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Dog sled in Carcross?


sclitlady

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I thought I had read on the board in the past that you could take a wheeled dog sled ride in Carcross. Does anyone know anything about this or did I imagine it? If this is true who do you contact to reserve this? Thanks for your help!

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We did this last summer in June and had wonderful time.> Michelle is great and it was fascinating to see her sleds, learn how she prepares for Yukon Quest etc.. The wheeled sled gives dogs their exercise! The pups were adorable as well.. could have played with them forever :)

The wildlife museum there isn't spectacular but interesting.. We rented car in Skagway and had a beautiful drive to the Caribou Crossing outpost, stopped at Emerald Lake, Carcross Desert and many scenic overlooks.. highly recommend.. the link above should work and it was approx 52 (CA) for sled ride and "lesson" re the quest etc...

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I am going to controversial here and say that I thought Caribou Crossing was the most depressing place I have ever been. The yard where they keep the dogs is just bleak. It is NOTHING like as good as the Seavey's operation in Seward or even that similar place in Skagway. The gold panning at Carcross is pretty dire, too. I enjoyed the trip out there, the gift shop and to some extent the hall of taxidermied animal, as well as Emerald Lake, but I would skip Caribou Crossing.

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I am going to controversial here and say that I thought Caribou Crossing was the most depressing place I have ever been. The yard where they keep the dogs is just bleak. It is NOTHING like as good as the Seavey's operation in Seward or even that similar place in Skagway. The gold panning at Carcross is pretty dire, too. I enjoyed the trip out there, the gift shop and to some extent the hall of taxidermied animal, as well as Emerald Lake, but I would skip Caribou Crossing.

 

Is it really that bad? Do the dogs look mistreated or is it just dirty? Can you go to the one out of SKarway or do you have to do the $100pp+ excursion?

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No, they certainly aren't mistreated. It's dirty and there are no trees. It's just not a pretty place, unlike the ones in Skagway and Seward which are quite scenic. And there are very few dogs. Only two large-ish puppies in August. Granted, the day we were there was REALLY hot, so it looked/smelled even worse than normal, I am sure. We have only done Skagway through the ship, but we book Seavey's independently.

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The photos at http://www.pristinewilderness.com/kennel_tours.html show the dog yard. It looks pretty much like most dog yards - Susan Butcher's in Fairbanks, the Iditarod Center in Wasilla, and most other commercial operations. It's not "dirty" as in poop, it's dirty as in "dirt" because huskies dig - ask any husky owner (including me) what their former lawn looks like! :D Michelle brings about 20 dogs there from her main kennel (20 miles away) each day - the number and age of puppies obviously varies a lot.

 

Murray

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Murray,

 

You're one of my favorite CC'er and I would never want to argue with you, but this place is not as scenic as some of the other places. We paid extra to see the dogs and "puppies" and saw exactly one dog and two nearly full grown pups in a yard which was NOT well taken care of. There was no "talk" or any information about the dogs of the wonderful sport of mushing. Perhaps the ride would have been better/more informative/more secenic, but the yard alone put me off. I thought it was depressing, especially in contrast to the other places I mention. Yes, visiting Seveye's was a lot more money, but we stay there for hours, hug scaores of tiny pyps, dress up in Micth Seavey's clothes, hear stories about the race, and learn so much every time we visit. It['s become something my family really enjoys. All these of us were completely "skeeved" as my daughter said by Carcross. The gold panning was WORSE! That's only my opinion, but I offer I offer it for what it's worth.

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That wasn't meant as an argument - I'm really sorry that you had a bad day at Michelle's. I've never been to Seavey's and there are no decent photos on their Web site, so I can't comment on that operation, but have been to quite a few others (and filed a complaint about the way the dogs were treated at one of them). Talking about the dogs and mushing is normally part of what happens at Carcross, whether you take the ride or not. I've never been there, though, when the "Princess hordes" arrive, so I don't know what that looks like either - I can imagine that it gets as crazy as some of the other "mass-tourism" mushing operations I've seen.

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That wasn't meant as an argument - I'm really sorry that you had a bad day at Michelle's. I've never been to Seavey's and there are no decent photos on their Web site, so I can't comment on that operation, but have been to quite a few others (and filed a complaint about the way the dogs were treated at one of them). Talking about the dogs and mushing is normally part of what happens at Carcross, whether you take the ride or not. I've never been there, though, when the "Princess hordes" arrive, so I don't know what that looks like either - I can imagine that it gets as crazy as some of the other "mass-tourism" mushing operations I've seen.

 

So, Yukon, would you recommend we visit there or not? I would like to see sled dog puppies and maybe take a cart ride. We are not going to Seward, so we cant' do it there.

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>>So, Yukon, would you recommend we visit there or not? <<

 

The best answer I can give you is to say that I've been a fan of Michelle and Ed's racing operation for years largely due to the way they treat their dogs, and now I enjoy talking to them at their Caribou Crossing kennel which is easily accessible to me. In the past few months we've become friends and I now run their Web site, and Cathy and I also will be sponsoring a couple of Michelle's racing dogs this coming season. So my view is pretty skewed, even more so because I run (and rescue) huskies myself.

 

Murray

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>>So, Yukon, would you recommend we visit there or not? <<

 

The best answer I can give you is to say that I've been a fan of Michelle and Ed's racing operation for years largely due to the way they treat their dogs, and now I enjoy talking to them at their Caribou Crossing kennel which is easily accessible to me. In the past few months we've become friends and I now run their Web site, and Cathy and I also will be sponsoring a couple of Michelle's racing dogs this coming season. So my view is pretty skewed, even more so because I run (and rescue) huskies myself.

 

Murray

 

Thanks, I think we will be stopping there. I have heard good reviews about Michelle and the kennel on this board from other people so it just may be one person's opinon on the operation.

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Several diff. groups from our group went to Caribou Crossing and met Michele and spent about an hour there..there were quite a few sled dogs and the pups and Murray is right, it's a place for dogs and let's face it, these are not "house dogs" and they are pretty much in their environment here.. I don't kow how "scenic" the other places are but I can say that I am very active in Humane Society and trained in animal rescue so get pretty upset when I see/hear of/ etc. dogs that are not in good situations.. I can honestly say that there we found NOTHING about the conditoins at Caribou Crossing that would indicate any problem with the care of the dogs. The equipment was clean, dogs were as all outdoor dogs.. we interacted a lot with them and no one left "dirty"... sorry you had a bad experience there...

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