(soft music) (dogs barking) - Boys!

You're ready, aren't ya?

(dogs barking) I wanna win Stage Stop.

That is the number one goal for us for sure.

The competition is stiff.

The best of the best come here to race.

It makes my dogs better, I think it makes me better.

It's a challenging thing and I'd like to kick its butt one day.

(dogs barking) (calm music) (engine rumbling) Bigs.

Good boys.

You guys are so smart.

Hi.

Hi.

Hi, Snoop.

Hi boy.

Summertime is mostly about having fun and letting the dogs be dogs.

(water splashing) (bright music) The dogs that we run are not what you would picture in your mind.

Like everyone sees a Disney movie with the big fluffy Siberian Huskies and the blue eyes.

For what we do, that's not really what we're looking for.

We're breeding for a good appetite, good feet, athletic ability.

They have to have a good personality, they have to be willing to work with you.

All of those things come together to make these super athletes.

(bright music) (dogs barking) Whatcha doing?

Want some treats?

Here you go.

(dogs barking) There you go.

Dray.

I wanna a win Stage Stop, that is the number one goal for us for sure.

It's a very unique race.

It's hard, it's seven days.

Like most sprint and mid-distance mushing is not that long.

Frank, who owns the kennel and is my boss, he started that race.

- I was running long distance in like the Iditarod.

When I run 1,100 miles across Alaska, you see a big crowd in Anchorage and then it's you and your dogs.

I wanted to involve the general public to educate them as to what it is that we're actually doing out there.

(dogs barking) This is the equivalent of the Tour de France of sled dogs.

We started the race 29 years ago and I've yet to win it.

And I've talked to Alix about this.

I mean, she was second last year.

You know what that means?

Someone was faster.

Maybe not this year, maybe she'll win.

(dogs barking) - All right.

Quick disclaimer, it's gonna be really loud.

(dogs barking) Just like people, you know, they have different metabolisms so they all get fed a little bit differently.

Like size doesn't really matter.

Some dogs like Buster here, who has that rock in his mouth, he gets just as much food as some of the biggest dogs here.

Kind of just depends on the dog, right?

Like a person.

(dogs barking) I've always had dogs but never the experience of watching, you know, these dogs like work so hard for someone.

Like, they work hard for you all winter, you know, and they're happy about it too.

If you do it right, you know there's a lot of care that goes into it with it.

You know, most of dog mushing is just care.

(dogs barking) - Right now we're feeding, we have two litters of young dogs down here.

One is, I think three weeks and the other's three months.

(puppies whining) Hi, guys.

Are you ready?

Wait.

Wait.

(dog barks) Come on.

Come on.

Hi, guys.

Hi, guys.

I would say that their personalities right now are probably not a very good judge of what they're gonna be like in the future.

Like when that little one over there, who's super friendly now, she was so shy of people at first.

Normally we end up having pups in the summer, even if we try to plan it for the spring.

So we have to do lots of shade and make sure they're nice and cool.

You can have a race team and never have any puppies, but you have to buy your whole team from somebody else and we think it's really cool to have that relationship with them from this age.

So we really enjoy being able to raise all of our own dogs instead of getting them from somewhere else.

- The people that help me are huge.

I couldn't do it without them.

I mean, it's selfless, right?

Like you don't get any of the credit but you're doing the same amount or more of the hard work.

It's not an easy job.

I mean, you're up super early and it's physical labor and it's cold and you're running around and I appreciate them so much.

(tranquil music) (tranquil music continues) This dog here, this is Snoop and last year he kind of struggled a little bit with the distance so we're really hoping that he's kind of matured this year and he's gonna get rolling.

He's such a nice dog.

- [Doug] All right, good dogs.

(whistles) - Good dogs, that's so good.

Yeah.

The beginning of October we start hooking them up in harness and so we're just kind of sorting through those dogs and looking at performance right now.

We're not being too judgy at the moment, right, because it's early season.

But if we see someone struggling pretty hard right now, that's a pretty good indicator that they're not gonna make it 35 miles.

Snoopy doop, on your feet, soldier.

You okay?

Yeah, you better go get some water.

- I don't sell dogs, I don't give them away.

They're born here, raised here, trained here, and retired here.

If they don't make my racing team, they go on the tour operation.

(calm music) - There's a full program for all of these dogs.

