Dogs and Dogsledding

L M Ashton said:

Is there anything in particular I need to know about a girl that young dogsledding on her own?

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Not really. Up north, even younger kids drive their own teams.

L M Ashton said:

Is it reasonable/feasible for the dogs to be trained to stop sledding if anyone on the dog sled falls off?

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As with dogs trained in obedience, it will depend on if they (or rather the lead dog) accepts the girl as their alpha. If they don't accept her, they couldn't care less if she falls off.
Right at the start of a trip, the dogs are usually so gung-ho it's hard to stop them even if you have good control over them. One rule of mushing: never let go of that sled, because you're going to have a real problem when all your gear disappears over the horizon and you're stranded without snowshoes.
The dogs would likely stop, however, if they're going up a steep hill (they're slow and working hard, so not in full running mode), if this happened after a few hours of running, or if they got tagled in their traces (say a couple of them stop because they notice she fell off but the others keep going - probability for a dog-fight would be high, though).
Actually, the sled would topple over at some point and dig itself into the snow or against a tree, and that would stop the team.

L M Ashton said:

Also, is it reasonable for the dogs to be trained to cover their human to keep him/her warm and alive?

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Trained to do this? Dogs tend to like their own personal space and unless they're really good buddies with another dog, won't snuggle up all together. But one or two dogs that have a very close bond with your protag might do this. Dogs that are closely boded to you usually know when you have a problem and try to help.

L M Ashton said:

How much and how often do the dogs need to be fed and watered?

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They could go a whole day or longer without water (since they're eating snow as they go and whenever they stop) and food, but depending on how hard they have to work (if the snow is deep and there is no packed trail on which they're running), it's good practice to take breaks every two or four hours.
BTW, dogsledding is exhausting for the person on the sled, too. You have to physically pull the sled to one side in curves and around trees, let the dogs know where you're going, get off the sled and run alongside it when it's going uphill, and stand on the brake (a rubber pad with nails) when going downhill, so the sled doesn't run over the dogs. When it's really cold, you need to do a lot of moving on the sled to keep your fingers and toes from getting frostbite.

L M Ashton said:

Would they eat the meat and bones of, say, a deer freshly killed? Would they also like eating the innards, including the brain?

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Yes. More the meat than the bones. In this world, mushers carry food (kibble, meat or fish) for the dogs.

L M Ashton said:

How far could my girl travel in a day on a dogsled? Let's say six dogs pulling a girl and her supplies.

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Completely depends on the condition the dogs are in (how much they're trained), how well the girl can handle them (an unexperienced, panicky dogdriver will demoralize the team to the point where they may just go on strike and not pull anymore), how often they're rested and snacked, and especially what the trail is like. And how heavy the sled is.Deep snow obviously slows a team down. The girl might have to break trail on snowshoes for the team. Lots of hills make for slow travel, while travelling on a flat surface with six inches of snow makes for fast travel.
Dogs tend to get bored running on open surfaces like lakes and rivers where they can see for miles ahead. They enjoy the surprise of winding trails and game tracks, and pull better.

If conditions are pretty favourable, she could do maybe 60 to 80km if she puts in a long day. If she's on a longer trip with varying coniditons, you might want to take 50km as an average.

You might want to read Jack London. THE CALL OF THE WILD and numerous short stories that he wrote deal with dog sledding.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

If you're feeding raw meat most dogs eat 2-3% of their body weight in a day, though it should be on the higher end if they're working. Depending what they're being used for (hauling freight vs. racing) mushers use dogs between 35 and 70-ish lbs. My friends use dogs ranging from 35-55 lbs.