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The sport of racing sleds pulled by dogs over snow-covered cross-country courses, dogsled racing, developed from a traditional Eskimo method of transportation. Modern sleds are usually of wood (ash) construction, with leather lashings and steel- or aluminum-covered runners. The dogs used for pulling the sleds are most often Eskimo dogs, Siberian huskies, Samoyeds, or Alaskan malamutes; teams typically consist of 4–10 dogs. The course is usually 12–30 miles (19–48 km) long, though some, including the Iditarod, an annual dogsled race held in Alaska, are considerably longer.
Examples of dogsled in a Sentence
Julia Duin, Outside Online, 6 June 2025
What started as a trip led by Vice President JD Vance's wife, Usha Vance, that included a public appearance at a Greenlandic dogsled race this week morphed into both Vances touring a military base out of the public eye.
—Zac Anderson, USA Today, 28 Mar. 2025
Mushers use a traditional dogsled if the snowpack is more than 8 inches.
—Ryan Deto, Axios, 16 Jan. 2025
Like Trump’s second inauguration, Reagan’s second swearing-in was held inside the Capitol rotunda, and the inaugural parade—featuring an Alaskan dogsled pulled by 21 huskies—was cancelled.
—Olivia B. Waxman, TIME, 17 Jan. 2025
At Nemacolin Resort, about 90 minutes southeast of Pittsburgh, guests are whisked off on dogsleds into a winter wonderland.
—Ryan Deto, Axios, 16 Jan. 2025
After her father’s death, an American goes to Finland to continue his tradition of dogsled racing.
—Mike Hughes, The Enquirer, 27 Nov. 2024
The difference was that unlike Keenan, who would have liked to send Smith back to his native Toronto on a dogsled, Riley didn’t want Checketts out.
—New York Daily News, 15 June 2024
The event is named after the Iditarod Trail, an old mail and supply route, traveled by dogsleds from Seward and Knik to Nome.
—Ben Church, CNN, 7 Mar. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Dogsled.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dogsled. Accessed 3 Jul. 2025.
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