Sage Mountain Sled Dogs

06/04/2024

Cameo, Trapper, Thor, Honey, Soldier, Dakota, and Bella all helped teach veterinary students about ophthalmology today! They were so well behaved ❤️

I had a great time lecturing about ophthalmology to the veterinary students in the University of Alaska Fairbanks/Colorado State University veterinary medicine program. Jenny Roddewig brought in some of her very well behaved sled dogs for the students to practice the eye exam. This is my 3rd year guest lecturing at UAF and I hopefully will for many more years! Thank you for having me!

02/04/2024

T-Dog 110 Recap (part 4)

A big thank you to Whitney McLaren Photography for capturing some incredible photos of our team leaving the Nenana checkpoint through the challenging overflow conditions on the Tanana River!

I am so proud of how the dogs excelled in the challenging trail conditions we experienced during this race! They have never even seen obstacles of this magnitude in training, let alone a race, and they never hesitated a second! Even Honey, who absolutely HATES water and ice, really surprised me with how happily and confidently she charged through miles of ice and overflow.

On the 59 mile run from Nenana back to Fairbanks, we took an overland route after the first couple of very wet miles on the River. Mike and his team were the first to leave the checkpoint, in the lead for the race. The trail was primarily water, ice, and a little bit of sandbar for the first 2 miles at most until we turned off the river and north towards Minto Flats. This was a challenge for the dogs as the trail is not obvious in the water and is marked by just the scratches from snowmachines in the ice. Being the first team, they also did not have the advantage of being able to follow a scent trail left by previous dogs. My team was able to leave the checkpoint just 4 minutes after, so as long as Mike went the right way I knew my dogs could follow where they had gone by smell.

We were still on top of thick frozen ice on the river, but all the water (varying from just an inch deep to some spots a foot or more deep) was due to a common phenomenon called “overflow” where there is a layer of water above the frozen ice. This can be extremely dangerous when it’s subzero, as getting your clothing soaked in those temperatures is a bad combination. Fortunately, one positive of the warm temperatures during the race meant that we were most likely not going to freeze even if (when) we did get wet.

A precaution we did take because of the overflow was having our sleeping bags, extra boots/socks/clothes, dog bo**ies, matches, and electronics in either water-tight cases or dry-bags. This meant that if we were to get soaked and get cold/chilled, we would have warm and dry clothes and sleeping bags as well as dry matches to light a fire. Mike’s new over boots kept his feet dry, where mine seem to have lost some of their waterproofing over the past decade of use… lucky for me it was warm and I didn’t have to stop and change my boots!

Once off the river we had a fairly tame run over flat marshes and lakes as the afternoon sun started to set. I caught up to Mike by this point and we resumed traveling close together like we had in the first half. The views were beautiful and we took it easy, enjoying the scenery and still stoping quite frequently to let the dogs eat and roll in the snow as well as give them the small frozen meat snacks like we had in the first half of the race.

The last 30 or so miles of the route back to Fairbanks was much more exciting than the first half with rolling hills, twists and turns through the forest, narrow log bridges over creeks, more overflow and ice, and multiple Alaska Railroad Track crossings. We were warned to “stop, look, and listen” when coming upon the active railway crossings, which we did so an didn’t it see any trains. I was a little bummed we didn’t see a train as that would have been pretty cool. It brought back memories of 10 years ago in the Beargrease Marathon where I had to stop and wait for a train to pass before crossing.

Silly me was thinking there were tiny little train crossings where the trail crossed similar to what they have for cars to drive over for train crossings. I was very wrong… the trail just crossed straight over the bare track rails making for an interesting ride on the sled similar to “grinding the rail” on a skateboard in a skate park! The dogs didn’t mind as they hoped right over the rails, but the sleds slid sideways down the rails each time we crossed! It was kind of fun but also kind of wild because those rails are a lot taller than one would think! We also couldn’t use our brakes that might get caught on the tracks, so we really did fly off the rails!

Night fell and we could see the glow of the city lights of Fairbanks nearing ahead of us as we twisted and turned through the trees, occasionally crossing or running alongside the railroad. Up until this point, Mike and I had been traveling together alone in the lead and had not seen any sign of the chasing teams behind us… but about 15 miles from the finish, that was about to change and things were going to get exciting!

31/03/2024

Article about the T-Dog race including pictures of both of our teams!

A slower pace and a community vibe just might be the future of mushing

31/03/2024

T-Dog 110 Recap (part 3)

My biggest worry/stressor going into this race was the weather… not because of extreme cold or winds or blizzards, but because of the major heat wave we have been having in addition to the return of our long hours of sunlight. Lows overnight were only getting down to maybe 17F and highs were forecasted to hit 50F or more in Nenana by the afternoon. The dogs ideal temperature to run in is -20F below zero… that’s 70 degrees colder than what we were potentially going to see.

