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| Mushing |
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| Our Philosophy |
| The dogs, the real athletes, the superstars of the
Iditarod! Running thru storms, over mountain passes, over sea ice and deep
snow and all with energy and joy that is incredible to see. The Alaskan
Husky is the most incredible animal I have ever encountered. Intelligence,
endurance, stamina, loyalty, strength, hardship and the willingness to run
for hours on end makes the Alaskan Husky the ultimate ATHLETE !! |
| We are very proud of our dogs.
They come from the best bloodlines. A lot of their parents are previous
Iditarod Champions and Golden Harness winners. We have a very selective
breeding program and hope to one day compete with the best. |
One of my favorite runs: Kaltag to Unalakleet |
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Mushing in the wilderness of Alaska is our passion. But to do that
requires a lot of work and time but most of all: love for the dogs. We
believe, that breeding our own dogs, raise them from puppies and train
them in a way that works best for us, is the most efficient way to adjust
them to our own personalities and teach them our training strategies and
daily habits. |
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On the trail to Tanana (Yukon River) |
We train our dogs not to be afraid of anything (like tunnels, ice bridges, water, snow machines, loud noise and of course people).
Training starts as soon as the dogs are born. This might sound funny but character building is huge and
hopefully will form their personalities for future competitive races. |
Puppy training
We take the puppies
in the house, interact with them and get them used to noise and smell. As soon as
they are
about 5 weeks old, we start taking them on short walks. Everybody gets excited, people, cats
and of course our pet dog Blaze who tries to bite them in their tails as soon as they take
off. |
Puppy run |
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| Free running / Fall training |
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| We have had very good luck with handlers who
work for us in the summer to keep our dogs mentally busy and physically
active. After a long winter of training and racing I think it is important
to just let the dogs have fun and let them play around for a few
months. |
Free run |
We usually take them to a remote gravel road 3 - 4 times a
week and let them play around and even let them fight out some rivalries.
(to a certain extent of course). About once a week we hook them up to the
4-wheeler for a short run in the cool morning
hours. |
| We have a great trail system
for ATVs and a lot of turns and intersections to teach each individual
dog different positions in the team. Especially during 4 wheeler training
we like to show every dog how to run in any position, from lead to wheel
(closest to the 4-wheeler/sled)
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Winter Training |
On the trail behind the house
Sunset at Willow Creek Kennel
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As soon as snow gets here we trade the ATV
for the sled and
now it gets even better. Mushing through Alaska’s wilderness
is one of the best things to do.
We start running some serious
distances and go out and explore. We separate between weight training and speed training,
hill and mountain climbs or fast runs on the
river. Each component gets enforced at different times during
the winter and in consideration with races.
We have several camps all over our trail system and utilize them once
or twice a week in order to simulate race conditions.
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Iditarod 2009
Our big goal is going to be the Iditarod in 2009. Improving on our 36th
position from 2008 and to really see if we have what it takes to be in the
top 20.
This was our goal for the 2008 Iditarod:
Going into the race very open minded and trying to learn as much as
possible. It's going to be an Iditarod of mental notes, of collecting
experience, memorizing the trail and learning the geographies of the
northern route. The goal is to have as many dogs as possible at the finish
line who can't wait to do it again because it was just so much fun. After
2008 it's going to be: PEDAL TO THE METAL ! Then we'll start
competing.........
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Serum Run start in Nenana
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The 2008 Iditarod is over now and all of our goals got accomplished. We
learned many valuable lessons, memorized the northern route, finished with
12 dogs and we all had so much fun that we can't wait to do it again in
2009. |
Free Running is coming to an end and 4 wheeler training has started a few
weeks ago. Thanks to the very intense summer training (glad to have had a
cold summer / temperatures only rose 3 times above 70) the dogs are
looking very good and are ready to get it on. We had 20 puppies this
summer so the "Youth Program" at our kennel is in full
swing.
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Taking a short nap in Safety |
For the latest news on how our dogs are doing, how the
training is progressing and how family life at Willow Creek Kennel is
coming along, go to the News page. Enjoy !! |
| For this season I think we found an
energetic and young handler. His name is Kevin from Montana and he was
working with my friend Matt Hayashida on the Mendenhall glacier giving
tours to Cruise Ship tourist. If he could handle tourists I think he can
handle Sven and his dogs......
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| Iditarod 2009 bring it on!!! |
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