Health Stats & Race Calculation

Why do health stats matter?

Health stats actually play a very important part in racing, and should not be overlooked! It doesn't matter how well-trained your dog is if he isn't very healthy, because his stats are not performing to their full potential. Each of your dog's health stats corresponds to a normal stat, as we saw before, and decides the final stat value that will be used in the race.

In short, how healthy a dog's paws are determines how "effective" its speed is in a race, for example. The calculation for that is:

		
Final Stat to be Used = Stat × ( Health Stat ÷ 10 )
		

So if the dog's Intelligence is 25 and its Eyes are 7, the final Intelligence score used in the race calculation is 17.5.

Top Speed & Calculated Speed

How is your team's speed calculated?

A team's Top Speed is calculated by taking into account everything above. If your dogs are positioned correctly, for example, you'll have a better speed than if you're putting your wheel dogs in lead (because the team's final stats will be higher, from the correct positioning). If your dogs are healthier, you will have a better speed than if their health stats are low (same reason).

The overall calculation for Top Speed is pretty simple. It's an average of the final stats of all your dogs on the team, but your dogs' average final Speed stat counts 5x more than anything else in this calculation.

		
Top Speed = [ Final Int + ( Final Spd × 5 ) + Final Stm + Final Str + Final Obd ] ÷ 9
		

And then your team's Calculated Speed simply takes into account their energy level to come up with the speed they will actually run the race. This is why it's important to run your dogs when they have high energy.

		
Calculated Speed = ( Top Speed × Energy as a Percentage )
		

When a race begins, it uses only the information that was current when the race started (before any energy reductions, broken parts, missing gear, etc) to calculate speed. If you want to know what numbers were used in the race, look on the page of the race your team is in. Under the competition section, all of the stats listed there are reflective of what they were at the start of the race (not what they are currently).

This is why it's fine to care for your dogs while they are in a race; it has no impact on the race results.

Dog Positioning

How do your dogs' individual stats affect how the team performs?

The first thing to know is that different stats are weighted for different team positions, which means they count more or less in your team's final stat calculation depending on where your dogs are positioned.

On teams of 4+ dogs, your dogs' stats are weighted for individual positions as follows:

• Lead - x5 Speed, Intelligence and Obedience
• Point - x3 Speed, Intelligence and Obedience
• Wheel - x5 Strength
• * Stamina is not a weighted stat, and is just an average of the whole team's.

In a nutshell, this means that you should position dogs with high intelligence, speed, and obedience in lead or point positions. Dogs high in strength should be in wheel positions. Put any of your more average dogs in for team (a position on 6-10 dog teams that is not weighted at all). If you rearrange your dogs on a team and swap your lead and wheel dogs, for example, you'll see that the team's stats change accordingly because your dogs are not in ideal positions to use their particular strengths.

Nothing is weighted on a 2-dog team, but Speed is still the most important stat in races, as we'll discuss in a moment.

* Chart includes health stats

Positioning & Weighted Stats

How do your dogs' individual stats affect how the team performs?

The first thing to know is that different stats are weighted for different team positions, which means they count more or less in your team's final stat calculation depending on where your dogs are positioned.

On teams of 4+ dogs, your dogs' stats are weighted for individual positions as follows:

• Lead - x5 Speed, Intelligence and Obedience
• Point - x3 Speed, Intelligence and Obedience
• Wheel - x5 Strength
• * Stamina is not a weighted stat, and is just an average of the whole team's.

In a nutshell, this means that you should position dogs with high intelligence, speed, and obedience in lead or point positions. Dogs high in strength should be in wheel positions. Put any of your more average dogs in for team (a position on 6-10 dog teams that is not weighted at all). If you rearrange your dogs on a team and swap your lead and wheel dogs, for example, you'll see that the team's stats change accordingly because your dogs are not in ideal positions to use their particular strengths.

Nothing is weighted on a 2-dog team, but Speed is still the most important stat in races, as we'll discuss in a moment.

Racing Eligibility of Teams & Dogs

Before you are able to compete in races:

• Your team must have a sled assigned to it.
• Your sled must not have any missing parts.
• Your dogs must be up-to-date on physical exams and vaccines, and must be Healthy.
• Your dogs must be wearing a collar, harness, and booties.
• Young dogs must be at least 10 days old to be on a team.
• A mother dog cannot be on a team until her litter grows up.
• Retired dogs cannot be on teams.
• Your team can only be entered into one race at a time.