After the snow was gone last winter, I’m thrilled to say that I received my diploma from Lead Dog School. Now that I’ve graduated from formal schooling, I’m now officially a member of the Life Long Learner Club. Part of being a life long learner is sharing what you know with others. This fall, I became a mentor to a new puppy named Tulip – I’m a trainer, a tutor, a coach! Helping a new pup learn the ropes of our kennel and team is more exciting than I ever imagined.

Tulip was born on March 29, 2010 at Nature’s Kennel in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan owned by the Ed Stielstra family. It was time to add another young dog to our running team. When handler went to a Musher Symposium and Teacher’s Conference in the U.P., Tulip came home with her. It wasn’t all that long ago that I was the new puppy in the kennel so I’m quite excited be mentoring a new young pup.

At just seven months old, Tulip began her career in harness. She watched the team run out of the kennel a couple of times and by her actions, it was clear she was wanting to give it a try. She dove into her harness, danced a short distance to her spot on the gangline and she was ready to run. As a team dog, Tulip was focused and has kept her tugline taught from the beginning. Tulip has told me she really wants to run at the front of the team. Her goal is to be a leader. I think she’s got what it takes and I can’t wait to have her running next to me.

When a new dog comes to the kennel, he or she always comes with “papers.” Sled dogs don’t come with American Kennel Club (AKC) registration papers because we’re not purebred, we’re actually Heinz 57 mutts. The papers we come with are a diagram or bracket of our bloodlines and ancestors. Well Tulip and I got to talking about our families and suddenly we realized that we have the same great-great-grandmother, Roxie. Roxie was a Martin Buser dog, the mother or grandmother of many of his Iditarod Championship dogs. It’s cool to think that I’m related to Tulip even if it is as distant cousins. I knew there was something really special about Tulip!

You might be wondering about Tulip’s name. At first I thought she was named for those flowers that pop out of the ground in the spring that we have so much fun digging up, which doesn’t make our Handler or Musher very happy.  Later I learned that Tulip’s siblings were named Auger, Conch, Coquina, Mussel, Olive, Triton and Wentel. Her litter was named after sea shells. One of these days when I have time, I’m going to do a Google image search to see what the other shells in Tulip’s litter look like. I hope you do the same.

Let PRIDE be your guide!

Born to Run,

Sanka