Airman’s hobby goes to the dogs

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Danny Monahan
  • 5th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
MINOT AIR FORCE BASE , N.D. (AFPN) --  The barking is deafening, but there is no perpetrator lurking around the property or a violent storm on the way. There is only a woman approaching the dog pen with a fistful of harnesses.

The dogs know one thing, they are going to run.

Senior Airman Mary Lunde, with the 5th Munitions Squadron, is a dog sled racer. Most people in her circles simply refer to themselves as mushers.

Raised in the upper-peninsula town of Scandia, Mich., Airman Lunde got her first brush with mushing when she was 12 years old.

“A guy came to our school, (and) there was a program -- ‘Adopt a Musher,’ ” Airmen Lunde said. “You got to get hooked up to a couple of dogs, and (they ran you) around the school yard. That’s when it all started.”

The sport immediately became an infatuation, she said.

“I went home and started harnessing my dog,” she said. “I would take a horse halter, put it around my dog, Buck, and hook it up to a plastic sled. It’s all I wanted to do. Within months, I had 13 dogs.”

She was entering competitions by age 13.

“By the time I was 15, I owned 28 dogs and had a local sponsor to (help me) compete in upper-peninsula races,” Airman Lunde said.

Throughout her teen years, she devoted much of her time to mushing. After high school, she moved to Alaska and trained with some of the best mushers in the world.

“I’ve trained with Jeff King. He’s a three-time Iditarod winner,” she said as she described the annual Alaskan dog sled race. “I’ve (also) trained with Ramy Brooks, who has won the Yukon Quest, (which) a lot of mushers consider even harder than the Iditarod.”

After a year in Alaska, Airman Lunde joined the Air Force. She faced what she called a tough choice after receiving orders to Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England. The move forced her to leave most of her dogs behind.

“Leaving the dogs behind was difficult, but it’s something that comes with military life,” Airman Lunde said.

When she received orders to Minot, Airman Lunde began to think about mushing once again.

“I bought some dogs even before leaving England [to have in Minot],” the Airman said.

She now lives on 40 acres in Deering, N.D., and owns more than a dozen sled dogs. Two of her fellow Airmen help her care for the animals.

Senior Airman Kimberly Williams and Airman 1st Class Jessica Whitington, both from 5th MUNS, took a strong interest in tending to the dogs.

“My mom is a veterinary technician, so taking care of animals runs in my family,” Airman Whitington said.

The two Airmen do everything except mush the dogs.

“We feed them and harness them,” Airman Williams said. “We just help where we can.”

They are not the only ones who help out.

“Many people give her food for the dogs, and her neighbor lets her use her four-wheeler to train (the dogs) in the summer,” Airman Williams said. “It’s just North Dakota hospitality.”

When the three Airmen enter the pen, harnesses in hand, the dogs immediately begin to bark because they know it is time to start mushing.

“They’re like humans; they have their own personalities,” Airman Williams said. “When we hook them up and Mary chooses one dog over another, she can see in their eyes they’re upset (because) they’re not going to run with the rest of the pack.”

In North Dakota, there are not many dog sled races, but Airman Lunde still trains weekly with her dogs. She continues to train so one day she can get the Air Force to sponsor her in dog sled races, and achieve her ultimate goal -- to race in the Iditarod.