Throughout my 2018 travel journey, the first volunteering place I went to was a small hostel in Northern Norway called Sappen. The goal of visiting Norway was to see the amazing northern lights, which have always been on my bucket list. While I eventually got to see the northern lights, I also came across a winter sport known as dog sledding. The owner of the hostel had been in the tourism industry for almost 10 years until in 2016, she decided to quit her job and start up her own business. She owned 8 retired huskies and during my 3 months stay there, me and her would do dog sledding in the evening for most of the days. I was super interested in dog sledding and had gained some basic knowledge from her.

Every sled will have one or two lead dogs (usually female) who know the commands and behind the lead are the “wheel dogs” that are typically the largest and strongest members of the group. Putting on the dog harness is usually the tedious part. Some dogs doesn’t cooperate and some cannot get along well with the others.

The commands for going left and right is “Jii” and  “Haa”. After I left my volunteering place in Norway and traveled to other countries, I really missed the activity and couldn’t stop thinking about it. 

I will never forget this wonderful experience I had from my first volunteering experience.