Spitfire Dogs

All of our dogs are spitfires in their own way, but the name comes from Jillian’s grandmother, Hazel. Jillian’s Gran is herself is quite a spitfire and a big influence in Jillian’s life. Five years ago, when Jillian was learning about sled dogs from Iditarod veterans Ken Anderson and Gwen Holdmann, she got to name one of their puppies. She named it Hazel after her grandmother and now, years later, Jillian owns Hazel, the feistiest spitfire in the lot.

Our dogs range in age from eight months to 10 years. We have only purchased a few of them
while the rest we got for free simply because they needed a good home and we needed sled dogs. We’re not a competitive team, but rather enjoy racing to see new trails and meet fellow mushers, volunteers and vets. Perhaps someday we’ll be known as ‘racers’ but until then, we’ll continue to just enjoy the scenery and camaraderie with our dogs.

We learn from the dogs with each and every training run and every race.
All of our sled dogs are Alaskan Huskies, which is essentially a mixed breed, born to run and pull. They all have distinct personalities (yes, they all have names!) and different physical characteristics. Some have blue eyes, some have brown. Some have floppy ears, some ears are pointy. Some are big and some are small. We don’t
care what they look like but we do care about things like endurance, stamina, good appetites and strong feet. Of course, friendly personalities are also a must for us. When our dogs are not running in harness we take great care in keeping them happy and occupied by going on loose walks and letting them in the cabin to lounge on the couch. Life with dogs is one we wouldn’t trade for anything.