A couple who fulfilled their dream of opening a dog sledding business said that you have to dedicate your life to the sport and that they struggle to find suitable dog sitters when they want to go on vacation.
Alyssa, 34, and Rohn Buser, 33, instantly bonded over their love of dog sledding, as they had both trained teams for races.
While Rohn grew up around the unique sport, Alyssa, a native of California, first encountered it when she watched the 1995 film Balto at the age of three.
The couple — who have an eight-month-old son named Kaladin — met in Alaska when Alyssa flew to the annual Iditarod thousand-mile dog sled race.
Teams are usually sledding for ten or more days in freezing temperatures and must navigate difficult terrain such as mountain ranges.
Alyssa, 34, and Rohn Buser, 33, instantly bonded over their love of dog sledding as they both trained teams for races
Alyssa’s advice to anyone wanting to get into the business is that you have to be willing to dedicate their lives to both the dogs and the sport.
She said Insider: ‘This is our life, which we are excited about. But we’ve literally devoted our entire lives to having sled dogs.”
She says the couple sometimes struggles to find a suitable dog sitter to care for their 32 dogs while they go on vacation.
They now own Susitna Sled Dog Adventures in Susitna, with 300 people visiting their company last year, but it wasn’t always easy.
In 2019, Rohn, who grew up in Alaska, moved to California to be with Alyssa and the couple then worked seven days a week as they tried to fit their sport into a full-time job.
The sport means that when the dogs are not sledding, they are constantly practicing throughout the year.
Sled dogs often need about 10,000 calories per day, depending on the breed and their level of exercise.
The pandemic then led to their move to Alaska, as Rohn wanted to be close to his family, but they also wanted to start their own clan.
Alyssa’s advice to anyone wanting to get into the business is that you have to be willing to dedicate their lives to both the dogs and the sport.
They got bigger, going from five acres of land in California to a whopping 40 acres in Alaska, which meant they could train and add more dogs to their pack.
The couple doubled their pack, jumping from 11 sled dogs to 32 and the dogs all range from six months old to 13 years old.
They pair the older, more experienced dogs with younger dogs so they can follow in their footsteps.
Interestingly, researchers found that modern sled dogs are all related to an ancient Siberian sled dog that lived nearly ten millennia ago — toward the end of the last Ice Age.
Rohn has said the pups need to master the stop, go, left, and right commands (often referred to in the industry as a “Gee” and “Haw”).
Although he grew up sledding, Rohn was initially hesitant to take up the sport.
Alyssa told the outlet, “He had to find out for himself that it was his thing, and not because it was what he grew up with.”
But it seems that their son, Kaladin, is also coming to love sledding as Alyssa says she has already expressed an interest in the sport.
She added that it is normal for children to make their own dogsled when they are two years old. Therefore, the pair plan to get Kaladin his own sleigh and armor so he can follow in their footsteps.