Tour Training

Our Winter tour season at Alaskan Husky Adventures is well underway! Besides helping us support the kennel and offering a unique cultural experience for our guests, our tour program plays an important role in helping us to phase dogs in and out of the Iditarod race team.

Take Rebel, for example. He’s our 11 year-old who just isn’t ready to retire. We have tried many times, but if he’s loose and sees a team take off, he will just run after them and follow the team the whole way. While he’s slowing down from participating in the long training runs Matthew does to prepare for the Iditarod, he still wants to run as part of the pack.

Rebel has run 8 Iditarods with Matthew and he isn’t ready to retire just yet

This is where tours play an important role. They offer an alternative for dogs like Rebel to still be able to run as part of the team daily, just on shorter runs. He still gets all the fulfillment of running as part of a group, and notices less that he’s missing out on Iditarod training!

Similarly, tours are a great way for us to phase young dogs into the Iditarod race team. As humans, we probably wouldn’t sign up for a marathon as our first foot race, and it’s the same for the dogs. Before they get into long-distance running, we want to start them out with shorter runs. This way, we can gradually build up their skills, confidence and endurance. And young dogs like Rhythm or Five Spot can be paired with role models like Rebel, who can show them the ropes.

Liz Failor with 1.5 year-old Rhythm

Overall, offering tours at our kennel allows us to dedicate our days to the dogs and gives us a reason to get out on shorter runs. Plus, it’s a lot more fun when we’re sharing the experience with our guests! We are so grateful for all of the visitors we’ve had over the years. Without their support, we wouldn’t have this beautiful lifestyle that we love so much!