“That’s Buddy.”

With a wave and a smile, Brian Heft offers a warm introduction to one of his Malamutes.

Mild-mannered and happy to greet a new friend to the property, Buddy seems eager to please.

But it wasn’t always that way.

A once aggressive dog likely left alone too much living in an apartment in New York City, Buddy, now retired and 12 years old, has taken refuge as a rescue dog with Heft and his wife, Carolyn, of Slatington.

Heft has always loved animals, especially dogs.

“I’ve always been an outdoor person. I love ‘The Call of the Wild’ book,” said Heft. “When our kids were young, we were watching a movie called ‘Iron Will’ on the Disney Channel and we had a Malamute as a pet and the kids were interested in dog sledding. We found a harness online and it came with an invitation to join the Pennsylvania Sled Dog Club around 1994.

“A couple months later, there was a summer camp they had and we went just to see what it was all about and we had a great time. We came home with a sled and started adding dogs. The kids raced when they were young; it’s never been my thing. We do mostly backcountry work. That’s how we got started.”

As his children, Aaron, Bethany and Josh, have grown older, Brian has maintained his passion for the dogs and sledding.

“The kids got older and it’s been my thing since they left,” he said. “I like to go up in the Adirondacks with them and we run sometimes on snowmobile trails if we want to go a little faster; other times we just go in the back woods and they do something called breaking trail where there is no trail and the dogs are just in chest deep snow pulling the sled.”

With his property bordering the D&L Trail in Slatington, Heft is able to run his dogs with a training sled equipped to handle the gravel trail.

On this day, Maya, his command lead, and Jaeger, who is 9 years old, do almost 3 miles in an out and back run, where they are trained to stay to the right-hand side of the trail. The brother and sister pair came from a champion show dog.

“We knew she was going to be a lead dog because she had the right mix of confidence but wanting to make you happy and intelligence,” said Heft. “She just seemed to have the right mix of everything. So her AKC name is Guiding Light and it was done with the hope that she was going to be a lead dog and she did.”

There’s an enormous amount of trust for anyone behind the dogs, whether they are experienced or a novice.

“The voice command usually stops the dog; you use the brake to prevent the sled or the rig from hitting the dogs,” said Heft. “If I step on that brake and have four of them out there that feel like chasing something I can’t do anything.”

In training

Heft’s command of the dogs wasn’t always so strong.

In 2015, Heft attended a mushing boot camp in Minnesota hosted by Jamie Nelson and Ann Stead, the former having competed in the Iditarod among other events, to better understand what he was doing wrong.

“I had terrible problems with my dogs because I had been traveling and I hadn’t really done the appropriate socializing with them so I had to go out and get help,” he said. “My first year out there, they let me stay for a second class because my dogs were in such bad shape.”

After the camp, he stayed for an extra couple of weeks to meet some more people and the dogs.”

Heft has gone at least four times since.

“It’s a very diverse crew,” he said. “People racing professionally with 20 dogs and backyard people like me who are struggling to figure it out. But everybody gets treated the same. The camaraderie is excellent.”

Heft’s time with work, the dogs and his kids have taken different paths. But they’ve all been intertwined.

“There were three phases of dog sledding for me,” he said. “The first was when the kids were young and we had moved back from Louisiana. I was doing traveling but it was all in the states. We got up to six, eight dogs and made it a point on weekends to go to Pennsylvania Sled Dog events to get the kids out and let the kids run dogs and things like that.

“The second phase was when it was uncool to have sled dogs if no one else has sled dogs. And that’s when dad made it a point of picking them up all week with the dog stuff just to aggravate them.

“But that time is when my travel picked up at Air Products, too. I had anywhere from six to eight dogs, but when I look back at it I feel bad they didn’t get out more and I didn’t do as much with them as I could have.”

Heft has been retired from Air Products six years, where he was an engineer, worked in plants, R&D and design, and also worked in Louisiana for eight and half years.

This phase has allowed him to spend the majority of January, February and March in his cabin in the Adirondacks.

A draw for kids

“For four years, we were always giving free rides to kids at a Christmas festival in the western end of the Adirondacks,” he said. “It was a big draw and the kids really loved it.”

Heft noted the different types of sleds, with the training sleds being heavier and the racing sleds being lighter.

“I have four different sleds that I use, depending on snow conditions, depending on what we’re trying to do,” said Heft. “If we’re on a well-packed snowmobile trail and I feel like going fast I have a racing sled that I use. It weighs 15 pounds and it’s absolutely crazy. When they’re cranked up - if they’re going 10, 12 miles an hour on that thing. It’s wild.

“Then we have a toboggan sled that we use, which is a flat bottom but it was runners, and that’s what we use when we go to break trail. And then we have a heavy old sled that I use to give rides, and a kids sled, which I haven’t used in years.”

Heft returned to Slatington in 1989, and now has six dogs after previously running eight.

“The extension is that they feel my emotion back there,” said Heft. “So if I’m scared, they know something is wrong and now their energy level gets up and that’s not what you want.

“So I learned to check when we run into a situation that I’m not familiar with or know how to handle, I’ve learned to check my own fear and kind of minimize that.”

It’s a dynamic that has evolved over time, but one that is built on the same foundation that helped Heft discover it in the first place.

“I had pet dogs growing up but my relationship with them is very different, and I think it’s because of being out in the woods alone, working like we are together, getting yourself in some difficult situations and getting out of them,” he said.

“It’s the trust that makes dog sledding work.

“These dogs were bred over eons to work. These dogs have to work to be happy. They love to work. Working dogs are working dogs, and in my experience they’re happiest when they can work.”

While Heft is unquestionably fond of his Malamutes, he’s just as eager to advocate for dog sledding in any form, all while making sure their health and safety are the top priority.

“Everybody that I know that runs dogs, we’re in it because we love dogs as much as anything,” he said. “The dog’ s comfort is of immense concern to us. So a lot of money goes into getting the right equipment to keep them comfortable.”

Heft encouraged those interested in pulling sports - whether with one dog or 10, on a bike, a scooter or a sled - should contact a local organization such as the Pa. Sled Dog Club, The Valley Forge Dog Scooter Club or the Regional Chapter of the International Weight Pull Association to get the guidance and help needed to ensure the well-being of both their dogs and themselves.

“It’s fun,” said Heft. “I highly encourage it no matter what breed of dog people have, I highly encourage people to find somebody who is doing it and get help to get started. Join a club and find out that dog sports are great.”