Our dogs I think have a bit of an edge with this warm weather though. This was not unusual temperatures for what we’ve raced in for years in the Lower 48 and the dogs are pretty heat-tolerant from sleeping inside the house every night. When I saw how hot it was forecasted to be, the week leading up to the race I kept the dogs inside the house 24/7 (except for of course potty breaks and training runs).

We took extra precautions on our 45 mile run from Fairbanks to Nenana due to the warm weather and sunshine. 2 hours before the start we fed the dogs all a quart each of watery, meat soup/broth to ensure they were starting off super hydrated. We kept the dogs slowed down, as typically running at faster speeds will cause them to produce more heat and get hotter faster. In the colder temperatures early in the winter, we were doing training runs averaging 12 mph where here we averaged 9.5 mph. We stopped very often to let the dogs eat and roll in the snow, and we stopped for extended periods of time in the shade to get off the sled and check each dog up close to make sure they were not showing signs of overheating.

We also gave the dogs frequent, small frozen meat snacks when we stopped which are about 75% water and mostly for hydration rather than calorie intake. Lastly, we chose not to run bo**ies on the dogs’ feet. Dogs do not sweat like us humans, but they do through their feet and their feet can be great at dissipating heat into the cool snow as they run. Having bo**ies on the dogs’ feet interferes with this cooling action and increases the risk of overheating. Our dogs’ feet were in great shape coming into this race so we chose not to bo**ie even though parts of the trail in the early morning would have been nice to have bo**ies on if it wasn’t so warm.

As you will see in the pictures, all the dogs did wear dog jackets at the checkpoint. The misconception is that the dogs wear jackets to stay warm in the cold (which they are used for too), but the most important reason I use dog jackets is to keep heat in the dogs’ joints and muscles while the rest so their muscles don’t cool down too much and get stiff and sore. When I explain this to people, I tell them to look at the football players on the sidelines of an NFL game wearing those big puffy jackets even when it’s 70 degrees. Those footballers aren’t cold, they are keeping their muscles warm and limber between plays. Usually in races when it’s a more reasonable temperature, I get those dog jackets on the dogs pretty much immediately when we get into the checkpoint. In this case, because of the warm temps, I let the dogs cool off from the run and fed them before putting their jackets on. In addition, I checked each and every dogs’ gum color and felt the heat in their mouth, ears, and flank to ensure they were cooled down enough to get the jackets put on. Mikes main leader, Storm, is notorious for “running hot” so I waited longer before putting a jacket on him. Just to be safe, we had the race vets check his temperature which was a perfect 100.6F (dogs have a higher normal temperature than people, usually in the 101-102 range). That’s pretty good for our hottest dog having 30 minutes earlier run 45 miles in the sun at 45F!

Once the dogs were offered cold water and then fed (again a very “soupy” meal with mostly water and meat rather than kibble) and had their jackets on to keep their muscles warm, they started to settle and bed down in their little straw beds while I did a quick orthopedic exam and checked paws on each dog. A couple of the dogs got wrist wraps to increase the heat retention in their carpal joints to prevent soreness. These dogs had previously recovered from minor wrist injuries in training, so they were already on the list for getting this additional precaution at the checkpoint. Fortunately there were no “surprises” and everyone was looking great! The vet team also performed a mandatory vet check on all the dogs at this checkpoint per race protocol.

We now had 4 hours mandatory rest before we could set off on the final 60 mile run back to Fairbanks via overland trails. With the dogs taken care of and sleeping (most of them), Mike and I could go get ourselves fed and hydrated and sit down to relax a bit. Though the temperatures were not ideal for the dogs, it was actually quite pleasant for us sitting in our camp chairs in the sun watching our dogs snooze. Even Mike had a little snooze in the sun too!

A huge thank you to my parents for flying up to the race to help cheer us on and help us care for the dogs and ourselves at the checkpoint. My dad drove our truck and trailer to meet us here and had all our supplies and gear ready for us when we arrived, including hot water for making the dogs’ meat soup. He also babysat the teams while Mike and I went to find some food at the potluck. Most importantly, and the hardest part, they cleaned up our camping spot and all the straw after we left the checkpoint. There was almost 5 full lawn & leaf garbage bags full of used straw they raked up and packed into the trailer to be taken to the dump after the race.

28/03/2024

T-Dog 110 Recap (part 2)

Here is a video of my (Jenny) team at the start around 8 am on Saturday!

Mike left in the next time slot, 2 minutes behind me but he quickly caught up with his faster team.

Despite him having the “stronger” team, all these dogs still trained together all year long so were quite similar in speed and pace. That, in addition to him having at least 40 lbs on me and having a much heavier sled than I did kind of evened the teams out.

