It turns out Mr. Garnie is a true master in the art of dog teaming, as illustrated by his record and reputation in the Iditarod, but more importantly as shown in how he lives his everyday life in the beautiful country surrounding Teller.

After hanging around and helping out in Joe's kennel for a few months I was given a 3 year old female who had been running in swing (Mugs), a 2 year old male (Eskimo), and breeding rights that spring to one of Joe's up and comming leaders at the time (Price). Joe also loaned me 3-4 older dogs to run for the winter.

I was off for the year... I spent the winter running my small team of 5-6 dogs and all over the country... mostly off trail on the hard wind-blown snow of the Bering Sea coast. It was great fun! And totally challanging... learning about dog care, dog running, the the always changing and excitting coastal weather, but most importantly how to train a leader....Mugs.

Then in the spring I bred Mugs to Price (but she also got jumped by Eskimo) and before the snow was all melted I had my first litter of sled dogs and was forced to train another leader as Mugs was sidlined being a mom! That spring Joe gave me one more dog... a young puppy (6 months) that was from a female he had leased to Jeff King for the Iditarod the year before and who had come back pregnant... Gordon!

Gordon become my main leader the next year and also the main stud in my breeding program. I have yet to buy a dog and through selective breeding and line-breeding with Gordon, Eskimo, and mugs (and her offspring) I have built up a small Kennel of very nice annimals. This past year we (Charlie Allison and I) were given a dog from Jerry Sausa that he had bought from Martin Buser, a young female named Ruby. She has been working out very well as a leader in Charlie's team this fall and we will probable breed her into our line this spring to freshen up the genetics of the kennel.

Gordon is the main stud for the kennel........And the main leader. He is the offspring of a Joe Garnie female that was leased to Jeff King for the 2000 Iditarod and came home pregnant. He is an amazing gee-haw leader who was trained by Mugs and is now pulling heavy duty training a new crop of younger leaders to follow in his place. Big (60-65lbs)and with long legs he has the power and the speed to keep the team in line.

Goldeen is one of Gordon's son's (4yrs old), an up and comming leader himself, who is mostly running as the main the leader in the team Charlie Allison is training for the Jr. Iditarod...though he will certainly be with me for the longer Iditarod, as well as, my qualifying races. He is smaller (40-45lbs) and faster, with a smoother gait, than gordon but needs a little more maturity before he becomes the main kennel leader ... he is certainly getting there though!

Transom is the kennel Queen! Always neat and clean... and even dry on the rainiest of summer days. She is a smallish 30-35 lbs with an ultra-smooth, fast stepping trot. A year older than Goldeen at 5 years she is a good trail leader but stuggles a little with gee-haws... mostly because she very, very, very pig headed! :)

Creamer is another Gordon X Mugs offspring excelling as a leader... just like Goldeen, although she is a year younger than Goldeen. She will be 3 at the start of Iditarod 34. A little thicker than Transom her gait in a trot is bit rougher but she more easily switches back and forth between a lope and a trot.

Always fun and excitting to run in front... she as a nasty habit of taking cheap little bites and nips out of people or dogs as she runs by them! Never mean or hard though, just little nip to keep all of us in the kennel on our toes!

A powerful dog at around 50lbs, NeedleFish is Goldeen's lettermate. He has a bit of the Devil in him and like Creamer requires that I am on my toes when he is running in lead. He is a good leader, though, and spends a fair amount of time up there (never with creamer, though...that would be courting disaster for sure!).

As a very young puppy (8wks) NeedleFish got very sick and for a few days we weren't sure he would live... he spent those days in our cabin next to the wood stove looking very sad... But then he got better and has never had an off days since! Defiently one of my favorite dogs... not that they aren't all my favorites!

Ash is a Gordon X Pirate cross. Tall, Long, and Lean! He is only 2 years old and one of the nicest looking dogs in the kennel at about 55lbs but as tall and long as Gordon.

When all the rest of the team is in a full lope, running fast, Ash will easily be trotting along smooth as silk... looking like he is ice skating rather than running!

He has run in lead a bunch when we running smaller teams but still a little flighty when he is in front of a bigger team, so we will hold off putting him up there with much regularity for another year or so to give him tme to mature.

Beatrice is Ash's littermate. A bit smaller at around 45-50lbs she is not as pretty to look at when she runs but has a huge heart and never stops moving (notice how blurred the photo is!).

