Dew Claw Kennel , Chatanika Alaska
Home to Dan Kaduce and Jodi Bailey

Dan Kaduce -

Dan moved to Alaska from Chippewa Falls WI, after spending a his college summers in Seward working at the fish plants. His experience with sled dogs started about 15 years ago as a way to explore the local winter trails of his new home, Fairbanks, Alaska. He had been a skier his whole life and a dog owner; but had no idea how great those two worked together.  He got a couple of sled dogs from local mushers and recreationally enjoyed ski-joring for a few years.  Dan's two dogs eventually turned into more and he was forced to leave skis for the relative safety of a dog sled.  The addiction had begun. Dan met Jodi, who was also a recreational ski-jorer. And together they began building what is now Dew Claw Kennel. The name comes from Dan's first sled dog. A sweet little brown dog named Jpers, who had both front and rear dew claws, rather rare.

The big turning point that sent Dan over the line from a mushing enthusiast to full blown dog crazy, was in the winter of 97-98 when he handled for a musher in the Yukon Quest.  That race introduced him to competitive dog racing and Dan was hooked.  Less than 1 month later he took the entire kennel (all nine) to the Percy de Wolfe 200 and the racing life was born.

Since then his entire life revolves around the especially good care of the dogs.  Dew Claw Kennel's current home of ten years was purchased strictly because of its mushing attributes, giving up power lines and toilets for free running dogs and remote cabins. DAn has built every sled we have ever raced, dog boxes for trucks, and pinched ganglines.  His mom sews our booties, coats, and sled bags. Seasonal employment with TJ's Land Clearing allows Dan to spend winter months focused on the team and training. This has all paid off with many big, strong, happy teams at finish lines of races, including a Vet's Choice award in the 2003 Yukon Quest. Dan is looking forward to new challenges and many more years of adventure with my dogs.

Dan's Yukon Quest Profile

Dan's iditarod profile

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Jodi Bailey -

Taken from the article "Jodi Who?" by Jillian Rogers
reprinted with permission from Mushing Magazine

Bailey has been running dogs for more than a decade but over the past couple of years has begun to stretch her competitive legs. And biding her time on the race scene has paid off. In the winter of 2008-09 she won the Solstice 100 in Two Rivers and took top spot in the Gin Gin 200 in December for the second consecutive year.

Bailey, an instructor for the Interior Aleutians Campus of UAF, shares a kennel of about 50 dogs with partner Dan Kaduce, a perennial mid-distance and Yukon Quest contender. She works during the winter though most of the teaching is done from Fairbanks via phone or Internet to remote locales, so Bailey has time to train and can even teach when she’s handling for Kaduce on the Quest.

Bailey grew up on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts and was always interested in animals, getting her start riding horses. “I was always animal crazy,” Bailey laughed over the phone. “It was always a joke in my family that I would grow up to be a penniless horse trainer but I one-upped them and became a penniless dog trainer.” She came to Alaska in her sophomore of college in 1989 to study Athabascan storytelling in Fairbanks for her degree in theater studies and anthropology. “My first summer here, I really felt like Alaska was where I needed to be,” Bailey said. “I was always a little out of place where I grew up.”

She graduated in 1991, moved to Alaska and has been here since. “I was living in Goldstream Valley and so I was exposed to dog mushing a lot. Someone talked me into taking a dog and anyone who gets one sled dog knows what happens.” But Bailey, who started skijoring after acquiring a few huskies never thought she’d be a musher. Until she met Kaduce. He also had a few dogs and was skijoring at the time and combined, they had enough for a small team. “We got a used sled and that was the beginning of the end,” Bailey said.

Read the complete article here

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