Deb Robinson- introduces Speaker – Hank and Tanya McCready of the Winter Dance Dog Sled Tours. Tanya presented on behalf of the team.
Focus of the speaker talk; The story of dreaming, perseverance and belief in self and each other, the story of Tanya and Hank.
These two started out in Guelph, they bought a dog, and this led to their journey with the breed of the Huskies and the beauty of Alaska. Reference was made to the movie Iron Will and that motivated the family to start dog sledding. Life and work challenges led them try at starting a business centered around sledding and their dogs.A bank loan and move to Haliburton started their journey. The family at one point moved into their kennel but shortly after they began to receive guests and proved to themselves that their business would be viable.
The next step in their progression was the dog sled race in Anchorage, Tanya gave an amazing description of the energy and excitement of the events that happen during races. For the Anchorage race, a 13 year dream she explained the energy of the volunteers and the love flowing from Hank to his family and dogs for races. Awesome. Tanya explained being so worried about Hank that she flew out to see him, she spoke of the that race where Hank ad some issues with his feet he went to sleep and stuck in the sleeping bag , he had gotten so cold that he was had to face the prospect of death, but his motivation to save his team and to do this he had to get the will to save himself. The race did not work out as planned and this led to a story of restoration and renewal and eventually victory as the family overcame their failure at the initial race to follow-up with perseverance and eventually victory!!
Questions:
- What happened with the loan – Paid off and new investment in land that led to a new loan, this team is a pioneer in getting loans for their special dream mission.
- Any support from Ontario Tourism – Yes there is support, but there is not a lot of knowledge about these programs so it’s slow. There are also some deterrents because of animal rights folks that fights against animals working and perhaps lacks the understanding of the nature of the dogs, that is embraced through these tours. These dogs need activities, and this provides it.
- Did we lose any dogs, yes the life span is 13-14 years, so there were some losses
- How are the leaders chosen - the leaders establish themselves.
- Visiting the property, are you accepting guests- yes and there are some new log cabins available.