SPK Dog Log

Princess Cruises has many land excursions across the state of Alaska. One spectacular option is to disembark from a Princess Cruise Ship in Whittier and get directly onboard a luxury railroad car that travels north up the Cook Inlet and into the heart of the Alaska Range. This train brings guests directly to Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge just outside Denali National Park. Aliy and Allen have worked on the “Denali Express” Northbound train for years. They share their passion of dog mushing with Alaskan visitors and tell stories about sled dogs, racing adventures and, of course, each other.

Aliy and Allen jump on board at the Hurricane Depot. The Alaska Railroad conductor is a friend and generally slows down enough to let them on! The train then crosses Hurricane Gulch (Milepost 284), goes through Broad Pass in the Alaska Range (Milepost 304), peaks at Summit (Milepost 313), passes the village of Cantwell (Milepost 320) and pulls into the Denali Railroad Depot (Milepost 328). As the train makes its way north through the mountains, Aliy and Allen walk through the train cars speaking to between five and six-hundred guests. They hand out photo postcards to everyone and several lucky guests win SP Kennel t-shirts. The Denali Express Train runs from mid May until mid September. If you find yourself onboard, please take time to say ‘Hello’ to our two Mushers!

Today was the first day of sign ups for Yukon Quest 2016! Mushers are able to submit registration forms and fees at either Yukon Quest office – in Whitehorse, Yukon Territories, Canada or in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Allen was entertaining visitors on the Denali Express Train and was unable to join the festivities today but he made a special trip to YQ headquarters in Fairbanks one day early to drop off his and Aliy’s forms. Allen will again compete in the Yukon Quest 1000 mile race and Aliy will compete in the Yukon Quest 300. Both start in Fairbanks on Saturday February 6, 2016.

2015 Quest L-R: The Black Team on the start line in Whitehorse; The Red Team arrives into Pelly Crossing

We’re so excited to have teams in both these awesome races. They’re races we know and love and we’re also excited to see the large competitor list after just one day of sign-ups. 21 mushers have signed up to run 1000 miles and a further 18 to run 300. Who’s ready for race season to start??

For more information on the 2016 entrants go to yukonquest.com or the Quest Facebook page.

It is always very exciting to think about the Yearling Class at SP Kennel. This season we will have the FIVE litter (Ernie, Ginger, Five, Rodney and Scooby.) Every season this youthful Class of dogs is unique and talented. Each dog needs a tremendous amount of personal attention in order to turn them into successful SP Kennel dogs.

During 2008-09, the Car and Boat litters were the Yearlings Class. This was their first true season of their sled dog training. As many of you know, many dogs in this Class went on to be Super Stars at SP Kennel.

This cool video by Macgellan from a training run early in the season shows some of these current and recent Superstars when they were very young and inexperienced. Macgellan himself had been at the kennel only a matter of days when this was shot.

The line-up you will see is Pingo (as the only “grown up” of the group) and Ranger in lead, Beemer and Scout in swing, Malibu and Olivia, Rambler and Honda, Viper and Cutter with Tug and Hummer in wheel.

We hope you enjoy it!

FYI: Scout, Olivia and Rambler are still at the kennel, Beemer and Viper retired at the end of last season and now live in Pennsylvania, Honda lives in Oregon, Tug in New York, Malibu in Anchorage, Ranger in Fairbanks, Cutter also in Fairbanks, and Hummer is just down the road. Sadly, Pingo passed away the autumn after his 15th birthday.

The retired Life (Left to Right): TugBoat poses with her New York family; Cutter dreams of winter afternoons.

The retired Life (Left to Right): Malibu enjoys her Anchorage couch; Rambler naps on the SP Kennel Oriental rug.

Just one more month of “summer vacation” and the dogs at SP Kennel will be back in harness. Interior Alaska has been a mixed bag as far as weather conditions the last few weeks.
It was even possible to train a dog team during a few chilly, rainy days last week — mushing from puddle to puddle. However, yesterday the temperatures were back at 70 + degrees Fahrenheit and sunny.
A perfect afternoon for a swim. Right, Mac?! (Photo on Left.)

One of our favorite spots in Two Rivers is a beaver pond just a few miles down the trail from the kennel. There is a large beaver dam holding back 4 feet of water. The pond that is created by the beavers is a great place to swim… if you want to, that is!

It is possible to tippy-toe across the dam — if you aren’t knocked down and pushed out of the way by enthusiastic sled dogs! It seems Aliy is always trying to teach the dogs manners. She didn’t come home soaking wet, so I guess it worked.

(L-R: Scout, Outlaw, Woody, Mac, Waylon, Aliy and Boondocks.)

(L-R: Tig, Outlaw, Waylon, Boondocks, Aliy, Scout, Woody, and Mac.)

These photos were taken off of the “Aliy Cam” during the Iditarod. They are freeze frame photos from the video camera that Aliy carries on the race.

Climbing toward Rainy Pass. This photo is taken towards the top of the climb through the Alaska Range Mountains. The trail travels through willow bushes along the edges of Pass Creek drainage before ascending to the open wind swept summit.

