You're pretty cool. At first I wasn't so sure that we would be getting along. I was thrown into a new world and a new lifestyle. From airport to scooping dog poop in around 4 hours. Having only slept a very uncomfortable 2.5 hours on the flight was certainly not helping. The bus ride from Keflavik to Reykjavik took around 45 minutes. We went from the coast through lava fields into the outskirts of town. I almost dozed off but knew I'd want to stay up to see all of the trip and I'm glad that I did. Sitting in the bus station I saw many young folks carrying backpacks like myself come and go. Not too much waiting and Erik, a Dutch musher that hates Holland, was walking in and asking "Charles?". Yep, that's me.
We hopped in what appears to be a minivan on steroids and took off. Another hour drive through what looked like more lava fields and we'd be in Selfoss. I couldn't help but picture all the rocks as Fairy houses after reading some articles about road routes being changed to avoid them. Driving up Erik pointed out a red caravan that I should toss my stuff into. Then it was off to meet the 44 big furry critters. They're wonderful. And did I mention big? These guys and gals aren't your typical dog. They're bred to work. I've never been close to a wolf in person but I now have a pretty good idea what it might be like. When Nukilik stands up he's looking me in the eyes. Just about all of them are. Some are even a bit taller. At first I saw the eyes of a predator. But not anymore. I see brown, friendly, almost human eyes. Asking for a scratch behind the ear or on the neck. Wondering if it's their turn for a walk or to be harnessed up and get to go to work. I wish everyone could love work as much as these dogs do. The moment they see a harness enter the kennel there's an explosion of excitement. Tails wag and whining begins. In these moments it can be easy to forget how dangerous they can be. Like the bossman Siggi says, you have to set them up to succeed. Brutus is one of our largest dogs, a huge Alaskan Malamute. He hates every male dog. If you put them in a situation where they can make a mistake they almost certainly will. Brutus is a happy fluffy guy but if you walk him too closely to another male on the way to hook him to the cart you've got a fight. Not a friendly fight. Not a play fight. But a legitimate fight to the death. Siggi once broke a shovel over a dogs head and he kept on fighting. It's not a mistake you want to make.
So we try to set the dogs up so they can't fail. And when we do that we get to have a pretty great time. We're a 1km walk from a huge river fed by glacier ice melt. Round trip it's my favorite walk to take the dogs on. Eyjafjallajökull is always in sight on a clear day. So is Hekla, one of Iceland's most active volcanoes. Sometimes I get to take as many as 8 dogs out in a day. That's 16km or around 10mi of walking. My feet certainly get tired but my eyes never do. Even when we go out on the road with the dogs there is always something to see. And there's nothing like the feeling of jogging along the team and helping them follow the musher's commands. Except maybe one thing. Dog Scootering. Sometimes if I'm lucky I get to harneness up a dog and hook him to a scooter. And really, really, there's nothing like that. As soon as you say "Ready? Ok!" and let off the brakes you're flying down the road. It's spectacular.
All of the fun of course has a price. I'm a pro poop scooper. Not to brag but I'm pretty damn good at it. I can hold the shovel in one hand and be in and out of the kennel before the dog even knows I was there. We fill a wheelbarrow or two per day. We could fertilize every farm in Selfoss. I've pretty much picked my favorite and least favorite dogs based on their poo. For example I quite like Hetja. Hers is always a compact little package easy to get on the shovel with very little residue. Akira on the other hand has serious mud butt AND likes to walk while pooping. Not my favorite dog. But one scooter ride or walk later and ya know, I remember it's not all shitty.
I've been fairly bad about updating this! Hopefully I'll be changing that. Soon I'll try to tell you about where/how I live, the folks I live with, my favorite dogs and more! I type all of this on my phone so it can be hard. If you have any questions though please ask! I do love to talk.
Sincerely,
Zeb
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