European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 7, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse A fall samples were clean Quot Morris said. Quot if there was any kind of cheating wed catch Butcher a woman of uncluttered beliefs sees another Root of the resentment male frailty. Quot i have become a Symbol to women across the country a and internationally in fact a and in a not going to say that there Wasny to a lot of strength gained by that thought and by the support from women that i got Quot she said. She s sitting Cross legged in a deep armchair in the log Cabin and meaty a 17-year-old siamese is asleep in her Lap. Quot the Eskimo women the Indian women literally giving me the physical support of saying As i came through the villages a do this for a it is an amazing feeling to have an Eskimo woman who has had a totally different upbringing from myself who lives a very traditional life male female Wise to look to you to win a race to give her a morale most competitors also done to recognize the spiritual link Butcher says she has with her huskies. In fact Butcher says maybe Only husband Dave and Trail breaker s teen age dog handlers Tanya Schlentner and Jennie Tschapper the group she Calls Quot the sacred few Quot fully understand. But to them the flair is Clear Susan Butcher is to alaskan huskies what Dian Fossey was to gorillas. A i was born with a particular ability with animals and a particular love for them Quot she said. Quot i think that what you get from animals and what i got from my first dog one of my first close friends is the Security of constant love. Quot an animal loves you and you love them and that is just constant. I needed that As a child. I have some compositions Here some of those one liners you write in the first Grade. Mine said a i hate the City i love the country and i love All animals she added. A pet iguana. A Crow on a Fence Post. Even a Hundred cows in a Field Quot Send me into a total so in Spring when husky pups Are born to her 150-dog Kennel she holds each Blind thing in her hands and breathes into its nose. That Way she says the dog will associate her smell with Comfort and encouragement. The rapport begins. She feeds the dogs. She exercises and trains them. She massages them after runs. On a rotation basis each dog is allowed to sleep in the Cabin. The family forms. Once when a Young Granite suffered renal failure from driving himself to dehydration Butcher sat up for five the id Tarod race across the Frozen North the id Tarod sled dog race tests humans and dogs to the ultimate. The route from Anchorage to Nome changes annually sometimes even during a race. This is the 1986 route. Drivers May choose to make shortcuts across the ice. Nome id Tarod National historic Trail Shaktoolik id Tarod a Rainy pass National geographic society Anchorage above a younger Butcher and her team in 1979 in her second race. Nights with the dogs head in her Lap. Granite survived and remained a Champion. Quot but i done to say i need to Bond with these puppies Early Quot Butcher explains. A i want to Bond with them. To not saying that if i done to Bond with this Puppy i might not win the id Tarod so therefore i have to go out and Bond with this Puppy. In a going out because i m absolutely drawn to she also will not ask More of her dogs than they can deliver she says. The huskies know that. So they often give More than they thought they had. And she is infinitely patient with the dogs. Quot i want every one of these dogs to make my id Tarod team Quot Butcher continued. Quot so i give everybody their sixth seventh and eighth or ninth Chance. Whereas my competitors a and i think this is one of the biggest differences a often done to give them a second or third Granite was a loser. She once offered him for Sale for $250. Quot he did t come around at least until his 10th Chance. Slug go was probably on his 20th Chance before he came around. Quot so you be got two superstars there who would not have even made it in someone else s and further Quot every dog i run was raised in my own Kennel by me and through my scheme whereas often less than half of somebody else steam is raised in their own Kennel and they buy the a they buy from Butcher paying anywhere Between $1,000 to $10,000 for a trained dog. But even at that Price Butcher says the animal is still one of her discards. She trains her pups in harness at 4v2 months. Each one has been bred for essentials. Stamina. Resistance to injury. A sense of teamwork. Courage. Stoicism and flexibility of limbs. Her aim is always to run behind the Best dog team anyone Ever hitched to a sled. Each dog must also have total communication with Butcher. She deepens the telepathy by singing to the dogs when they Are racing old Folk songs from Bob Dylan and Joan Baez and maybe some Irish lullabies. And in the worst moments of several Idit rods a when there were hallucinations from sleep deprivation a the dogs have saved her life. In 1984, jockeying for the Lead with two other teams Butcher was told by race supervisors there was no Overland Trail Between Unalakleet and Shaktoolik on Norton sound which pokes toward the Bering sea. Crossing sea ice on a moonless night was the Only Choice. Quot i noticed the ice was almost billowing Quot she remembered. A just As i saw that i told Granite in Lead to go to the left. Which he did he was terrified because the whole thing ice was going like this rocking when the sled fell through and the whole team and i went in about 30 feet of but then Quot Granite hit hard ice and he got up on top of it. Him and Maddie. Then two dogs by two they pulled us out. I thought we were toners Quot a Moose once attacked the team and that Cost Butcher the 1985 race seven years of preparation two dogs killed and 13 injured. Butcher has crossed Norton sound in a blizzard when she could t see the Lead dog navigation was by a Small Compass. For five Blind hours she travelled the ice wondering How close was she coming to the spot where a Friend drowned earlier in the year Quot but there s a fun thing about it Quot she said she mentioned a quirk known to All adventurers Quot it s thrilling in t it especially when you conquer there Are activists who see sled dog racing As cruelty to animals. Butcher snorts at the thought. It is an expression she says of uninformed City dwellers who know Only pampered pets. Pulling sleds Quot is what they live for it is instinctive for them to want to pull. From the time they see the harness come out or see the sled they Are absolutely going crazy jumping around wanting to go and then literally jumping into there also Are times when the adrenaline pumps and 12 dogs Are racing As one then Butcher says they done to want to Stop. There was the time a tired Butcher was racing in the Brooks Range and thought her weariness would be contagious. Quot i Felt these dogs would be Fried or at least pick up on my feelings of being Fried Quot she said. Quot but i could not Stop them. It was a total thrill. I hooked a 5-Inch diameter tree with my Snow Hook and they pulled the tree Over. I tried stopping them for five or six Miles and then gave up Quot so they went 35 Miles into the next such moments she says make Susan Complete. The childhood inadequacies have gone. She no longer Hunts for role models a because she has become the very person she was always searching for. Yet is the Call of the wild gone for Susan Butcher she thought Long about that. Outside the log Cabin slug go and Tolstoy and co Star and Hermit Lay Flat with furry bellies toasting in the warm Arctic Sun. Monson was playing a tape and porch speakers carried the modern mandolin quartet Over Snow to Thicket and silent Hill. A Gray Jay snooze in a tree. Quot of no Quot Butcher whispered. A a it a still calling Quot a 7,1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 15
