Owings Mills Resident is the 'WoofDriver'

This is Part One in a series.

Princess, Jag, Chase and Zarro are a heavily-furred, solidly-muscled Husky pack.

Bred and built for pulling sleds through Alaskan snows, the Huskies’ strength, endurance and natural exuberance for the outdoors shines in their glittering eyes and happy, lolling tongues.

But there is also the undercurrent of wolf, always, in their blood. So they answer exclusively, and immediately, to their Alpha pack member.

And that’s Bill Helman.

When Helman barks their names, they heed his call immediately. When Helman calls, “Gee!” and, “Haw!” the dogs veer right and left. “Hike!” means “Go!” and the dogs are in instant, powerful motion.

And when Helman stands and opens his arms, the dogs happily rear up on their hind legs for a hug from their Alpha.

Helman, a 44-year-old Owings Mills resident, mirrors his Huskies’ ruffs with his own red beard and long ponytail. The dogs are his children – he checks in on them, when he’s not at home, via video cameras and Garmin GPS systems attached to his dogs’ collars. 

Almost everything on his property is designed with the pack’s use in mind. The in-ground pool is made for the dogs to swim alongside humans. The electric fence gives them the ability to wander and explore freely through the wooded lot.

And the “WoofPark,” a dog playground, allows them to dig, tunnel and wrestle with tires, balls, over-sized stuffed animals and each other. 

There’s even a large, circular outdoor treadmill, called the “WoofWheel,” which inspires the dogs to run, using a bait belt greased with peanut butter, to keep them moving and active if they need to release some energy. 

For relaxation at night, Helman provides his pack with a flat-screen TV in their heated and air-conditioned doggie condo, mounted at Husky eye-level, to keep them from over-focusing on the outdoor sounds of nocturnal wildlife.

Or, who knows, maybe they’re hooked on Animal Planet.

They are the “WoofPak,” and Helman is the “WoofDriver.”

Helman drives his team of Huskies on various rigs he’s created or modified from existing bicycles and carts. He takes them all over the streets of his neighborhood as well as on the NCR trail and other Baltimore County countryside.

Helman’s playing with modifications of his rigs is like his playing with language – it’s not the Wolf Pack, it’s the “WoofPak.”

Likewise, he calls driving his dogs “FurWheeling.”

What are the rigs themselves called? Why, ADV’s – “All Dog Vehicles,” of course.

“I love a play on words,” Helman said. “I do that purposely, because I like the way it sounds…I’m just trying to be cutesy and have some fun at the same time.”

Helman graduated from Chautauqua Academy, a high school for children with dyslexia, in 1985. He knew his brain worked differently at a young age. He knew his creativity was always a strength, regardless of his grades and his struggles with reading.

“I love to be creative, that’s my real passion,” he said. “I’m extreme with what I do. I go to the nth degree sometimes. I jump overboard a lot.”

Helman’s wife, Cynthia, reins him in a good deal. His house is well-kept, and doesn’t look like it houses a career hobbyist, self-taught jack-of-all-trades and dog-driver. But his bachelor days were a different story.

“When I had my own condominium, it didn’t have a woman’s touch,” said Helman, who bought his home with Cynthia in 1995. “I did all kinds of crazy things in there. A friend said once that a decorator would come in here and get a neck-ache. ‘Look here, look at that, look at that, look at that!’ Because I had so many ostentatious things.”

Now, “She’s got all white walls in the house, and I’ve got stuff everywhere.”

But it’s that creative, dabbling, expressive drive that has enabled Helman to create original equipment for his dogs, and to create the WoofPak itself.