Home for Vacation

Over the past two weeks, Vanessa, Alaska, and I have been touring schools in the 9-R school district in Durango, CO (my home town) and giving hour-long presentations on dog sled racing and the Iditarod. What a thrill it has been! During the presentations, the students have the opportunity to bootie and harness Alaska; model a Cabela’s suit, big mitts, and Trans-Alaskan boots; and explore the ins and outs of a real racing sled. Thank you Greg and Gretchin Dubbit for lending us your sled!
I’ve been very impressed with the depth and thoughtfulness of the questions. During my presentation for Ms. Colyar’s second grade class, I explained how the dogs pull four-wheelers in the Fall to build muscle, just like human athletes lift weights. One student raised her hand and asked if the quads were on and in gear during training. And she was in second grade! I was quite impressed that she understood and recognized the difference. After her question, I made sure to mention that the four-wheelers are in gear during Fall training. Other questions were more common, like “Where do you sleep?” or “What happens if you loose your dog team?” Judging by the number of times I was asked, “How can I train my own dogs to pull and lead?” there will soon be lots of new mushers in the dog sledding community!
Of course, the real reason that the presentations have been such a success is Alaska. She plays her role perfectly, slowing melting onto her back and getting belly rubs from swarms of kids. When I call her up to the front of the room for a demonstration, she jumps to hear feet, then gracefully trots amongst the rows of students, stopping periodically for a pat on the head here, a scratch on the back there. I think Alaska believes she is a budding movie star. When a photographer came from the paper, Alaska must have thought that it was her big break into show biz. She slowly rolled over, placed her paw on the photographer’s knee, and then cocked her head.
Don’t worry though, we’ve kept Alaska’s ego in check. We are frequent visitors to the Durango Dog Park, along with Maybel the hound dog and Luka the lab. All the dogs remind Alaska that sprinting across fields, swimming in the river, and rolling in “sweet” smelly things are way better than posing for cameras. When it’s not too hot, Alaska also pulls me on my longboard, which turns out to be a great way to work on gee/haw commands.