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Born to Run By Nancy Dewar
If you’re in the mood for a winter getaway and an amazing experience filled with beautiful scenery and big dog love, a visit to Muddy Paw Sled Dog Kennel in Jefferson, New Hampshire is sure to delight you. Located about an hour north of Mount Washington, Muddy Paws is home to sixty-two sled dogs that all love their jobs, as they were born to run! And the 2-legged folks at Muddy Paws all love their jobs, as was evident when I connected with Kasey Halliday, Senior Musher and son of the kennel’s founder, Neil Beaulieu. It all began years ago while Neil, a Maine native, was teaching in Alaska and helping with the annual longdistance sled dog race, the Iditarod; a grueling 1,182mile race from Anchorage to Nome. One year a female musher decided to drop out and offered her ten dogs to Neil, who then began running them and moved back to New England in 2004 with his team. Neil and Kasey initially were racing their teams regionally, but Kasey explained, “It really wasn’t fun for us. We wanted to experience more enjoyment with our dogs and have other people experience this enjoyment, as well. So, we started Muddy Paws Sled Dogs in 2006. Most of our dogs are rescues, and we received 20 Siberian Huskies from Minnesota that first year from a retiring musher.” Kasey’s passion for his work is undeniable. I told him that I’d heard an amazing radio interview with an au-
thor who had recently passed away. “I can’t remember his name, but he was a big musher and told fascinating stories about his experiences running the Iditarod.” Kasey immediately said, “Was it Gary Paulsen? He’s one of my favorite authors ever. I’ve read most of his books. Winter Dance is probably the best!” Upon arrival at Muddy Paws, people are greeted by the mushers and then led to what Kasey calls “the OMG corner” where they get their first glimpse of 60-plus dogs in the yard living their best life! It’s really quite a view. Most of their dogs are Siberian Huskies or Alaskan Huskies. Kasey explained the difference. “Siberians are a purebred while Alaskans are a combination of Siberians and another working dog breed like a Shepherd or Lab. Alaskans are usually a bit smaller and less prone to injury.” The dogs live outside year-round and each has their own plywood doghouse complete with a
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deck to stay out of the mud and to provide them shade in the summer. These dogs love being outside, and their ideal temperature is around negative ten degrees; the colder the better! “We put hay in their houses to insulate from the cold, but some of our dogs often pull it out,” Kasey said with a laugh. The average age of their current dogs is six to seven. “Dogs typically stop running around the age of nine to eleven, and the average life of these breeds is 14 to 16.” Kasey said that there are definite red flags that indicate when a dog is ready to retire. They don’t get excited when they see the harness or even shy away from it. It’s like their saying, “Hey man, I’m done. I’m tapped out.” One of their oldest dogs, who was part of their initial rescue from Minnesota, was Guinness who they lost this fall at the age of eighteen. “He enjoyed living in the house after he retired, and he was ‘the
