News

Just Running

Sarah · November 4, 2015 ·

The snow is finally showing up here in Willow, Alaska. After not seeing much of it last year, watching it slowly fall in tiny flakes is exceptionally peaceful. The dogs are also enjoying it. Every morning they squirm with anticipation for what the day brings. We are all, I think, very happy. This year marks the first time I’ve been able to consistently train and work with a group of sled dogs. It’s a welcome change for me and one of the reasons we worked so hard to move north. All the sacrifice has been worth it.

The team is camped on the side of the trail after running 20 miles. Camping is an important part of Iditarod Training.

I’m mostly working with young dogs, though Travis has given me a few outstanding dogs off of his team: Boston, Zema, Tamere, Kermit, Monroe, Madori and Ginzu. All of these dogs have been to Nome. I’m also working with an extremely talented group of young dogs, many of whom are out of BOSTON. I also have several dogs on my team out of 4 time Iditarod champion ZENA.

Check is a pup out of Zena and Boston. He is doing an incredible job so far in training.

These young dogs are more than qualified: Zeus, Check, Athena, Bensen, Coda, Shark, Hoover, Penny, Trunk, Bud, Meena, Pippa, Hank, Rowdy, Hammer, and Lena. In the coming weeks, I’ll work on writing up about my dogs so you can meet them. They’re incredible and I feel so fortunate to be working with so much raw talent. I’ve been playing around with different dogs up front in my team and am excited by the number of potential leaders I have to work with this season. It seems every dog I’ve put up front, so far, has excelled without problem. This is exciting to see. Then again, the odds are stacked in my favor given their excellent lineage.

I think this is going to be a great season and I’m really excited by all that we have going for us! Travis’ uncle will be moving up to Alaska in December and we are excited about all that will entail. He loves shooting videos so hopefully he will help us produce some top notch stuff! We are looking forward to your arrival Dwayne.

North To The Future: Our Life As Snowbirds

Sarah · October 1, 2015 ·

It’s no secret that we’ve been trying to establish a winter training camp so that we have better access to trails, snow, and the mushing world. We are excited to announce that at the end of August our hardwork paid off. We were able to buy a small piece of land in Willow, Alaska — the dog mushing capital of the world. Travis first went up to view the property with our handler, Justin. I couldn’t leave Seward at the time and so anxiously awaited his verdict. “It’s the one,” Travis told me. “It’s just all trees. We have our work cut out for us but this is the one.”

He made an offer and, finally, after a year of heartbreak and chasing snow, we are excited to say we have a place up north in snow and mushing country. This won’t replace our beloved home in Seward. We love our Seward community, friends, and family there but the need for a training camp further north arose because we have spent the last 3 years traveling with our dogs to get the mileage needed to run Iditarod. Moving north will allow Travis to take his training to the next level. Last year, we were forced to train around travel schedules; this year, once we settle in, it’s all about what the dogs need.

We will travel between Seward and Willow somewhat regularly throughout the year but will find ourselves in Willow in the fall and winter, training dogs, and Seward in the spring and summer. We will go back and forth a lot.

