First Days in Finland

‘Hei’ is Hello in Finnish! And Finland is 1 hour ahead of Sweden. On Sunday, I said goodbye to the kennel girls (countless tears at the airport for Jessie, but if all goes according to plan and pinky promise, we should only be apart for 52 days), and got driven over the border to Finland. Until the end of May, I’m volunteering/working in a racing kennel to gain some more experience.

My boss/mentor/friend/housemate’s name is Stefan, and he’s 28, from Germany. He’s been in the mushing business for over 6 years now, and he’s worked in some bigger kennels (previously in management positions). Now, he has his own property and kennel with 29 dogs - 20 adults and 9 “yearlings”. I admire his ambition, and I can see exactly how he ended up here. Some people just get hooked and that’s it. I’ve heard his long-term goals for the future, and I think he’s already achieved the hardest part.

I’ve only been here for 2 days, but I already know all of the dog names. There are 4 dogs on chains (which I’ve never seen before, as it’s illegal in Sweden), and the rest are inside kennel fences. There are even some relatives of dogs from my previous kennel which is cool (Aslan here has the same father [K2] as Liam). The daily routine here seems to be the following:

Between 7.30 - 9am: start poop-scooping and check water

9am: free-run

10am: project (making lines, chopping wood, cleaning straw, painting fences etc.) or free time

1pm: lunch

1.30pm: project or free time

4pm: feed dogs, poop scoop and top-up water.

At the moment, Stefan prefers to feed in the afternoon, but he’s not too strict on the consistency of the timing - he said that he will often switch it up, and feed the dogs in the morning one week, then the afternoon the next. Tomorrow he is going away for a couple of days (going sledding and camping in Kilpisjärvi), so I’ve been able to see some behind-the-scenes preparation work! Stefan and his girlfriend (Chloe) are taking 17 dogs between them, which they’ll transport inside the trailer, and in crates in the back of the van. The sleds are strapped to the top of the trailer, and all of the extra gear and equipment (lines, a stakeout, clothes, food, dog food, tent, stove, dog jackets, dog medical etc.) will be inside Stefan’s sled basket.

We talked a bit about sled designs. His racing sled doesn’t have a box (rare in racing nowadays, but 5 years ago, boxes were only just starting to pop up). As a general rule of thumb, the thinner the runners, the faster you go. But if the snow is deep and light, the runners will sink in. Most of the time, thicker runners create more friction. A box is useful, because it acts as a seat, and it doubles as a cooler, so you have storage room for dog snacks. The downside is that it can be annoying for the musher to ‘push’ outside of the runners, as opposed to directly under the break mat like usual.

Another interesting thing he said (interesting to me, anyway!), is that Pluto has ‘single pup syndrome’. This is similar to an ‘only child’ being unfamiliar with sharing resources or attention, and being extra bitchy. I’ve recognised it in other dogs (e.g. Juli), but never made the connection to the dog being a single pup.

Yesterday I got to work making necklines. I made 31, but by Friday I will have made 100. Today Stefan took me ice fishing. We used maggots as the bait and I caught a small bass within the first 10 minutes! He also showed me how to measure the thickness of the ice (~35cm) and what ‘needle ice’ looks like, since it can be quite deceiving and dangerous. I’m learning the differences in the relevant laws between Norway, Sweden and Finland, and what the successful kennels have in common. Stefan has worked in quite a few kennels across the region, so I’m gradually forming ideas for where I want to be next season.

We also talked A LOT about pedigrees and genetics. More on that to come…