I grew up in southern Minnesota on a small hobby farm with a love of all animals, especially happy ones.  I graduated high school and went to college completing my Associates Degree in Veterinary Technology. Soon after, I entered the veterinary field.   

I was introduced to the sport of sled dog racing in 2003 when a friend asked me to volunteer on the veterinary team for a race . I said "Sure why not I'm always looking for something new to do!"  Little did I know that it would be a life altering event.  I was lost to the dogs at the first vet check.  The energy that is put off by the canine athletes was incredible and the mushers that cared for these creatures had their own!  I was immediately hooked and didn't sleep for the next 3 days...

 

I've volunteered my time for over 30 distance races over the years and have fallen in love. I have worked every race I could just to get the feeling of complete and utter happiness at the starting line when these amazing athletes are harnessed up and taking off down the trail.  It's hard to describe.

 

As life would have it, I started looking for something more, the pieces that were so painfully missing from my life.  This lead me to actually start learning how to run and care for sled dogs outside of a race.  Starting in 2012, I was found pretty much every weekend helping my friend Natalie, with her kennel of purebred racing Siberians and fell even deeper in love with the sport.  Here is where I learned about the bond that mushers have with their dogs.  It is not just a working relationship but a trust between the musher and their dogs that you just can't make up.

 

2013 I actually took it a step further.   I had been living in the suburbs of St. Paul Minnesota for 10 years and I knew I was missing something in my life.  I took a job as a seasonal musher in Skagway, Alaska.  I gave up my high paying job, my city life, and traded it for a dog trailer and lots of 4 legged athletes.  

 

Once was lost and now I've found my home in Alaska. Dream Big Kennel is home to 40ish dogs in Caswell Lakes, Alaska, where we travel the trails and enjoy each and every day!