Our new property is located in Willow, right on the border of where the Sockeye fire swept through. Walking around the first time it was other-worldly coming upon the fire line. We had followed the course of the fire which wreaked havoc to so many of our friends but walking into the burn was surreal. The piece of land we bought did not sustain any damage during the fire though many of the trees on it were doused with fire retardant. Our first day at the property it was easy to get lost due to how thick the forest was. Travis came up with a little bit of a plan, we rented a bulldozer and started on making our property into a mushing camp. This was on August 27th. A little over a week later, we had a rough driveway and the frame of our cabin up. It was amazing how quickly the framing went up. For the most part I stayed in Seward, watched dogs and focused on work so it seemed especially magical to get photos from Travis with progress updates. The upstairs of our cabin is a large loft which is where we’ll sleep and I’ll set up an office so I can continue to work in between training runs. Our cabin is 14′ x 20′ and is off the grid. Because of our glacier dog camp, we already have many supplies to make living without electricity easier: solar panels, batteries, generators and stoves. To many in the lower 48, it would seem a crude, harsh lifestyle to undertake during the Alaskan winters but to us its a dream come true! So this winter we will live in Willow but will travel back to Seward frequently. We are a different kind of “snowbird” — living in beautiful summery Seward from April through September and then will head north from October through Iditarod. We’ve always travelled a lot — last year we put 15,000 miles on Travis truck and about 10,000 on mine. Having property will (hopefully) allow us to be slightly more rooted. We’ve already brought the first 10 sled dogs up so that they could start training. The lucky first inhabitants of our new yard are: Fidget, Krum, Gremlin, Kip, Odin, Mongoose, Hank, Handsome, Aldawin, and Teddy. We have started insulating our cabin, got the windows in, and just bought an oil drip stove for heat. Oil drip stoves don’t need electricity to operate and using it will allow us to focus strictly on running dogs! Now our first of 3 puppy pens is up and soon we will move our youngsters north while we begin to close down our home in Seward. Don’t worry Seward: We aren’t leaving. We are just going north for a bit! Our dog lot is big, spread out and has room for our whole sled dog kennel in neat, evenly spaced rows with plenty of space to hook up dog teams! We have decided that we are going to bring most of our dog houses up from Seward so we will have a “taste of home.” We will build new houses in Seward this spring and will again host another Paint-A-Pooloza because the first still brings us smiles. We love having a community oriented sled dog kennel and are excited about how we can use our new mushing camp to further our goals of community involvement. The Willow trail system is known as being one of the best in dog mushing. We will now be close to many sled dog races and have a whole community of dog mushers around us — who we are looking forward to get to know even better. The future sure is looking bright for us.

And now we get to train our sled dogs in the shadow of this beautiful giant. Now that a majority of the “hard” labor is behind us, expect lots of updates!

Camping Out With The Dogs

Sarah · September 5, 2015 ·

Travis has been traveling the last week and so the dogs and I have had plenty of time to ourself. For September, the weather remains warm. I’ve taken advantage of the warm temperatures and set up my new camping hammock in the dog yard.

Sleeping outside with the dogs has, well, been interesting. I picked two trees inside the dog lot to set my hammock up. On Tuesday when I decided to give sleeping out with the dogs a shot I was amazed by how warm it was. I listened to my book on tape and watched the stars, hoping for a northern lights show. Given the forecast for the lights, I considered my odds of seeing them high. Unfortunately, however they did not come out to dance.

I fell asleep, content to be swaying in the light wind. It reminded me so much of the summer I lived on a sailboat. I loved it.

I woke up to Hank barking and growling at me. In the night the shadow of my hammock must have scared him. Max, of course, went up to him and growled right back: come on, Hank. Do you really know who you are barking at?

That was, of course, until I woke up to cold droplets slowly tickling my face. The rain started slow enough that I thought it would pass. I pulled my sleeping bag tighter around me like a bear determined to hibernate.

The more I tried to avoid the rain, the harder it fell. Eventually, without cover from the rain, I moved back inside. Oh the perks of camping in your own back yard!

Today went better. I woke a few times. It is funny how the mind works. My immediate thought was “dogs howl at the moon” and then about 2 seconds later the whole kennel erupted in a gloriously beautiful song.

Another Time I could here an animal walking around. The dogs were on full alert and I could hear the tension in the air. The footsteps sounded to me like hooves so I can only assume it was a moose. A bear would have caused a communion.

This morning, I still sit in my hammock. Enjoying the slow peace of watching the dogs emerge from their houses, stretch, and wag their tails at me when they realize I have been with them all night long.

Picking New Lead Dogs: How We Select Which Dogs Will Begin Lead Dog Training

Sarah · August 8, 2015 ·

We have the unique opportunity with our summer dog sled tours to begin working with and developing new leaders all summer long. Unlike other dog sled tours that simply run a set loop, our sled dogs go out each tour time not knowing where they will go. Our trail system for our tour is a series of interconnected loops that allow us the opportunity to work on training commands.

Unlike many sled dog tour operations which simply focus on giving dog sled rides, often in a loop format, we focus on giving dog sled training demonstrations. Our dog sled tours are really just tag-along training sessions for our guests and are a great excuse for us to work with our dogs all summer. For the first part of the summer, we inevitably work with our youngest sled dogs dogs teaching them our expectations of them in the team.

