On Friday Dec.
On Friday Dec. 18, the Iditarod Trail Committee announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 49th running of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race will follow a different course, one that won’t lead dog teams up to the Bering Sea and ultimately to...
The Yukon Quest is regarded as the most grueling thousand miles by dog sled in the race world, but did you know that this goes beyond the mushers and the incredible canine athletes? Some races on the road system require handlers. What do handlers...
The number one rule is: Know your dogs.
I have seen dogs unable to stand and in shock on a 45°F day after running on snow and I have seen dogs race hard at 50°F over a much longer distance, only lightly panting. I have seen short-coated white...
February 24, 2020, Nenana.
I was scurrying around the staging area surrounded by 12 of my sled dogs preparing to embark on the 2020 Serum Run Trail Expedition.
Soon, my dogs and me would travel through a small grove of trees to the Nenana River...
In each magazine we highlight one particular dog that has gained fame and glory beyond its own kennel. In this edition, we celebrate Silver out of Brent Sass’ Wild and Free Kennel.
“To put it simply, Silver changed my life!
In 2002 I was out...
This racing season, Brent Sass and his dog team claimed the third Yukon Quest victory and a fourth place finish in the Iditarod. Sass, 40, operates the Wild and Free Kennel consisting of 60 dogs in the wilderness of Alaska.
Sass grew up in...
Almost any way you look at it, Beetle-Bug is not a very good sled dog. Born in our 2012 “Bug” litter of husky pups, he lacks the smooth fast trot of his brother Cricket, the power and superior conformation of his sister Junebug or the cheery drive...
Tanner won the 2013 Iditarod, but more than winning the race and running the Iditarod trail multiple times, he was instrumental in successfully navigating what Mitch Seavey has described has the most extreme and difficult run in his 50-plus years of...
Robert Cooke and his Siberians have been part of many major long distance races in Canada and Alaska. In this edition Mushing Magazine features his dogs in the Super Dogs section. In order to provide context and gain insight in Cooke’s operation,...
Inside Boss’s canine cranium a glorious plan was conceived: One day she would become the lead dog. Her dream seemed far-fetched, though. How could a runt who weighed only 60 pounds be capable of leading a team of 22 hardened Alaskan malamutes that...
I have never had one of those dogs that has saved my life, knows instinctively where the ice on a lake is weakest and dragged the team away from it; the leader who has, when the team has plunged through rotten ice, single-pawedly, pulled the entire...
This edition of Mushing Magazine features the German dog team of Tetzner Racing Farm from Burg, Germany.
Michael Tetzner has been traveling to Alaska for years to participate in the sprint race circuit. His homebase is a farm spread in Burg, located...
Mushing legend, Gareth Thomas Wright, passed on October 14, 2019 in Fairbanks, Alaska..
Gareth was born in Nenana, Alaska on October 16, 1928 to the late Arthur and Myrtle (Rose) Wright. He spent his early childhood in Minto, where his father...
Bleachers were in place, the hot dogs were sizzling, tables were decked with prizes and the sun had chased away rain clouds that had dumped sheets of rain on Nome just days prior the first annual Nome Kennel Club Dog Fair and Best of Nome Dog Show...
The goal of vaccination is to safely prevent infectious diseases that have potential to sicken or kill your dogs and prevent the spread of these diseases to other animals.
There are some basic things to bear in mind: An appropriate schedule for you...
I am a lover of all seasons, except for spring breakup in Alaska. This year when breakup season came earlier than normal, I had zero hesitation to follow the snow so we could continue to run our dogs. This required us to drive 13 hours north on one...