by intensekarin » Thu Apr 04, 2013 3:19 pm
Hi everyone -
This is going to be fun!
First of all, Ms. Moose - you are pretty funny! But I think you pretty much have me pegged. I do want to make sure everyone knows that the excerpts about setting the snowhook come from my story about my FIRST EVER time on a dog sled. I have a little more control and finesse now.
And now for some answers (this is getting long, so more to follow):
"you mentioned a difficulty in hiring good handlers" Oh boy, it's a universal problem. It is tough, dirty, unforgiving work. The ONLY reason anyone would want to do it is if they want to learn how to become a musher themselves. Those people tend to go to a big, competitive kennel. Even then, a lot of people become disillusioned when they see how 'glamorous' it really is. That leaves me with people who think maybe it would be interesting to live in Alaska in the winter, and decide to give it a shot. They almost always quickly come to realize it isn't all that interesting. I've had people steal from me, do drugs (serious, hard drugs) in my house, lie about getting food drops done until it was almost too late to get them done, 'forget' to get up to feed dogs, leave after 2 weeks, leave after 2 days, the list goes on. I've also had the privelege of being assisted by some of the hardest working, most honest, incredible people in the world. I had one of the good ones this year. Her name is Miriam Osredkar. You will see her name again in the future - she is going places!
"Can you tell us a little more about your kennel and what a "day in the life" of a BlackOnBlue handler would entail?" Here's an e-mail I send to prospective handlers. You can see I really sell it!
Here is a little bit (OK, a lot) more about dog handling . This is how I got my start in Alaska just a few years ago, and it was one of my best experiences ever. It is a LOT of hard, dirty work for no pay. I'm not sure why anyone would want to do it, but if you are looking for adventure and a way to experience the real Alaska, this is it.
You must have the following traits and experience:
Love dogs
Motivated hard worker
Trustworthy, honest, and dependable - you will be sharing our home with us
Reasonably fit and tough.
Have experience working a full time, physical, outdoor job
Safe driver with current license, and experience driving on winter roads
Can competently drive and back a trailer
Be available through April if possible
In exchange for working long hours in the cold, 7 days a week, you will;
Have your own room in a beautiful , comfortable log house
Eat pretty well
Experience Alaska wilderness
Live in a stunningly beautiful location north of Willow
Hang out with some incredible, wonderful dogs
Hang out with some pretty cool people
Learn how to care for and train a team for world class competition – you’ll be involved in every step of every preparation as we get ready for Iditarod.
Get a chance to learn how to run your own team
A typical day for a handler would include lots of physical labor, almost all of it outdoors in the cold. Chores include: feed in the mornings by 8:00, clean up the dog lot, work on meat cutting and other projects for the rest of the morning and early afternoon. Help hook up and/or run teams, help put the team away, help with evening feeding around 9:00 or 10:00 p.m.
There is alot of cutting meat on the band saw for meals and for snacking. (Hundreds and hundreds of pounds of meat, all cut up into 1/4 pound slices. Most of my memories of being a handler revolve around cutting meat....) Also gear and equipment maintenance and repair, dog maintenance and repair, race prep and packing, moving snow, and a million other little tasks. When I was a handler my days were typically 12-14 hours long - it is way less at our place because we have less dogs. Lots of the time a handler isn't too busy. Then some times they might need to really kick ass to get everything done. A lot depends on how motivated and efficient the handler is.
You would be involved in every part of every day with the dogs, so you would learn just about every detail of how I run my kennel, care for the dogs, get them trained and conditioned, behavioral work, plan for racing and expeditions, etc. This is genererally the incentive to be a handler, because most people who sign up for this want to become mushers.
We live about 100 miles north of Anchorage, about 60 miles north of the nearest real town. We are a bit isolated, but we're usually too busy to notice. The house is nice and really comfortable - hot and cold running water, power, internet access (this is very cushy for a dog handler - many kennels don't have luxeries like electricity...) There is no wireless internet and your cell phone might not work in the house. The handler has their own room in the privacy of the downstairs. There is always plenty of food on hand, but meals are often on your own because we are out with the dogs or at work most of the time.
I am usually pretty easy going and easy to get along with. I used to be a teacher, so explaining why we do things is second nature to me. I am open to new ideas if you have them, but I am particular about everything being done correctly. The consequences of getting it wrong can be big (for example, not packing the right number of booties for a race or feeding the wrong amounts). My husband Varan is VERY laid back and easy going.
Basically, this is not a job - it is a trade. We offer room and board and fun. You learn and get a place to live in exchange for your help. That means we don't have worker's comp or insurance or benefits, etc. You would need to think about what you would do if you got hurt. You also need to think about what you would do if the situation doesn't work out - where would you go? (We aren't going to throw anyone out in the snow overnight, but you should have some sort of back up plan).
We've had a lot of different types come as handlers - some great, and some pretty damn bad. Since a handler lives in our home and shares our lives, the character of the person is really important to us. We don't want to deal with anyone that is going to steal from us, abuse our trust, have an alcohol or drug problem, etc. So we would need some good references who can assure us that you are the type of guy we would want to have living with us.
If you really are crazy and this sounds like something you would like to participate in, please tell me more about yourself and how you fit the description above.
"Tthe Iditarod seems to be your "big" race. Any thoughts/plans in someday running the Yukon Quest? " I would love to run the Quest. Well maybe - I'm not sure I'm tough enough! But the reality is this. I don't have much in the way of sponsorship, but what little I do have is because people know, and are excited about, the Iditarod. I can't feed the dogs without sponsorship, and I can't get sponsorship without running the Iditarod. So without Iditarod, I am out of dogs. It would be great to run them both - I know it would improve my team. But here's the other reality for me. I work full time, year round. I hoard my leave so I can take 3 weeks in March to run Iditarod. I don't have enough leave to do Quest also. So no - probably not going to do the Quest. I'm OK with that; Iditarod is enough for me.
I'll get to more answers tonight....