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DEER PARK, Md. — Dog sledding has moved south.

In Garrett County, just below the Mason-Dixon line, you can a ride behind a team of huskies and even learn to mush this winter from two companies offering tours for the first time.

The state's western mountains, with an average annual snowfall of nearly 100 inches, "are ideal for dog sledding," said Linda Herdering, who operates Husky Power Dog Sledding with her husband, Mike.

They and competitor Yellow Snow Dog Sled Adventures reflect the expansion of a sport rooted in the far north. Although commonly associated with Alaska and Canada, sled dogs are raised and trained in virtually every region of the United States, including Florida, where Siberian huskies sometimes pull wheeled carts for recreation in the cool, early morning hours, said Peggy Wright, of Seminole-based Siberian Husky Rescue of Florida.

Marcia Horne, owner of four huskies in Bristol, Va., said she has driven her dogs on snow just once, in January 2004, when two or three inches fell along the Virginia-Tennessee line.

"If we get snow, that's just icing on the cake," she said. "Otherwise, we're happy with the wheels."

Dave Steele, executive director of the International Sled Dog Racing Association in Merrifield, Minn., said media coverage of the Iditarod, an annual 1,100-mile race across Alaska scheduled to start this year on March 6, has boosted the sport's popularity. The number of races worldwide has more than tripled since 1995, and commercial tours and outfitters are among the sport's fastest-growing segments, he said.

"It's a good thing for us and for the racing community," Steele said. For many first-timers, "it lays to rest the absurd notion that the dogs have to be forced to do this. You only have to take one ride to know they love to run."

And run and run and run. Yellow Snow owner Kim Trickett keeps her sled anchored to a parked all-terrain vehicle while she and business partner Patti Glotfelty attach five rambunctious dogs, one by one, to bright red ganglines. They bark, whine and strain against their harnesses until Trickett, taking her position at the rear of the sled, unhooks the anchor and cries "Hike!"

Then the dogs turn silent as they hit the trail with gusto, pulling a passenger seated beneath a zippered sheath of windproof fabric.

"I didn't realize how anxious the dogs were to run," said Connie Kowalski, of Baltimore, a medical billing worker who arranged rides for herself and five relatives and friends. "I thought they'd have to be coaxed into going but that certainly wasn't the case."

One of Herdering's customers, Jeannette Place, of McLean, Va., was impressed with the dogs' friendliness. "Every one of those dogs was a dog you'd just want to take home," she said.

Riders also learn that the musher, who commands the dogs to turn "Gee!" for right and "Haw!" for left, must keep the brake engaged whenever they are stopped. Step off the brake and the dogs start running. Let go of the sled and it's gone with a runaway team.

"The No. 1 law of mushing is to hold on to the sled at all times, even if you're on your face being dragged through the snow and gravel," Herdering said.

Trickett runs her dogs on state forest trails; the Herderings mainly use private property although both companies are licensed to run on state lands. Both learned to mush in northern or western states.

The tours include $10 introductory rides, longer runs at $40 to $75 a person and _ for the adventurous _ half-day tours with the chance to harness and drive your own team. Those runs include a stop in the woods to sip hot chocolate and give the dogs a rest.

"It's more terrain, more scenery, more experience with the dogs _ more of everything good," Herdering said.

The Herderings also offer rides in wheeled carts in case the snowfall is light _ as it has been this winter.

Trickett takes the mild weather in stride. "It's just a risk you have to take" as a Maryland dog sledder, she said.

Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press