We’ve got double congratulations for Tony!
First, Tony is a newly sponsored dog! Our good friend Barbara Swenson recently wrote to us:
“I have Tony’s Team Card from last year sitting on my desk, and it makes me smile every time I look at his picture and read his little bio.
“My company — Clarion Suites Downtown Anchorage — is proud to be a lead sponsor for SP Kennel as a whole, but I want to sponsor Tony on my own!”
Okay, Barbara, Tony is now your dog! He is everything his bio says he is and more. As a veteran of many years of racing — including several Iditarod finishes — Tony adds more than just power to the team. He is a great example for younger dogs who are learning the ropes, especially those dogs who — like him — are unheralded but all-important “team” dogs. We know you will have many exciting times ahead as you follow your dog throughout his racing career!
Our second congratulations go to Tony for being prominently featured in a major article in the current issue of Outside magazine.
You all know that Dr. Mike Davis has been conducting physiology research with the sled dogs of SP Kennel for a number of years, and now you can read all about it in print!
It is a long and very informative article that will tell you everything you might want to know about the extraordinary physiology of our canine athletes. The first paragraph gives you a pretty good idea of how much Tony is the star:
It’s 6:15 A.M. as I approach the home of one of the world’s greatest athletes. His name is Tony, and he lives in a tiny plywood shack about 30 miles outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. By all rights, he should be exhausted. He got up at four and ran 22 miles in a mid-September, pre-dawn chill, and he wasn’t running on nicely paved roads. He ran across fields and through muddy ruts on dirt trails while he and a few teammates tugged against harnesses attached to an ATV. By any measure, it was an absurdly tough workout, and it was even more remarkable because this was Tony’s first hard run in months. So I’m amazed to see him standing outside his door, looking refreshed and eager.
You can link to the article by clicking on the cover photo above, or by clicking here.
Once… er… twice again, congratulations to Tony!
Tony:
You are an amazing athlete!
Congrat's on two levels.
1) Being loved by numerous people.
2) Adding to the research of the sled dog research.
Happy trails to your future!