Dogs | Sponsors

Commando Wins Dog Fan Club Draw!

December 21, 2018 by

Season’s Greetings to all our Dog Fan Club members – we hope you have a happy and restful holiday. Thank you for your support this year – we’re very much looking forward to 2019!

Congratulations to Nancy Diersen who is a fan of Commando! Thanks so very much for joining Commando’s Dog Fan Club and supporting SP Kennel.

Commando is a bit of a superstar and comes across as so serious to most, but he is a sweet boy who loves to please. His blazing hazel eyes make him a stand-out amongst the handsome and talented Fire Litter. He will be up the front of our competitive racing teams this season and we’re hoping for even bigger and better things from him. It’s looking great so far!

Nancy, you’ll be receiving a fun “Alaska” dog mushing cap, a glam shot of Sir Commando plus some other kennel goodies.

Find out more about our athletes at the “Dogs” page. To join the Dog Fan Club you can hit the “Become a Dog Fan” tab at the top of the page or click here.

Dogs | The Kennel

Photos from today

December 20, 2018 by

It was chilly in Two Rivers today with the mercury sitting at about -20° F (-29° C). Karolyn and Aliy hooked up two teams together. Some of the dogs were comfortably snuggled in their straw filled houses and the chilly temps barely tempted them outdoors. Some of the others – Driver, Daisy, Rodney – couldn’t care less about what the mercury said … “Harness Me!”

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Decaf “PLEASE… take me!”

 

Pretty sunshine on the tops of the spruce trees. The sun no longer gets high enough in the sky to shine on much more than those tree tops.
Puppies | The Kennel

Oops! I think I broke it…

December 18, 2018 by

SPK’s GRAVY train jumped off the tracks. Poor little guy. He broke his hind leg while in the play pen with his mother. No one but Izzy was chaperoning at the time. She was a good momma and let everyone know that something was wrong ASAP.

We – once again – need to thank North Pole Vet Hospital for fitting us into their incredibly busy schedule. Dr Rouge was able to perform some orthopedic magic. Gravy will need 4 weeks recovery with no tug-o-war.

Our love/hate relationship with North Pole Vet Hospital has been very obvious this past week. Fingers and paws crossed that we will only need to be there three times for three different patients. The owners, Pat and Denali Lovely, run an incredible operation with knowledgeable and caring people. THANKS again.

 

Puppies

Gravy the Izzy pup

December 12, 2018 by

At just over four months of age, we present to you:

GRAVY

Gravy is the only Izzy X Supai puppy who stayed here to become a future SP Kennel Race Dog. Gravy now spends his time with his mom, with his cousins- Bill and Wu – or in the house playing tug-o-war with Tig the retriever.

Although, to be honest, Gravy’s best friend is probably Karolyn. Remarkably he seems to have as much Christmas spirit as she does – which says: A LOT!

As you may recall, Gravy was born in mid September into a litter of seven. Here is the original website post:

Izzy Pups are born!

Gravy’s siblings were a shared litter between SP Kennel and Ryno Kennel. The sire to the litter is Ryno’s Supai. Supai’s mother is the one and only, Scooter, retired SP Kennel Race dog and now full time snuggle pet in Ohio along with her sister, Sissy. The duo continue to entertain Tim and Holly, despite several misadventures and one very smelly skunk!

The other six puppies, two boys and four girls are at homes in Interior Alaska. Ryno Kennel has the two boys; Ernie and Bert; Mary has two girls; Tazzy and Loud Socks; River W. has Wonder Woman and Melissa has Tamarack.

How did we decide on Gravy? How could we resist a pup who plays Tug-O-War?

Dogs

Peach Wins Dog Fan Club Draw + Bonus Winners

December 10, 2018 by

Congratulations to Carolyn Zmyewski who is a fan of Peach! Thanks so very much for your support Carolyn.

Peach is one of our yearling class this season. She came to us from Ryno Kennel and is quite different breeding to everyone else at SP Kennel. We are excited to see how she is developing into a strong, talented youngster and we’re enjoying having her sweet, snuggly personality around. Some of you might remember her at the Christmas sweater competition winner. Those were the days…

Carolyn, you’ll be receiving one a pair of dog mushing socks, a glam shot of Miss Peach plus some other kennel goodies.

We also came across these fun Christmas ornaments personalised with two very special names, so we did a mini-draw of all Olivia and Violet fans!

Our bonus winners are Val + Heather who are fans of Big-O, and Russell Ettinger who is a fan of Violet. We’ll send you out these ornaments plus a glam shot of your favourites!

Find out more about our athletes at the “Dogs” page. To join the Dog Fan Club you can hit the “Become a Dog Fan” tab at the top of the page or click here.

The Kennel

A Trip to the Post Office

December 7, 2018 by

We have been a bit tardy in mailing our Team Memberships and Dog Sponsorship parcels this season. We should claim that we are “too busy”… like the rest of the world. But, why claim that when we have a clear culprit to which we can point the finger? We blame: the weather and lack of SNOW!

Although we do have snow… we do not have lots of the puffy white stuff. It is actually not puffy at all. It has been driven over, ran upon and overused for the better part of a month. So when it snowed 2 inches this week, needless to say: WE WERE ECSTATIC! Not only did that mean that we could take dog teams out with sleds (which is the very heart and soul of dog mushing), but also meant that we could pack up a sled with all the Team Memberships and Dog Sponsorship parcels and finally drop them off at Trailside Mail located next to Pleasant Valley Store. 

 

Anyhow – if any of you were wondering why your parcels were so late… blame it on Mother Nature. HA!

Dogs | Retired

Remembering All Star – Pedro

December 4, 2018 by

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!

1 … 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 … 442