On that note, for this race there was no mandatory gear we had to carry but we still chose to take equipment, gear, and food with us that would have been required in most distance races. This actually added quite a bit of weight to our sleds. This is something we do in training as well, mostly for safety as we are out in the Alaska wilderness in harsh winter conditions and have to be prepared to take care of ourselves and our dogs in an emergency.

After over a decade of distance racing, I’ve gotten pretty good at packing all the necessary equipment but still keeping things pretty light. I also have the advantage of not requiring as much food and water as Mike does (his metabolism is extremely high and he’s 6’6”!) So there was some teasing from me about the weight of his sled, but I’m pretty sure he had one of the heaviest if not the heaviest sleds in the race 😆 But that’s ok because it’s about being prepared and safe!

In each of our sleds we had the following:
•Axe
•Cooker/stove with fuel and pot for melting snow into water to drink and/or feed dogs
•Waterproof matches and fire starters
•Arctic weight sleeping bag in a dry bag
•2 headlamps
•40 dog bo**ies
•10 lbs of dog kibble (not planned to be fed on the trail but as an emergency food ration for a day)
•5 lbs of raw meat snacks for the dogs (much of this was fed on the trail)
•First aid kit
•Sled repair/tool kit
•2-5 liters of Gatorade for us humans
•Food/snacks for a day for us humans
•Moose defense firearm (Mike has a shot gun which weighs significantly more than my pistol)
•PLB (emergency beacon which we carry on our bodies, Mike also had the satellite phone)
•Extra gangline section with carabiners on either end
•Extra necklines
•Extra socks, boots, gloves, hat, and jackets in a dry bag
Mike also had a GPS, compass, paper maps, USB battery bank, extra batteries, avalanche shovel, spare base layers, and extra stove and fuel.

Aside from the food and water for us and the meat snacks for the dogs, we did not plan to have to use much of these supplies and equipment. However, you always need to be prepared for an emergency situation where you may have to camp and take care of yourself and your dogs. It’s better to have the gear and not need it than need it and not have it. While it was unlikely that we would have to stop for any significant amount of time before getting to the Nenana checkpoint 45 miles down river, we were prepared to make camp and water and feed the dogs if it became too hot in the afternoon sun. It’s good practice and habit to carry this stuff for the longer races as well.

For the majority of the race, Mike led in front of my team. There were a couple times I tried to take a turn in the lead to give his dogs a break and chance to chase for a bit, but I wasn’t able to stay ahead of him very well with the weaker team and less experienced leaders. Magpie only wanted to chase and did not want to pass her own pack mates despite having no problem passing all the other dog teams in front of us earlier. So at this point I tried Honey in lead who has been showing great promise but absolutely hates water and overflow. I hadn’t started her in lead because I was worried with the warm temperatures that there would be a lot of water to go through on the trail and didn’t want her to have a bad experience with leading and not wanting to go through the water. It was seeming like there wouldn’t be any water so I figured I’d give it a shot with her in lead since she was driving hard and willing to pass Mike. Having her in lead with Soldier worked great and she ran the rest of the way into the Nenana checkpoint.

27/03/2024

T-Dog Recap (part 1)

It’s time for a recap of the 2024 T-Dog 110 now that we are somewhat recovered (the human members of the team had to go back to work this week while the canine athletes have been getting well-deserved rest)!

To avoid one incredibly long post, I will be making numerous posts over the next week so I can share all my thoughts and all the pictures and videos I took.

First of all I want to give a big thank you to my parents who flew up to help us with the race, the dogs love when “grandma and grandpa” come to visit and dad was the best handler for the race while mom took care of the oldies at home and had a 2am dinner ready for us when we got home after the race! ❤️🍴

Next, I want to thank our friend Josi with There & Back Again Sleddogs for trusting us with her 2 yearlings, Magnum and Caribou, these past few months to help fill out our teams!

And of course, a huge thank you to all the race organizers, volunteers, and sponsors for putting on a great event that was so much fun! We are already looking forward to The T-Dog 2025! This race was a memorial for Susan Butcher, whose famous lead dog Granite is the great-great-great-great-great-grandfather of 12 of the 17 dogs we raced!

This was going to be not only Mike’s first distance race, but the first race for all but 3 of the dogs. Our older leaders Storm, Soldier, and Gamora already had one 100-mile race under their belt but everyone else were newbies.

Mikes team had the 9 dogs that were doing the best in training, with the exception of Soldier who ran with my group because I needed at least one solid lead dog for the race. Though Mike’s team was the stronger team, he still had 6 of the 9 yearlings. These “yearlings” are all under the age of 2 and this was their first winter doing serious training and doing races whereas last winter they just did short puppy runs.

