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In this episode of the Unleashed podcast, we talk about the amazing traveling adventures of Jessie and Nala. Answering questions:- What journey are they planning to take?- How did Jessie come up with this particular route?- Have they traveled a lot before this big expedition?- Is there anything specific they're looking forward to?- How does Jessie manage the temperature differences between cold Norway and warm North Africa?- How does she tackle dog food for Nala?- With all these activities - how does Jessie ensure that Nala gets enough rest?- After the first 2 weeks of living like this. How do they like it so far?- What has been their favorite moment so far?- How do they find those hidden local gems?- Where can we follow their journey?Through this podcast, we want to inspire you to live an active lifestyle with your dog by talking to experts and asking how-to questions about various topics. Let us know in the comments what topics you want us to cover!

In this episode of the Unleashed podcast, we talk with World Champion in pulka and combined, Marte Eirin Solhaug. Answering questions: - What is Nordic style and pulka? - How did it start? What is the history behind it? - How do dogs react to pulling such a heavyweight? - Why is it that they are using this shaft in the pulka? - What do you feel is the difference compared to skijoring? - Is there anything you have to pay more attention to when you’re doing the pulka compared to other categories? - When you start training, do you use the 70% weight in the pulka, or do you train with lighter weights? - Why do you think people who can do Nordic skiing or skijoring should start pulka? Why should they try it out? - Are the dogs going gallop the full way, or can they trot? - When can they start to train their dog with it? - Is there anything to keep in mind in the first sessions? And many more pro tips! Through this podcast, we want to inspire you to live an active lifestyle with your dog by talking to experts and asking how-to questions about various topics. Let us know in the comments what topics you want us to cover!

In this new season and the first episode of the Unleashed podcast, we talk all about skijoring with the national team and World Cup winner, Nordic-style athlete Julie Thue Holthe. Answering questions: - What is skijoring? - What equipment does one need for this sport? - Should people be good skiers before starting skijoring? - Are there specific dog breeds better suited for skijoring? - What are common beginner mistakes in skijoring? - How do you build up the distance from 6 km in dryland races to 15 km in skijoring? - How does a professional athlete train for skijoring? - What temperatures are suitable for training and competing in skijoring? - How would you recommend starting skijoring with a dog that has never done pulling sports? - How would you help a dog that is scared of skis get used to them? And many more pro tips! Through this podcast, we want to inspire you to live an active lifestyle with your dog by talking to experts and asking how-to questions about various topics. Let us know in the comments what topics you want us to cover!

In this episode of the Unleashed podcast, we talk all about pulling with World Champion, Marte Eirin Solhaug. Through this podcast, we want to inspire you to live an active lifestyle with your dog by talking to experts and asking how-to questions about various topics. Let us know in the comments what topics you want us to cover!

In this episode of the Unleashed podcast, we sit down with Rachel Pohl, the artist behind our latest collection. We dive into the inspiration behind the vibrant colors, intricate patterns, and unique artwork that define her designs. Rachel also shares stories about her life with dogs in the stunning landscapes of Lofoten, Norway. Through this podcast, we want to inspire you to live an active lifestyle with your dog by talking to experts and asking how-to questions about various topics. Let us know in the comments what topics you want us to cover!

In this episode of the Unleashed podcast, we answer YOUR questions about canicross with a canicross World Champion, Tessa Philippaerts. Do you want to now: - Does your dog have to pull all the time? - At what point can you try racing? - How to train on trails with a lot of wildlife? - Can you train on concrete roads? - How to start with canicross? - Can you try canicross with small dog? - Does the bungee length matter? - And many many more... Through this podcast, we want to inspire you to live an active lifestyle with your dog by talking to experts and asking how-to questions about various topics. Let us know in the comments what topics you want us to cover!

