SPK Dog Log

As of this morning, SP has two more dropped dogs on the trail – one from the Red Team at Unalakleet and one from the Black Team at Koyukuk. We do not yet know which dogs were dropped but will let you know as soon as we know.

The term ‘dropped dog’ seems pretty ominous, doesn’t it? But, truth be told, a dropped dog is treated like royalty.

An Iditarod racing dog can be ‘dropped’, at any checkpoint along the trail, if the musher deems it best for that dog and for his/her team. Dogs are dropped for many reasons – a tweaked shoulder or wrist, a poor appetite, an upset digestive system, or even as part of a musher’s overall strategy. Mushers know their dogs so well that they may notice a glitch in the dog’s attitude or gait that signals that it’s time to drop that athlete at the next checkpoint. Mushers want to protect their precious athletes for future races and they do not want sound dogs to have to compensate for a compromised team mate.

On the other hand, it is to the mushers’ advantage to keep racing dogs as healthy and injury free as possible. This is why you see dog ointment and booties, dog massages, doggie T-shirts, jackets and leggings, scientifically formulated food and professional vet care (to name a few) on the trail. Once a dog is ‘dropped’, it can not be replaced on the team.

A dog is dropped at a checkpoint, in the care of an Iditarod veterinarian. The musher and vet consult on the reason for the drop. The vet performs a complete physical exam and begins a paperwork trail that follows each dog until he/she gets back to the home kennel. Each dog’s microchip is verified before he/she is fed, watered, medicated (if needed) and cared for by checkpoint volunteers specifically trained in dropped dog care. These volunteers excel in safe handling and lots of dog love.

Dropped dogs are then flown back to Anchorage in either small general aviation aircraft, piloted by members of the Iditarod Air Force, or on commercial cargo planes, flown by PenAir as an in-kind donation to the Iditarod. The pilots transporting our elite cargo are aviation professionals of the highest caliber and we thank them for their dedication.

The Anchorage Dog Drop staff and volunteers meet the incoming flights on Lake Hood or at the ANC airport. Dogs are carefully ensconced in dog trucks and driven to the Dog Drop lot behind the Millennium Hotel, the Iditarod Headquarters in Anchorage.  Remember, the dropped dog forms (that paperwork trail) accompanies each dog throughout this trip.

Dog Drop Central, at the Millennium Hotel, is run by experienced Iditarod staff (thank you, Kate!) and manned by Iditarod trained veterinarians and certified dog drop volunteers. When dogs arrive here, they again have their microchips verified and are immediately examined by the assigned veterinarians. They are fed, medicated (if needed), and loved. Boy, are they loved! Usually there are many dog drop volunteers and their main focus is to treat the canine athlete like royalty.

Scout was dropped in 2014 at Skwentna. Dana, our good friend and super volunteer, gives care and love at  Iditarod Dog Drop Central last year.

Once the dogs are ready to go home, an authorized musher representative will come to Dog Drop Central, review and sign the dropped dog paperwork/instructions, and take their dog home.

SP Kennel always has a dedicated dog drop crew in Anchorage waiting for our dropped athletes. This year SP friend and supporter, Linda Steiner, is at the ready. She will be responsible for greeting our dogs at the Millennium Dog Drop, loading them into their very own, familiar smelling dog truck and transporting them to Margie Bauman’s beautiful kennel in Wasilla. There they are cared for in style, on a treed hillside overlooking part of the Cook Inlet, until Aliy and Allen pick them up after the race. Linda and Margie always have back up support from the Miller Family, long time dedicated SP fans.

Linda and Midnight await the arrival of SP dropped dogs in Anchorage. Our dogs will be so excited to see and smell their very own truck.

SP is so grateful to each person, along the way, who cares for the SP racing dogs and all the canine athletes of the Iditarod. They are special folks keenly focused on our dogs’ welfare. A special thanks goes out to SP’s skilled and dedicated dog drop crew – Linda, Margie and Team Miller.

For a look at another fascinating facet of the Dropped Dog procedure here is a link to a 2011 post titled ‘Prison Dog Drop’.

Kennel Mom

Aliy and the Red Team have left Unalakleet at 10.59pm having spent just under five hours resting. Dallas Seavey, Aaron Burmeister and Mitch Seavey left the checkpoint in front of them. Sebastian reported the trail was windy leaving Unk but “the further away we got from Unk, the calmer the conditions were” so they will be pleased to get out of the wind!

