“Always be on your guard,” Sam told me. “These dogs are like wolves. You never know for sure whether they will obey you. The important thing is to love them and make them respect you. Always leave a long safety cord behind your sled in case you fall. And make sure you tie them up well when you harness them. There is nothing more unpredictable than a dog team.”

I unchain the lead dog and tie her to the end of a long leash. The pack rises up angrily. They are howling with rage, pulling at the ends of their chains. I don’t know whether they want to be free, too, or whether they want to tear me apart.

I know the commands. To go straight ahead you do nothing. To turn left you croak like a crow — “Ha! Haaa! Haa!” — at the top of your lungs. To go right you make a sound like a magpie, “Hi! Hi! Hi!” And to stop it’s “Whoa!”

I’m ready.

“Allez, allez! Let’s go!”

And I shake the leash. The head dog starts to trot down the marked trail. I let her pull me far behind, as if a sled and team were between us.

Everything goes well. I know the path like the back of my hand because I cleared it myself. At each curve I call, “Ha! Ha!” or “Hi! Hi!”

“Whoa! Whoa!” The dog obeys instantly. She comes to a stop, her ears pricked, her tongue hanging out, panting. I wait, then I turn back. That’s enough for today.

“Allez! Allez! Time to go home!”

It’s as if I’ve cracked a whip. She speeds along in the harness. She’s not trotting anymore, but running at top speed. Her strides lengthen, her shoulders roll like waves. She swallows up the path with me behind her.

I can’t slow her down. I let her drag me. Her shoulders flatten, her back arches. Her claws bite into the earth.

“Whoa!”

There’s nothing to be done. We are running like the devil. She pulls like something possessed. I wrap the cords around my fists.

Any moment now we are going to have to go around a big spruce. She passes to the left of it and, with a huge effort, I pull to the right. The cord pulls tight, the dog yowls in pain and stops in her tracks.

“Whoa, girl!”

I walk back to the path and gather up the rope. We start off again at a reasonable speed. We are greeted by an enormous clamor of long howls and yapping.

I chain the dog and go from one den to the other. I rub the dogs’ backs one at a time, pat their haunches. They curl their long tails in the air like a squirrel eating nuts. I talk to each one and give them names.