In this episode of the Unleashed podcast, we talk about passing training with a 25-time World Champion Lena Boysen-Hillestad. Do you want to know: - Why is it important to train passings with your dog? - How do you start training passings? - How the passing looks like when the dog knows it? - What commands do you use when passing a scary things near the road? - What can you do after your dog has had a negative experience passing another dog? - What do you do when your dog stops pulling after we pass the dog in the front? - Is a passing done automatically by the dog, or do you always use a command? - Do you announce to people that you will pass them? - Is there a specific side you have to pass on? - Pro tip Through this podcast, we want to inspire you to live an active lifestyle with your dog by talking to experts and asking how-to questions about various topics. Let us know in the comments what topics you want us to cover!

In this episode of the Unleashed podcast, we talk about line-out training and being calm before the start with Andre Boysen-Hillestad. Do you want to know: - What is line-out? - Is the line or a bungee tight when standing in line-out? - Do you have a preference if the dog should stand, sit or lay on the start line? - How to teach a puppy to do line-out? - How to teach an older do to do line-out? - What advantage does teaching your dog line-out give? - Do you see any disadvantages? - Do you ever get impatient and let the dogs just run without waiting for them to be calm? - Do your dogs act the same on the competition day as they do at home? - Do you feel that connection with your dog got better after teaching them to do line-out? - Do you have any tips when the dog is not standing still in the line-out? - When do you start the line-out training with your dog? - Is it better to train this with other people or alone? - How long did it take your dogs to go from crazy to calm in line-out? - Do you need to have some basic obedience with your dogs to do line-out? - How are you going from the car to the starting line? - Did you get any tips from others before you started to teach your dogs the line-out? - Pro tip Through this podcast, we want to inspire you to live an active lifestyle with your dog by talking to experts and asking how-to questions about various topics. Let us know in the comments what topics you want us to cover!

Dog photographer - Sophia Hutchinson shares her experiences with travelling with dogs. Do you want to know: - Why did you start travelling with your dogs? - Can you travel with high-energy dogs? - Does your dog find it challenging to be in new places and experience all the change? - Did you ever get in a situation where you had to change plans or resign from it because of the dogs? - When travelling in the UK, do you also use a campervan, or do you use your own car? - What type of accommodation do you choose when travelling with dogs? - Do you have any special way to prepare to sleep in a new place with dogs? - Do dogs get used to travelling? - How to find adventures in your local area? - How do you balance the safety of the routine when you're travelling? - How to travell with dogs in summer? - Extra tip Through this podcast, we want to inspire you to an active lifestyle with your dog by talking to experts and asking how-to questions about various topics.Let us know what topics you want us to cover!

In this episode of the Unleashed podcast, we talk about habits with World Champion Tessa Philippaerts. Do you want to know:- What is a habit for you? - Do you think it's easier to stick to something if it's a habit? - Are there any habits you consider necessary for successful canicross training? - How do you build up a habit for yourself? - How to get back to a lost habit? - What can you do when you can't go out training with your dogs? - How to stay motivated in colder, darker months?- a pro tip from a World Champion? Through this podcast, we want to inspire you to an active lifestyle with your dog by talking to experts and asking how-to questions about various topics.Let us know what topics you want us to cover!

In this episode of the Unleashed podcast, we talk about obstacle racing with a K9 biathlon Champion! Do you want to know: - What dog equipment do you need for the obstacle race? - What shoes should I use for the obstacle race? - What do you do with water obstacles when your dog doesn't like water? - How can you prepare? - Do you use specific commands? - Is it okay to start with a dog that's reactive or shy - Are there any dogs you don't recommend trying obstacle racing with? - How can you get better at obstacle races? - Are the obstacles usually the same every year? - Does one always get this dirty? - Taking treats and toys with you from the race - Is there anything a dog should know before starting with the obstacle racing? - a pro tip from a K9biathlon Champion? Through this podcast, we want to inspire you to an active lifestyle with your dog by talking to experts and asking how-to questions about various topics. Let us know what topics you want us to cover!

