B.A.R.K.

B.A.R.K. - a sound a dog makes but it also stands for Buy A Round of Kibble. My friends Claudia and Lee Nowak, from Traverse City, Michigan came up with this awesome way for mushing fans to help support their favorite teams. We have the B.A.R.K. logo on this blog and I thought I'd explain how it works.

Having a kennel of sled dogs is an expensive proposition and dog food is a big part of that. We're serious about nutrition and feed a high performance food which means our dog food bill alone runs about $9,000 a year. This is just for kibble. We have awesome friends who provide meat and fish for our crew. Our dogs enjoy moose and caribou scraps and salmon and white fish during the cold winter months.

Last year a woman generously donated her aged mule to our kennel. Daisy was 36 years old and worked her whole life. The woman didn't want her to be put down and buried, but she felt that by giving her to a kennel Daisy would continue to make a contribution. We made sure her death was swift and humane and she provided our dogs with nourishment and strength last winter. Sometimes a musher will be called upon to put down a horse that is either old or has broken a leg. The meat is never wasted. That is just part of how life is lived in this part of Alaska.

In addition to the food bill we spend money on veterinary care, harnesses, sleds, lines, booties, nursing the dog truck and race fees. I'm pretty sure the IRS must shake their heads in wonder when we file our tax returns. Whoever reviews ours probably spends a lot of time googling expenses like "S-hook tool", "QCR plastic" and "ganglines." They are probably also stumped by why we spend $250 on dog collars, $2,000 on dog booties, $1,500 on harnesses and $800 on rope.

We have met so many wonderful dogmushing fans over the past few years and have often been asked what they can do to help. I was never able to really give a good answer. I didn't want to say "Well how about buying 80 new harnesses at $25 each?"

But now there is B.A.R.K. How it works is that a person can call up Cold Spot Feeds, our supplier, at 907-457-8555 and purchase a bag or two of food for our dogs. We feed Red Paw 30/20 and we also supplement with a high fat product called Energy Pak (40 lb bag) in the winter. The Energy Pak is a powdered supplement we add to their food. Cold Spot will know if we already have the Energy Pak we need. You can also get onto their web site at http://www.coldspotfeeds.com/ and order food. It's important that you mention this is for Tailwaggers Kennel. Email us at musherpeg@gmail.com and let us know if you've purchased something so we can pick it up and more importantly, thank you for your support!

Now when folks ask what they can do to help I can tell them about B.A.R.K. It's a great way for a mushing fan to support a kennel when they can and I can tell you that the dogs definitely appreciate it!