It might appear that Yukon Quest rookie musher Jean-Denis Britten has already dropped two dogs by the time he makes it to the start line compared to the 23 other mushers who will leave the starting chute on Saturday.

That's because the 41-year-old Whitehorse resident is starting the 1,600-kilometre trek out of Fairbanks with just a dozen dogs compared to the maximum 14 a Quest musher can start with.

Britten has been running dogs for 17 years and at one time had a kennel, which operated tours in Quebec, with 50 dogs. After he quit the business, he had to start from scratch.

"I only have 12," he said in an interview at the recent veterinarians' check in Whitehorse.

The dogs come from three litters of pups Britten acquired from other mushers.

Nine of the dozen canines came from Sebastian Nault's kennel when they were just three weeks old in 2002.

In 2006, the dogs came up from Quebec with training held all over the country.

By last summer, they were helping Britten skid logs to build his cabin, he said.

This is just the beginning though. Britten has a three-Quest plan in place for the coming years, he said.

For now though, he's focused on his 2008 run at the Quest.

While he was somewhat worried about the mileage his dogs had in the training season before, he's since gotten another 322 kilometres (200 miles) on his team for the season and is ready to go.

"It's perfect," he said of the conditions of his dogs following the vet check.

It's the "real winter" that brought Britten to the territory from Quebec, where he grew up. He was born in Antigonish, N.S.

Like many mushers, he got his start in the sport on a pair of cross-country skis when he was skijoring.

As he notes in his musher profile on the Quest website: "I wanted to visit a friend and had no car."

During his time in the Yukon so far, Britten has run the Percy DeWolfe memorial mail race between Dawson City and Eagle, Alaska, where he placed second, the Silver Sled, where he finished third, and has run races in the Copper Haul League as well.

Britten noted he's looking forward to crossing the international border with the dogs and wants to get to know both them and himself a little better during the race.

It's the overall enjoyment of learning, being with and working with the dogs that keeps the carpenter who operates the portable sawmill, in mushing.