We don’t begin training new lead dogs until our younger sled dogs are able to move seamlessly in the team, knowing how to untangle themselves and how to run on their side of the line. We do this because when we put a new, young dog up front we want that dog to have our complete attention. We don’t want to be talking to a sled dog in the team telling it to untangle itself when we need to be focused on praising and training a new lead dog running up front.

So how do we select a new lead dog and what does the process look like? Honestly, each time is a little different. We do, however, try to identify potential lead dog candidates every few weeks as our sled dogs begin to mature. Generally females start learning lead earlier than males in our kennel simply because they mature more quickly and are (at least in our kennel) more focused on pleasing their musher. This, in some ways, makes them easier to train than young males who (especially during summer) seem to have just one thing on their mind!

Our dog sled tours have proven a great way to identify future lead dogs. During the summer we routinely run our dogs 2-3 times a day, giving us a good look at our kennel each and every day. We are therefore able to consistently track the progress of our sled dogs. One thing we identify quickly is which puppies learn to respond to their name when we talk to them in the dog team.

We generally talk to our puppies when they get tangled. During their first few runs in the team we will stop our dogs and help untangle our puppies but slowly, over time, we teach them that dealing with tangles it is their responsibility. Our first look at who may be a good lead dog comes in identifying who is quick to learn how to untangle themselves. This may be as simple as returning to their side of the gangline so that one dog is on the left side of the gangline and one running on the right side. It may, however, also be more complex. Occasionally sled dogs may get their feet tangled in a neckline. In a controlled setting where we can easily stop the team, it is important that our sled dogs learn to fix themselves. There may come a time during training or race where, for one reason or another, I cannot stop to help them and they need to be nimble on their feet. While this is something small, it shows us who can learn quickly and who is actively listening to us while out training.

We also look at the overall attitude of our dogs. Each of our summer sled dog tours is between 1.5 and 2 miles in length depending on the weather; on rainy days we typically run slighty further as the cooler, damper weather allows it. During each run we stop 2 or 3 times to allow the dogs time to cool off. It is important we stop so that they can pant and get rid of any excess heat. We use this as an opportunity to talk with our guests about mushing and to evaluate which sled dogs don’t want to stop pulling. Future lead dogs are generally the first dogs to start trying to pull again. They may leap in the air or silently pull at the line, trying to get our cart to budge. Much to their dismay, however, it does not budge until we let them!

Attitude accounts for a lot of the success of a dog team; having very excitable dogs who want to run and who lead the team can help the team overcome obstacles such as a blown in trail, strong winds, or tough storms. Sled dogs with good attitudes see obstacles as challenges to overcome and they thrive in adversity. Great lead dogs do not back down when the going gets tough, rather that is when they shine the most!

Fidget running single lead during Iditarod 2015

Once we identify a dog as a potential leader, we will work on hooking that dog up towards the front of the team. Most puppies in our kennel start off running in the middle or the back of the team, so we slowly migrate our potential leaders closer and closer to the front. By slowly working them up to the front of the dog team, they get used to the idea of more and more dogs being behind them. They learn that they are part of a “team” and that the dogs behind them are not trying to chase them.

Eventually, we promote our future lead dog to running in the “swing dog” position. Swing dogs are the pair of dogs located directly behind the lead dogs. It’s an excellent place for a future leader to run. Swing is a great way to teach a dog without actually having to teach the dog. They learn through example. When we give the commands “gee” for right and “haw” for left, the swing dogs are seeing and reacting just a step behind the lead dogs. It’s a great way to start associating our commands with the direction we want our lead dogs to take. By the time we put them in lead, they don’t even think twice about being up front: they simply just run.

When our lead dog trainees are finally ready to move out of the swing position and into lead, we almost always pair them with experienced leaders who already know the ropes. Our experienced sled dogs really are the best teachers. In our kennel our go to lead dog trainers are Zema, Tamere, Madori, Boston, Jane, and Piper. These dogs are great Gee/Haw leaders and are also very patient with our younger dogs. We do run after run with our new trainee up front while paired with a “mentor.” After a number of runs — generally anywhere from about 4 to 10 — up front, we let our new trainee go at it alone so we can see what they’ve mastered.