From Donald Bowers Jnr’s notes “The first 25 miles cross a mix of woods, taiga, open areas, and exposed ridge tops; the last 12 miles are completely in the open on the barren coastline. The trail leaves Unalakleet northbound and runs just in from the beach, turning inland after five miles to pass behind rocky 850-foot-high Blueberry Point. It comes almost back to the shore at the fishing camp of Egavik before climbing up the Blueberry Hills, reaching the thousand-foot summit at the 18-mile point. At the top the trail turns west and makes a three-mile drop back to the beach, then follows a slough and the dune line northwestward for the last 12 miles out to Shaktoolik.“

The Blueberry Hills is one of Aliy’s favorite parts of the trail and there are a couple of “Aliy Cams” from the area in 2013 and 2012.

Terrie Hanke wrote a great piece about Aliy in Unk with a very cute story about a young girl and a Starburst candy. Read it here.

Drop Dog Update: We see she has dropped one of her team mates but at this stage we don’t know who it is. It could be some time before we get that information so we appreciate your patience and we’ll let you know as soon as we know.

The Red Team pulled into Unalakleet at 6.06pm and it looks like they will rest there for a few hours.

According to reports, the weather warmed considerably as they neared the coast and is around 0F but the typical coastal winds are blowing, giving the air a chill. The locals and volunteers build some low snow banks in rows at the checkpoint so teams can get some shelter as they rest.

Sebastian Schnuelle stopped by Tripod Flats cabin while the team was there and took some awesome pics – check them out here (click red link). He was also there when they neared Unalakleet – check out those pics here.

I don’t think he’d mind if I used one in the blog – in this pic it looks like she has Scruggs in single lead but what I think is she has Scruggs and Scout in lead, Nacho and Izzy in swing, Scooter and Quito, Waylon and Chica, the two big lads Mismo and Mac, Schmoe and Sissy with Clyde and Willie in wheel.

Red Team nearing Unalakleet (photo Sebastian Schnuelle)

The Black Team has arrived in Koyukuk at 7.41pm after taking a rest on the trail. We’d love to see something about them but, in the meantime, enjoy this pic Spencer took when he rode the tag sled on their final stretch out run on the Sunday before the Re-Start.

Overnight Aliy and the Red Team completed their eight hour stop in Nulato then went straight through Kaltag checkpoint. They are currently resting about 30 miles outside Kaltag. There is a BLM cabin at “Tripod Flat” which is in that area so it is likely they have stopped there on their way to Unalakleet.

In a video of her going through Kaltag we see her quickly restocking her sled while officials did a bag check and vets checked over the dogs. She also packed straw for their camp. Aliy said both she and the dogs are doing well. She had some sleep in Nuato and that can make the world of difference as she sounded bright. The dogs are also doing well and she said they had a great run(s) from Huslia.

She left Kaltag with with Quito and Scout in lead.

This section of trail follows the portage transitioning from the river to the coast. Once the teams get closer to the coast, wind starts to play a factor. This is in the forecast as temperatures are due to climb to around freezing over the next day or so, changing the face of this race again.

In a couple of interviews with the Insider she reiterates that one of the most important pieces of the puzzle right now if for her to keep the team together and keep them healthy in the cold. She will be doing that by ensuring they get rest when they need it and keeping them well nourished. She also needs to be able to make the right decisions for the team and she has shown she is doing this by, even after having very little rest in the previous 32 hours, she was able to make the call to send Nelson and Outlaw home. This was obviously in their best interest.

If you are interested to read more about this section of the trail check out this (click the red words to take you to a link).

Allen gave the Black Team a good long rest in Huslia, staying just over 13.5 hours. He still has 15 team mates with him which indicates there was nothing “wrong”, just that they were tired and it was time for another long rest. You’ll see the frequently now with this team as it is the biggest thing many of them have ever done!

Meanwhile, back in Two Rivers, our local community is so supportive! Check out these two signs.

Pleasant Valley Store; a sign some near neighbors are displaying

Currently, the Red Team is resting in Nulato and it is apparent they are seeing out their mandatory eight hour stop. They have been there since 1.48pm and can leave any time after 9.48pm this evening. We’ll be watching the tracker even closer now.

Once all the mushers have their two green ticks next to their name in the current standings list, the playing field is level and it’s all on!

You may have read on Sebastian’s blog that she is dropping Nelson and Outlaw before she leaves. She told him they are fine, just tired. They will have been working very hard for 600-odd miles and will now go on their own adventure back to Anchorage by small plane to be cared for by our team on the ground there. They will be together on their adventure and will have good stories to tell when they get home.

Watch for a post in the next day or so from Mickey (Aliy’s Mom) about what happens with dropped dogs. As she says – they are treated like royalty!