In this episode of the Unleashed podcast, we talk about your dog's summer training with 25-time World Champion Lena Boysen Hillestad! Do you want to know: - what do you do for summer training? - how long breaks do you normally take after a season? - how do you transition from season to off-season? - what's the maximum temperature you can train with your dog? - what are the signs of heat exhaustion in dogs? - when do you start training after the summer break? - why is humidity an important factor to consider when training your dog? - do you have the same routine for all the dogs? - is there any way to prepare your dog for warmer days? - a pro tip from a World Champion? Through this podcast, we want to inspire you to an active lifestyle with your dog by talking to experts and asking how-to questions about various topics. Let us know what topics you want us to cover!

With this episode, we're launching the new season of our Unleashed podcast! Through this podcast, we want to inspire you to an active lifestyle with your dog by talking to experts and asking how-to questions about various topics. Let us know what topics you want us to cover!

JEANETTE: Nearly 40,000 people are following the adventures of today’s guest and her husky, Finn. They have traveled to eight countries together, and today she will share her best tips on trail running with her dog. Elisa Deutschmann from Germany, welcome.   ELISA: Thank you, thank you. Nice to be here.   JEANETTE: Yes, we’re very happy to have you here. You are an influencer?   ELISA: Yeah, that’s right.   JEANETTE: You and your dog, Finn. Can you tell us a bit more about yourselves?   ELISA: My name is Elisa, as you already have heard. I’m living together with my husky, Finn, normally in Germany. I think for two years, I started to share all my photos and adventures which I and my dog are doing to Instagram. I uploaded pictures and videos about my life, about all the sports we are doing together, and yeah, it started to get more and more popular, and I think people like it and love to see what we’re doing. That’s why we’re always out and having fun. It’s nice to see that people get motivated about it. I think it’s nice. It’s a little bit more about how everything works with him, because it’s always important to do something together.   JEANETTE: And you really are an outdoor person, and so is your dog. Can you tell us a bit more about Finn?   ELISA: It’s my first dog ever. Before I got him, I knew I need a dog which was really robust so he can do everything I do and I don’t have to bring him warm jackets or so that he’s safe and ready for adventure. So I chose a Siberian husky. I got him when he was 8 weeks old, and now he’s already five and a half. We’ve made a lot of adventures together, and it works really well. So that was the point – that was when I said, okay, I need a Siberian husky. After five and a half years, I really know it was the right decision, and we’re a really good team together. I can’t think of a life without the dog.   JEANETTE: Can you tell us a bit about the adventures you’ve had so far? You’ve visited many countries and you have been on top of mountains, you have been running down mountains together, winter, summer, everything.   ELISA: That’s true. I’m traveling a lot with my dog. To be honest, the first holidays or adventures, I was not that prepared how to do everything with a dog because it was my first dog. The first holidays we made were to some really hot countries like Albania and stuff like that. If I’m thinking right now about it, it was not that nice because it was way too hot. But I think that’s the way you learn and how you can prepare everything better for your next adventures.   After all that experience, I focused my holidays more on like Norway, countries which are colder or whatever, Netherlands, things like that. Right now it works really well. I was before really into the mountain stuff, but through my dog I became more and more into it. As you may know, we started to get into trail running and all that kind of stuff.   Of course, if you have a dog, I think your life changes a little bit. It’s not like you go to the Bahamas and make holidays there. After that, we’re doing a lot of that stuff, but for both, it’s our passion and we love to be in the mountains. It’s insane.   JEANETTE: Do you have any advice if you plan to go to a totally different country with your dog? You don’t know how it is when it comes to temperature, where to go, where the nice trails are. How do you navigate when you do research before your trips?   ELISA: After a while, I really know my dog really well and I know what fits him and what doesn’t. If we’re going to a really warm place because we have to go or something like that, then I know that my dog loves to swim. That’s a really good point, because I always can put him in the water and he can cool a little bit down.   But if it’s maybe too hot, I always search for shadows and stuff like that. I think it’s really important that you know your dog really well. That’s how I prepare it, and I think we’re a really good team, so we can figure everything out together and everything works quite well.   JEANETTE: When it comes to water, how do you do it when you’re on the mountaintop and there might be no lakes or small rivers, or you don’t have any extra water with you?   