Friday, January 12, 2007


I'm headed to Glenallen to be the race handler for a husband and wife who are both running the Copper Basin 300--John Schandelmeir and Zoya deNure. I spent a month at their place in Paxson last April and I really can't say enough good things about them as people and dog lovers. They race competitively with many second chance dogs, dogs that have behavioral issues for a myriad of reasons--or just weren't fast enough--or whatever random reasons people have--and are dumped at the shelter. They have the patience and passion to bring these dogs around to being happy and healthy competitors. Zoya left a lucrative modeling career to live off the grid as a dog musher--a pretty huge change. I've heard John refered to as a "dog whisperer" and have learned a great deal from them both about treating dogs as individuals with kindness and respect, hard work and the crucial importance of a good cup of coffee! John will be running the Yukon Quest in February and Zoya will be a rookie in this year's Iditarod. I'm looking forward to helping them out since I can't do the Quest this year (that takes three weeks and I gotta work!) This should be a fun couple of days and will take me to places in AK I haven't been yet, like Chistochina--I've never even heard of it! The weather is supposed to be in the zeros--super warm, yeah! Anyway, check out Zoya's blog for updates at www.dogsleddenali.blogspot.com!

4 Comments:

Blogger FinnyKnits said...

WOW! That sounds like a blast! Granted, once you get past the temps. I'll look forward to photos of the race and prep. :)

10:56 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow! And is the hot coffee for the dogs...or for you? Remember to tell us ALL about it! Good luck to all of you.

11:08 AM

 
Blogger laura said...

The temps were incredibly warm--in the twenties at times. Glenallen had a 70 degree change from last week to this week!! I feel lucky to have caught the warm end of it!

6:18 PM

 
Blogger laura said...

Oh and yeah Mom, the coffee is definitely for me!!

6:18 PM

 

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