DO NOT PASS GO...

All the good stuff here seems to happen late-night. I finally had my chance to work in the Anchorage Dog Lot when word came in one night that 19 dropped dogs were about to arrive at once and more hands were needed on deck.

These dogs are flown-in from the trail by a volunteer air corps, and as soon as they land and are trucked to the lot, vets check them thoroughly. Yes, they are examined at the checkpoint where the drop happens, and then again upon arrival to the Dog Lot, and pertinent information travels with them. Most dogs get the green light to be fed, watered and bedded down until a musher’s handler claims them. They are constantly watched, including monitoring of their eating and defecating, and vets are notified of anything seemingly abnormal. But they do not stay in the Dog Lot overnight. If a handler can not make a pick-up in short order, the dog is re-located to another venue…a local women’s correctional facility!

It is a brilliant concept, actually. The prison has rehabilitative programs for inmates, several involving canines. Caring for the Iditarod dogs is a privilege and responsibility for them, and the area where the dogs are kept is perfectly suitable – complete with some serious fencing to ensure no lost athletes!

Meanwhile, my joke the whole time my husband was here with me was that I was going to somehow land myself in that jail so I could tend to the dogs. Well, I’ve had the best of both worlds…I got to tend to the dogs in the Dog Lot, AND I went to the jail. Delivering the dogs and handing them off to the inmates inside the prison yard will probably remain one of the more memorable moments of this adventure. It was a really profound experience and I feel honored to have participated in this very behind-the-scenes (yet so instrumental) facet of the Iditarod experience. It was also quite sobering.