On Saturday, 11 vets, 8 vet technicians and a handful of students from the University of Minnesota made sure dogs were well conditioned with pre-race vet checks.

“The mushers train the dogs, but they don’t necessarily listen to their hearts and their lungs and they may not have the training to deal with medical issues that may cause a problem on the trail and so its our job to look carefully and listen carefully,” Greg Phillips, Head Vet of the Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon said.

Once the dogs pass their medical examination, Phillips explained that they are marked with a colored stripe.

“The colors correspond to the race. Magenta is the marathon, green is the Beargrease 120 and orange is the recreational race and so that allows us to know which dogs are in which race,” Phillips said.

This year, vets and mushers said medical examinations are especially important as the weather is a little warmer than ideal for dogs.

“It will be a little warmer than we like. Sled dogs like 10 below,” Phillips said.

Despite this, mushers said they were prepared.

Amanda Bartlett, who plans to run the 40 mile race said she and her dogs have been training in warmer temperatures all year, so the dogs should be okay with it.

“You just have to monitor the dogs a little more closely and make sure they stay hydrated,” Bartlett said.

This is Bartlett’s first time participating in the Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon and she looks forward to it.

“It’s always great to be able to do any kind of race and I’m glad the community always supports it,” Bartlett said.

Twin sisters Chloe and Carlie Beatty also expressed that they would adapt to the warmer temperatures.

“With warm temperatures, it’ll be a little slower, but I’m lighter so I’ll be running up the hills to help them out as much as I can and just stopping them when I need to and I think they’ll be good,” Carlie said.

This year, Chloe will be handling for Carlie. They said their dogs are also excited.

“I think its going to be a great weekend. Everyone is ready, everyone is excited,” Chloe said.

At large, Phillips said that pre-race vet checks went well Sunday and added that mushers know their dogs best.

“They know more about their individual dogs than we will ever know because of the time that they spend behind the runners,” Phillips said.

WDIO will have full coverage of the Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon on our website and mobile app.

To see the original report and read more Beargrease 2021 reporting, follow this link to the WDIO-TV website.  https://www.wdio.com/duluth-minnesota-news/vets-clear-sled-dogs-for-37th-annual-beargrease-sled-dog-...