A special tale of special people and very special dogs!!
MEET THE DeNure-Schandelmeier DOGS THAT CAN!
I followed Mr. Schandelmeier’s Yukon Quest runs with great interest over the years, since I am a huge fan of the Quest. More of the rugged kind of mushers take on this challenging thousand mile distance event. The race is run in mean air temperatures in the minus ranges, terrific for furred creatures, but brutal to a mammal called man.
Zoya and John have a mission: They rescue Alaskan huskies from dog pounds, those shelters, where the unwanted face certain death if they are not adopted out or rescued. Fellow Quest musher Sebastian Schnuelle also runs rescued dogs and it is a joy to see these teams of former misfits, dogs with issues or just too high energy for your average Joe, come together in a well coordinated circle, if you wish: tuned to themselves and their teammates connected to the musher. It almost seems like the dogs know that they were given a second chance at life and they are double eager to please and to earn that love which is so freely given by John and Zoya.
Rescue dogs are not just for the serious musher with a life style so very different from a wall street banker or computer geek, they fit in wherever there is an active outlet, be it a skijorer, a recreational musher, or just a serious walker, hiker, biker. Husky dogs are high energy and they are meant to run and to pull, they are a working breed not your couch potato dog, although highly intelligent sled dogs have been known to settle into a domestic and more sedentary environment quite nicely.
Mushing is Alaska’s state sport and one of several ‘hats’ I wear is being the state president of the Alaska Chapter of W.I.F.E. (Women Involved in Farm Economics). Part of our mission is to teach people about agriculture and farm related issues. In places in Alaska, the dog sled is still a practical means of transporting goods between villages, especially in view of the current spike of fuel prizes. The dog team is part of our chapter’s stationary and it is only fitting to sponsor a live dog team where nurturing and encouragement are top priority, where efforts and demands eclipse the usual quality care and training, where the extra mile is needed, where tenaciousness leads to success for all the animals, each at his or her own plateau.
Not every individual is a world-class athlete, but no less valuable because of it. John and Zoya have a clear and defined mission. The word needs to get out: people can make a difference, one dog at the time. Animals are not throwaway toys.
Living, breathing entities are not disposable.
We have to wean people away from the callousness and indifference our ‘ cast it off and get a new one ‘ society has turned us into. We need to slow down, tune in, become aware and not get overwhelmed and overloaded by information at every fingertip, plugged into cyberspace without taking time to have individual space out of doors, interacting with friends and family and pets.
Animal therapy works so very well in nursing homes and in schools and with handicapped folks, because the animals set the pace, they are honest, non-threatening, and in need of human care, which makes the elderly and infirm reach out, they can relate.
We need the animals in our lives to be connected to the earth, to be part of our own ‘family farm’, even if all we own maybe a flowerpot instead of fields of amber grain.
Zoya and John took a break from Yukon Quest this year. They will run smaller races instead and will be highly visible in a different circuit.
The can do attitude of the dogs has rubbed off and Zoya will compete in the World Championship Sprint race in Anchorage. This is a three-day event, 12-mile ‘heats’, or runs, per day. Distance dogs versus sprint dogs definitely poses a big challenge and I am looking forward to see the WIFE team perform and interact with the other excellent dog teams on that course.
John and Zoya are training a day or two before the event, but will take time out of their busy schedule to also visit a local school or two to present their philosophy, promote the dogs and put in a plug for shelter dogs.
On race day, the competitors arrive over an hour before the start of the event, sleds are readied, gang-lines rolled out, dogs harnessed and bootied and readied to be placed in their positions in front of the sled. Some dogs howl, some bark and clamor, others are quiet. The Schandelmeier team is excited, alert, happy, but all the dogs are quiet, no screaming or hollering for this team, they know what they can do and they patiently wait for all to be in order, to go to the start line, to get their command to go and to be off with a gigantic lunge, running free at that mile eating lope. Once away from the hoopla and the clamor of start activity, the team settles into a breath taking routine, a silent, wondrous dash through a winter landscape, only a creak of a harness clip, a crunch of the runners, the clicking of doggie claws on packed snow, the swish of the sled and the driver behind the dogs, scanning the terrain, ever alert for unforeseen hazards and the ever present wildlife. On the sprint race, they will run through city streets, down a humongous hill, through woods and parks, across creeks and along busy roadways. It will be interesting to watch this race and they dogs will do well, regardless where they place on the charts, they are happy and that makes them and their humans winners in my book. Zoya has the most infectious smile and a natural grace, she certainly complements her athletes well and she and John are a match made in heaven, a formidable force together and the greatest champions the dogs could ever hope to have to help give them the chance they so richly deserve.
If you cannot own a pet, then volunteer at the shelter, if you can adopt, do so, help John and Zoya to diminish the impact of puppy mills and save a dog’s life, your own life will be the richer for it and you will be a healthier person by walking and exercising with your fur kid!
