So thrilled to be writing for COPA!
Not Panama’s international air carrier, Compañía Panameña de Aviación, but CANADIAN OWNERS & PILOT’S ASSOCIATION https://copanational.org/.
Though I do write travel articles, don’t expect to read articles about travel throughout Central and South America —at least not in FLIGHT, COPA’s print and online publication for General Aviation in Canada.

In addition to articles about aviation, COPA features aviation lifestyles.
Twenty kilometres outside Whitehorse, Yukon’s capital city, I spent five days getting my dogmushing certificate. This doesn’t mean sitting on the sled while a man guides the team and brings you home safely.

To be certified as a dog musher, novices are assigned four or five dogs.

Each novice is responsible for getting very excited and loudly barking dogs from the kennel.
Every dog doesn’t run every day, so when its their turn, they’re excited for a day in the wild.
Manoeuvring each leaping and lurching dog to the waiting area feels like reeling in a marlin.
Then, one by one in specific order of hierarch, novices secure the harness and attach each dog to the sled lead.
When all novices are ready, the lead guide starts out —and away we go!