My Dog Sledding Delight

      

As soon as I got into my car to drive away from my amazing dog sled experience, I wanted to record my thoughts. They came out in a jumble of enthusiasm and energy. Again, if I could simply include that audio recording into my blog, I would, but as it is beyond me - you will have to make do with this transcript and imagine the laughter and vibrancy in my voice...

"Well it is 10.00am. I had to arrive here at 8 so I have only been here two hours, but I have just had the most wonderful experience dog sledding. I mean it's addictive, it's phenomenal, it's such fun. It couples two of my loves as well, as I have always loved dogs and the sense of speed as you are riding a sled is just unbelievable. It is like riding a motorbike, but a little bit more extreme as you are standing on the two ski plates, one on either side of the sled and you lean significantly into every bend and turn, keeping your centre of gravity low to make sure you can make it round. There is obviously a lot of skill and training required to get the dogs to do the right thing upon command, but it is just unbelievable."

      

                                 Nita, giving me a basic run down on how the sleds work.

"I met a lovely woman who is looking after these animals and she is REALLY looking after them. I had been worried that I would go somewhere and find the dogs being abused or badly looked after, dogs that did not enjoy the job. But I have just met a whole kennel full of dogs...and we chose seven to take us out...and the ones we didn't choose were disappointed, they were upset, they were barking and whining and the ones that did get to go out were bouncing. (Laughter) I mean, one dog was called Bean and he literally just jumped - 'boing, boing' on the spot with excitement.

She had different breeds and different types of dogs. She chose a mix of male and female dogs for our ride and we probably did a six mile run."

      

     

                                 

                                               Two of the lucky dogs chosen to join us.

"Nita, the owner - she is just such the right person for this activity. Can you believe that she quit her life in Colorado in 2008 because she became addicted to life in Alaska, husky dogs and mushing? She moved out here lock, stock and barrel. And now she lives in this isolated log cabin up this steep snow and ice covered driveway, which is not easy to get to and is miles from the city of Fairbanks - it must be 20 to 30 miles away. She doesn't have a TV, though will watch occasional things on Netflix on her laptop, she no longer listens to the news on the radio, just radio music and she hasn't read a newspaper since arriving - yet she is a well with-it woman. She has had two lives and is therefore able to communicate so well with the people she meets and she is enthusiastic and open-minded, but basically loves her new life. That's it - this is the one she wants and she's been doing it since 2008 and she has no regrets. 

She does the mushing, the dog sled lessons and the...oh...it's called dog mushing, though they never use that word as a command...she does the lessons and the tours purely to help finance things because each dog costs between $1200 and $1500 a year in food and care. And she must have 25 dogs here. So my 150 bucks today will go towards feeding those animals. Actually, she said to me as we were riding, that my trip today would probably be the last one of the season. The snow is going, it is icy in patches and we even hit a couple of muddy areas. There was one point where we both jumped off our ski runners and we ran alongside the sleds so as not to burden the dogs too much and then, when we hit the snow and ice again, we jumped back on again!" 

                              

 

"I think she was impressed with my skills handling it around the corners and bends because at first I was on the rear sled, which was attached to the front one. But then she asked me to take over the front sled - which was the main sled, the main steerer, though she kept control of the main brake. 

I didn't know what to expect when I booked. I imagined I might end up sitting in the front reclined seat of the sled - just a passenger as she took me out for a ride. But instead, she gave me a quick lesson about mushing, braking and steering and then we set off! I was happy riding the back sled, with the snow and ice spraying up at me as we went along, but I was ecstatic on the front sled.

I had a small injury. We hit a tree and stopped dead in our tracks on a tight bend. (Clearly my steering skills were not perfect!) Unfortunately the big anchor, which is a huge grappling hook, got trapped between the tree, my finger and the main rail that I was holding! I couldn't do anything about it. I just felt the pressure through my glove. I wondered if it would have cut or broken my finger, but it just squashed it. I've now got a nice black nail and and bruise on the other side, but it is not throbbing too much. 

Anyway, what an experience."

                                

     

                                                                              Tell-tale tracks from an Arctic Hare.

"Of course it helped that the weather was absolutely perfect. The sun was just coming up through the trees casting long shadows. There was even an arctic hare which ran out in front of us at one point. This dappled white rabbit skittered across the tracks, looked at the dogs and then legged it into the trees and the dogs all sped up because they just love chasing anything. At one point I got off and ran ahead of the sled and crouched down to take some pictures as Nita mushed them past me and dogs were whining and barking because they didn't like the thought that I was ahead of them and they were excited and eager to catch up and retake the lead."

                                           

 

"Truly these animals want to do what they are doing. Truly she looks after them like members of the family and she loves each one of them. She sees them as unique. I was asking questions about them but really it's...how can you ask questions when it's like talking about your children? Of course you love them and care for them. Of course you would not see them damaged or harmed. They are not your livelihood, they are parts of your family. Nita is so in the right job. She even trains other people's dogs. She takes their dogs and puts them with her teams so that they can be broken in, given much needed experience and taught to behave." 

             
 

"She even takes on interns, which was really interesting. She's just had a girl from New Zealand over for the whole of March and basically let her stay for free in the house, giving her board and accommodation and dog mushing training in return for hard work, cleaning up after the dogs, fixing things and whatever else needed doing. And I thought, if I wanted a month here, with free accommodation and food in exchange for some hard work and company - I would be in touch with her and say please can I come and work for you for a month? I'd love it. She had two girls from Ireland and she had a girl from England do the same at different times in the last year. I would end up a fully trained musher! Something to consider for the future. Hmmmm?"  (End of audio recording.)

      

     Sookii with the different colour eyes

When we returned to the lodge we unclipped the dogs and returned them to the yard after first making a fuss of each of them individually for giving us such a lovely ride. We chatted some more and I told Nita how blessed I felt to have met her and her dogs and to have experienced such a wonderful ride at the end of the winter season. I didn't need to spell it out, as the smile on my face stretched from ear to ear. She liked me, knew I was good with animals and trusted me with her babies. When I told her I had worked in a kennels when I was a teenager and had spent the last 23 years in education working with primary aged children, she felt totally relaxed with me in her home. Of course, the fact that the dogs were all over me helped! I sincerely hope that we do meet up again and I may just pursue that intern position for a month one winter - as it sounds like my kind of working holiday!

Thank you Nita and thank you Sookii, Ursa, Spook, Isolde, Spirit, Bella and Bean.

I absolutely recommend Sirius Sled Dogs if you are ever out this way in Alaska. You can't choose better.              Call - 907 - 687- 6656           or email - www.siriussleddogs.com  

          "friendly huskies to pet and photograph, full kennel tour, mushing school, rides and more"