Ari Allen doesn’t particularly like being out in the freezing cold on a winter’s day.
But her team of Siberian huskies and one Alaskan husky does.
“I love my dogs. That’s probably the only motivation that would get me outside in this kind of weather,” the Hempfield resident said this week as she prepped three of her dogs for a sled-pulling run atop Laurel Mountain.
Another motivation is the camaraderie she enjoys with other members of the West Penn Mushers, a Facebook-based group of regional sled dog enthusiasts who harness their canine companions to sleds or skis for runs over snow, or to bicycles or other wheeled conveyances for runs on dry land.