Running in single lead is tough but it is important that each of our leaders understand that when they are up front they are responsible for responding to commands. If we always ran our lead dogs in pairs, they would not learn this valuable lesson. We will do a few runs to make sure our trainees have mastered the commands.

Training for a lead dog, however, never stops. We will continue to work with our leaders even after they have mastered the basic commands of “gee” and “haw” — teaching them how to forge ahead and go through whatever obstacle comes there way.

We certainly have fun watching our dogs progress and have learned over the past few years that we have some of the best Gee-Haw leaders in the sport. We also have some of the most dedicated and hardworking leaders. We greatly contribute our summer dog sled tours and the training they allow us to do is a huge reason for our successful lead dog training program.

TLC’s Extreme I Do’s and What It’s Like Working with Sled Dogs in Television.

Sarah · August 5, 2015 ·

This past February, Travis, the dogs, and I were part of a television show: Extreme I Do’s for TLC. It wasn’t our first television gig, nor do I anticipate it to be our last. To date we’ve worked with the Travel Channel for their show Alaska Starts Here, with TLC for Extreme I Do’s and with a South Korean production company to make a few different commercials: one helping to promote the state of Alaska to South Korean travelers and another for a new winter product line of jackets and gear. We are vert experienced at working with our sled dogs in television.

TLC’s Extreme I Do’s and What It’s Like Working with Sled Dogs in Television. 17

Working with sled dogs in the entertainment industry is certainly one of the more interesting things that we do as a kennel. For one, most in the film and television industry have little to no experience with sled dogs. Working with sled dogs — whether for tv or film — can be a quite a challenge but at this point we’ve really fine tuned our process.

When working with film or television we first have to identify the purpose and type of content that is trying to be produced. Are the dogs the central focus of the show or are they a small piece? We’ve now had experience with both.

When we are the central element, as we were with Alaska Starts Here, we were given the freedom of developing our own shots and having the camera men work around us. We told them the different things the dogs were capable of and what type of camera angles we thought would be most appropriate to capture the best scenery and dog training — and the camera crew was more than happy to rely on our expertise. This, of course, is easy.

It becomes more challenging when the dogs are no longer the focal point of what is going on. When our dogs are more of a “periphery” element, we generally have little to no say in what goes on. Instead, we must decipher what it is the director wants and then figure out the best way to acheive what they want with our dogs. To do this not only requires an obedient dog team but it also requires having great lead dogs that allow us to do just about anything: whether we have one take to get it right or we have multiple takes. Reality television generally involves one and, on the rare occasion, two takes. Every other style is more flexible — generally camera men are particular about getting just the right angle or the perfect sound byte and sometimes this can mean running the dogs over and over again until people or their “characters” get their lines right. Inbetween takes, we have to work with our team to keep them quiet so that directions can be given to the cast and crew.

On Extreme I Do’s the dogs were not a central element to the overall story arc of the show. The dog team was simply an interesting way to add a truly Alaskan twist to a fun and unique destination wedding. Because of this, the dogs became more of a background element. The main goal of our filming that day was to capture quality dialogue amongst passengers as they rode the sled — expressing their excitement about the dogs, the wedding, and being in Alaska.

Additional considerations also have to be taken when filming such as getting the right permits and, if we are working on public trails, making every effort to keep those trails accessible to all. During the filming of Extreme I Do’s, Alaska was actually going through a “snow drought” and most of South Central Alaska did not have snow. Because of this, we were very limited on the trails we could use. In the end, the Girdwood Nordic Skiclub allowed us temporary use of their trails. They kindly asked us not to use all their trails, so we had to make a pretty sharp turn around for our dogs. This was made interesting by the somewhat icy trail and the fancy dresses everyone is in: crashing the sled certainly was never an option!

Having an obedient dog team is mandatory for doing film work. Great lead dogs and an experienced dog team are also a plus. Good leaders make doing challenging shots much easier and, because they are often very intelligent, are often able to pick up on what we, as mushers, are trying to accomplish.

Extreme I Do’s was aired by TLC. Look for reruns in the coming weeks. Alaska Starts Here was a production of the Travel Channel and has had reruns periodicaly throughout the year.

Ask us your questions about working with sled dogs on television on our facebook page: www.Facebook.com/TurningHeadsKennel