Here were the rosters (ages in parentheses):

Mike’s Team #26
Leaders: Storm (7.5) and Trapper (5.5)
Swing: Cheese and Braeburn (yearlings)
Team: Liberty, Cameo, and Magnum (yearlings)
Wheel: Gala (yearling) and Dakota (3)

Jenny’s Team #25
Leaders: Soldier (9), Magpie (3), Gamora (7) and Honey (yearling)
Swing: Jazz (yearling)
Team: Tobi (2.5)
Wheel: Timber (5.5) and Caribou (yearling)

Soldier was my main leader throughout the race and Honey ran lead about 75% of the race, Magpie ran lead out of the start and leaving the halfway checkpoint, and Gamora led the last 20 miles of the race. Since I really only had Soldier as a main leader, I switched the co-leader around numerous times because each of the other 3 had different strengths and weaknesses. I’ll discuss these in more detail in the coming posts!

26/03/2024

And here is the video of the finish with the first four teams finishing back-to-back! We were all racing closely together the last 15-20 miles. Mike came in second and Jenny came in 3rd. This was a fantastic way to finish and the dogs got to have so much fun chasing teams to the end like this, especially for 14 of our 17 dogs whose first race this was! This was also Mike’s first distance race!

26/03/2024

Our teams leaving the Nenana checkpoint towards the finish line! Mike leaves first with his team in the lead followed 4 minutes later by Jenny and her team.

Super proud of the dogs for charging right onto the icy and wet river where the water was a few inches deep in spots! They were rockstars even though they had never run through this much overflow before! Since Mike was the first to leave, his leaders didn’t have the scent of other dog teams to follow so they had to find the trail with just the little bit of scratches in the ice from snowmachines and Mike’s directional commands. Good boys, Trapper and Storm!

26/03/2024

T-Dog 110 Race Start from Saturday morning on the beautiful Tanana River! Our two teams leave the start chute starting at about 8 minutes.

24/03/2024

Had an amazing T-Dog 110 race today! We have tons of videos and photos to share after we all get a nice night of rest!

22/03/2024

Here’s a link to our video on YouTube!

Our first dog sledding trip in Denali National Park and what an amazing adventure! We passed the Park Service dog teams, got a little lost, camped...

22/03/2024

Our first dog sledding trip in Denali National Park and what an amazing adventure! We passed the Park Service dog teams, got a little lost, camped next to the Teklanika river, and woke up to a crystal clear -20 °F morning. The views on the way out were incredible and Denali was out! Many thanks to Ranger Chris for helping us plan out our trip and Musher Ranger James for pointing us in the right direction.

21/03/2024

Trapper and Storm loving some belly rubs from our tour guests this week at Trail Breaker Kennel!

20/03/2024

Had an incredible overnight sled dog camping trip into the Denali National Park and Preserve wilderness last week! The trail was challenging, the views spectacular, and the dogs did absolutely amazing! It was such an epic trip and amazing experience!

We are working on editing all the video footage we took on our trip and will get that uploaded as soon as we can, but enjoy some favorite stills from our adventure in the meantime!

27/12/2023

Cheese (19 mths old) did great in lead today! He is the blonde/tan one on the left. This trail is quite popular and great for all the young dogs to learn about passing people, dogs, skiers, and snowmobiles.

27/12/2023

Chilly day-after-Christmas training run today at -15F 🥶 but the dogs loved it and ran significantly faster than they did on this same trail a couple days ago when it was above 0.

26/12/2023

Handing out the dogs’ presents for Christmas! Squeaky tennis balls are probably their favorite thing and they were sent lots by their grandparents ❤️💚❤️💚

26/12/2023

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us here at SMSD! The dogs all got to enjoy some special treats and toys.

02/10/2023

Happy National Black Dog Day! We may not have any solid black dogs, but we do have a few special dogs with predominantly black coats!

11/09/2023

The dogs enjoying a nice, sunny weekend afternoon and supervising processing of firewood for the winter

11/09/2023

Downtime in the house this weekend

04/09/2023

Free running last night and then running in harness this morning! Been mixing it up with training between free/loose running at 16-20 mph and running the same trail pulling 100+ pounds per dog in harness.

09/08/2023

👀

07/08/2023

Smoke is even worse today, AQI of 456 (max is 500). Here are the inside pens for the dogs to stay in which stay nice and cool in the basement.

07/08/2023

It’s snowing… but not the kind of snowing we want ☹️🔥🔥 Smoke really moved in and ash started to fall so all 20 dogs are in the house tonight. They all have pens in the cool basement of the house when it’s too hot outside which we’ve had to do a few times this summer. Colder weather and rain is in the forecast so hopefully that will help knock down these forest fires soon.

16/07/2023

Midnight summer sunset walks 🌅 🐾💛