My name is Ken Haggett and I am owner of Peace Pups Dogsledding. We are located in Elmore, Vermont and are just kicking off our sixth season in business. When I started Peace Pups Dogsledding back in 2005 my goal was to create a socially responsible business that would create a positive change in the world. What does that look like for a dogsled tour company? I’m still working on that! I donate 10% of our profits to organizations. My biggest yearly donations have been to Democracy Now but I also make smaller donations to several non-profits like the Cancer Survivors Fund and Vermont Special Olympics among others. I do workshops and school presentations to promote dogsledding and compassionate animal care. I pay a livable wage to my employees and try my best to make working at Peace Pups an enjoyable and rewarding experience for my employees both human and canine. Much like I do, my employees enjoy being outside, working with dogs and meeting new people from a wide range of backgrounds. I think the same holds true for the dogs. They enjoy being outside working with us and all of the attention they receive from our guests. And of course they get to run-their favorite thing to do!

In these days of large businesses my goal is to keep Peace Pups small and sustainable. This allows me to be directly involved in all facets of the business from dog care, dog training, trail work, advertising, and bookings to running the actual tours and lessons. I feel this helps to keep the business personal and keeps me in a position to assure that things run smoothly. Keeping our kennel on the small side assures that if we have a bad season due to weather or other reasons I will not have to re-home dogs. My dogs are like my family and I would be heartbroken if I had to send any of them away because I couldn’t afford to provide top quality care for them.

My dogs are all Siberian Huskies. I adopted my first Siberian from our local shelter ten years ago and immediately fell in love with the breed.  Although Siberians can be very stubborn and a challenge to train, they are very affectionate toward people. The majority of racing dogsledding kennels are running Alaskan Huskies which are a hybrid mix and are generally faster than Siberians. Still, there is something about Siberians that just makes them a good fit for me. I think we have similar personalities which allow us to get along well. I have only had one litter of puppies since becoming involved in dogsledding. The rest of my dogs have been adopted from various kennels around New England and Quebec. Bringing so many dogs in from so many different backgrounds and getting them all to work together as a team is probably one of the most challenging; yet most rewarding facets of the business. Learning how to do that and working with the dogs to allow them each to reach their full potential is an ongoing learning experience  for me and one of things that keeps me engaged in what I do. Each and every dog has a different personality so getting to know them as individuals is important in getting them to work together as a team. Just as with people, some of the dogs in our kennel are dominant and others are more passive. Keeping all of the dogs on a level playing field allows the less dominant dogs to feel safe in the pack. During the summer months when we are not working I spend a couple of hours every day with the dogs during play time. This allows me to interact with them for many hours and form a bond with each dog. It also allows the dogs to work out any issues they might have with each other which in turn helps all of us form a much tighter team.

Once the weather begins to turn cooler in the fall we dust off our dogsledding equipment and begin fall training. Since the dogs have been on break over the summer they need to build their strength back up to prepare for our winter sledding season. We offer tours during cart season that run right from our kennel and include a five mile run, slide show on dogsledding and time to hang out with the dogs in the dog yard. We run with wheeled carts throughout the fall and then switch over to sleds once there is enough snow to sled safely. This is also our most popular time of the year for dog scooter lessons and scooter outings. Dog scooters are adult sized scooters that can be run with one or two dogs. Often people will bring their own dog here for a beginner lesson on how to run their dog with a scooter. This is a way for them to try it out and see if it is something they and their dog might like to do together. The dogs do not have to be Siberians. Many breeds like to run and if someone has an energetic dog that loves to run it might just make a good scooter partner.

 

Winter is our main season and we typically run tours six days a week throughout. We offer day time tours in Lake Elmore on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and evening tours at Stowe Mountain Lodge on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Monday is our one day off each week. The daytime tours are a five mile run through the forest near Lake Elmore. The evening tours are over similar terrain but are shorter runs and are run in the dark for most of the winter. We typically do three runs per day. Even though the dogs are capable of doing much more mileage than this I limit the number of runs to assure that they continue to enjoy the experience. With a lighter load and favorable conditions these dogs are capable of running fifty or sixty miles a day.

 

We also offer instruction for several of our dog powered activities. For folks with one or two dogs of their own we offer skijor lessons and scooter lessons. These allow the guest to bring their dog to try these activities and see if it is something they want to pursue further. Our Mushing 101 is another of our educational offerings for people looking for a more hands on in-depth experience with dogsledding. This is a four hour outing that starts out with an over view of the background of dogsledding and covers everything from the equipment used to dog care, training and dogsled driving. The participants then set up their own sled, harness their own four dog team and then with my assistance drive their own sled over our groomed dogsled tour trail.

The business seems to have taken on a life of its own and grows a bit each year. Since I do not plan on physically making the business any larger we are just about at capacity now. We will just do what we can each winter and try to accommodate as many guests as we can while keeping things the same size.

Once the snow melts in the spring we wind things down and settle into our summer routine of daily play time and socialization and summer projects. I have no problem keeping busy during the no-snow months. We grow much of our own food here and of course there is always firewood to be cut, split and stacked as well as dozens of other off season projects to catch up on. It’s a time to recover and think ahead to the next season when we start it all over again.

 

 

 

Ken Haggett, owner of Peace Pups Dogsledding