Mary and Sue lead the way on a run at Blue Kennels on the Herbert Glacier near Juneau, Alaska. Blue Kennels is run by retired competitive dog musher Sebastian Schnuelle, a two time Yukon Quest winner and runner-up in the Iditarod.
Photograph by Katie Orlinsky

Katie Orlinsky on Mushing in the Dog Days of Summer

ByBecky Harlan
September 03, 2014
9 min read

“I’m from New York City. I had never even heard of the word “mushing” before I covered the Yukon Quest,” photographer Katie Orlinsky admits. “But as soon as I watched the first dog team come into a checkpoint with their legs pounding on the sparkling snow and their paws covered in those funny neon-colored booties, I was hooked.”

Kristin Knight Pace sitting with a sled dog in a summertime landscape
Kristin Knight Pace and sled dog Hoss at Hey Moose Kennel in Denali, Alaska. Pace is a rookie dog musher and will run in the 1,000 mile Yukon Quest this year.

Orlinsky first observed the world of mushing, which she soon learned referred to sled dog teams and the men and women who run them, when she was commissioned to photograph the Yukon Quest, a 1,000-mile dog sled race from Whitehorse, Yukon to Fairbanks, Alaska. The route follows the historic “Klondike Highway,” which sled dogs used to travel to deliver mail during the Gold Rush. The time she spent documenting the race left an impression on her. “They say race as a whole is a test of the spirit, strength, and ability of the athletes, both human and canine, and it’s completely true. I found myself really invested in a sporting event and capable of understanding why people care so much about sports for the first time in my life,” she says.

a newborn puppy snuggled up next to his mother at the Wild and Free Kennel
A puppy of first-time mom, Celia, after she gave birth. Celia has run four different thousand-mile races and belongs to competitive dog musher Brent Sass. This summer his kennel, Wild and Free Mushing in Eureka, Alaska, bred over 30 new puppies. Genetics played a large part in the breeding process—each of the litters was bred from select dogs that exhibit desirable traits for racing.

And while she was wooed by the event itself, Orlinsky found that she wanted to return to see what life was like for these dogs and their trainers during the Alaskan summer. “As much as I loved the race, I knew the story was bigger,” she says. So when Brent Sass, a Quest veteran and the owner of Wild and Free Kennel, asked her to photograph the four litters of puppies that were born there this summer, she felt it was her chance to explore the true heart of the story: “the bond between the musher and their dogs.”

three sled dogs on a summertime free run down a tree-lined road in Alaska
Scroggie, Bato, and Braeburn, on a free run at the Wild and Free Mushing kennel in Eureka, Alaska.
two children standing in the bed of a truck with a newly purchased sled dog
A neighboring family loads their truck with a new dog purchased from Joe Reddington Jr. at his Iditarod Kennels in Manley, Alaska. Joe is the son of Iditarod co-founder and champion Joe Reddington.

Through spending time at Wild and Free as well as visiting Blue Kennels, Husky Homestead, Comeback Kennel, and a few other kennels, Orlinsky found that dog mushing extends beyond sport or hobby—it’s a way of life. Maintaining a kennel is a year-round responsibility, so even in the off-season the daily tasks are numerous. In addition to that maintenance, she says summer, “is the best time for competitive dog mushers to breed and raise new puppies and begin training their youngest dogs. Once the snow falls they need to focus on the dogs in their current racing team.”

a dog handler walking a sled dog back to its kennel on the snowy glacier where Blue Kennel is run, a helicopter is in the background, which is the only way to access the glacier
Kyle, a dog handler at Blue Kennels on the Herbert Glacier near Juneau, Alaska, walks Dredge to his dog house after a run. The dog camp is a popular summer destination for tourists.
sled dogs taking a swim after a run in the summertime, as seen from above
Dogs go for a swim after a summertime dry run at Trail Breaker Kennels in Fairbanks, Alaska. The Kennel was run by the late great Iditarod champion Susan Butcher and her husband David Munson. It is now run by Munson and his children.

“Every dog is different and the best mushers really get to know each and every one individually in order to build a relationship based on trust and loyalty,” Orlinsky says.

And like the dogs, the people who dedicate their lives to raising and training sled dogs vary in personality. However Orlinsky explains that most, “tend to be tough people who love the outdoors and know how to survive in the Alaskan wilderness.” She also notes that the really competitive racers tend to be obsessive. “They dedicate their life to dog mushing and caring for their dogs, day in and day out. The mushers love their dogs like their own children.”

musher Brent Sass sitting in a puppy kennel holding the young dogs in his lap
Brent Sass, a Yukon Quest veteran frontrunner and 2012 Iditarod Rookie of the Year, sits in the puppy pen at his kennel, Wild and Free Mushing, in Eureka, Alaska. Sass says, “The bond the musher has with his dogs usually is what separates the winners from the losers.”

Orlinsky has respect for those who enter the field knowing full well that few make it big in sledding. “It isn’t a lucrative professional sport by any means. Only a handful of dog mushers win the races or have sponsors,” she explains. That dedication despite slim prospects of fame or fortune accompanies a special individual. “A woman or man who chooses to travel a thousand miles in the blistering cold completely alone with their dogs—that’s an interesting person,” she says. And, of course, her respect extends to the dogs. “I’m a huge dog-lover in general, and these were like the super-hero version of regular dogs,” Orlinsky says.

young sled dogs harnessed up for a summer run at Wild and Free Kennel in Alaska
Sasha, Copper, and Merc harnessed up and ready for a summertime dry run at the Wild and Free Mushing kennel in Eureka, Alaska. The off-season to-do list for a dog team is long, including daily dog care chores like feeding, combing (sled dogs molt their heavy undercoat during the summer), medical care, facility maintenance, exercise, and socializing.

She had the opportunity to experience the harsh intensity of mushing life first hand when she visited Blue Kennels, which is located on the Herbert Glacier and run by Yukon Quest winner Sebastian Shnuelle. The kennel is a destination for summer tourists who want to see the dog camp and go on dog sled rides with recreational mushers. The camp is only accessible by Coastal Helicopter from Juneau, so when harsh weather conditions invariably set in, travel to and from the glacier is suspended. “We got hit by some of the worst weather they’d seen all season, and there wasn’t a flight out for six days,” Orlinsky says. And though the dogs love spending their summer in the snow, the terrain is less hospitable for humans. She admits, “It’s breathtakingly beautiful, but I went a little nuts. Sebastian got a real kick out of it all. He said it was good that I got a tiny taste of what it’s like for mushers out on the trail.”

a snowy, summertime landscape dotted with sled dogs sitting on their kennels at Blue Kennels on Herbert Glacier
Blue Kennels on the Herbert Glacier near Juneau, Alaska.

Katie Orlinsky plans to continue documenting mushing in Alaska. To follow her work, visit her website and follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Follow Becky Harlan on Twitter and Instagram.

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