About a week before we were to leave on our Washington / Alaska trip, I was speaking to a friend who’d just seen a piece aired on GMA, featuring recently opened tourist locations in, of all places, Alaska!
https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/travel/video/alaska-welcoming-tourists-back-pandemic-78396771
(Thanks, Babs!) I was absolutely THRILLED to find that I’d already booked two of the featured events, and while very intrigued by the whole sled dog thing, I wasn’t really sure. (Would the animals be hurt / mistreated? Would I feel guilty, having the dogs pull my big fat a**? Is it close to anywhere we’ll actually be in the state?) Welp … it was VERY CLOSE to our Seward hotel, and after I was encouraged by another dog loving friend (Thanks, T!), I booked the dog sled ride and tour, and it was incredible!
The Seavey family (dad, Mitch, and son, Dallas) have entered and WON the famous Iditarod Dog Sled Race several times ( Iditarod / Ididaride … see what they did there? 😉 ), and operate this facility, where they breed, raise and train dogs to run the famous race. The whole thing is positively fascinating … well run, well done, and one of the best experiences of our trip! (When I threw caution to the wind & booked it, after which Gerry said, while reviewing the itinerary, “We’re going on a DOG SLED???”, I had my doubts, but it was better than I could have imagined.)
We learned so much — about the event and its history, the dogs, the breed! When the dogs run the Iditarod race, there are 12 – 16 dogs pulling the sled, the musher, and the supplies, which weigh a total of about 300 pounds. The steel wagon in which we were about ride weighs 900 pounds, EMPTY!! But, as we were told, the 14 dogs pulling us are doing weight training, much like a weight lifter or other athlete trains using weights. We were fully assured that the dogs are not hurt in any way, pulling the wagon.
Before boarding the wagon, we were escorted to … the PUPPY PEN!!
OMG, they are so darn cute!! They are NOT, as I (and most people) expected, members of the Husky or Malamute breed, but rather “Sled Dogs”, per se, and are not a recognized AKC breed. They’re specifically bred & raised to have long legs for racing, and have a variety of coat colors.
This lil guy was chewing the leg of my jeans, and was happy to picked up … licked my face, and nuzzled in. Not gonna lie, I was momentarily in love!
We then proceeded to hear more about the individual dogs when they race, and the canine who modeled the gear worn, etc. was a great dog named, Fez. Yes, once again we found THE GOLDEN DOG! (LOL — see my Facebook post on June 23 to get the reference https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10158355781316376&set=a.45346541375)
Fez was great, and walked along very placidly through the audience, although he was less than cooperative when it came time to don the gear.
Atta boy, Fez. 🙂 Thanks for the entertainment!
It was then finally time to climb aboard the dog “sled” (like said earlier, really a steel wagon), and travel a 2-mile trail, led by 14 VERY excited dogs!
If I had any doubts about this ride, I was finally convinced when I saw how out-of-their minds EXCITED the dogs were, upon being hooked up. Here’s a short video of the beginning of our ride: https://linksharing.samsungcloud.com/6iuyUl1Jsexv
Incredible! (and sorry for the sideways camera, my friends. BTW, you might be wondering where Lulu was during all of this … she was safely tucked away in my purse. “I’m actually more of a cat person, Mom,” she said. “You & Dad enjoy!”)
At one point along the trail, these amazing animals were given a rest. Time for us to catch our breath, and once again admire the scenery. THEN, our Musher, this 5 foot nuthin’, 95-lbs.-soakin’-wet gal named Lara collected all of our cell phones, and ran around taking photos of us. Watching her do this … balancing 4 cell phones while both taking shots and NOT DROPPING anyone’s phone (!) … was delightfully astounding!
From afar:
And then closer:
And finally a great close up of the wagon:
Great job, Lara! Wonderful ride, Dogs! Stunning attraction, Seaveys! We will remember this experience always!