Reserach on the dogs

Hanne-Marthe Andreassen, last-year student at the veterinary college, is going to do her research for her thesis on the mushers and dogs in the 500 km race. She brings with her a fellow student into the research-project.

Andreassen is going to look at blood samples from dogs that are taken out of the 500 km race and check the concentaration of two types of muscle-enzymes. She will use the results to get a picture of the occurence of muscleinjuries caused by training - a common precursor to serious injuries for sled-dogs. She is also going to study whether this muscleinjury effects the kidneys.

The results are going to be compared with results from a similar research-project done during the Iditarod, to see if Norwegian and American conditions are similar.

It is great that Hanne-Marthe has started a project that will be valuable to us who are interested in sled-dogs, says chief veterinary for Finnmarksløpet 2010, Charlotte Leschbrandt. She thinks that the research that Andreassen is doing will lead to better care for the dogs and that race schdules are even more detailed and better planned. She encourages those mushers who are approached by Andreassen and asked to participate in the project to do so.

Andreassen will get in touch with mushers in the 500 km race when she arrives in Alta a few days before the start of the race. - I hope they are positive to take part in the research-project, she says. She stresses taht it is only dogs that are taken out of the race that she will test, thus she can cooperate with the handlers at the checkpoints. - The mushers can concentrate on the race and the dogs that are still part of the competition, Hanne-Marthe Andreassen says.