ELISA: That’s a really good question. Normally when I know where to go and I know there are a lot of rivers and mountains, then it’s no problem for us drinking the water. But I already had it once where I was really far up in the mountain, and I expanded my trip. It was not that long a plan, but I said, “Okay, it’s fine. We will find some water.” Then we were at the top and I saw Finn needed some water and we had nothing.   Then I just picked up my bottle and gave him all my water. I think it’s always important to have enough water for you, of course, but also more for your dog. It’s really important to think about it. But it was good that I still had some water.   But normally, as I said, I always plan it, and when I know I’m going to areas which have no water, I bring – I’m not sure how they call these dog bottles, where you can fill them with water – and bring that for him. It works quite well. I also know how much he needs. Of course, it depends on the temperature, shadow, all this stuff. But that’s how we can figure it out. I always try to be a really good dog mom. [laughs]   JEANETTE: When you go hiking and running, how do you prepare your dog for this?   ELISA: I start to train a lot. For a month I did my first real race, trail run race, and for that we trained half a year or something like that. When it’s hot I always go out really early in the morning or really late so that the dog is not starting to get too hot. The last race was 22 kilometers and 1,200 meters high, so I know it’s a long way.   We started with some shorter uphill runs, like 5k, stuff like that. It was really cold, but after a while, we also started to run more at lunchtime, stuff like that, because I knew the race would be at the same time. So I looked at when it is and that my dog feels really comfortable doing the race and it’s not something new. He was really used to the long distances and everything after the half year. I think that’s really important. It’s not like you take your dog and say “Okay, now we are going for a 20k run,” because he’s not known to that. It’s super important that you train your dog for that and that you do it step by step.   Also, during the race, I made some breaks. He got some water, and I was always looking for him. That’s also not that easy because if you’re going for a race with a dog, it’s not only about you that you have to take care of. It’s also about your dog. When the race started, it was a little bit too warm, so the first 5k I was really afraid and took it super slow and had a look at him.   But after a while it starts to rain, and then the temperature goes down. Then I also saw on him that he was really into it and feeling good. I think it’s important that you really have a good connection to your dog. It’s not only a dog, it’s my best friend, my everything, and I really can see when he’s doing well or when he’s doing not well, when he needs water, a break. That’s important, and that’s how I prepare everything for it.   JEANETTE: What kind of equipment do you need for doing this?   ELISA: I’m always using Freemotion harness for Finn because it fits him really, really well, and he’s been using it already for 4 years, so I know it works. I don’t change it so much because I think that it fits good is really important, that he can breathe and run really good. Then I’m using the running line, super simple, and the running belt. Everything is super light and comfortable, and that’s really important if you go for long, long trails.   But he’s not always running on the leash, because when I’m up on the mountain and running down, it’s super important that he’s not pulling too much for me, because otherwise my knees or other stuff are destroyed after a while. So he has to run behind me. That’s also something which I trained really, really early with him. Because it’s a Siberian husky, it’s not like a border collie, which is doing everything you want. So we had to train a lot for it. After a while it worked, and now he’s running behind me and sometimes I put the leash away.   JEANETTE: Can you tell us a bit more on how you trained him to walk behind you? Did you use a treat behind your back? What did you do?   ELISA: It was quite hard at the beginning. I was not used to how to do it. [laughs] I tried everything, but after a while I recognized that a pole is really good, because I’m always running with poles uphill. I just used the pole and said the German word “run behind me.” In English, it means that.   So I used it and I put my hand to the back, and the pole was in the back, and then he had to have the distance between me and that. That’s really important because I’ll also be out a lot on skis in the winter, and there I also use it so that he is not coming too close to the skis. That works really well. I just can say that’s a good way to use the poles, and always try it so he’s a little bit away.   JEANETTE: When you’re out running in the mountains, sometimes you can meet some animals. Not all animals are just as nice. Cows, for example. How do you handle them?   ELISA: Cows. [laughs] I’m really afraid about cows because in Germany we have so many on the mountains. They’re all running free. Especially when they have small baby cows, then they start to get really angry if they see a dog. When I see cows, Finn is always on the leash. That’s super important. But I had one time a problem that a cow was too close, which was attacking me. Then I let him loose, of course, because otherwise we we

