Our story

Animal welfare consists of many things in which we invest money, time and expertise.

With the money we can secure the best possible living environment for the dogs, which are the living conditions of the kennel. A safe and stress-free environment can be guaranteed for every dog. All dog houses in our kennel are warmly insulated and equipped with electric heating for those who need them. Quality food, water, regular veterinary checks, deworming and vaccinations. Safe equipment for training and transporting dogs. For this reason, the pricing of safaris is also on the premium side, so that we are prepared to guarantee the best possible living conditions for our beloved dogs.

Time spent with dogs is more valuable than money and we give them everything we have. Every single day we spend several hours with our dogs – not only when training or on a safari, but everyday life includes individual attention. Every second spent in the orchard, free running or on forest walks with our puppies, is invaluable. During this time, trust is built between dogs and humans. This trust ensures that our canine companions also give us everything in competitions as well as on safaris – trusting us that we will never demand from them what they are not ready for. Trust bonding with our dogs is one of our highest priorities, something we’ve taken to heart. It’s rewarding to get feedback from customers where they will also notice this concretely when visiting on our safaris and spending time with our dogs.

With knowledge and experience, we are able to react to things and situations quickly and prevent any sudden accidents.

Dedication to dog nutrition and training is our passion and one of the keys to our success in racing and in our work. With competent and high-quality training, we are able to guarantee the best conditions for dogs to perform during the competition and safari seasons. The basic training of the dogs starts in stages already in the summer. In the autumn, the actual aerobic exercise is done by pulling the ATV and this takes 4 months before the season begins. A lot of work is done before the client arrives and this ensures that every dog can fully enjoy the work it was born to do – sledding!

Educational work is a lifelong human project that requires careful consideration, experience and knowledge. Decisions made at this point will show years or decades of good and bad.

We started a hobby and breeding with Siberian huskies. The Siberian Husky was originally bred for sledding, its arctic survivability and the ability to pull heavy loads over long distances is great. But the Siberian Husky has also lost a lot of the sled dog-specific qualities (like hard work ethic). That’s why we set out to change the dog type years ago and the first Alaskan husky arrived at the house in 2009.

Why did we switch from Siberian Husky to Alaskan Husky?

In a nutshell – The Alaskan Husky is not an official breed administered by any organization that gives definitions especially to appearance. The Alaskan Husky has been bred into a sled dog for decades. Breeding work has focused only on sled dog characteristics. The ability and desire to run hard, perseverance, health, appetite, coat, and character have been the most important breeding criteria for people who have bred Alaskan Huskies for sled dog races. Appearance considerations have not played a major role, which is why Alaskan Huskies, when properly trained, are more powerful sled dogs than Siberian Huskies.

The hobby and with it the competition activity has always been our passion and that is why we ended up as Alaskan Huskies.

The third type of sled dog is the so-called sprint dog (eurohound). Which is also an Alaskan husky bred according to the same criteria, but in the breeding has crossed e.g. an Alaskan husky, a pointer, a German shorthaired pointer, and long ago also a greyhound. The goal has been to breed a dog that has a high oxygen uptake capacity as well as musculature and is able to run shorter distances at a much higher average speed.

The first crossbreed litter was born in our kennel in 2011 and we invested in sprint races for several years. These years taught us the most during our sled dog history. We learn to understand a lot about the training, metabolism, and nutrition of a performing dog.

Over the years of sprinting, interest in self-challenging and long-distance racing has grown steadily. The breeding of the Alaskan Husky and the long-distance dog became more and more interesting, and we decided to start breeding a slightly different type of long-distance dog that at that time (2013) the majority of the hobby community had. We wanted to combine good qualities of sprint top individuals as well as long distance Alaskan huskies. This litter gave birth to a few top individuals who got just these desirable traits and have won numerous long distance races so far. Crossbreeding between two different dog types is always a “risk” but both parents had a solid knowledge of the background and inherited health information and the risk proved to be worthwhile. Since then, the dog type has been turned more in the direction of a long-distance sled dog with breeding choices, and there are already several generations in the kennel and it can be said that we have succeeded in the current goals. Now, after a few generations, the dog type is starting to look like what we set out to pursue. Individuals with good performance and, above all, healthy and even individuals. Those with a good appetite, social and leadership qualities who have the ability to maintain high speeds over longer distances when needed.

Breeding work continues with the goal of getting even better sled dogs into the world. Here is one reason why on our safaris the dogs run and don’t walk!

Green Key / Green Activities

During 2020 and 2021 we took a part in developing the criteria for Green Key – husky kennels certification. The job was done together with 5 other husky kennels and Lapland University. We found important that professional husky kennels were able to get involved in the process. We as insiders and experienced mushers are in a key role to rase up the right questions and give the ideas in which to concentrate, but of course the professors were leading the way and based on our conversations the criteria was finally made up.

Couple of years after, during summer 2023 we applied for the certificate ourselves and it made us to re-think our own way of doing the things, where we can still do better and how does our kennel and dogs welfare look like for people outside our kennel. It also challenges us to make some more long-term plans and think more deeply about our sustainability. Most importantly the certificate makes us to think forward, not so much to show others what we have done so far. Still we are happy that the whole process to get the Green Activities – certificate didn´t took so much effort as we filled almost all the aspects in advance.

During 2023/24 we have been taking a part also in Kontiki Reisen – roundtable about animal welfare in tourism.

It has been great to take a part in discussions with other husky kennels and  travel agencies together, not only to share ideas about better animal welfare but also to think how we can boost the awereness about what to look at, which are the important points about dogs welfare. Are there some old habbits which we could easily skip by now as we are soon in year 2030 and we have the keys to affect in the future of the animal tourism.