Today’s episode is with Julie, the dogmom to Tucker and Leo @tuckerleo_da_huskies, a husky and husky mix from Denver with a penchant for pulling!
Julie was living in Chicago at the time she first got Tucker, and was already getting him out and being active when she met Leo. Along with some instagram friends, they met up at Starving Rock State Park to see some mushing sports with Windy City Mushers, and Leo was part of one of the teams. Immediately, Julie found out that Leo was available for adoption and the rest is history! A few other places around Chicago that they enjoyed going to were Montrose Dog Beach in uptown on Lake Michigan, and some of the many forest preserves throughout the city.
Not long after Julie made the move to Denver, she quickly found to her surprise, that there was little to no mushing sports community in the metro area. She formed the Mile High Mushers group as a way to get people in the Denver dog community together for dry land mushing. Her goal for the future is to organize some racing events in the local area. Some of the other places around Denver that she enjoys taking Tucker and Leo to are the Cherry Creek State Park off leash area, and Washington Park in her neighborhood.
But beyond just traveling around for some beautiful adventures, which they do often, Julie has been taking her pups up to Leadville, Colorado to take part in some “serious” dog sled racing! The Colorado Mountain Mushers host a number of mushing events in and around the Leadville area, including the Mount Massive Mush I and Mount Massive Mush II races. These races take place at more than 10,000 feet or 3000 meters above sea level, on the groomed snow at Mt. Massive Golf Course, the highest golf course in the U.S.!
For her mushing gear, Julie uses either an x-back or canicross style harness from Howling Dog Alaska. To highlight the inexpensive accessibility of the sport, she found her bike for bikejoring on craigslist.com. Her sled she was able to find through a facebook group, Musher’s Exchange. And often, the larger mushing groups and meet-ups will have extra gear for new dogs to try out, which is important for bringing new people and dogs into the mushing community.
Her shoutouts go to her boyfriend Jake (the number one dogdad), Meghan and Jäger & Porter @drunkonhuskies who got Julie into mushing, all of her insta dog friends in Colorado, and of course all of her husky friends!
A great source for used dog adventure gear is GearTrade.com.
And a terrific source for possible toxic chemicals in dog toys, bedding, and other supplies can be found in the Archived Pet Supply Data provided by the Ecology Center at ecocenter.org.
Thanks for listening!!
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