One incredible perk of staying at Taste of Alaska instead of a chain hotel is that the Eberhardt family has been in the area for many years and know alot of folks. So when I mentioned that one of the offerings on our tour was a visit to a musher kennel, Debbie rang up Aliy Zirkle and asked if she could send us over for a visit. Apparently, Aliy doesn't give tours, so this was a personal favor.
The Yukon Quest is billed as the World's Toughest Sled Dog Race. There are only two 1,000 mile sled dog races in the world, the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest. The Quest alternates directions between Fairbanks and Whitehorse each February. Temps on the Quest are colder, the trail has fewer checkpoints and there is greater distance between checkpoints. That means each musher has to carry more supplies, and have outdoorsman skills. Aliy won it in 2000 and now competes in the Iditarod. She runs the "A" team and her husband, Alan, runs the "B" team. We were so fortunate to spend almost two hours with her, talking about dogs and such and I could have remained there as a sponge for much longer but didn't want to overstay our welcome.
Musher profile
She keeps 51 dogs of various ages. Most are chained to dog boxes. The chains are on a swivel attached to a post that allows the dog to jump on and off the box and interact a little with a neighbor without getting tangled. In a recess on top of the box is a food/water dish. The dogs were almost constantly in motion. They were much smaller than I expected, with teeny heads like my dutch shepherd girl, Roya, and coyote bodies. Aliy doesn't like the more square, husky body and prefers more of the height to length ratio of the dutch shepherd breed; length of back slightly longer than their height, and "legs behind them", which means a little angulation, not upright. She feeds Eagle Pack and goes through a bag each day. In winter she fees a 36% protein formula. I'm sure she found my interest unusual as I asked things such as what vaccinations she gives! I was told they do not have heartworm there. She gives her own vaccinations, as do I, and includes corona. She gives both nasal and injectable bordetella, staggering them so one covers race time.
There was a "puppy wheel" in their pen, which is pretty much just a dog-sized hamster wheel, and the pups will jump on that and run and run.
I recall that ChaCha was her best dog, her lead dog and that you can tell which dogs are related by their litter names as Aliy has worked her way through such identifiers as "the candy litter, spice litter and truck litter."
She uses Alaskan huskies. They are not an AKC recognized breed but the breeders keep very detailed pedigrees, like the KNPV. Most of her dogs were from her own breedings and she will purchase a breeding from another racer's dog. When Aliy put her head back and howled, all her dogs answered her back... except a dog she had rescued! The male dogs were larger and one in particular, Ranger, I found quite handsome. They had very short coats, too; not the plush husky coat of the show ring. And they were all very sociable. As we walked among them, they wanted nothing more than to be petted and given attention.
Aliy gave us signed postcards when we left and I looked up her website later. She has a very nice web site which has an educational aspect for children following the race, as well as the rest of us! Many people follow her training and trials and are inspired by her infectious smile and "can-do" attitude.
spkenneldoglog.blogspot.com/
After we left, I commented to Tom that she never asked about the dogs we have. I'm sure it has to do with her status and the mindset that these people are here for a tour, or perhaps she is single mindedly focused on mushing to the exclusion of other dogs and dog sports.
postscript: I picked up a book "Yukon Quest: The Story of the World's Toughest Sled Dog Race" by Lew Freedman. It's a shame I hadn't read that before meeting with Aliy, as I came away with a new appreciation of the rigors she endured to win this race. She has focused on the Iditarod since her Yukon Quest win. I could have asked about her strategies, or her experiences on the trail. I could have asked why she abandoned the Quest. But all I was interested in were the dogs and was quite unprepared to ask other, possibly more intelligent questions. Which could be the reason she wasn't interested in why I was curious at all. She probably thought "this woman is in the presence of a winner and all she cares about is what vaccinations I give?" Even at that, I enjoyed having a closer look than the traditional sled dog demo and I can say I met Aliy Zirkle, an Alaskan Legend.
No comments:
Post a Comment