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December 21, 2008 Winter Update Think snow for this winter! Lots of snow is on the ground here at the house and kennel! It's a true winter wonderland on this first day of winter. Happy Solstice! We will definitely be offering skijoring lessons for the skilled x-c skiing guests who come with their own "pulling" dog. This is for folks who want to learn how to train their dog to do this sport. We will also definitely continue to be offering our educational programs for schools, winter festivals, and other public groups. We were hoping to again be offering dog sled rides for 2008-2009, but it is not possible at this time. We will continue to offer our "Everything But A Ride" but we have made some changes for this year. The information below for 2007-8 is not correct for this year. We have kept it here because it has some background information, but please see the "Everything But A Ride" page for this year's information. We'll add an update here if things change. We are both working hard at our other jobs and training time has not been abundant. (It would be nice if sled dogs were more than fun and an occasional supplement to help pay for dog food, but it is not.) In addition, despite adding to our kennel, we still have a shortage of working dogs, and with the economy looking as bad as it does, we do not see adding more dogs anytime soon. New Kennel Additions We now have 10 dogs: 7 potential working dogs (Ilyaga, Frankie, Flip, Preston, Elias, Osceola and Touvik); 2 retired seniors (Weasel and Woody); and 1 very young puppy (Nahanni). Despite the economy, but after much discussion, we have adopted two older, sledding-trained, experienced Siberian Husky sled dogs, Osceola and Touvik. These are gorgeous males from mushing friends in New Hampshire who have wonderful bloodlines that we like and admire. Osceola and Touvik are settling in well with the two-legged family as well as the "furry, four-legged family" at our home. Future Sled Dog In Training Gail’s October birthday present from Red was a 10-week old pup we've named Nahanni, which means "spirit" in the Far North language of the Tlinget. She does have great spirit, is very smart, sweet, cute, cuddly, and loves kids, adults and other dogs. (Our house cat is still training her, but it looks promising.) She's also very fast when running about! But that's no surprise as her bloodlines come from incredible dogs with great brains and bodies for running and working in harness as well as wonderful temperaments and dispositions. We're very excited and honored to have been selected to have this promising pup join our family! You'll see Nahanni with us as she continues to be socialized, trained for obedience as well as sled dog commands, and is introduced to the big world and local trails. She won't become a member of the working team until she's almost a year old, but she'll be traveling with us to watch and learn, get comfortable with the equipment, visit any school groups we work with, etc.
Kennel Losses It's been another tough time for us, to be expected as the dogs age, but it's never any easier--just more sadness and pain for us. The dogs are our family. We lost our very sweet, gentle and patient senior male Dolby this June. We adopted him when he was 12 when mushing friends moved to the Yukon. He bred our girl Frankie and we kept 2 pups, Preston and Elias. (Elias looks just like Dolby!) Sadly, Dolby passed on at (almost) 16. Among many other wonderful traits, he will be remembered for his most unusual voice and tell-tale "ARK!" For those who knew him, we very sadly share news of the recent passing of our beloved Dawson. He was the "poster dog" featured in all the Waitsfield Sled Dog Race collateral at the turn of this century. He truly loved all the school kids he met. He made it past his 14th birthday, lived a very active, full, happy, wonderful life making every day of our lives with him pure joy. He was an exceptional dog and companion, indoors as a house dog, loose in the car with his head on the driver's left shoulder, and outdoors having fun. Dawson will forever be in our hearts and minds as we now venture down the trails without him. We miss him more than words can say. And so the circle of life continues here at Atii Sled Dogs.
The "Everything But A Ride" information below is different for the 2008-2009 season. Please see this page for current information. However, please read the narrative below for the explanation and updates about our dogs. You'll learn more about why we cannot currently offer you a ride in the sled. We are committed to our dogs, and dog sledding is all about the dogs. DECEMBER 12, 2007 UPDATE SKIJORING LESSONS and SLED DOG EDUCATION PROGRAMS for schools, youth groups, winter carnivals, special events and the general public WILL CONTINUE to be offered (as usual) for this winter. DOG SLED RIDES/TOURS FOR Winter 2007-2008 Unfortunately, due to a variety of reasons (both unexpected as well as anticipated) and after lots of discussion and evaluation, at this time (Dec. 12, 2007) we are unable to offer dog sled rides (per se). Believe us, we are far more upset about this than you, but we simply do not have enough reliable working dogs in our kennel this winter. However, what we can do, in addition to the skijoring lessons and education programs listed above, is meet you for a hands-on visit, what we call a “meet and greet” sled dog education visit (which is everything we usually do except for the ride). It’s still a fun and unique outdoor adventure to do as an adult or with your kids. You can bring your x-c skis or snowshoes and try to follow us along the trail for a better view of the dogs in action. You can see us leaving, on the trail or on the return loop back to the dog truck where we began with you.
