Dog mushing is fantastic but when you can involve your family it’s even better. You never know who will show up on the weekends at SP Kennel. Allen’s daughter, Bridgett, ran a dog team 28 miles on Saturday and Kaz and Sam, Aliy’s sister and nephew, ran two teams on Sunday. Sam’s favorite dog is Scooby. They have been buddies since Sam named him at age 2 days old.
Plus the puppies got to enjoy a little one-on-one Kid “Cuddle time” with Bridgett’s boys, River and Timber.
This is just the beginning.
But…
We are ready!
Here is a video from a training run just to the east of Two Rivers:
We have another exciting new addition to the kennel. Let us introduce you her.
Four years ago, Nacho was mated with good kennel friends’ girl Stoner, who now races on Pete Kaiser’s Iditarod Team. Today we welcome one of their offspring “M”.
You may think M is an unusual name for a dog but her original name was Ember. We felt that was just too much like Amber and could get confusing for both of them, so we decided to shorten it to M. Besides, if it’s good enough for James Bond to have an “M” on his team then it’s good enough for us!
M is a tall and leggy gal with an independent streak. She is a rookie racer despite her age but she has incredible genetics on her side. She has been at SP Kennel for a month and has been in consistent training. She started her training with the Mature Team but recently has been running with the Racers. Her favorite team mates have been her crazy cousin, Felix, and her half brother, Decaf.
We are excited to have another four year old Nacho daughter on the team.
Check out M’s profile on the Dogs Page along with the other Racers, Yearlings, Puppies and Mature Dogs. M is sponsored by Jenn Bonilla.
Thank you all, again, for joining the Dog Fan Club. Congratulations to Jennifer Smith who has won today’s draw. Jennifer is a fan of a number of our dogs and Nomex’s name came out of the virtual hat!
We will send Jennifer a winter neck gaiter with the SP Kennel logo in celebration of the Winter Storm Warning as well as a Dog Fan Club winner certificate with Nomex’s Glamour shot.
Nomex heads into this season as an experienced veteran. He is a happy soul and a GREAT sled dog. Nomex has just been bumped up to novice lead dog – so WATCH OUT! He was thrilled to win the 2nd Fan Club Draw. He loves dog biscuits but apparently this variety wasn’t “the cat’s meow”.
Congrats Nomex – we love you.
Join the Dog Fan ClubOur next random draw will be on November 24th.
You can find out about each dog here (click red link) and Join the Dog Fan Club here.
Because, in life, best laid plans don’t always come to fruition. The truth is we did a calculated breeding this summer… but it didn’t produce any offspring. Then the summer months got the best of us and zoomed on by. In the Fall, as we realized that our of overall SPK dog population was shrinking simply due to retirement decisions and no additions. So, we looked elsewhere to find some exciting new additions to the kennel. Obviously this was challenging. ANYONE who has looked for the perfect puppy to add to their family has shared the same dilemma. But we are very, very, very happy with our three additions.
Introducing… Razz, Cloud and Peach.
Razz and Cloud are both from the “Berry” litter named by Salmonberry Tours Company. They were born August 12th out of a breeding of Dallas Seavey’s two-time Golden Harness winner, Reef, and a talented and sweet Dallas Seavey dog, named Sierra. Obviously their sled dog talent potential is enormous.
When we think about bringing new dogs into SP Kennel we look for genetics that have the potential for as much, or more, talent as we have currently here at SP Kennel. This is often hard to come by because we still believe that we have some of the very best Alaskan Huskys in the world. But, Dallas’ dogs have accomplished incredible feats in the last few years – we have witnessed much of their abilities from behind! We are very excited to have his genetics here at SPK!
We are also thrilled to have very different genetics and potential with Peach. Peach was born September 1st. Her father, Goblin lives at Ryne Olson’s kennel but was originally bred by Sebastian Schnuelle. As many of you know, Ryne has had tremendous success in the last few years and she was incredibly generous to let Peach come live with us. Peach’s mother, Ace, is part of Matt Hall’s Kennel and was on his 2017 Yukon Quest Championship team.
