Birthdays And Bucket Lists

One of the unanticipated joys of working with Peace Pups has been sharing in special moments and occasions in people’s lives. When I started Peace Pups Dogsledding I knew that I wanted to spend more time with my dogs, spend more time outside and that I wanted the business to be socially responsible and sustainable. I never imagined that I would be given the gift of sharing in so many special moments with others.


Many visitors plan their dogsledding visit in order to celebrate a special time in their life. We have had numerous “big” birthday tours; the “big” 50, “big” 60 or even the momentous “big” 80. Christmas presents, anniversaries and family reunions are a few other celebrations that have taken place with the teams.

I have even been honored to have had guests who knew their time on earth was growing short and that dogsledding was something they truly wanted to experience before moving on. I’ve had guests who wanted to propose to the special person in their life while being out with our dogs in the Vermont hillsides. There has even been discussion of having an actual wedding take place out on the trail with the dog teams.

Having moved on from my previous career as a custom furniture builder and having left a good paying job in order to find something more rewarding to do with my life all of this has been a truly unexpected bonus for me. It’s not that woodworking wasn’t enjoyable for many years; I think I had just done it for too many years. I had gotten to the point where the paycheck I was receiving for my work was not enough motivation for me to continue what I was doing. I was not finding any personal satisfaction in my daily work life. With Peace Pups every single day I get to watch the joy on people’s faces as they interact with our Siberian Huskies. I can take no credit for the dogs loving nature but I do feel privileged to be able to bring them together with people from near and far.

With an admittedly short attention span and very low tolerance for tedium I wasn’t sure if the dogsled tour business would keep me satisfied over the long haul. As with anything in life there is repetition in dogsledding but these unanticipated rewards make me quite sure that I have found something that I can spend the rest of my active life participating in. It’s certainly not a business I would recommend for making a lot of money but the lifestyle and joy it has brought into my life and others makes it well worth the effort. I would like to extend my thanks to past guests, future guests and most of all the dogs for bringing this joy into my life.

Happy New Year

Another year has come and gone and we are into our busy season here at Peace Pups. So far this winter the snow conditions have been quite challenging here in Lake Elmore. I am very fortunate to have a trail that does not require a huge amount of snow to be able to run the dog sleds. As soon as we receive an inch or two I am down there with the groomer packing it down. We have been able to run every day for the past two weeks with only about eight or nine inches of snow in the woods while many trails through out New England are not open.

We have a new cabin tent and wood stove set up for our tours this winter and it has made life at the trail head much more pleasant. Thank you Vermont Forest, Parks and Recreation for the approval letter! Last season guests were often running to their cars to warm up after a run with the pups. This year folks have been lingering next to the wood stove and enjoying a hot beverage and conversation. The smell of wood smoke in the air and a warm place to warm your toes makes the tour site much more inviting.

Not too much else new here this season. Our health is good, all of the dogs are doing great and we have already had dozens of wonderful guests and have spent many beautiful days behind the dogs running through the woods. I'm thankful for the prospect of yet another season in the wilderness with my canine family and visitors from around the world. This is as good as it gets!

Take a Trip Without Leaving The Farm.

I had a scary few moments here at Peace Pups Yesterday. I was just coming back up the driveway at the end of my bike ride and heard a lot of commotion coming from the dog yard. I put it into high gear and flew up the hill and into the dog yard to see what was going on. Once in the dog yard I saw that Buck who is my main, go to lead dog was laying on the ground with a large amount of foam coming out of his mouth. Panic.. This is not one of my strong points with my dogs. I tend to become a tad emotional when I think one of them is in danger. Immediately I began worrying about what I'm going to do without my best buddy Buck. I ran over to him and got him to his feet, kind of.. He was staggering and seem to have lost some of his motor skills. His eyes were glazed and dilated and he didn't seem to know where he was. I ran to the house and called my veterinarian but only reached the receptionist. Both vets were on the road but she suggested I keep an eye on him and call right back if his condition got worse. I went back out to see how Buck was doing and found that he was walking much better and had shaken the foam from his mouth but when I started to approach him he growled at me. "Buck, buddy, it's me. You alright?" Grrrrr. This is one of the only three dogs I have raised from a puppy and he has never growled at me. I'm thinking Old Yeller at this point; but it couldn't possibly be rabies, all of our dogs are vaccinated regularly. Or could it be, maybe there was a problem with the vaccine? These are the kind of thoughts that flash through my mind. I went back in the house for another five minutes to grab some biscuits then back out to the yard. This time when I returned he seemed to be back to his normal self; wagging his tail and very happy to see me. I was also very happy to see him acting like himself again. A round of biscuits and a lot of hugs were in order!

I'm still not positive what happened but I suspect it was a toad and that Buck took a little trip with out leaving the dog yard. I have had other dogs pick toads up when I have been in the yard with them and they had a similar foaming at the mouth. This seemed a lot more extreme though. It's possible that Buck ate the entire toad. I spent quite a bit of time looking around his house and the surrounding yard for any sign of body parts and found nothing so I think he must have either eaten it or it escaped the yard intact. Buck seems to be fully recovered now and during play time yesterday afternoon he was running around like nothing had happened.

Hopefully Buck has learned to leave toads alone; or maybe he will be hunting for them now.. I sure hope not, I don't want to go through that again!