We can offer this at a very reduced rate from the cost of a dog sled ride:
We’ve been struggling with this decision of whether or not we could offer dog sled rides this winter, hoping against hope that we could. We really enjoy sharing our love and passion for our dogs, this sport and lifestyle, with all the nice folks we meet as we take guests out for rides on the trails with us. However, it’s become increasingly clear that it’s just not going our way this year. We hope we can offer rides next winter. (We also hope a miracle happens and we can again this winter.) There are pros and cons to having a small kennel of dogs. We are now experiencing the downside. Plus, after Mother Nature’s lack of cooperation for dog teams for two winters in a row, we have become another sign of harsh economic times. As we write, there is great early snow, but not enough dogs in our kennel to offer rides for this winter. We currently only have 4 highly reliable working dogs. This is enough for skijoring and education programs as well as our personal recreational sledding, but not enough to pull a sled with a passenger (or passengers). Unfortunately we are not now in a financial position to purchase more high quality Siberian huskies that are at least a year old, harness trained, in good physical conditioning and socially ready, who could quickly fit in to run with our dogs. It takes time to build and train a team or teams of sled dogs who can be relied upon, especially when taking guests out for rides. Safety comes first—for you as well as the dogs. A Difficult Time This past spring and summer was very difficult. We went from 11 dogs to 9 dogs after two unexpected deaths. We lost 9-year-old Laska (a stellar skijoring and wheel dog) in March 2007 due to an unknown and undetectable heart defect. He never showed signs of any illness and lived a full and happy life—right to the swift end. (We should all be that lucky.) That heartbreaking loss was followed by another in June when we had to do the humane and right thing for the very young 5-year-old Murron (a sweetheart of a dog and one of our great leaders). After three surgeries (beginning in February) and a trip to canine oncologists in New Hampshire, we learned that her cancer was advanced and there was nothing further that we could do to help her. Our hearts still ache for these two great dogs. Ageing Catches Up With The Dogs But even as we dropped from 11 to 9 dogs, we went to far fewer reliable working dogs. Dawson’s 13 years caught up to him and he is no longer able to run in harness, but he continues to enjoy his life and status with us as a beloved “house dog.” Weasel turns 14 this December 28th. So far she’s still eager to run and pull and she still loves school visits and other public appearances, but at 14 we don’t want to work her too hard as she doesn’t pull as hard as she used to nor does she run as fast. (You only go as fast or as well as your slowest dog.) Woody is now 12 years old and he hasn’t entirely decided whether or not he wants to run any longer in either the dog sled team or skijoring—some days he does, some days he doesn’t. We leave the choice entirely to him, but that means he’s no longer a dependable member of a team. 15-year-old Dolby is doing fine, but he was retired long before we adopted him and he became a stud dog. (He’s dad to our 3-year-olds, the brothers Preston and Elias. Frankie’s the mom.) That leaves us with our three female leaders: Frankie, Flip, and Ilyaga plus our only remaining reliable male, Preston, who can run team or in wheel. Ilyaga can run in any position and for a little dog is an impressive wheel dog. Those are our four most reliable, fully trained working dogs. Elias, Preston’s brother, is a late bloomer—a slower learner who is still training to be a sled dog and doesn’t like things directly behind him—so he’s not a wheel dog but runs in team position (when he can figure out which way we’re going). However, we can schedule you for the next best thing. Please come join us for a “meet and greet” as described above—when you get a learning and hands-on experience, just without the ride—but you can see the dogs in action as they go out for a training run with one of us. So, long story short, in order to again offer dog sled rides we need to grow our kennel (“rebuild”) and add some young Siberians through good breeding or adoption. But there’s also the issue of economics. We will only have as many dogs as we can afford to properly care for—meaning high quality food as well as paying all the other veterinary, kennel, dog truck, trail expenses and other small business costs. Breeding and raising a litter of pups is another economic and logistical factor to be considered. We certainly hope that we can offer rides again next winter—and we thank you for your interest in wanting to take a ride with our beloved, trusty dogs. We hope you’ll join us for our “meet and greet” the dogs experience this winter! Atii
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