Meet Abby Fallis

My  dog-journey began when I was very young.  According to my parents, my  second word was “DOG”. Despite my constant pleas a dog was not in the cards. Instead I constantly researched dogs, studying all breeds and activities. The one dog sport activity that really captured  my  interest and imagination was dog sledding.

I was 14 when my dad finally said yes: YES  to a dog joining our family! Roo, shepherd-lab cross, fourteen weeks old, came bounding into my life and changed it forever. The trajectory was set: from then on it was all about dogs.

First there were obedience classes: a willful puppy can be a handful for anyone and Roo had a mind of her own. It was obvious to me, even though I was pretty much still a “puppy” myself,  that both Roo and her human had a lot to learn. 

I went looking for classes, scanning the local paper until I found Judy Sauve of  K9 Kollege.  Roo was  a real quick-study when it came to understanding what was expected but she  had her own ideas about doing it. “Recall” was  an option, not an imperative; free-heeling,  a possibility, not  at all a reliable expectation.  With Judy’s help I learned to manage these characteristics. Little did I know that Judy and Roo were preparing the way for a lifetime of working with Northern Breeds, notorious for their independent nature and strong opinions!

But my love affair with Siberian Huskies and other sledding breeds  was yet to come. I was still just a teenager with an unruly pup. Judy taught me how to work with Roo, not against her. Together we became  a team,  Roo earning the title of Companion Dog, then Companion Dog Excellent, certified by the North American Mixed Breed Registry.

Obedience classes were only the beginning.  Growing up near Marmora, the annual dog sled races were a thing of beauty to me. I wanted a sled dog  and just because Roo didn’t look like a husky, didn’t mean she couldn't act like one. I went in search of a harness, a sled and someone to tell me how to get from pulling too hard on the leash for the heeling exercise  into “ahead” in front of a sled.  

I was lucky: I found it all, including a mentor who helped me turn my shepherd-lab cross into an Iditarod Queen!  Or at least, a dog who would pull a teenager on a sled and stay on trail.

My sledding mentor  was a local breeder involved in Malamute Rescue. Roo was not a husky, not a traditional sled dog, not driven by instinct to pull insistently or consistently. I had to teach her.  The breeder helped me help Roo find her inner sled-dog.  That winter we won the Alaskan Malamute Help League’s 1- Dog Mal Quad Crown Championship.  

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Training Roo I learned that foundation is everything. Together we trained and ran.  I connected  with local mushers, built my own team of sled dogs.  I learned from everyone, human and canine. I discovered that raising,  feeding and training  dogs are only part of the equation. Creating a team learning the strengths of each dog, figuring out  who needs to run in front of, behind and beside whom, who should be in lead, who should be in wheel. Running is about getting the right kind of harness on each dog, and the right kind of sled or rig for the team, the weather and the musher. Then there is   kennel maintenance and management, responsible breeding practice, veterinary care and so much more. So much to learn and I was still a teenager, still in school.

To pay for dog food, I  walked dogs during my lunch hour.   Then there was vet care, equipment and races: more dog walking!  Every  hour I could get after classes and homework, I worked my dogs. I became a musher! 

That first race, the Mal Quad Crown, was only the beginning. Since then I have competed  across Ontario, Quebec, New York and New Hampshire.  My dogs have brought me ribbons, trophies, purses and awards. None of this means more than the dogs themselves, They are my pride, my passion, my heart.  

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Running dogs is about training dogs. Standing on the runners for hours at a time, watching, anticipating, listening to my dogs, has taught me more about dogs than I can possibly share in words. How they  think, how they like to work, what it is that makes them more than passive companions, what makes them engage as actual working partners, all of this comes into play when I work with anyone  and their dog. Training  a dog is about understanding who they are, how they want to be.  Being a musher means learning how to  bring out the best in each and every dog, one by one. When I teach, this is what I try to help each and every client do with each and every dog. 

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The most important thing I’ve learned in my career as a musher is that  dogs of any breed love to run and they love  to run in a team. A team can be  ten dogs and a musher and a team can be one dog and one human. If we could ask any canine member of my team what’s the best thing about being a sled-dog, a dog running in harness, they would answer, “My human keeps up!”  I invite you: join me, for a lesson, a clinic or  to watch  an event and see for yourself!