Mushing in the heart of Alaska. This photo is taken about halfway through the race. The trail runs over rolling hills and across immense valleys before the old historic town of Iditarod. On this part of the race course there are no villages and very little traffic on the trail. A musher and their team are alone here.

Nap time on the Yukon River. This photo is taken about 15 miles south of the Kaltag Checkpoint. The team is taking a short nap in the center of the frozen Yukon River – which will allow them to pass through the village. This was part of an overall race strategy of napping in the sunshine and avoiding busy checkpoints.

Traveling in the Blueberry Hills. This photo is taken about 20 miles north of the coastal village of Unalakleet. The trail does not travel on the frozen ocean in this area because the ocean ice shifts constantly leaving dangerous open water leads. Therefore the Iditarod follows a historic trail through some very steep hills that are often blown free of all snow pack.

Mushing into the sunset. This photo is less than 20 miles from the Finish Line. The frozen ocean is on the left. The bluff on the right is Cape Nome – which is the final climb before the finish. This is often a very emotional time on the race… especially with a sunset like this one!

This photo is from July 7th at midnight when Anaconda Creek Fire was still a threat to the lands around Two Rivers. Thank goodness, that fire has been fully contained and rains continue to completely drench our neighborhood. The entire state of Alaska has been pulled back to a Wildland Fire ‘Preparedness Level 3’.

But, since this was such an awesome photo… here it is:

The FIVE pups turn one year old today. They are amazingly healthy, strong dogs. They will be our Yearling Class for the 2015-16 Racing Season. All five are extremely energetic, yet smart enough to learn quickly.

Physically, they are an interesting blend of their parents: Chica and Clyde. With many of our SP K puppies, we can point out the mother and father easily by showing certain outstanding pup/parent characteristics. But with the FIVE pups, they have traits that are not obvious from either parent. For instance, where do the floppy ears come from? Of all of the Alaskan Husky pups we have raised, we would have thought that these FIVE would have pointy ears. Nope.
Both of Clyde’s parents, ChaCha and Lieutenant, have very husky pointy ears. So, we believe this trait comes from Chica’s pedigree. Even though Chica and most of her siblings have glamourous pointy husky ears, their mother, Venus, had floppy ears. Chica’s sister, Bonita, resembles Venus. Chica’s father, Zorro, had somewhat over turned ears as well.

L-R: The FIVE pups father Clyde; The FIVE pups mother Chica; Chica’s sister, Bonita

The FIVE pups lineage pedigree.

Earlier this week, the plan was to get great quality ‘Birthday Portraits’ of each dog. Even with a fantastic photographer behind the lens, we quickly learned that patience and many, many, many, many photographs were needed in order to get that one “perfect pose”.

We started with Rodney. He is by far the loudest pup and was vocally thrilled to be the first dog to model for us. As it turned out, Rodney was the most cooperative pup and gave us several profile shots as well as one fantastic face forward pose. Rodney has a large head with wide set ears but what really stands out are his forehead masking stripes. Gorgeous! Rodney has a solid build and long stout legs. He currently weighs 51 pounds.

Ernie was next. Not only is he is polite, but he also doesn’t have the same brute strength as his brothers. So he was the easiest to coach during his modeling session. He resembles his uncle, Outlaw. Ernie is smaller with a lot of quick energy. He is a light-boned racy dog and currently weighs 42 pounds.

Five was the third pup to model (Ginger made it known that she was not happy about that.) Five is BIG: big-boned, big-spirited and big-trouble. He was not easy to photograph or even handle. Tossing a dog biscuit to get his attention was a mistake as he dragged me across the gravel trail to retrieve it. He will be a powerful sled dog but he needs to learn some manners from some of the other ‘big boys’ at the kennel. He currently weighs 53 pounds.

Ginger couldn’t wait to get her photograph taken next. She is a floppy eared, reddish blonde girl. Ginger much preferred sitting down for her photo session than standing. (More of a Mona Lisa style portrait, I guess!) Ginger has no lack of self confidence and will tell every one of her brothers that she is the best pup of the litter. She is 100% healthy and very sweet. Ginger weighs 40 pounds.

Scooby was the last pup. He is extremely strong. After running around the field for several minutes he calmed enough for a 30 second photo shoot. Good thing he is an extremely photogenic dog because most of his portraits were simply perfect. Good boy! He is still his mother’s look-a-like but now weighs more than her at 50 pounds.

Iron Creek is a canine ‘Water Park’ only a few miles from SP Kennel.

Iron Creek is 3 miles from SP Kennel. It is really just a slough of the Chena River. The nickname comes from the tremendous amount of iron in the surrounding ground that colors the water and rocks bright orange. We train dog teams through Iron Creek throughout September and October in order to keep them cool. In the summertime, Iron Creek is a fun place to go play.

L-R: Tig, Spark and Lydia play; Spark envies Tig’s stick; Tig is done playing.