You’re probably right. I still think the sled dog task was made to look easier than it really was. They had to get the them harnessed up, going down the right path, running a penalty lap if they missed a flag, and keeping to the side when there was an oncoming team. Dogs are smart, but I don’t think they’re that smart.
If they are voice controlled, maybe there was a radio and a speaker on the sleds. The real trainers could guide them and stay off camera.
I did a shore excursion in Alaska to a summer training center for sled dogs. Our driver/guide was Hugh Neff
Basically, they both fund and weight their summer training programs by having the dogs pull tourists around on wheeled carts. Hugh rode on our cart with us, but he didn’t really have to give the dogs much in the way of commands. They pretty much just run the track that’s in front of them.
He pointed out that sled dogs love to run – you have to command them (and, actually, anchor them, that’s how they keep the carts still long enough for people to get on them – things like boat anchors that they dig into the ground) to stop, but getting them to start is more a matter of not forcing them to stay still.
First, they were all standing on the phony Flintstones “dog-sleds”. They were kneeling on the XTREME Tech-Sled downhill skiing thing.
you can see the motorcycle-style controls on the handlebars (I don’t know the terms)–you can also see the controls when the daughter (of the father/daughter team) is giving the flags to the guy. Including what looks like a speedometer. Also, look when the old Asian guy is doing it.
Much of the time (especially when the first group of racers were doing the course), it looked as though the dog’s leashes were slack–can’t pull a cart on a flat surface without it being taut. Check out Old Dad and the Bear–IIRC, the leash was pretty slack there.
Regarding the sound, it’s easy to edit much of that out and paste the voices (recorded separately) of the dogs/partner’s cheers over the sound). When the daughter interacts with the flag-collector guy, there’s a sound very much like a motorcycle under her voice (and under the weird music that comes on just then) Also when Stephanie’s screaming “They’re doing more of the race than me!” you can again here something that sounds a lot like a motorcycle engine. Also when whatshername passed the daughter.
They all grabbed for the flags (as far as I remember) with their right hands. I believe they all kept their left hand on the handle-bar where I assume the throttle is. The first 4 racers (Old Dad, the daughter, the Doctor and the other woman) all kept their left hand on the throttle.
So…while I can’t prove it, I think there’s a lot of circumstantial evidence for it.
Oh, and as an aside, the speed bump was the second lamest speed-bump ever (the “Sit in the comfy sauna for 10 minutes” one was the lamest).* I’d rather they just had a time penalty than waste time with another lame “Let’s waste valuable moments watching people sit…not sit and do something. Just…y’know…sit.” task.
*Actually, the sauna required them to find the sauna, undress, sit & wait and get dressed again. It may have actually been less lame than the “Go sit on a block of ice that’s sitting 2 feet from the speed-bump sign for 10 minutes”.
Sure looked like a full ATV to me. 
Look at the side bumpers on the front. They have no business on a cart, but are standard for an ATV. Also, as far as I can tell, each team of dogs were all “controlled” by a single lead that looped onto the front bumper. You can’t control a team of dogs by a single lead. You need at least two. At no point were there reins in anyone’s hands.
If they were voice controlled, the teams constantly screaming “GO DOGGIES” and 'GOOD PUPPIES" would probably have drowned out any other voice commands.
You can actually see that the camera crews were riding along on ATVs on a couple of shots.
Fenris - I went back and paused the picture as the old Asian guy was getting on his sled. It has wheels, it has handlebars with handbrakes and some sort of dial. but in fromt of them was a seat, covered in hides and with a hide canopy. Sled dogs do race with pairs of dogs attached to a center line. This, frim Wiki:
and this:
I think it would be very difficult to have a team of dogs running in front of a motorized vehicle keeping the harness and lines taut the whole way. I think you’re very wrong about this.
StG
Besides the Father/Son team, did they show the Bear any other time when the dogsled went by?
My $.02 about the sleds.
It looked to me like they were sleds with wheels attached and brakes on the handlebars. I heard the ATV noises and in a couple of shots where 2 teams are close, I could see the ATV (with camerman) driving beside the dog team.
If you look close, you can also see the micro cam mounted on a stick wrapped in fur on the front left of the sled.
BTW, I have fun following the racers on my laptop during the episodes. On June 1 there was a high of 9ºC in Kiruna for this episode.
I went back and looked, too, and I agree with cantara. I think they were using something like this, decorated with furs. There are quite a lot of similar carts out there, specifically made for dog sled training.