A Push For Change

You are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream - C.S. Lewis

It's been a while since I've posted on the blog.  Many changes have taken place at Sun Dog Express Dog Sled Tours in the last year.

At the end of the 2014 season, my family and I began to reevaluate Sun Dog Express Business plan.  What was its reason for existance?  What are our goals?  After 30 plus years of dog mushing and 16 years in the tour business it was time to take a good hard look and think.

We came to the conclusion that our current direction wasn't suiting us.  We didn't start Sun Dog Express with the idea that we were an exclusive "sit your butt  down in the dog sled while the dogs drag you in a circle" tour company.  The dog sled comes to a stop long enough for one person to hop out and another to take their place....and the cycle begins again.  Not only does this bore the dogs but it bored me to tears too. 

I must confess that the trail had become so mundane that I would hear a voice telling dog sled passengers about the trail or dogs and realize that it was my voice.  I could make up my grocery list, think about my favorite t.v. show or daydream while giving a tour and not even remember what my guests had talked about the entire ride.  I had done so many tours.....I was on auto pilot.  Sad thing is guests had no idea.

Our location at 1540 Hayes Street has a quite place when we first opened in the fall of 1998.  The road wasn't maintained in the winter and there weren't any neighbors.  The dogs were in residence all winter (with summers back at our ranch) behind the Beaver Sports Outdoor Center without anyone giving them any mind or bothering them.  In the last 16 years that atmosphere changed greatly.  It became a much less safe place for sled dogs to be in residence at any time.

Thus we made the agonizing decision last spring to close the 1540 Hayes Street dog yard.  For the first time since 1991 there would be no sled dogs in residence behind The Beaver Sports Outdoor Center.

We are still doing tours and schools but on a very limited basis.  We have become a mobile dog sled tour company - meaning we have to hook up a trailer, load up sled dogs, drive to the trail head (18 mile round trip) at our 1540 Hayes Street dog yard, unload sled dogs and sleds, hook up sled dogs, go for a tour or school, load sled dogs and sleds back onto the trailer, drive home, unload sled dogs, equipment and dog trailer.  It's pretty labor intensive and takes a minimum of three hours to complete for even our shortest tours.

Since I've always worked a year round regular job in addition to the dog sled tour company, adding a 3-9 hour dog sled tour/school/clinic isn't possible very often.  Not when I have all the other ranch animals and chores to complete after my return to the ranch.

While the trails at our 1540 Hayes Street location go for miles and miles and are flat as a pancake (which are great for tours), we have been running the same trails since 1991. Angry moose became an issue on many of our training and tour runs.  The area was flat and full of underbrush that moose found irresistable and tasty.  These behemoths found the packed dog trail "plush" and they were remiss to give it up when a dog team approached (especially after a cold spell).  They would prefer to charge/stomp/fight for the trail rather than walk in deep snow.  A fight that sled dogs, unfortunately, always lost.

It is my objective to explain to you what this push for change in the last year has brought to the sled dogs and staff of Sun Dog Express Dog Sled Tours.  While many of you have found it frustrating that we are no longer available, at a moments notice, to take your loved ones and friends on dog sled tours and schools, we appreciate your patience while we change for the better.

Stay Tuned!!

You are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream - C.S. Lewis