We don't just race them and then they're done and be like, oh, well see you later.

Like, we have a plan for them for their whole entire life.

Even though like my dogs retire from the race and I don't get to work with them every single day, they go into the tours and they're teaching new people how to be dog mushers, which is another way that we are kind of helping people learn about our sport, helping people be involved in it and see what a cool relationship it is to have with a working animal.

(calm music) I first came to Wyoming as a guide to work in the tour operation and I didn't know anything about running sled dogs.

- I noticed her approach to the dogs and her work ethic.

And I remember distinctly, this was 14 or 15 years ago, I said, "I got something."

(dogs barking) She's a hard worker, I do not have to put any pressure on her.

As a matter of fact I don't, because she puts it on herself.

She's trying to make that team the best it can be.

(dogs barking) - It's not just a sport, it's a lifestyle.

Like when I start training in October, this is what I'm doing.

Everything else is not important, you know?

Which is kind of hard, like you have to be kind of obsessive about it, you know?

I wanna be successful, like I wanna do good, I wanna follow through, and you can always be better.

There's always room for improvement in this sport.

There's room to be better at caring for dogs, there's room to be a better dog driver, there's room to be better at meeting people and telling them about what we do.

And so it's really hard to get away from, for sure.

(calm music) Sled day is what we all live for, for sure.

The first sled run of the year is equal parts terrifying and glorious.

You finally get to see the actual ability of the dogs.

It's not the throttle, you're not second guessing whether the dog is really working or you're helping it and you're gonna see the power of that dog team and what it's gonna feel like for the rest of the season.

(dogs barking) Hi, Peeki.

Hi, Peeki.

Are you ready for your spa?

We have a sky kennel, like a plastic bottom kennel and we fill it with warm water and surgical scrub.

And so the dog will soak in there for five, 10 minutes and then they come out and we check their feet.

So we're looking for fissures, which are splits in between the pads, like in that skin that's kind of the webbing, we're looking for fissures in there.

We're looking for dings in the pads, particularly around the toenail area.

And then after we're done they get a nice long body massage, head to toe, stretching, massaging.

And so we're just looking for any issues that might flare up in the future.

- It's a really big part of what we do and a really big part of being competitive but also feeling good about what we're doing is knowing our dogs are well taken care of.

And the most important part is giving them some snuggles.

Huh, Finn?

Snuggles is important sometimes, yeah.

He's a crazy boy.

Come on.

Here's Snoopy.

He might not run on Stage Stop.

We'll kind of have to see, we'll have to make that decision.

Based on the weather forecast and how he does on these next few training runs.

Obviously we wanna make the right decision or the decision that's best for him.

So if it's gonna be warm or if it's gonna be a little hard for him, we don't want him to be in the team.

What are you doing?

But we love Snoop, we want you on the track, huh?

We've put so much work in for a long time and Alix has for even longer than I have and this team is kind of what we've been looking for for a while and I do think that if we were gonna win, this is gonna be the year.

(calm music) - [Jess] Hi, this is Jess Moore.

I just wanted to give you a call because Alix actually is not gonna be able to make it.

She had a seizure this morning, her husband called an ambulance.

She's doing fine now, but she will not be able to do anything for the rest of the day.

- They did some CT scans and found a giant tumor in my brain.

They put me on an airplane and sent me to Salt Lake City and I had brain surgery.

It's just crazy to have had that happen and not really known it was coming, you know, like it just kind of came outta nowhere, so.

(wind howling) So the race starts tomorrow night, so I'm one week out of surgery, which means that I'm not gonna be capable of racing.

Luckily I have Jess Moore who's been my friend and helping me run dogs for a long time and she's basically just taken right over.

I think the first day she'll be super nervous and then after that she'll just get on the program and life will be good.

(phone ringing) - [Liz] Hey, Jess.

- [Jess] Hey Liz.

Sorry I missed you.

- [Liz] No, that's okay.

You're busy, busy, busy.

I just wanna make sure while I'm in town if there was anything else you needed that I could get it for you.

- [Jess] No, I don't think so.

I think we got everything pretty well sorted.

Just hoping Doug can get here soon with that truck.

Do you know what the status on that is?

- [Liz] I just hung up with Frank before I called you.

So batteries are being driven to him.

He'll have to swap them out and then he can get to you.

And that's what's happening.

That's all I know.

- Okay.

Yeah, I heard that.

