NCO goes to the dogs in competition Published March 29, 2007 By Senior Airman Daniel McKittrick Air Force News Agency ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska (AFNEWS) -- In the evenings at his home in Wasilla, Master Sgt. Jeff Nelson can be found training Trapper, his heavyweight Alaskan malamute, and Rusty, his feisty lightweight, for dog weight-pulling competitions. "Weight pulling is a demonstration of how strong a dog is ... and how willing the dog is to come to you when you call him," said Sergeant Nelson, superintendent of the 3rd Equipment Maintenance Squadron here. "You're not using any kind of props, you're not using any kind of bait, and if the dog doesn't want to go, the dog is not going to go," said Sergeant Nelson, who owned his first Alaskan malamute in ninth grade. Sergeant Nelson takes three days a week -- Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday -- building up the dogs' strength by having them pull a sled with concrete cylinders. They start from 400 pounds, working up to 1,000 pounds and then back down. Saturdays are competition days. In 1996, he was the St. Bernard Club of Alaska World Champion. "I had been training for four years taking second places, third places, and that fourth year, the dog started taking a first place in just about everything we entered," he said. "When we went to the world championship, there was a lot of snow coming down. The track was sticky, and I knew some of the other dogs there and I figured my chances were pretty good. We won that pulling 1,760 pounds," he said. "That was a first place in the middle weight division." Sergeant Nelson's wife, Reba, shares his enthusiasm for the sport. "Jeff went TDY to Korea and he was going to be gone three weeks which would be the first three weeks of the K-9 Weight Pulling Association. He wanted to get the dogs started ... so I agreed that I would go out and do these three pulls. That's how I got started," said Mrs. Nelson, now a professional dog handler herself. It's a family event as Sergeant Nelson and his wife call the dogs, one son counts the weight on the sled and the other son wrestles around with the dog not pulling. Competing in the pulls is all about the dogs though, Sergeant Nelson said. "I take as best care of them as I can, I make sure they get enough exercise and they get out there and they have a good time. It's all about them having a good time," he said. And as Trapper and Rusty have a good time, Sergeant Nelson and his family are "pulling" them on. Comment on this story (comments may be published on Air Force Link) Click here to view the comments/letters page