Libby Here!
Listen to this great question! “Do they ever get lost?”
The Iditarod Trail is a marked trail. People on snowmobiles— or snowmachines which is what they are called in Alaska, travel the race trail before the mushers and make sure that the trail markers are in place. The markers are sticks with a florescent paint, […]
Author Archives: Zuma
Getting Lost. Don’t Let it Happen to You!
What do Mushers Do?
Libby Here!
Lots of kids want to know, “Do mushers get a chance to eat, bathe, and sleep?”
Everyone has to eat and sleep in order to stay healthy. Keeping clean helps, too!
When a musher arrives at a checkpoint, the first thing the musher does is feed and care for the dogs. When all […]
Skwentna Checkpoint Number 2 by Sanka W. Dog
Skwentna - Checkpoint #2
By Sanka W. Dog
You can’t believe how exciting and noisy it is to have 96 dog teams come through a checkpoint. As the race goes further down the trail, it spreads out but in the early checkpoints of Yentna Station, Skwentna and Finger Lake, all the teams are still pretty close […]
Poetry by Students
Hello Boys and Girls,
I’m getting awesome and incredible email and comments from students and race fans! It is great to hear from all of you. Keep reading and writing! You are going to get better grades in school because you are working so hard! I am very impressed!
I wanted to share this […]
More About Dogs!
Libby Here!
How many dogs are allowed for each sled and musher?
Each musher can start the race with 16 dogs. When arriving in Nome, each musher must have at least 6 dogs pulling the sled.
Not every dog that starts the race gets to finish the race. Most of the time, there are little details that help […]
What about the Dogs?
Libby Here!
Do the same team of dogs do the whole race?
This is another great question.
Yes. The team of dogs that a musher has selected and have passed their medical exams are the only dogs that can be in the race.
The musher starts with his selected team of dogs and cannot add different […]
On the Right Trail
Some of my best friends are on the Iditarod Dog Sled Trail right now. I am so proud of them. My human sees my feet moving in rhythmic harmony as I dream of running next to a famous lead dog like Lance Mackey’s Larry or Jeff King’s Salem. We really love to run and get […]
Cheer on the Mushers!
Hello Boys and Girls,
We’ve been getting lots of comments from race fans who are cheering on their mushers. The K-9 repporters and I decided we’d post those comments in this blog entry. SO to read who is cheering on who, click the comments and read. Go mushers! Run to Nome fur-friends! […]
Vet Check by Sanka W. Dog
It’s no exaggeration to say that Iditarod Sled Dogs are the best cared for animal athletes in the world. Vet check is always scheduled for the Wednesday prior to the race. That day, Iditarod Headquarters is a busy place - dogs, mushers, vets and spectators.
This year there were 96 teams that […]
Sanka W. Dog Reports: The Jr. Iditarod
One week before the big Iditarod, young mushers between the ages of 14 and 17 participate in the Junior Iditarod. The kids have a bib drawing and musher meeting on Friday evening and on Saturday at 10:00 the race begins. The route takes the juniors from Willow Lake out to Yentna Station and […]
Gopher’s Story by Sanka W. Dog
It was Iditarod 2004. Sue Allen out of No Snow Kennel in Wasilla, Alaska was about to start her rookie Iditarod. It was an exciting time - one that she and her dogs had been working and training toward for a long time. Together Sue and the dogs had logged well over […]
The 2008 Iditarod Begins!
Hello Boys and Girls,
The 2008 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race has begun!
It was exciting to walk the streets of downtown Anchorage and watch the 98 musher and my fur-friends arrive. Crowds of race fans walked the streets and met my fur-friends. In each sled, Idita-Riders rode on an incredible 11 mile adventure. […]
Sled Dog Criteria By Sanka W. Dog
Sled dogs come in all shapes, sizes and colors. Some are large and some are small. Some have tall ears, others have floppy ears. Some have blue eyes while some have brown eyes. Some have one eye that’s blue and one eye that’s brown! Some look like a wolf, some […]
Criteria for Dogs
Libby Here!
Ms. Thompson’s class asked, “Is there criteria for the dogs?” Criteria is a set of characteristics or traits that need to be met.
Yes. There is a set of criteria for the dogs. The dogs have to be healthy and have passed their medical exams that are given right before the […]
The Jr. Iditarod Begins!
Hello Boys and Girls,
I can hardly wait! The Jr. Iditarod begins tomorrow!
Each year, the Jr. Iditarod is held the weekend before the start of Iditarod. This year, twenty one mushers have entered the race. These mushers arrived at headquarters on Friday evening for an important meeting. They learned about the trail, […]