Tell us a little about yourself and your kennel.
I moved to Alaska in 2015 after meeting my husband, Richie Beattie, during a winter as a photographer at a sled dog tour operation in Colorado. He inspired me to live in the Last Frontier of Alaska and I took the gamble to move here. I was wildly in love - with both the man and dogs - so it just made sense to explore new lands. I am a professional photographer as well as graphic designer, and those mediums have become my outlet for expressing my crazy, chaotic and beautiful life with sled dogs while homesteading in Alaska. Richie and I spend winters in Two Rivers where I guide tours, wait tables on weekends and find freelance work. Summers are spent in Cantwell where we now own a small piece of property that looks out into the Jack River Canyon. We live off grid in wall tents and run a summer tour with our dogs that focuses on our minimalistic lifestyle with the dogs and teaches people about training and racing in the Yukon Quest and Iditarod.
The name Wildthingz Dog Mushing stems from my husband. He acquired a dog, 10 years into his mushing career in 2008, Wicked, who is a daughter of Lance Mackey's famous Zorro and Judy Currier's Wilma. She has become the matriarch of our pack, having been bred to several high quality males and becoming the Mother, Grandmother and now Great-Greandmother of almost all of our 32 dogs. The Wildthingz are just that - a pack of beautiful, wolf-life wild canines.
What introduced you to dog mushing? What was your first experience like?
I grew up with several siberian huskies. My parents had had them for 2 decades and my grandfather also became obsessed with them. At one point the most they had was probably 6. They were into recreational mushing and skijoring in Northern Maine, where my mom grew up, and I spent a lot of time during my childhood at our family's cabin. As a kid, my sister and I would get pulled around by 1 dog on a little dog sled and we were always "bikejoring" in the summer time. That is definitely where my fascination stemmed from, and then at age 13, I pressured my dad into bringing me along on his 50th birthday present, which was a trip to Whitehorse to visit Frank Turner's Muktuk Kennel. That was the first time I rode on the runners behind a small team of Alaskans. I remember feeling exhilarated to be out in the wide open landscape of the Yukon River and being around the dogs. When I met Richie at our tour job, I spent so much time around the dogs there. I much preferred to talk to the dogs than the tour guests! I got out with him on several runs that winter and it re-sparked my desire to learn as much as I could about sled dogs and how to be out in the wilderness with them.
Describe the dogs on your team. What about them do you enjoy the most?
Like I said before, our dogs, the Wildthingz, are mostly all related. I think anyone who has seen our dogs can easily say they are beautiful and consistent in appearance. Richie and I both love black dogs, or some variety of black. Several of our dogs have one up and one down ear and that is by far my favorite style. All of the race dogs weigh between 60-85 lbs, so definitely on the larger side for distance dogs, but I love the strength they have. Sometimes it's frightening being behind all of that power. The dogs in my team, which is generally the younger, inexperienced dogs, are often a bit smaller, which is completely fine with me. I tend to have more of the females and small males and also a handful of "ugly white dogs" that are special acquisitions from different bloodlines.
All of the dogs have such unique personalities. It really is difficult to say what I enjoy most about them. Breeding and raising sled dogs is one of the most challenging things a person can do. It brings you so much absolute joy and satisfaction but it is also exhausting and breaks your heart. I am just grateful that I have the opportunity to get to know each one of my dogs for the entirety of their lives!
What does your training regimen look like? How long are you on the trail with them?
Personally, I don't race at this point in time so my training regiment is somewhat laid back. I do a lot of the early season training with Richie. We split all the dogs up into 2 teams and then at a certain point, when the race team has been established, he will focus on working one-on-one with them and I work with my own team. With working other jobs, I don't have any sort of strict training regiment. I get out when I can and don't have the pressure to stack up the miles, so my runs in the winter are usually anywhere from 15-35 miles. It's great and laid back and keeps my guys happy! Sometimes we also go out on multi-day camping trips, which is my favorite thing to do. The White Mountains and Arctic are my favorites so far and I am always happy to take the dogs out for some camping experience and explore some beautiful new scenery.
What do your dogs do in the off season?
With owning our summer tour business, the dogs don't have too much of an off-season. During spring break up, they get about 6 weeks off until the mud dries up, but once we get down to Cantwell, almost every dog will run once a day for a few miles. It keeps a great base on the dogs and definitely makes them happy.
What has been your most memorable experience as a dog musher?
That is a loaded question - I have a lot of incredible experiences and a lot of sad, difficult ones. If I had to choose, I would say the week-long trip we took to the Arctic with 2 small teams last winter. I remember coming over a switch back in the trail and it opened up to a vast valley, backed by enormous snowy peaks. The sun was blaring and the dogs were so happy to be in a new place and I had tears in my eyes and an enormous grin on my face. I couldn't believe this was my life. I was with dogs that I raised in the ARCTIC! So few people have and will ever have the opportunity to be here.
What’s your advice to other mushers?
Don't focus on racing. That doesn't define your competency. So many people get into the sport before they adequately obtain knowledge of dog care. Driving a team is not an easy feat and anyone who says otherwise is an idiot. If Richie has taught me anything, it's that being a good musher is one thing, but being a good dog trainer is something completely separate. If I ever do any of the big races, I want to know enough to feel totally secure out there - that I can provide my dogs with the best care possible and finish with an impressive team.
Also, I would say enjoy every minute that you can. It is so easy to get bogged down in the stress of life, even when you are doing something as incredible as running sled dogs for a living. I try and cherish the moments as much as I can and wish for anyone else who gets into this for a living to be able to do the same.