spending time with the Huerkamps and their dogs.

Megan and Boe are making the best of a winter without snow, training on wheeled carts. Training with carts on rural roads has its hazards - telephone poles, cars, other dogs.

"Man they get us whipping around the corners and everything," she said. "They're very strong dogs."

Dog teams are clipped to a tree before starting, and when the driver is ready, the clip is released and the dogs are off.

"When they take off they'll lunge into the lines," Megan said. "You have no idea what a rush it is just to pop the clip, and they're off at 25 miles per hour."

Boe's weight and large paws make him an endurance puller, not a sprinter, she said. Megan is trying to train Boe to be an obedient companion that is ready to work when instructed. It's easier said than done. She says huskies think like this: "I'll do it once for you, then I'm sick of it, and I ain't listening to you." Then she added: "But if you've got a treat in your hand that's a whole different story."

Dogs are positioned in a team according to their skill, strength and demeanor, she said. They often are paired side by side, but if they are particularly snippy, they will stand alone. Out front is the lead dog, a strong and intelligent guide for the team and driver. A good lead dog will never take the sled onto thin ice.

Boe will never make a lead dog, Megan said.

"A lead dog is focused and stays on the trail. Boe is off wandering in his own little land."

Just behind the lead are the swing dogs, which turn the team and the sled. At the rear are the wheel dogs, which pull the sled out and around corners or trees. Boe works best at this slot. He is young, energetic and sometimes easily distracted.

"And he's turned the whole team around to chase a Schnauzer, too," she said. "They don't like little dogs. They think they're chew toys."

Skill and age require splitting dogs into first string teams and back-up teams, she said. Some dogs running on the A team last year are now past their prime and get shuffled to an old-timers team, she said.

"We change the teams around constantly. Some dogs have bad days. It depends on how personalities change of the dogs."

They also have a "neurotic" team - dogs that are just plain crazy, with names like Hammer and Eddy the Ball-buster, she said. In Eddy's case, Megan said: "He's so excited he doesn't even realize what he's doing. A lot of the dogs get that way."

Movies often portray running sled dogs as a noisy, barking bunch. Actually, this behavior is uncommon. There's some riotous jousting before the start, but within a few seconds, the dogs settle into their routine and quietly focus on the task.

"They don't bark at all, they're so focused on the trail," "The dogs tails are always between their legs - that means they're working.

A dog that is not working or growing tired will begin to exhibit noisy, uncooperative traits, she said. It also will begin dragging its toenails, a sign of fatigue.

Sled dogs can suffer bizarre internal injuries. Many have died while running the big Iditarod race in Alaska. Unscrupulous sledders who cross a finish line with a limping dog can be disqualified - sometimes for life - for inhumane treatment, Megan said. Today, dogs' feet are protected with booties. Sledders carry canine sleeping bags to bundle up and protect tired or injured dogs, she said. Sometimes a tired dog will simply lie down, sliding on all fours and eventually getting dragged by the rest of the team until stopped by the driver.

<*PL,0,0,10.1>Megan thumbs through a book, "Born to Pull" by Bob Cary and Gail de Marcken.

<*PL,0,0,10.1>The hobby has grown in popularity and appears to have swept Megan up in the excitement. Her mother, Cindy, also takes part in some of her daughter's adventures and realizes Megan is hooked.

<*PL,0,0,10.1>"Her whole face is lit up, and the smile that's on her face - it's just the whole adrenaline rush, and you can see that she loves it," Cindy said.

Contact reporter Jeff Dankert at jdankert@winonadailynews.com or 453-3513.

MORE INFORMATION

- Winterhaven Dog Sledding, 12426 260th Ave., New Richland, Minn. 56072. This company provides dog sled rides and kennels sled dogs. For information, call (507) 465-3447; e-mail laughingdog@juno.com or heurkamp@prairie.lakes.com, or log onto villa.lakes.com/laughingdog.

- The 20th running of the Beargrease sled dog race in Duluth is Feb. 1-9. For information, contact the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon Inc., P.O. Box 500, Duluth, MN 55801, call (218) 722-7631 or e-mail info@beargrease.com.

- Log onto www.sleddogcentral.com for information on dogs, mushers, feature stories, merchandise, educational resources, racing, training and more dog sledding links.