She will also run up front and is a little more consistant up there than her brother. But like him she is still a little young compared to the other great leaders we have so we will keep in reserve for another year or so.

Fletch is B's and Ash's brother, but not a litter mate. He is a younger but is training with the older dogs for the time being. Like Ash, he is smooth and fast and is having no trouble running with the big boys. Though, we are watching him close...he will likely run the Jr. Iditarod with Charlie but not the Iditarod with me.

The Old-Man-Of-The-Kennel! Slow, smooth, and always there when I need him! He is helping Charlie train the younger dogs for now but will most likely be comming along on my qualifying races and the Iditarod.

Certainly, the slowest in the kennel... he makes sure we aren't running the young dogs to fast!!

Funny is......well FUNNY! A really nice dog from Gordon X Pidgy. He is a yearling and probably won't run in my Iditarod team but should be there for Charlie and the Jr. Iditarod.

There is nothing outstanding about this dog like many of the oters listed above but.... well, he is fun to be around!

A truely nice do in the classic husky way! Another Gordon X Pidgy cross, Noisy is Funnies littermate... a little bigger with slightly longer leg legs and a prettier, more powerful trot. We expect great things from this dog as he getws older...

We plan for him to run both the Jr. Iditarod with Charlie, as well, as the Iditarod with me. Though, because he is young I will watch him close to see how he does in the day after-day-running of the Iditarod. He, as well as Fletch, are a big part of the kennels future plans and so I don't want to puch them to hard this year... just give them a taste so they want it all the more next year, and more years to come.

The Little Engine That CAN! Pidgy is Goldeen and NeedleFish's littermate but much smaller in size than either of them... but she makes up for it in Heart (with a capital H, for sure)!

Only about 30lbs, with short little legs, she always has a tight tug line and is the hardest pulling, hardest working dog on the team.

A true running dog, in the kennel she only barely suffers human contact... disdains the doghouse I built and lives in her own borrow that she dug... But pull at harness' or make any other move that looks like getting ready to go on a run and she is all over you... yanking and jumping and barking...dying, loving, to be out on the trail!

A nice female! Littermate to Transom... though from a different father (dogs can sire pups from different fathers in the same litter...crazy to our our human mentality...but true).

Pirate is one of the dogs I never have to think about! She is just always there! Pulling hard, eating well, never hurt or sore. If she was a kid in school she would be one of those ones that teachers never rembered their names... but then later grew up to develop a cure for cancer! Just a great, solid dog!

The BEAST! A very big, powerful dog at 70+ lbs! Probably to big for a race team but as littermate to Pirate and Transom and the results of the very first breeding I ever did... He holds a special place in my heart! Besides with the 8mph average speed that we are planning to run he should do fine.

All his size makes him the main man when it comes to running the hills! He has the power to pull the whole team up hills by himself! When we were mostly hauling wood and Ice he was an invaluable part of the team... now that we are training to race he is not quit as sure about things... but he has been helping to add a powerfull force and consistancy to the team of younger dogs that Charlie is training for the Jr. Iditarod.

He will probably strart the Iditarod with me, as well... but I will take him on my qualifying races to see how he does there first before deciding.

A sweet little female littermate to Goldeen, Pidgy, and NeddleFish she doesn't always seem to live up to her potential... but we are working hard to nuture her along.

She spent last year running in lead for Charlie on shorter fun and wood runs with smaller teams than we are running this year. She seems to be having trouble with larger teams going farther... but we are hoping that with tme and care we can get her more comfortable.

We'll see... if not she is excellent at leading small teams and will be a great help in training young pups for a long tiome to come!

Ruby:

Ruby is a young female that was given to Charlie from Gerald Sussa out of Martin Buser's kennel. She is a fast trotting little girl that fits in well with the rest of our dogs. Charlie has been running her in lead with Goldeen and is very happy with her! It is possible that she will be a great match for Ash or Goldeen this spring when breeding season rolls around.

Bruser:

Brother to Noisy and Funny, Bruser is a wild dog that never seems to tire and has fast, snappy little trot that doesn't look like it should work all that well... But the proof is in the pudding, as they say, and Bruser's tug line is never slack!

Hermoine:

A littermate to Bruser, Noisy, and Funny, Hermoine seems to have gotten the spunk and size of her mother (Pidgy). I haven't run her to much yet but Charlie has and likes her a bunch.

Fluffy:

Fluffy is dog of charlies that I don't know to much about yet... he is big male that seems to have a ton of potential.