Siberian Sleddogs | Siberian Sleddogs – about our kennel

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Siberian Sleddogs – about our kennel

Siberian Sleddogs is a medium size sled dog kennel based near Røros in Norway. Our dogs are purebred Siberian Huskies registered in the Norwegian Kennel Club.

Our dogs are part of our family and our lifestyle. We are devoted to the health, well-being and happiness of each individual at our kennel by providing the best possible veterinary health care, nutrition and training at all times. We believe in working with each individual to bring out the best in our dogs. A happy, healthy team is always our top priority.

We started our kennel in 2011, and our first race was the 500km Finnmarksløpet in 2012, one of three qualifying races for Iditarod. It was the first ever dog sled race for Yvonne and four of our dogs – we didn’t have enough adult dogs but were fortunate to borrow four Alaska huskies from a friend.

From 2013-2015 we lived with all our dogs north of Fairbanks, Alaska, the place where dog mushing is the official state sport. We explored the endless Alaskan backcountry by dogsled and finished the Iditarod Sled dog race both in 2014 and 2015.

Our dogs were the first team of Norwegian (Scandinavian?) Siberian Huskies registered in NKK (and Yvonne was the first german woman) to ever enter and finish the Iditarod.

In 2014 we flew a dog team from Nome to Chukotka, Siberia and raced the Nadezhda Hope race. It was a great honor to race with traditional Chukchi teams, the very ancestors of our Siberian Huskies in the breathtaking ladscape they come from. Mushing goes back thousands of years in Chukotka, and we learned a lot about our dogs heritage.

After our return from Alaska we have taken a few years break from long distance racing for family reasons. Our dogs are still trained much in the same way. With many dogs getting older now we are currently building the next generation team that we can race with in years to come.

Health

Happy and healthy dogs are our number one priority! We are devoted to give our dogs the best health care we can and do the best for the dogs at all times. All of our dogs have their own health insurance.

We are no vets nor professionals, but have a genuine interest in canine veterinary medicine. Yvonne has worked at a vet clinic, and we always strive to learn more.

In order to treat our canine athletes like the stars they are Yvonne has taken courses in canine massage and is a certified LLLT Laser Therapist for horses and dogs.

When training for long distance races, preventing, treating and rehabilitating injuries is super important. With the right care most dogs can return to run 100% in the team as opposed to get reoccurring injuries which may lead to dogs having to be retired early.

Nutrition & Training

Proper nutrition is key to healthy dogs, optimizes performance and contributes to prevent certain types of injuries or diseases.

Over the years we have acquired profound knowledge about nutrition and training for long distance sled dogs. Nutritional requirements are high for top athletes in training for and during longest races.

There is always more to learn and exciting research going and we constantly seek to increase our knowledge.

No dog and no dogteam are alike, and neither are the mushers training them. What works for one team or dog may be entirely wrong for another.

We like to work with every individual dog to bring out the best in them and let them succeed on their terms. Each and every dog plays an important role in our team. Most important to us is that our dogs love what they do!

Seniors

At our kennel dogs stay from puppy to senior. They are all part of our family and we love our awesome senior dogs!

They get to join the team for as long as they can and want, and are a valuable resource for training puppies. If not running with the team or training puppies we go on walks or run retired dogs on shorter runs to keep them active and happy. And of course – as for all the other dogs there is playing in the kennel’s fenced running yard and lots and lots of cuddles!

Sure, keeping senior dogs requires a considerable amount of extra time when they can’t join the raceteam for training anymore, and veterinary costs are on average a lot higher for dogs older than 8 years as “things start to happen”. But they are worth way more then that time & money! They have shared their life with us, given us so much joy and we have created wonderful memories on all our adventures together.