JEANETTE: If you like biking, you will probably like this episode as well, as today’s guest is the World Champion, European Champions, and Norwegian Champion in bikejoring. He also competes in scooter and Nordic with skijoring, pulka, and 4-dog sled. Viktor Sinding Larsen, welcome.   VIKTOR: Thank you.   JEANETTE: You have achieved some impressive results throughout many years, so of course we want to know: how are you training yourself and your dogs? Now it’s offseason.   VIKTOR: It is. We just finished the winter season. Every year, we give the dogs an 8-week offseason period where we do other things, like not competition-specific training. We try to build up their strength, so we do some power training, a lot of core training. But in general, fewer hours than what we normally do. If some  of the dogs come out of the season with small injuries that we do not see, these 2 months normally will heal all kinds of small potential injuries so that when we start again in 2 months, we know that they’re ready for a new year of training and competition.   JEANETTE: How do you build your training throughout the rest of the year?   VIKTOR: When the offseason period is over, we start very, very light. Only short trainings, maybe 1-2 kilometers in the beginning. Then we build up. Normally when the weather gets colder, it’s possible to do longer trainings. We start 1-2 kilometers and we try to end when the dryland competition is getting closer. We build up so that we are on 9-10 kilometer trainings.   Then we prepare for the dryland competitions, and when the dryland competitions are done, we have a lack of time, trying to prepare for the winter season, trying to catch up. All the Nordic guys have been training huge amounts through the fall, so then we have to program the dogs for longer distances, train big amounts in November/December, preparing for competition.   JEANETTE: You divide your training into light, medium, and hard weeks. What’s the difference between these weeks?   VIKTOR: We try to have these light, medium, and hard weeks. In general we do a lot of pulling. In the light week, maybe two or three times of pulling. The main purpose of this week is to recover. The medium week is a bit harder, maybe three to four times a week pulling. Then we end up with the hard week, five to six times pulling, and we also try to combine it with some core training or just free running in the garden.   JEANETTE: You’re living in Oslo, and that’s a city where it could be hard to have your dogs free running, but you solve this by training them in many other different ways.   VIKTOR: Yes, that’s true. We live in Oslo, and it’s a little bit challenging to train as much free running as we might like to do for the capacity of the dogs. But I like swimming a lot. It’s a very good, gentle way of training both capacity and strength. So during summer, we try to swim as much as possible.   JEANETTE: Swimming is also a very gentle way to train the dogs to avoid injuries.   VIKTOR: It is. I always spend quite a lot of energy on avoiding injuries for our dogs. Especially when we got our first greysters, they were really, really good dogs, Siri and Sagan. Because they were such amazing dogs, it was very important for us to get them to the starting line without having any injuries. It was better to compromise a little bit on the capacity training and more focus on having them without any injuries. Therefore, we train a lot of power, core, swimming, and not that much free running as maybe others do.   Of course, we don’t get the same capacity, but a healthy dog normally has good enough capacity for bikejoring anyway. It’s more important that it is without any kind of injuries.   JEANETTE: At the European Championships this winter, you started with seven dogs. Every dog was healthy.   VIKTOR: Yeah. Even though it was a very challenging winter with a lot of ice and it was really hard to train, we managed to bring all our seven dogs without any kind of injuries to the starting line. That’s something I’m very, very proud of.   The brain behind keeping the dogs free of injuries is my wife. She’s a physical therapist for both humans and our dogs, and she’s very good at observing. She spends a lot of time looking for any kind of injuries, if they walk in special ways. She spends a lot of time observing the dogs to see if there is anything wrong. This also affects the way we train. We say we try to be better safe than sorry. If there’s any kind of risk involved in the plans we have or the conditions, etc., we try to drop it just to make sure that we avoid any injuries.   JEANETTE: Even if it’s competition?   VIKTOR: Yeah, even if it’s competition. I think this has changed a little bit. When we started racing and for many years, we were in the middle of the list. It was quite a gap to the best ones, especially on the Nordic part. Then the feeling was much stronger to come up with something a little bit fancier, involving a little bit more risk, to close this gap.   