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Congratulations Dingle!

December 9, 2010 by


Congratulations to Dingle!

With a name like Dingle, you might think he’s just goofy and lacks focus, but Alice van Dorn saw greatness in Dingle even from a distance. And he’s already exceeding all expectations! At two years old, Dingle was a main leader for the Iditarod Black Team. Last year, he led the Iditarod Red Team to the finish line as a three year old. Who knows what he’ll accomplish this winter?

Thank you Alice for supporting Dingle’s racing career and being a part of the SP Kennel dog sponsorship program!

SP Kennel dog sponsorship is one of our most popular programs. Our dog sponsors are a big part of the SP K team. If you’d like more information about the program, check out How to be a Dog Sponsor.


Dingle sleeping on the floor in Nome with Aliy
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Race Season – Two Weeks Out

December 4, 2010 by
The Sheep Mountain 150 is shaping up to be a competitive opener for the SP Kennel racing season! The start is scheduled for noon, Saturday December 18th at Sheep Mountain Lodge (mile post 115 Glenn Highway.)
Allen’s SM150 Second Place finish 2008 (Photo by Joseph Robertia)
The SM150 is an early season race with a total mileage of 150 miles. The race format has three 50 mile legs separated by two 5 hour rests stops. The the first leg and the last leg are identical routes that go from Sheep Mountain Lodge to Eureka Lodge (or the reverse.) The middle leg is 50 miles high up in the mountains passes.
The 5 hour rest stops are at Eureka Lodge (mile post 128 Glenn Highway.) The dogs will eat and sleep in straw beds and the mushers will be able to eat and sleep at the Lodge.
Zack Steer, Sheep Mountain Lodge owner, is the Race Marshall. The race course is being marked and readied December 4th.
The current SM 150 Sign Up List is below:
Updated 11/30/10 1 Sebastian Schnuelle Whitehorse, Yukon 2 Bruce Linton Kasilof, AK 3 Judy Currier Fairbanks, AK 4 Tom Lesatz Two Rivers, AK 5 Jessie Royer Fairbanks, AK 6 Misha Pederson Fairbanks, AK 7 Jeessica Hendricks Two Rivers, AK 8 Tamara Rose Fairbanks, AK 9 Andres Moser Zurich, Switzerland 10 Sarah Love Fairbanks, AK 11 Allen Moore Two Rivers, AK 12 Gerry Willomitzer Whitehorse, AK 13 Robert Bundtzen Anchorage, AK 14 Schnuelle team #3 Whitehorse, YT 15 Clint Warnke Fairbanks, AK 16 Aliy Zirkle Two Rivers, AK 17 Willomitzer Team #2 Whitehorse, Yukon 18 Jake Berkowitz Big Lake, AK 19 Maren Bradley Whitehorse, Yukon 20 John Solem Kasilof, AK 21 Nicholas Petit Chugiak, AK 22 Bridgett Watkins Nome, AK 23 Lance Mackey Fairbanks, AK 24 Cain Carter Fairbanks, AK 25 Newton Marshall Fairbanks, AK 26 Braxton Peterson Fairbanks, AK 27 Jim Foster Chugiak, AK 28 Terry Williams Fairbanks, AK 29 Megan Perry Fairbanks, AK 30 Scott Janssen Anchorage, AK 31 Jim Lanier Chugiak, AK 32 Dallas Seavey Willow, AK 33 Anna Berington Kasilof, AK 34 Tom Schonberger Chugiak, AK 35 DeeDee Jonrowe Willow, AK 36 Mark Childers Knik, AK 37 Seavey Team #2 Willow, AK 38 Brennan Norden Kasilof, AK 39 Sven Haltmann Fairbanks, AK 40 Jamie Kinzer Willow, AK 41 Haltmann Team #2 Fairbanks, AK 42 Justin High Willow, AK
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Congratulations Cutter!

December 3, 2010 by

Congratulations to Cutter!

Linda Toth and her daughter, Teresa Hollingsworth, have renewed their sponsorship for Cutter’s 2010-2011 race season.
We have high hopes for Cutter this upcoming winter! He’s shown immense progress from last year’s “rookie” season.
Linda, a fellow Interior Alaska resident, stopped by the Kennel this fall to visit Cutter and give him a few words of encouragement.
Thank you Linda and Teresa!
SP Kennel dog sponsorship is one of our most popular programs. Our dog sponsors are a big part of the SP K team. If you’d like more information about the program, check out How to be a Dog Sponsor.

