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Our passion for Northern breed dogs started in New Zealand
in 1996 with our first Alaskan Malamute. Over the years we acquired five more and our love for them grew. The
dogs became the biggest part of our lives and we enjoyed nothing more then running them in harness. We trained and raced
them throughout the country and made great friendships as a result. In 2007 we moved to the United States with our Malamutes.
Here we had the opportunity to learn from and build great friendships with those that live and breath sled dogs. In September 2007 we drove 2500 miles from Atlanta to Maine via
Chicago to attend Mushing Boot Camp run by Ann Stead and Jamie Nelson. The opportunity to learn from Ann, a successful
Sprint racer whose dogs featured in the movie "Iron Will" and Jamie a legendary distance musher with four Iditarods
to her name and numerous other high profile distance wins was a opportunity second to none. The experience was very humbling, realising that what we had learnt over the last eight years
was nothing compared to what we had learnt in one single weekend. This gave us the basic tools to start training our
dogs more effectively. We however where soon to learn that this was only the start of things.
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| Togo in Itasca County |
At Mushing Boot Camp Jamie made an offer for us to work at her kennels in
Togo Minnesota. December that year we drove 1800 miles to Togo. Jamie gave us a cabin on her land and in return
we worked, trained and run dogs with Jamie. By the end of the winter we where running six dog mixed Alaskan Husky and Alaskan
Malamute teams. We had grown a deep love for the Alaskan Husky breed and acquired one of our own during the season (Dickens).
By the end we had another three (Merlin, Winnie and MacKenzie). We had learnt and experienced more then we ever could
have imagined. At the end of the season Jamie invited us to move to Togo full time to continue working with the dogs. We returned to Atlanta to pack and relocated permanently back to Togo two months later. The dogs we had raised
from puppies the previous winter where given to us to take care of, train and run. Jamie gave us the opportunity to
attend events that she coordinated and ran in the region. Over the following nine months we built a team from scratch
with what Jamie taught us. We trained leaders and by December had a strong team ready to run the winter season.
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| Our cabin in Togo |
The two winters that we have spent in Minnesota have been an amazing
experience. We have been fortunate to have the help and support of some great people in the region and built some valued
friendships. The experience has changed how we work with the dogs, train them and most importantly conduct ourselves
around them. Through all this we realize we have still only learnt the very basics . We hope to at some point return back to New Zealand with our dogs and build our own breeding, training
and racing regime. Hopefully we can put something back into the breeds and sport back home. In the meantime we will continue running dogs in North America
and who knows where that may take us.
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