Kennel Handler Experience

Call (970) 387-8326 or click here to schedule the experience of a lifetime.

Many people want a more hands-on epxerience when they come to our kennel. When you take a ride you get to pet only the dogs working at that time, and only after the trip. During a kennel tour you get to pet the puppies (if we have them) and the dogs in the exercise yard at the time. The kennel handler experience takes things several steps further.

The experience lasts about two hours and is physically demanding. During that time you will walk about three miles, carry heavy water buckets, pick up 30 pounds of dog poop, and try to walk screaming, bouncing sled dogs by hand. For these reasons, we do not accept handlers who are pregnant, under the age of 16, sick or otherwise not capable of the demands.

In addition to the hard stuff, you will also be able to pet, kiss and hug almost all of our dogs. You will get up close to our puppies (if we have them), and spend some quality time with the dogs in the exercise yard.

The handler experience can be scheduled almost daily when we are not running sleds. Check-in time for the experience is 08:00 am and limited to one or two handlers at a time.

Recommended Gear

You will likely get a little dirty, step in some dog poop, fall down on your hands and knees in the dirt, possibly get dragged a bit, and get covered in dog hair. That said, we recommend the following gear:

Close toed shoes or boots
Long work pants like Carharts (you will get scratched if you wear shorts)
Light work gloves
Sunscreen, sunhat, sunglasses
Water bottle
See our what do mushers wear page for more details.