Aliy and Linda pose with two of Cutter’s offspring, Raffie and Boris.

Cutter practicing on the treadmill.
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Treadmill Practice

November 26, 2010 by

The SP dogs are at it again. In preparation for the upcoming studies with Dr. Michael Davis, eighteen canine athletes practiced on the treadmill this past Saturday. Of those eighteen, sixteen were unfazed by the spinning ground beneath their feet and did what they do best: pulled. Two dogs, Oddball and Tatfish, needed a little bit of coaxing and a fellow dog running next to them before they felt comfortable. After all the dogs had a chance to run on the treadmill, Nacho graduated to running on the treadmill while wearing a mask. Check it out:

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Thanksgiving Story

November 25, 2010 by

Aliy, Allen and everyone at SP Kennel have so much to be thankful for! Enjoy Thanksgiving.
This story was been posted on the website years ago, but it seems appropriate to re-post today:
SP Kennel’s first sled dog was Skunk. He was given to Aliy many years ago by a trapper who lived on the western coast of Alaska. Skunk was a mature dog with years of trap line experience. All he had known was a relatively harsh world of eating carcasses from the trap line, lapping some fish oil and curling up in the snow.
In those days, Aliy was living in a small village north of the Arctic Circle. Skunk was delivered to her by bush plane the week before Thanksgiving. Since she had not yet built a dog sled, the two would walk the trails around the village getting to know each other and the area.
Skunk would habitually run ahead a ways then come back and check in with Aliy. He did this repeatedly – almost as a game. But then one day something (a rabbit, a moose, a caribou, an eagle, who knows?) grabbed his attention and he reverted back to his previous life. He scampered off into the wild. Aliy called and called. He didn’t come back.
She walked back to the village and put dog food on her porch to entice him home. That night dogs barked throughout the village. Skunk was around but he never came home. A day went by and the elusive dog was still missing. Where could he have gone? The closest town was 75 miles by dog trail!
The next night, only two nights before Thanksgiving, the dogs in the village barked constantly. This usually meant that a bear or wolves were prowling the town. This year, it meant a sled dog! Skunk traveled from cabin to cabin……a surprise holiday visitor.
The next morning, villagers knew that he had stopped at their homes when they couldn’t find their Thanksgiving turkeys. Many people in the Arctic use Mother Nature as an outdoor freezer. They keep their frozen foods on their front porches or in their arctic entries. Apparently, Skunk knew this too.
An “all-points bulletin” was put out on Skunk that day. He had ruined many a Turkey Day dinner. He was even spotted on a village road trotting off with a spiral ham in his mouth. The villagers were very upset. They chased him with a snowmobile, but no one could catch him. In that town, on the day before Thanksgiving, a loose dog was a dead dog.
Aliy borrowed some lynx traps from a trapper in town. She set them up around town and baited them with the half eaten turkey carcasses. That night and early into the morning, she made her hourly rounds to check the traps.
Then, at 3 AM on Thanksgiving Day she walked to the trap behind her house. In the glow of her headlamp Aliy saw two shinning eyes – SKUNK! She walked up to him and saw that his hind foot was in the trap. She looked sternly at him and said, “The town people want you dead, dog. You best not growl at me.” Amazingly, he looked up at Aliy and wagged his tail!
Aliy removed Skunk’s foot from the trap, lead him home that night. The next morning neighbors showed up to report on Skunk’s antics. Even a family who lived several miles south of town came by to tell Aliy that he must have come to their cabin his first night out. All of the bait on their trap line was gone and so was the meat from their front porch.
For many years, Skunk held the record as Aliy’s most expensive dog, simply because of all the turkeys she had to pay for that Thanksgiving.
In the years to come, Skunk was a fantastic sled dog and an even better pet. He spent 8 years after that fateful Thanksgiving as Aliy’s dear friend and constant companion. He even traveled with Aliy to the ‘Lower 48’ on an extensive cross-country trip. He was a perfect driving buddy, riding ‘shotgun’ for 8000 miles in a little red Chevy pick-up.
“SP Kennel” is named for that special dog. It will always be “Skunk’s Place”.
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