Our facilities are state of the art. We have been steadily improving our operation over the past two decades. In Willow at Mile 64 ½ Parks highway we have our 5000 square foot kennel building, room for over 100 sleddogs in individual houses, our beautiful log home and complementary garden and greenhouse.
These are set back in the wilderness abuting the beautiful west Hatcher Pass Mountains. Our trail system is fantastic. The trails have a lot of variety and degree of difficulty. It is easy to go for a ten, twenty or forty five mile run. We cross lakes, wetlands and streams passing through forests of mixed birch and spruce. We mark and groom these trails as needed for the benefit of the dogs and mushers.
 Our kennel building is a multi-purpose sleddog center. It was built in 1998 and is all modern and ultra efficient. We named this building the “Lee Larsen Training Center”. Lee was our mentor and part of the sponsorship team from Norwest and Wells Fargo Bank. His contribution to our kennel makes Susan and I feel privileged and very lucky.
The main floor has four areas: the food preparation area and utility room, the garage and theater area, the veterinarian clinic with attached laundry and an indoor housing/kennel area for dogs. Outside the main floor there are two covered areas extending the sixty foot length of the building. One overhang houses our walk in freezer, secure holding pens for dogs and an overhead sled rack. The other side is a drive through for trailers, trucks and equipment that need to be out of the rain or snow.
Kennel Building
 
Indoor Theater
 
 
Apartments: See Bed and Breakfast
The second floor of the center has two six hundred square foot apartments. Each has a spacious bedroom, private bath, kitchenette and living room. The apartments open up into another six hundred square foot room we use for classes, recreation and race preparations.
Log Home
Not far from the kennel building sits our new log home. It is Alaskan spruce, hand peeled and built with the Swedish notch style. It sits looking south opening up to Nancy Creek running just below. The second floor is high up and from the deck where you are at tree top level.
Greenhouse
The greenhouse and garden are located east out of the kitchen door and patio. Both Susan and I enjoy gardening and Alaska can be very fruitful with its long summer days.
 
 
Not far from the greenhouse and garden is our new cabin.
 
The Iditarod Checkpoint Cabin
The William J. Halter, Sr. Memorial Cabin
Built with Alaska white spruce-three sided eight inch logs provided by Poppert Mills, Wasilla, Alaska. Hand crafted by Bob Jenks a lifelong Alaskan and Su Valley resident. Designed as a checkpoint replica and homestead cabin, it represents a place for race judges, checkers, veterinarians and media to monitor the Iditarod Sleddog race. In the summers it will be stocked with food drops, heet and straw much like any checkpoint has to sustain the all important husky and musher on their epic journey to Nome. Named after Vern's father, an avid fan of the Iditarod and Dream a Dream Dog Farm. He loved Alaska and the rural/wilderness solitude it brought to one.
Pup Palace and Nature Trails
The pup palace and nature trails are just past the checkpoint cabin. Hiking and walking with our summer pups is a fantastic experience.
 
 
Dog Lot
The dog lot is set in double rows with a twenty foot chute followed by a double row of dog houses then another chute. This makes hooking and unhooking teams easier and allows teams to come and go from different chutes.
We generally divide or segregate dogs by age so the older more seasoned and better dogs have their area and younger do too. The dog lot was designed to have a slope down the length of dog houses and a little to the left. This two way slope was covered with 16 to 18 inches of gravel so drainage is excellent and the dogs environment is healthy. We may add top surface gravel as needed. Every dog has its own house and they love their spot! They love to lounge on the top of their house or hide in the shade alongside on summer days.
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