To the Anti-Sled Dog Activist.

To the Anti Sled Dog Activist:

Just another example of how wrong you are about everything you think you know. Anyone else in tune with their dogs will see every word Rob wrote is true. I can feel it, and see it in this video, and I know you will as well. The dogs are everything to a real musher.

Shaytaan Siberian Huskies Sled Dog Team1 hr · 

Excuse the self-indulgence. I agonized all last weekend over this decision. I really needed to drop from 28 to 24 dogs in training. Three candidates were kind of obvious and whilst I knew who the fourth needed to be I still did not want to make the decision.

However Maddie has really stopped enjoying running, the start of this video shows that so clearly, and whilst she would never give up I knew I had to make the decision. The time had come to retire her from the main team and so on Tuesday, I decided to take her out for one final run in lead with the main team who she has shared tens of thousands of trail miles with – for old time’s sake.

It is probably not a surprise but I cried a lot as we ran (and I am crying now as I write this). For her final run, I put her in lead next to Psycho – I am not sure how much she appreciated that but she has run next to him in lead so much. I wish it had not been so dark at the end of the run as she was so happy when we got back to the yard, smiling at me and wagging her bum frantically as she always does when she knows she has done an amazing job.

I have written an article about her exploits which we will share initially to Patreon and eventually to a wider audience but for now a video of her final run. I apologize for the music but it captures how I am feeling.