Alaska Excursions: Husky Homestead Tour

This was our second excursion, and I think it was the one that most people in our group had been interested in and really looking forward to.

One of the things that was cool about the excursions and travel during the trip was that the bus drivers were all trained as guides, too, so they were able to make good use of any transportation time to give information about wherever we were driving or the activities we were heading toward. In this case, our driver Trenton was not just our driver, but also gave part of the presentation at the homestead. He had a quirky dry sense of humor, and knew a ton about dog sledding. Turns out he fell in love with the sport and with Alaska many years ago and moved up there to be closer to it all. We got to hear about his personal journey with dog sledding and how he came to work at the homestead, which was really neat.

When we arrived at the homestead, we were greeted by staff who passed out puppies for everyone to hold. It was pretty fun snuggling up with a couple of cute puppies and watching everyone else do the same.

After everyone had a turn, they started shepherding us to an outdoor area where we would hear a bit more about the homestead and dog sledding, plus watch the dogs take a training run. There's really no way to describe what it felt like to be there: the dogs clearly knew what was coming, and they just went crazy barking and jumping! They picked a few dogs (maybe 8?) to hook up to harnesses attached to an ATV, and as soon as they were set, they were off! We also got to see a dog run on the wheel (a big version of what gerbils and hamsters use--they originally just had one for puppies, but then built one for the adult dogs, who seem to like it, too.)

For the next part of the program, we moved indoors for more details about the Iditarod Race from Jeff King, our host and several-time winner of the race. He's still racing today, and often finishes in the top 10. Well, actually, he'd say the dogs are racing; he's just holding on.

I'm not sure what I expected, except that I knew we'd see dogs and hold puppies, but we actually learned a lot, too, which was great! And, everyone who spoke had a great way of connecting with us and making it engaging and funny. Here are a few cool facts we learned:

• There are about 36 adult dogs on the property.
• They breed dogs to go on the racing team, and dogs that don't make their team are often sold to others (sometimes, the Iditarod is won by another team with several dogs from their homestead!).
• Our holding the puppies is considered an important part of their training--they need to be able to interact with people well to be successful. 
• To keep up with naming the new litters of puppies, Jeff's daughters came up with the idea to have a theme for each litter, so each puppy would have a name that went with the theme. Some of the ones I remember are: cheese, criminals, Disney characters, etc. The names were really cute!
• During the race, the dogs eat 10,000 calories each day!

And now, the pictures...

The youngest puppy there, and the only one in its litter, named Lucky.

Getting ready for their run.

Our bus driver, Trenton.

They called this "dog yoga."

The wheel.

Our host, Jeff King.

The indoor presentation space.

Check out the Husky Homestead website for more info. Their 5-minute video gives a good idea of what the experience is like, and Mark also took a video of the employees getting the dogs ready for their training run which captures the energy and excitement of the dogs. If you're ever in Denali, make sure you check this place out!