HOME!
Aliy, Allen and their teams flew to Anchorage, from Nome, late last Monday. After a few hours of collecting the dog truck and a trailer, our mushers loaded the dogs and began an 8-hour, early morning trek north to SP Kennel. All were ecstatic to be back home on Tuesday. This past week both humans and dogs ate well and slept hard.
As follow up to his severe bout of intestinal ‘flu’ and fever on the Iditarod Trail, Allen visited his doc in Fairbanks. Final results were diagnosis of a virulent intestinal parasite. He is being treated with the appropriate drugs and is responding quickly. We want to sincerely thank all who took part in Allen’s treatment and diagnosis – the Iditarod staff, the Iditarod volunteers in Shaktoolik, the village Health Aide in Shaktoolik, Dr. Logan and the hospital staff in Nome and Bridgett who ministered to her father at her home in Nome.
Aliy is pleased with her Iditarod 2008 race. She points to the fact that she remained strong and happy during the race and finished with a very healthy dog team. She, and other perennially competitive mushers, commented on the number of high performance teams this year. The overall trends of selective breeding, superior dog care and better fitness levels of the mushers have combined to increase the quality and competitiveness of the sport in general, and this race in specific. SP Kennel is pleased to be a leader in those trends.
Aliy and her team shortly after the start of Iditarod 2008. Skittles and Bullet in lead. Courtesy of Donna Dewhurst.
We realized this week that we had not acknowledged the dogs who raced in Iditarod 2008 with Aliy. Finishers are Bullet, ChaCha, Oddball, Venus, Skittles, Snickers, Rose, Meg, JJ, Heidi and Teddy!!! Biscuit was dropped in Ophir, Tony and Butterscotch in Cripple, Reeses in Ruby and Petunia in Unalakleet. All are well and happy. Each of these canine athletes is a unique character with strong and varying skills he/she brought to the team. Kudos to all. 
Oddball and Bullet pose at the finish line in Nome. Pretty pleased with themselves!
As always, to our sponsors and fans, thanks for all your support!
Aliy, Allen and the gang at SP Kennel
