Sled dog musher
I’m Kirsten. I run a small kennel in the Yukon and teach people to drive a team of two to four dogs, and I sell checklists, guides and two video courses.
A letter every other Sunday from the kennel: one dog, one trail and one thing I fixed this fortnight.
Colour, sound and wind, and the day I turned the team around.
A torn seam, a heavy needle and waxed thread in a cold shed.
Distance, daylight and the place you will turn back, written down first.
Online course
Video course · 6 lessons
Harnesses, rigging, commands and your first trail with two to four dogs, in the order I teach them.
“Run a Small Dog Team was clear and easy to follow. I used what I learned the same week.”
Blog
Guides, tips and news, in writing.
Twenty minutes on a packed trail, and what the dogs do when the sled finally has something to slide on.
Three places to check on every dog before every run, with a harness on the table.
Water, straw and a walk along the line of houses, as it happens every day.
Everything in the bag, in the order I pack it, and the two things I never leave behind.
Digital downloads
Download as soon as you pay. Yours to keep.
How to measure, fit and fasten booties so they stay on for the whole run.
One page of everything you need for your first week with a team, and nothing you do not.
A daily page for each dog: food, water, stool, weight and anything that looked off.
Printed to order
My designs, printed to order and shipped by Printful.
I came to the Yukon at twenty-two to work one winter for a woman with twelve dogs, and I stayed. Twenty-four years later I have eight huskies of my own, a woodstove cabin and a kennel that starts every morning with the same noise. I learned most of what I know by getting it wrong in minus thirty.
Most people who write to me do not want to race. They want two or three dogs, a sled or a cart, and a trail they can run on a weekend without anything going wrong. That is what I teach. I film the lessons in the yard and on the lake, and I write down the checklists I wish I had been given.