He was unable to tire his dog out on walks around his neighbourhood in Mossley, so he got a harness and began letting her lead him on his mountain bike.
Now Mark, a former parcel delivery manager, is working as a full-time `musher' in a remote part of Canada, leading a team of 14 dogs.
He has just completed the toughest dog sledding race in the world - a 1,000-mile trip deep into the Alaskan wilderness called the Yukon Quest.
Mark, 30, said: "I got into mushing when I got my first husky and began to run her with my mountain bike. I got a second a year later and began racing them in Scotland. But I soon found I wanted to go farther and farther - on snow and in the wilderness."
Mark began reading in books and on the internet about mushing shortly after he got his first dog five years ago. He soon found out about the Yukon Quest.
He went racing in Sweden after trying his first trial runs in Scotland.
Then he suddenly found he could devote himself to his new hobby when the family business was sold.
He went to Canada to train with top musher Sebastian Schnuelle in October and has been there ever since.
He said: "Both my girlfriend and my family were immediately supportive.
"Racing dogs is a full-time job.
"I've learned to deal with cold as low as -45C and then found that -25C isn't that cold. It's possible to put booties on dogs at these temperatures.
"It's been seven days a week and 24 hours a day. We've gone easily 48 hours without sleep, racing and training."
The Yukon Quest has been run every year since 1984 between Whitehorse, Yukon, and Fairbanks, Alaska. It takes place in February when weather conditions are the coldest and most unpredictable of the year.
It takes two weeks to complete, with up to 50 mushers taking part and a prize shared between the top 15.
They have to deal with 100mph winds, ice and open water.
Mark finished 11th, beating some of the world's most experienced mushers, after surviving a crash into a tree.
He said: "My parents came over for the finish.
" I was obviously overjoyed to have completed the race, and finishing 11th was far more than I could have hoped for. I finished in 11 days 17 hours, way ahead of schedule.
"I now have the Percy de Wolfe race left for this winter - a 200 mile race in two weeks.
"The ultimate goal would be to return and run another race called the Iditarod but financial requirements would be high, and to put my girlfriend through six months alone again means that is less than likely, but who knows?"
Mushing is a term for sport or transport powered by dogs. It also covers the use of dogs to pull a sled on snow.
Tweet
