Remembering All Star – Pedro

We recently resurrected our “All Stars” page on the website so thought we would celebrate by inducting Pedro into the SP Kennel All-Stars Hall of Fame.

Pedro was SP Kennel’s first Golden Harness Winner. He lead Aliy’s team to the win in the 2000 Yukon Quest.

Pedro was born in the first sled dog litter Aliy ever bred. His parents were Roller who was given to Aliy as a five year old (Roller was five, not Aliy) because she was somewhat meek and her original musher didn’t think she would become anything. Roller was really friendly, but a little introverted. Flood was his dad and Pedro looked like a bigger version of his papa. Pedro had one sister Rubia.

Aliy raised Pedro and Rubia she as inside/outside pet dogs first. She didn’t know much about racing at that time but Pedro went on to run in every race from the beginning – he was more knowledgeable about what he could do competitively than Aliy ever thought was possible. When they were puppies Aliy didn’t know that they would pull so she put harnesses on and got them to pull logs for the fire – she said “I thought I had to teach them to pull. Of course since then I know better!”

Pedro was physically gorgeous. He had really long legs, a big chest and enormous heart. He was at least 65 pounds and enjoyed butt rub. He and Rubia were Aliy’s best buds, they would go walking and pick berries – Rubia ate them out of the bucket, Pedro ate them off the bush. When they moved from the bush to Two Rivers it was a big deal for all of them.

When Aliy started racing  it was totally different from today. The Two Rivers 200 started at Pikes Landing in Fairbanks and they came in 2nd place which surprised Aliy. In the long distance races Aliy had been used to camping for a week. Once they won the TR200 she said “Now I just have to figure out how to go faster with less camping!”

Pedro was outstanding by the time he was a yearling. He had confidence. The more confidence a musher has in their dogs the more the dogs rise to the occasion and you can always ask them to learn more than you originally thought possible.

Pedro was always in lead. He and Aliy had a tight personal connection that when having more dogs is a bit different. He was IT.

In the 2000 Yukon Quest, when Aliy’s team was leading they were in Braeburn ready to leave for the the finish line. Aliy remembers distinctly that Doug Harris, the Race Marshall that year, was standing around just talking about the last run and Pedro peed on him!

He was also shy in front of strangers so Aliy brought in Rubia everywhere as his support dog even though she didn’t even race. When he won Golden Harness in 2000 Rubia was by his side. He was confident when in his element.

He was the first of many really great sled dogs in Aliy’s life. A true SP Kennel All-Star.

Check out all our other SP Kennel All-Stars by clicking on “The Dogs” on the left of the main page then clicking “All Stars” or simply click here!