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| Dog Mushing FAQ's |
| Do you have a question? If the answer is not found below then please email it to us and we'll have an answer for you right away! jan: jan@muzzysplace.net |
| Where is Muzzys Place Kennel Located? We are in the Interior of Alaska just 20 miles northeast of the town of Fairbanks. We are in a small community called Two Rivers located on Chena Hot Springs Road....on the way to the Hot Springs Resort. It's a beautiful spot on the planet. What type of clothing do I need to bring? Layers, (no cotton) synthetics, wool or polarfleece are ok. If you have cold weather gear and prefer to wear your own, please feel free to bring it. If it looks like it'll keep you warm enough, that will be fine. If it appears to us that you will not stay warm in your gear we will help outfit you with our gear. How many dogs will I have in my team? For those who will learn to drive a team and all who participate in overnight trips you will have anywhere from 4 to 8 dogs depending on your size and weight. We want to be able to stay together so we will try to make comparable teams for the weight they will pull. What kind of meals can I expect on the trail? We provide home cooked healthy meals for the trail. The meals are hearty and will help to replenish the calories you have used during your trip. Special needs, allergies, etc are always taken into consideration so please advise us of any special requirements. We carry plenty of water and other drink options as well. What temperatures can we expect on our trip? Remember, there is no bad weather, just bad clothing. In Alaska, the temperatures can vary quite a bit, even from day to day but overall our winter temperatures can range from +20F to -40F. It is a very dry climate where we live so the temperatures are quite comfortable when dressed properly. The average temperature during our winter mushing months is usually between -10F and +10F. The colder temperatures are ideal for the dogs, and of course, the warmer temps are ideal for the mushers :-) Do I need previous experience to drive my own sled? Absolutely not! You will be trained by your expert guides who have a great deal of experience mushing and teaching a mushing school. You will be in good hands. Do I need to be in excellent physical condition to participate? No. Your dogs will do most of the work for you. You should be able to kick, walk or run alongside your sled when needed if going uphill and at times you will need to balance your sled on curves or using the brake. Mushing is a sport and does require some activity but the hard work is done by the dogs. What happens if there is an emergency? For all overnight trips as well as larger daytrips we will provide a snowmachine as backup. The snowmachine will stay out of sight and sound range but is there in case there is an emergency and someone needs to get back to town. We will all be in touch via radio, including you. Also, there will always be a guide on your tour who is First Aid / CPR trained. In addition, one of the owners is a medical practitioner working in emergency medicine so you will be in good hands if something happens. We will be carrying a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) but our plan is never to have to use these safety devices :-) Will we have a private group or will others be traveling with us? That depends on the size of your group, the demand for those dates and your preferences. We do private groups if requested and on rare occasions might take 2 groups at the same time. It all depends on your flexibility. We will do our best to accomodate you. How long will we drive our team each day? That depends on where we are going each day but in general we will cover approximately 25-30 miles per day. That can take anywhere from 3-6 hours or more. If you like to stop and take more photos, enjoy the scenery, snack or rest it takes longer, but we will go at your pace each day. Can I help to care for my own team? Of course you can. This is the highlight of many people's trip. We will teach you how to feed, soup and snack your dogs. We will also teach you how to harness them and bring them to the gangline so you can hook up your own team. By the end of your trip you'll feel like a real musher. Where will we sleep each night? That depends on you. We can provide Arctic Oven tents with cots, we can arrange for resort lodging along the trail or you can reserve a cabin and we will take you there. Talk to us about this when you make your reservation and we'll accomodate your preferences. Sleeping bags are provided unless you prefer your own. Will the dogs get cold at night? Nope, they are blessed with thick coats, a downy undercoat, tough pads on their feet and a nice long tail to wrap around their nose as they snooze under the stars. How friendly are the huskies? All of our dogs are friendly and easy to handle. We have dogs from excellent bloodlines and many from our own bloodlines. They are a combination of Siberian Huskies and Alaskan Huskies... all very pretty sleddogs! Their favorite things are to be petted and to run. They will soon work their way into your heart and you will enjoy learning your own dogs names. If you let them kiss your face you will make their day!!! What is the guide : guest ratio on the tours and how many guests per tour? We will provide enough guides to keep you safe on your tour. There will always be one guide leading the group and another behind the group, as well as someone on the snowmachine for overnight trips and larger groups. For larger groups we will have 2 people on the snowmachine. This gives us an extra musher to be able to jump on a sled and give a guest a chance to ride on the machine if they are tired or provides an extra person to help with all chores and tangles on the trail. Since we will all have radios you can easily let us know you need someone to help you. In general we prefer to take up to 4 guests at a time and will provide from 2-4 guides depending on the size of the group. The usual ratio is 1:1 and sometimes 2 guides for 3 guests but at all times it will be appropriate for the group size. More questions? Please email us: jan: jan@muzzysplace.net |
| Click HERE for our Glossary of Mushing Terms "How to Speak Mush" |
