A run with Shuai

I’m thinking about going into tourism. Recreational dog mushing. Not really, but I got a taste of it the other day, when I took Shuai out for a run. Shuai was visiting Alaska during his winter break from NYU. Born and raised in China, this was Shuai’s first visit to Alaska. He was WWOOFing (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) at one of our neighbors house, and asked if we would take him for a ride. It was fun to take someone out after a couple of months of working here. Having someone to teach meant I was forced to think about all that I knew and figure out what was important to communicate. I realized that I have learned a lot in these last months, and it was fun to share that knowledge with someone else. The dogs liked him, and we went out when there was still sunlight and we could take pictures. Here are some of the photos:

Feeding the Dogs

We feed the dogs twice each day. There are 36 full-grown dogs and 12 puppies (2 litters that are about 5 months old). We usually feed them at around 8am, and around 6pm…..though if we go on runs with them sometimes the time changes.

The dogs get a mixture of Redpaw Kibble, raw beef (10lbs per feeding), fat, and a variety of powders to help them digest the raw meat and keep their bones strong. Ken is sponsored by Redpaw which means he gets all the kibble for free. You can see all the silver bags of kibble in the picture that shows the food tank. We use one bag of kibble during each feeding (40lb bag). The food tank is where we mix up the food, and store it to keep it from freezing. There is a meat saw that we use to cut up the raw meat. It’s broken at the moment so we’ve just been using an ax to chop up the meat (probably less dangerous for fingers!). It’s quite a process – a little different than what most people give there pet dogs. You get strong arms carrying around the food too.

Photos from Sheep Mountain

More Photos from the Sheep Mountain Race

Sheep Mountain Race

We went to our first race last weekend. The race was the Sheep Mountain 150. There were three legs of 50 miles. After the first 50 miles there was a 5-hour mandatory rest where the mushers could sleep and the dogs got feed and rested. Then there was another 50-mile section, followed by another 5-hour rest. The last 50 miles finished off the race. It was really fun to see how the races are run, and meet lots of different mushers. There were a lot of really cute dogs!

One evening Megan and I were playing cribbage and Jeff King came and sat down to talk with us. Jeff King is a pretty famous musher (he has won first place in 4 Iditarod races), and he was racing in Sheep Mountain. Basically the conversation consisted of him making fun of me because I was having some trouble with the simple addition required in cribbage. Pretty funny. Other than that, the race was quite uneventful…..a good thing. At one point I had to back up his huge trailer (see pictures) and I was very happy to back it up without much trouble. Driving his diesel manual truck with that trailer is a little nerve-racking.

More photos of the Kennel

On the left is a photo of the puppies out on their run. There is beautiful wilderness all around the kennel. The photo on the right is the long distance team (16 dogs) all harnessed up and ready to go out for a run. The dogs are still running in front of 4 wheelers until we have enough snow to run the sleds. This photo was taken before a 13 hour run we did a few days ago. It was 30 below, and I don't think I've ever been that cold in my life. We got back at around 2:30 am, after quite a wild ride. We pulled a sled behind the 4 wheeler so Megan and I could practice controlling the sled. While you can stop the dogs easily with a 4 wheeler, once we start using sleds there is much less control. We went about 5 hours out on the run before letting the dogs eat and rest for 2 hours. Then we came back. The last Photo is another attempt at a family portrait with the dogs that live with us in our little cabin.

Windy Creek Kennel: Fox, Alaska

I’ve been in Alaska one week today, and I’ve already been lucky enough to experience 30 below weather. Megan picked me up from the airport last week, and we’ve been working away ever since. Megan has already been here for 6 weeks, so she has been showing me the day-to-day routine and life here at Windy Creek Kennel. We’re about 30 min outside of Fairbanks.

Above is a picture of the dog yard, the main house, and our cabin (on the right). The cabin has a main floor with a small kitchen, wood stove (we have all wood heat), a table, and a couch (usually taken by 2 to 3 dogs). We have 5 dogs that live with us. most of them retired race dogs. There is a loft where we sleep. There is no running water, so we use an outhouse and the snow as a bathroom. There is a refrigerator, and a stove for cooking!

This picture shows the rest of the dog yard. The female dogs are kept in a separate yard with a fence around them. There are two litters of puppies who have their own fenced in areas. There is a litter of 7 that is 6 months old, and a litter of 5 that are 4 months old. These puppies don’t pull yet, so we just take them on walks around the area.

This is what happened when we tried to take a family portrait……we are missing two dogs in and all the dogs were very confused.