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Puffi and I admiring the view from Kungsleden, Abisko NP. If you’re reading this and you have the right to live and work freely within the EU, then congratulations! I’m incredibly jealous of you. After spending two weeks volunteering in a kennel in Lannavaara, I’m in the midst of visa anxiety again. 2 weeks ago, Jessie flew to Finland to briefly see where I had been staying with Stefan, and we road-tripped back into Sweden. It was SO good to see her and receive a hug after 2

Gangster Sam Finland Finland is allegedly the ‘happiest country in the world’. I have no idea how this is the case, because every Finnish person I meet or hear about, is grumpy. Perhaps it’s different and more vibrant in the cities further south. But I’ve enjoyed learning a bit about the culture! There is a word that means sitting alone and drinking in your underwear - kalsarikännit - which directly translates to ‘underpants drunkenness’. Apparently it’s also super common for

Short disclaimer: I’m definitely not an expert, but I’ve become quite fascinated by the racing side of sledding. Here are my findings/thoughts. Tourism and racing are the two avenues for sled dogs. I think it’s quite rare to have a pure racing kennel without tourism, since racing is an expensive endeavour (transport to the race, accommodation at the race, registration fees, paying the transport and accommodation for your handler, and typical dog costs e.g. food, race booties

I only have 2 more weeks left here, and I’ll be spending most of it alone. My main purpose of being here is to allow Stefan to take some time off, so he’s been taking full advantage! It’s been raining a lot over the past few days, so the kennel is really muddy, and I’m sure the mosquitoes are using this time to breed and breed and breed. The sun is setting at 10.43pm and rising at 3.34am. Jessie arrives in 13 days and I’m so excited to see a familiar face and most importantly

I’ve been here for over three weeks now - I’m already halfway into my stay! The time is FLYING by, and every day I’m learning so much. Weather Report: The sun is currently rising at 4.39am, and setting at 9.45pm, but it’s not getting fully dark. The weather has been giving us a bit of whiplash, because we get a few gusts of snow/hail per day, but as long as it’s not rain, I’m happy. If April/May/June are mostly dry, the mosquitos won’t be so bad for the rest of summer. The ke

‘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

It’s official - I only have one more day left working at Pojmis Kennel! How on earth did time move so fast? The snow is melting quickly (we can actually see our driveway now, although every time we step on it, we get muddy shoes), and it’s been raining a lot. Cuddles with Thunder! On Wednesday we had our last tour. Since the snow is bad on the lake, we’d been running tours like we did in December. This involved the sleds going out the back of the kennel, around a really bad

Since the beginning of March, we’ve been dipping in and out of positive temperatures! All of the snow has fallen off the trees, and is starting to (dangerously) fall off the roofs. We can actually feel the warmth from the sun and we have a UV of 1! It feels exciting and sad at the same time, because I’m already nostalgic for the season and it hasn’t even ended yet. Our superstar mum Bambi gave birth to 8 healthy puppies on the 1st of March - 4 males and 4 females. As a team,

Skiing in Levi Over the past few weeks, we have been busy with non-sledding activities! Some of my highlights include: Skiing in Levi Five of us (myself, Jessie, Jade, Lou and Lubin) drove north after work, rented an airbnb, and then woke up in Levi the next morning. We had the slopes completely to ourselves, and clear skies all day! We even had the most spectacular auroras during the drive. Skiing in Överkalix The local slope in Överkalix (also known as the Slalom Hill) is o

Out for training with Scott, Atlas, Yard, Collin and Jokki. What happens to the dogs when they get old? For the most part, we let the dog decide when they are done running. Some dogs clearly don't enjoy sledding even in their prime, and try to wriggle out of their harness on the line (Joyce's dog Trix was like this, so now she is just happy being in the kennel). Most dogs start slowing down when they are 10-11 years old. We notice that they aren't as excited as they used to

