Racing Guide Book
I have simplified racing and the required photos for MV Races since it simply took up way too much of my time in previous versions of this site. You will now only be required to post one photo of your team (example image below).
Where do I host my images for the forum?
You can use an image hosting service such as: http://imgur.com/
How the Races Are Judged
The general idea is to make the photos as realistic as possible! So here is a description of the different positions that make up a real sled dog team (starting from the front and working our way back).
Lead Dogs: Your most reliable intelligent dogs go up front. They lead your team, listen to your commands and really set the pace for your team.
Swing Dogs: They follow the Lead Dogs, help set the pace of the team and steer/turn the sled.
Team Dogs: The engine! They are your power source!
Wheel Dogs: The largest/strongest members of your team.
HOW THE RACES ARE JUDGED
1. The races are judged based on how neat and tidy your team looks.
2. Are the individual parts of your team doing their jobs?
3. Have you followed the rules?
4. Eyes?
5. Legs?
I hope this helps! Good luck!
Lead Dogs: Your most reliable intelligent dogs go up front. They lead your team, listen to your commands and really set the pace for your team.
Swing Dogs: They follow the Lead Dogs, help set the pace of the team and steer/turn the sled.
Team Dogs: The engine! They are your power source!
Wheel Dogs: The largest/strongest members of your team.
HOW THE RACES ARE JUDGED
1. The races are judged based on how neat and tidy your team looks.
- Do they work well together?
- Is everyone running nicely in line?
- Is everyone going the same direction?
2. Are the individual parts of your team doing their jobs?
- Above I have given descriptions for all the different positions. How well can you make your dogs look like those different positions?
3. Have you followed the rules?
4. Eyes?
- Dogs may be looking either at the camera or ahead. They may NOT be looking behind or in any other direction that is not ahead or at the camera.
5. Legs?
- Be creative. Look at real team photos. The dogs may be running with outstretch legs or tucked in. You do need to think about which dog is going to be posed which way. Ex. Lead dogs are moving forward, they are leaders. How would you pose a dog who needs to look like they are a leader who is moving forward?
I hope this helps! Good luck!
Harnesses
Here's the link to the awesome harnesses that we recommend you all use when racing your dogs!
Supernova
They are currently for Petz 4 only, however I have made an overwriting converted file for the black harness only for Petz 5. It shows up as the halo in the clothes closet. Let me know if you need me to send you a copy of the file!
All credit for the harness goes to Nova @ Supernova! You rock!
Also remember that harnesses are not necessary for racing photos, but they are recommended as they add to the realism of the sport.
Supernova
They are currently for Petz 4 only, however I have made an overwriting converted file for the black harness only for Petz 5. It shows up as the halo in the clothes closet. Let me know if you need me to send you a copy of the file!
All credit for the harness goes to Nova @ Supernova! You rock!
Also remember that harnesses are not necessary for racing photos, but they are recommended as they add to the realism of the sport.
Pre-Made Backgrounds
I have a pre-made set of backgrounds for you guys to use with your images. These backgrounds are for use on this site only please.
Here is the newest background. To grab yourself the uncompressed version, visit this link: http://imgur.com/qTo4cnL Unfortunately Weebly likes to compress things which I only recently noticed with the below images. This new image is a bit larger which will help with positioning your dogs.
Retired Backgrounds
Though these are retired, you may still use them if you like for now. I will slowly be phasing them out this year (2016) I think though so it might be a good idea to get used to the new one above. Thanks!