Audrey Fry

I met Audrey Fry when she was 15 years old; she arrived with her mother, who was coming to buy National dog food. Audrey had been introduced to mushing through a class in school; when she saw my kennel full of dogs in the back yard, she just about fell over! When I invited her to join me for a training weekend, Audrey accepted with glee. Over the next two seasons, Audrey has shown herself to be a natural with the dogs and an avid student. Her parents have gone to great lengths to create the opportunity for Audrey to join me for numerous weekends and races, even though they live over three hours away. She progressed through the learning curve of scooping poop, feeding the kennel, putting on harnesses, going out with me and the team and doing behavioral training with the dogs. She learned about movement, structure and spotting injuries. Above all, Audrey learned about being fair and consistent with the dogs.

In February '02, four months after beginning her training with us, Audrey joined us in traveling to the Priest Lake, Idaho race; she was astounded when I told her to go pick up "our" bibs from the race table Friday night. "You mean your bib", she said. "NO, I mean my bib AND your bib....you are running a team tomorrow!" I don't think she slept a wink that night for all of her excitement and nerves! Audrey ran her first race with my 12 year old leader, Icefire's Cirrus and a 7 year old Alaskan husky named Slider. She met and handled several challenges on the trail, including Slider's fear of the black plastic "gates" and other novice mushers who didn't know how to handle their team. Audrey kept her composure and ran her race well.

In '03, Audrey ran two races, this time using her two pet dogs AND the Alaskan husky bitch she had purchased from Susan Butcher the previous Fall. She again traveled to Priest Lake with me but fielded her own three-dog team in Novice. Her runs were good and the training she had put into her dogs was obvious.

Audrey will be going to college in another year or two. Her thoughts of running a full team will have to wait until after that goal is achieved. But when she's ready, Audrey will have had a realistic taste of what mushing is about; the fun, the hard work, the cost, the time and energy commitment. If she comes back to the sport, it will be for good.

Audrey's recalling of the story - My Tumnatki Adventure