This past week has been freezing in Lapland. The thermometer has been hovering around -35°C, and our tours have been cancelled. It's too cold for the guests, and even getting to the limit of what the dogs can handle. When its colder than -20°C, we put jackets on them when they're waiting in line, and we place straw piles on the snow so that they can curl up and find some warmth even on the cold days. All rugged up to go fat-biking in -35°C on my day off. Clothing The cold tem

Tours are always a mixed bag - every week we have a few great tours (where the guests are good drivers and the dogs are well behaved), but we also have our fair share of 'interesting' tours. So far, I've found that the best drivers are the German guests. I like to make it a competition for the groups to be the best driver. Reindeer The dogs being well-behaved while they wait in line for 2 hours between tours. The jackets are for the dogs who have shorter coats of hair. Last w

The past few days have been some of my favourite in and out of the kennel. I've listed some highlights below :) Sledding at midday! The first sun sighting in 3 weeks. The temperatures have been hovering around -30°C for a few days, and this arctic blast is expected to continue for another week! We have opened another half-day trail (about 15km long, which takes ~1.5 hours) on a beautiful trail - now we have 3 possible trails for half-day tours. We had our first tour day of th

To say the weather hasn't been on our side this season would be an understatement. We received our first proper snowfall on the 12th of November, and then we had a week of cold temperatures (around -20°C). Since then, the temperature has been hovering around -5°C, and even coming up into positive temperatures. We haven't been out on the lakes as much as we should have, because the warm temperatures make us nervous that the ice won't hold, or there will be too much water, and

A beautiful morning for a half day tour (16/12/25) On the 2nd of December, we went out on the sleds for the first time - with guests. To start with, we used our 4-passenger sleds with 8-dog teams, on a 6km loop. But when you have ~30 guests, it's almost impossible to get through all of the guests in the 2-hour time limit, because the trail has some tricky corners, and a road crossing. So, in the 2 weeks that we've been sledding, we've made some adjustments. LGE - Singapore Fo

Our house! Where 5 of us live. We typically work in the kennel 8-9 hours a day, 5 days a week. It's a relatively short commute to work (a 5 min walk), so we have a lot of free time! On our days off, we usually have to make a trip into town (20 minute drive) to do our groceries, drop off the household recycling and change sheets at the hotel. We also have to do the 'boring' adult chores, such as meal prepping, and cleaning the house. In winter, the local ski hill opens up. It'

This past week has brought freezing temperatures of -30°C ! We're currently in a strange limbo between using quad bikes and snowmobiles, and (sadly) we still haven’t touched the sleds. A few days last week, we took the snowmobiles out onto the lake with some 10-dog teams. It was beautiful - first in the sun, and later in the sunset. Since then, some “warmer” temperatures (around -10°C) and heavy snowfall have made the lake unsafe again. Joyce told me that sometimes the moose

Our frozen lake at sunrise! After months of waiting for freezing temperatures, today the thermometer read -12°C. Over the next 4 days, we are expecting ~30cm of snow. This will be our first significant snowfall of the season, so it's very exciting! It means that we can stop training with the quad bikes (which I'm thankful for, because they don't have much grip on the frozen ground, and we can't use the handbrake when the temperature is below 0°C), and start using the snowmobi

Luna There's more to a husky kennel than just sledding. Of course, every day we feed the dogs, ensure they have enough water, care for any injuries, and clean up after them. But there are also weekly, monthly, and annual duties that keep the kennel running smoothly. Weekly , we check the kennels. In summer, the dogs love to dig holes in the wood-chips, which can expose the wire below and potentially cause injuries. They might even dig under the fence, or chew on the supportin

Yesterday we welcomed our very first guests of the season - all the way from Singapore! Since it’s early October and there’s still no snow, we’re using our four-passenger wagons, each hitched with 14 dogs. For now, our trails are the same ones the cars use, so we occasionally meet some traffic. Thankfully, most drivers spot our fluorescent vests (and the dogs’ reflective harnesses) and slow down to pass us. I was nervous before we set off. Lately, we’ve been struggling with t