Zoya grew up in Wisconsin, where she worked on a Dairy Farm. She also volunteered at the local animal shelter, walking dogs after school. At home, there were always animals, dogs, cats, gerbils, etc. Zoya has a great love for all creatures, large and small and her Mom encouraged this love and affection, recognizing a special gift in her daughter. Zoya’s career took off, she became a fashion model, the international runways and glitz and glitter of the International Scene of Vogue and Glamour were her stage, the world her home in a life and lifestyle so very different from the cabin in the woods with a full race kennel 24/7.
12 years as a model was enough, Zoya decided to go back and connect with her roots, back to the untrammeled spaces of mountain, meadow and nature in general, back to being with animals and on a quest to satisfy a thirst in her soul for a place she could call home.
Her mushing career got underway in the shape of a Siberian mix called Ethan. Zoya, freshly home from Italy was 21 and the pup a mere nine weeks. The two lived in an expensive house by the bay in Madison, Wisconsin, where they spent many an evening, gazing at the stars and sipping wine.
Zoya heard about a dog pulling contest and came to see. She took to those folks in Carharts and became motivated enough to buy a sled at the local feed store, but Ethan was not up to that kind of work. Zoya contacted sprint mushers in her area and connected with a lady from northern Wisconsin. She sold her a few sprint dogs and Zoya started her own kennel with a four-dog team and ran four-mile races. She was hooked and moved into the countryside, where she could keep more dogs, sixteen of them to be exact. After almost two years of mushing Wisconsin, the clarion call came. Zoya read about Alaska and the distance race called Iditarod and became enthralled enough to pack up and move to Alaska, where she could learn about distance races.
She arrived in the Greatland in 2001 and did not know a soul. An advertisement brought her to the kennel of Iditarod Musher Bill Cotter. There she lived and breathed dogs for a year and saved money. It was the experience of a lifetime and it changed her life.
Zoya did not have a lot of money to spend on dogs, she wanted to invest in good feed and spend time in training dogs, after establishing a roof over her head. She collected dogs some mushers did not want and worked with those animals. Spending 2,000 dollars a dog or more was unrealistic and those high priced dogs are still no guarantee of pay-off in a race. A high price just escalates the expectations for such an animal and it creates enormous pressure. Many dogs get ruined that way.
Zoya learned about the shelters overflowing with sled dogs in Alaska and she looked around and built her team, attitude, aggression and nutrition issues she could handle and she knew what to look for in the build of a racing dog.
When she met John, they were both electrified in sharing their dream and join forces in the fight for the rights of abandoned dogs, show casing rescues to the world and making the difference, one dog at the time. The system works and it works well. John and Zoya have made a difference already and will continue to do so, educating the people about the wonderful treasure trove of abandoned dogs, one person, one family or one student at the time.
Meet some of the canines of the DeNure-Schandelmeier team:
HENRY: Also known as Handsome Henry
5 years old, rescued in 2002 from a bullet in SC Alaska.
Henry was so shy from his lonely life in the woods tied to a tree, unsocial zed he would not let anyone near him, including me, for three months! This dog was going to be put down because the owner had not enough money to feed Henry. He came with three others and his brother Jelly might run too. Henry has come a long, long way from the day Zoya met him in 2002!
He now leads with total confidence and trust, he’s been to France (2005) racing La Grande Odyssee, on the The Yukon Quest Trail (2005) and participated in several mid distance races with Zoya, including a 1st place finish in the Chatanika 200, 2005. Henry will be running the Women’s World Championship with Zoya this year 2006. Henry finished the Quest happily in single lead and will be in the lineup for Zoya’s Iditarod in 2007.
Hunter:
2 ½ yrs old, came right out of the shelter in April and home with us. Hunter comes from proven bloodlines—he was given (from musher to a friend) in Fairbanks as a “house dog” This lasted only a year and a half before the owner surrendered this ball of energy to the shelter. She has three kids and older mellow dogs; Hunter wasn’t getting what he needed and showing signs of anxiety. He showed signs of aggression towards other dogs when running in team at the shelter.
We took one look at him and figured he just needed to run, and run more and longer distances. That did it. He’s a natural in team and seems to be versatile to different styles of training and racing. He loves to run long distances and has the speed to perform at the top level (17 –18 mph speeds) with the main race team here at Crazy Dog Kennel. Hunter raced the Knik 200 (his first race ever) this year and finished in 16th out of 55 teams. Good job Hunter! Watch for Hunter this year at the Rondy!
Streak:
3 years old. She was 10 months when we picked her up from the Fairbanks Animal shelter. They confiscated her from an abuse situation; the owner of the dog lot had 8 dogs and wasn’t feeding them for unknown reasons. She has been with us now for two years. Streak has also been to France to race 2005, the Quest 2005 and several races with Zoya, placing in the top 5 of all of last year races. Streak will run the Women’s World Championship with Zoya this year.
Jlona Richey with Zoya DeNure and John Schandelmeier, February 2006
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