With these three pups, we believe we have acquired some of the best genetics in the competitive long distance sled dog world. Now we need to raise them and train them to be the best they can!
They are very cute and we are really enjoying having them at this age during this time of year. They are spending time in an indoor pen in the dog room, in an outdoor play pen, or in the “big” house.
All the puppies have sponsors and we will update the Dog page soon!
Waylon and Torch have retired from SP Kennel!
It is always a big decision for us to retire someone and especially someone as iconic as Waylon or with as much potential as Torch. Check out this story (click on red link) for some more information about dogs that have been retired recently from the kennel and our philosophy of “the right home for the right dog at the right time”.
Waylon has done it all! His race history is as long as your arm and everyone loves him. He has never looked like a typical sled dog – Aliy described him as “a crazy faced, brilliant blue-eyed, opinionated, loud, talented fellah. But, what often strikes people is the fact that he has literally ZERO husky fur, enormous rabbit ears and long thin legs. And… he weighs in at just over a sack of dog food = 40 pounds.”
Waylon is as tough and competitive as they come. In the Iditarod 2014 when the team battled through the ground blizzard at Safety, Aliy promised him he could sleep in the bed if he made it all the way to Nome. And he did!
Waylon has a unique “frog bark” and was always so enthusiastic, especially at the start line!
Around this time last year Waylon overcame another challenge when he lost a toe! Check out this story (click on red link) for more information about that. It didn’t slow him down too much and he finished the 2017 Iditarod on the Black Team with Allen.
Torch had enormous potential but was never able to fulfil his sled dog destiny due to an internal thermostat/overheating issue that showed up periodically. When he did run he was strong, focused and talented but we realised he was going to be better suited as a pet and recreational sled dog.
Torch raced in the Solstice 100 and Copper Basin 300 in 2015 with Spencer who said “A yearling who had an exceptional attitude. He always wanted to go and even in the middle of the race was barking while charging up the hills and keeping everyone excited and in good spirits. He ate everything that I put in front of him, and was always the first to rise from the straw and show he’s readiness to hit the trail.”
Waylon and Torch travelled together to New Zealand to go live with Sheryll. Sheryll has been Torch’s sponsor since his puppy year and has visited the kennel a couple of times to bond with him. She even travelled to Nome to see the teams cross the finish line of the 2017 Iditarod. Yes, New Zealand is a long distance from Two Rivers, but with a coordinated effort between us, North Pole Veterinary Hospital, an export agent, the quarantine facility in Auckland and Sheryll, they arrived safely and have embraced their new lives.
We’ll let Sheryll take it from here… There are certainly challenges ahead for them – they have moved to a coastal town on the east coast of New Zealand, in the beginning of summer! Everything probably sounds and smells different to them, but they have a remarkable outlook on life and take everything in their stride. I have been completely touched by the amount of gifts that have come flooding in in anticipation for the boys arrival; expensive dog food, blankets, high end treats and copious amounts of TOYS! My family, workmates and extended dog family (new and old) are also very excited to have them here in Napier.
“I actually feel like I have won the lottery! Torch and Waylon have been with me for three days and it has been pure magic! They have settled in really well and are extremely cute to watch when they are all snuggled up in their baskets at bedtime.
Thank you to Joy and Nick Weis and Dow who sponsored Waylon throughout his career and to everyone who ever joined Waylon or Torch’s Fan Club. We know you will miss seeing them at the kennel as much as we will but hope you are excited to hear about their interesting new lives.
Now that the sun is taking a vacation from the Northern Hemisphere, we find that we are often training dogs in the darkness. Of course we use headlights and other artificial lightings.
But, even more special than that, the moon is our friend. The moon was full just a few nights ago. It is glorious to be with a dog team in any conditions but under a full moon is the best!
