Early team racing in PAWe have not posted all of our dogs on our Dogtec pages, either current or past. 31 litters and 143 pups have been bred here since 1984, and 42 dogs have been acquired from other kennels as foundation dogs or to improve the breeding program. This blog gives us the opportunity to present a more complete version of who we are. Many of you don't know anything about how we got started with this sport. My story (Mark) is a familiar one: I got a Siberian as a pet while living in NJ, hooked up with some friends, Elaine Hamilton, Bob Messenger, and Ken and Claire Oravsky, who were running their Siberians in harness. I immediately got hooked. Attached is a photo of my first Siberian, Hara, and my old team (you can tell that a lot of evolutuion has occurred). We raced some sprints in PA and NY, then travelled to 6-dog mid-distance races that were prevalent in the East then. Many good memories still haunt me from travelling to Marmora, Sandwich Notch, Lewis Run, PA X-Country Championship, and Maine. I also dabbled in the show scene and did some obedience training, but my love was running them in harness. My breed mentors, besides the group I started with in NJ, have been Doug Willett and Anneliese Witschel to name a couple. Leigh Gilchrist has advised us a lot, as well as many mixed-breed mushers. In seeking better dogs through the years, I zeroed in on the successful Siberian drivers who maintained a well-rounded program and had consistency in racing results. It's true for the most part, however, that I remained independently stubborn and refused to become a groupee. Just ask any of them.
Although we might sometimes appear one-dimensional with the breed due to our passion for racing Siberians, our past has given us a broader basis to help us put things into perspective.
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