Playing with Puppies

Today was so much fun! We love this place. We actually took a tour today called the Real Alaska Tour. I was apprehensive because it was 5 hours long and involved sitting on a bus, but it turned out great.

It started with more dogs of the Seavey Family! We got to play with 2 litters of puppies and visit all the dogs in training. Apparently, Malamutes and AKC Huskies are bred for their looks, especially the ones you see in the movies. (We got to meet a handful of movie star pups!) Alaska sled-dog huskies, however, look nothing like these other dogs. They’re scrawny looking at about 50 lbs., with unrecognizable markings and they’re bred to "happily run long distances."

When puppies are just 6 months old they’ll pull instinctively if you put a harness on them. By age 3 they can run 150 miles a day in an Idatirod race. (The total race is 1,049 miles.) They run best in temperatures below zero so they often go in the middle of the night, watching the Northern Lights appear overhead. Apparently, the Aurora Borealis can get the dogs running as fast as a moose on the trail can.

We got to go for a ride, too! In the summer training they use carts and it was exhilarating. The dogs freak out, “Pick me! Pick me!” Our lead dog was Spot, who had finished the Iditarod a few years ago -- in fact, he may have been on the Mitch Seavey's winning team in 2004. I can't keep them all straight. He's the lighter colored lead dog in the picture. His job was to help out the other lead dog in training -- it was his first time leading. We were prepared for possible antics and sure enough, Dan Seavey (brother to Dallas from the sled-dog rodeo in Anchorage) had to stop the team over and over as he'd stop to pee in the bushes or sniff out a critter, the other dogs happily following his lead. They were also still learning commands so they didn’t quite have their directions straightened out (gee is right, haw is left) and Dan would yell, “Your other HAW!” It was funny as hell. After the first couple of rests, he let Peanut shout, “Alrighty Spot!” and off we’d go.