In an earlier post about the Red Team going through Koyukuk Sebastian said “When Bruce Lee just came in to ask me for the ETA of the next 2 teams he asked: ” Did you see Aliy coming in, that was the most impressive thing I have seen all race”. Yes, her dog simply looked amazing.” We like to hear that!

The Black Team are in Huslia, they arrived at 1.44pm. His tracker hasn’t updated for a while so not sure if they have started moving again yet. Watch this space.

Sorry for the radio silence today. Spencer and I made our way to Nome this afternoon and have just touched down. The rest of the crew arrives over the next couple days.

All 17 Red Team athletes are through Koyukuk and on their way to Nulato!

Sebastian Schnuelle took some great pics on the river on the way into Koyukuk – check them out here and here!

It’s Saturday morning and the top teams are emerging. Once the teams hit Koyukuk there is still over 400 miles to go so it is not clear cut by any means. There’s still a lot of racing to come and a lot of different strategies to unfold.

After “blowing through” Huslia the Red Team continued down the trail before camping for about four hours. There are different strategies in place for this section with some teams running long runs from checkpoint to checkpoint, others making shorter runs and camping along the way, moving through the checkpoint stopping only to re-supply. Seems Aliy is running the latter strategy and she and her team are accustomed to camping. She has timed it pretty well to be camping through the coldest parts of the night being able to conserve some energy.

At the time of writing they are about 15 miles from Koyukuk.

There is a super Insider video of the team in Huslia. She has swapped out Quito and Waylon and is running Quito in lead with Scout for this section, with Nacho a Izzy in swing, then Scooter and Scruggs, Chica and Waylon, Outlaw and Mac, Mismo and Nelson, Schmoe and Sissy with Willie and Clyde still excelling in the wheel position.

Screen shots from Insider video: signing autographs in Huslia; snacking Nacho and Izzy

River running can get a little monotonous so it is likely she swapped them around to mix things up a bit. Running in a different position, next to or behind someone different can just be enough to ease the monotony for them.

The video shows as the team arrives the checker does a “bag check”, this is to check for all the mandatory equipment the mushers must carry down the trail. The mandatory items in the Race Rules are as follows:

– Proper cold weather sleeping bag weighing a minimum of 5 lbs.
– Ax, head to weigh a minimum of 1-3/4 lbs., handle to be at least 22” long.
– One operational pair of snowshoes with bindings, each snowshoe to be at least 252 square inches in size.
– Any promotional material provided by the ITC.
– Eight booties for each dog in the sled or in use.
– One operational cooker and pot capable of boiling at least three (3) gallons of water at one time.
– Veterinarian notebook, to be presented to the veterinarian at each checkpoint.
– An adequate amount of fuel to bring three (3) gallons of water to a boil.
– Cable gang line or cable tie out capable of securing dog team.
– Functional non-chafing harness for each dog in team and a functional neckline

Those of you familiar to our harness system will know we don’t usually run with necklines but each dog is wearing one attached to their collar so, if it is needed, our mushers have ready access. We also don’t use a cable gang-line but each musher is carrying a cable tie out in their sled.

Also in the video you can see that, although she is obviously in a hurry to get her sled packed and on her way, she stops to sign a couple of Huslia pennants for local kids. One young person tells Aliy that her Grandpa is “Al” – Aliy replies “Al Yatlind? (sp) Who I leaned how to run dogs from? No way!” This part of the country is Aliy’s old stomping ground – she used to live in Bettles and run her first dog team in the area.

The Black Team has just started moving again after camping about half-way to Huslia for four hours or so. Splitting the run in half indicates to me that they may stop in Huslia for some time also. We don’t get to hear about or see much of the middle of the pack and we’re missing those sweet faces!

Driver and Kodiak at the Fairbanks Re-Start almost a week ago

If you’d like a break from watching the tracker here are the links to some interesting articles about, or including, Aliy.

Emily Schwing wrote “Born To Run: Iditarod veteran in it for the journey” about Aliy for Aljezerra America. Emily is out on the trail following the Iditarod and you can read more of her writing on the Alaska Public Media site.

Douglas Robson visited to the kennel last month and has written a piece about Aliy for Sports Illustrated. This article not only covers her dog mushing career but looks back through her childhood and college years, it’s an interesting read!

Katie Orlinsky wrote for The New York Times about The Women of the Iditarod, about some of the 25 women who entered the 2015 Iditarod.

And, take a look at this great picture from Erin Montgomery, the Iditarod Teacher on the Trail.

Edit: I found one more by Emily Schwing – “Women Who Mush“