Meet the dogs: Summer

When I decided to switch from Seppala's to Alaskans, the opportunity that opened up was buying dogs from Katie Davis, a musher who ran the Yukon Quest on 2009 and made the hard decision to get out of dogs. She had some yearlings, three left the first time I went up, and Summer was the one I settled on first (I later acquired her sister, Rachel, who now runs with Lanette Kimbal's team). She's alway's been my girl and turned out to be a big, smooth moving and hard working dog. She continues to gain confidence, but during her first season led in a few races. I love her appetite, gait and how she continues to get better as we go. I regret that she had to sit out last season when I was in Alaska, but I'm so glad I kept her. Since I'm trying to keep a team made up of mostly males, Summer is one of the three females that I'm glad is on the team! And did I mention she's a nice, big (55lb) girl?