I thought that was maybe kind of long ago.

I thought maybe he'd be here by now, but it's fine.

Everything is fine.

(tense music) A lot of people were really looking at Alix this year 'cause she got second in the Stage Stop last year and has been getting better and better.

There's no way to say that this actually would've been a winning team even if she had been the one driving 'em.

No matter who the individual is, you're not gonna win the Stage Stop without the right dog team.

But no matter what the dog team is, you're not gonna win the Stage Stop if you're not the right musher.

Obviously I do feel a little bit of pressure on myself, you know, I wanna mostly, you know, like do the best I can to honor Alix and to make it be a little bit more okay than it is that she's not the one stepping on the runners.

(calm music) (dogs barking) - This is the vet check.

Not only are they gonna make sure that everyone competing is appropriately running their dog, but also, you know, if anything should happen, they're gonna be here to help us as well.

Jess has never run this race, but she's handled for it and seen the race many, many of times.

She knows these dogs super, super well.

You know, we're missing our lead dog Alix, but she put a lot of hard work into training us.

So with Alix being out the right people are still here and we're gonna crush it.

(soft music) - It's funny because this year I've felt really calm about everything, and maybe that's because we're just getting better at what we do or who knows, maybe body knew about all this craziness that was about to go on with my brain, I don't know.

But I'm excited for Jess to run Stage Stop and run the best team that we've had.

Like, this is the best team that we've had since we started working together.

(dogs barking) - I'm so excited for you.

I love you so much, I'm really proud of you and you're gonna do amazing.

- Okay.

- Don't cry.

- I'm not crying.

- It sucks that I don't get to do it, but I'm glad that she gets to do it.

She's the other half of the team, so it's perfect that she gets to fill in that hole for me and make it happen.

- [Announcer] Three, two, one, Jess Moore is on the trail.

(bright music) - I'm gonna be super proud of Jess, super proud of the dogs.

I hope they have a good time.

I hope they enjoy it.

I hope they don't overstress.

Having been sick, running dogs is not as stressful as I used to think it was.

Now I think a little bit more about the fun part of it.

Not too worried about being competitive anymore or any of that, like I would just want to run dogs.

Just wanna go have a good time.

Yeah.

(engine rumbling) (dog panting) Good boys.

I can't believe they ran through them cows like that.

That was outstanding.

- That was awesome.

- [Alix] I was just like, well, it's gonna be how it's gonna be and they hardly even looked over there and then we said their names, they were like, oh yeah, okay, we're running.

- They're like, I don't know what you're telling me, but I'm guessing it's don't do that.

- [Alix] Don't do that.

(laughs) - We were super grateful for the opportunity to run.

Grateful that Alix got to be there in some ways and obviously very, very proud that we ended up pulling off a third place finish.

- She was awesome.

I mean, third place is not something small in that race.

It's a big deal.

(water splashing) You need a brushin', boy.

You shed into your summer coat so you could get your winter one.

- [Jess] You guys have missed Alix.

You guys have missed her.

- Well, my tumor has been shrinking.

Hopefully it goes away completely.

Like that's kind of the goal of all this crazy treatment that affects you in other bad ways, but it's kind of like a lifelong battle I think.

I'm not too scared of it, it is what it is so we'll just keep going till we don't keep going, you know?

(engine rumbling) (dogs barking) (dogs barking) One thing I haven't lost is my poop scooping ability.

(dogs barking) You crazy, you crazy.

That's Leah's dad.

Big D!

And Derrick's the dad to a lot of my dogs out there, Tommy and Finn and all those guys, and then Mickey and Carl.

But they don't run on the race team anymore, they're training young dogs now, so they just kind of lost their, not their speed, but their ability to do it for a long time.

So, stop.

You're crazy.

But it's good 'cause they get to keep doing what they like to do, just not as far.

So they're great dogs for training young dogs.

(calm music) In some ways it's calmed me down, but at the same time it's kind of pushed me to be like, if there's something you wanna achieve in your life, you need to get going on that.

But actually my goal is to win the Stage Stop.

I've been running it for a while and I've got second, so I wanna win it too, you know, like it's a pretty big deal to win that race, so I wanna shoot for that, yeah.

- We have been gunning for that first for a long time, so we're gonna do what we do every year and make the team the best we can and I think we're just gonna go business as usual.

(calm music)