Dog-Day Afternoon…

Day 42 – Wednesday, July 24

We went to the MukTuk dog farm today to meet and play with sled dogs.  Spot was there to greet us!!

The big race here is the Yukon Quest—a 1,000 mile race from Whitehorse to Fairbanks, similar to the Iditarod.  The owner of this facility is a former winner of the Quest—Frank Turner.  Today our guide was Alana, a young lady from Germany who has spent 8 years with these dogs.  She spent 2 1/2 hours sharing stories with us about the dogs, their care, the dog sled races, and first-hand stories of mushing experiences.

There are about 75 dogs at the facility.  At 10:00, they let a group loose, and the first ones went galloping down the path, but returned to accompany us as we all walked together down to the river.  This is a daily play time for them, and they were friendly, playful, and obviously loved their “recess”.  It was so much fun to watch them…

We watched one dog climb a fence because she wanted to join the gang, but they would not allow her to go, because she was not a member of this particular pack, or team.  

We learned so much about these dogs, and they are obviously well cared for, and well-trained.  Some are young and still active in mushing, while others are in retirement.   Each had a name and their own dog house.  They got loud right at 10:00 because they knew that it was play time. 

Then, about 1pm when we were ready to go, they were all napping by their houses.

It takes a special kind of person to care for these dogs, and our guide certainly had the passion for her work—it was obvious in how she talked about them, and how they interacted with her.  She would give a signal or a sound, and they would immediately respond.  These dogs love to pull sleds, and that’s what they live and train for.

Summer is their play and rest time, and the sleds are kept ready for the winter when they can get back out on them to work and train.

Later in the afternoon, I went to a downtown salon to get a haircut (scalp job).  She cut it short enough that I won’t need to get another haircut until I get home!! (not by my request!)   It was also time for Spot’s bath…and he obliged…I’m sure he smelled the dogs on us and figured he needed to get into our good graces!

 

Tomorrow will be our longest day of driving on the trip-- A 336 mile drive estimated to take 9 hours!  We hope to get an early start because there is another recommended cinnamon roll stop on the way!