But when you continue training like this and try to build the gap in a fast way, it’s normally not possible. The coach of Karsten Warholm says that they build in millimeters, but things can be destroyed in meters, meaning you cannot do something fancy in one training, which means that you need continuity in your training. Every day you train, you become a little bit better. But if you do one mistake, you can ruin everything just in one training. So it’s better to take one step at a time, being careful, instead of having to risk ruining everything and putting you many steps back.   I think also it’s important to think about what’s going on besides training. We train maybe 1 or 2 hours a day, and the rest of the 22-23 hours, it’s important to be careful. Most injuries happen during that time.   JEANETTE: Do you train with both bike and scooter?   VIKTOR: I train 99% of the time on bike. I think with a bike, it’s much easier to find the right speed. You can help them upwards, and especially at the end of the training session, you can help them in a much better way to control and find the right speed that you want for the dogs. Especially where we live, it’s very hilly. It’s up and down. Especially at the end of the training when they’re a little bit weaker, it’s super nice to go on a bike, and you can help them find exactly the speed that you want.   JEANETTE: How do you know what speed is the right speed?   VIKTOR: In general, we train very, very slow downwards. I think this is very important for them to build up the trust for going slowly downwards so that the dogs have the feeling that they want to run faster. When you do that all the time, they really put themselves in a nice way into the harness. They really push downwards, and it’s like they want to go faster. So when competitions come and we pick the speed up, then it’s something they want.   When it’s going upwards, then we train very differently. Sometimes we want to do it heavy; sometimes we want to do it light. But by using a bike, you can adjust it just the way you want.   In general, I think we train very slow. I get many questions from people following me on Strava for example. They can follow each of our dog trainings, and they ask why we go so slow. I think for me, it’s important just to find a good rhythm where the dog is like flying in a comfortable speed.   If the goal for us is to reach, for example, 10K during this training, I try to find a speed, up, down, and on the flat, that will bring us to this 10K as easily as possible, a speed that they will roll or fly in the most efficient way. Then we have to brake downwards, trying not to have it too high on maximum speed, trying to find a good average speed, a good flow, so that we as efficiently as possible reach the kilometers that we want. By doing that, we can gain a lot of kilometers where the regeneration or restitution time is as low as possible.   My theory is that if I bring the speed up too much, the gain or the effect is very small, but they need much more time to regenerate and they don’t manage to run as many kilometers as if you find the right rhythm, the right flow, where they can fly away, gaining as many kilometers as possible.   JEANETTE: That theory seems to be correct because you’ve done quite well. [laughs]   VIKTOR: Yeah. It seems like this is working. I have many different dogs; they’re all running quite well.   JEANETTE: After a training session like this, how tired are the dogs?   VIKTOR: I always try to vary that as well, but in general I’m very fond of having short trainings. Very often, I end the training before they are very tired. By doing that quite often, they always want to push harder.   It’s a very important key in having the progression during the year. We start with just 1 or 2 kilometers, but I know the dogs can run two or three times as much. But by doing this many, many times, maybe five times a week, they will push harder and harder because they know, “This training is going to be short; I’ll spend as much energy as I can on these 3 kilometers.” By doing this, then we can slowly add one more and one more kilometer and still have a lot of power, building up towards 10K.   JEANETTE: Is it only in competition that you’re really pushing it to the maximum?   VIKTOR: Yeah. Only one time a year, I push 100%. I say that every competition or exercise is like putting money into the bank, and it’s only the European Championship or the World Championship where we go 100%. Even the Norwegian Championship or small competitions, I just do about 90-95%. I’m saving everything for the big championships because if you push your dog as hard as you can, even the strongest dog cannot do this very often.   That’s my theory. Maybe I’m a little bit soft, but I t