Book Review from Rick’s Library: Dogs On The Trail - A Year in the Life by Blair Braverman

4 min read

Hi, I'm Rick Barron, your host, and welcome to That's Life, I Swear

I’m a dog lover at heart. That said I have a book in my home library, I’ve been wanting to read for quite some time. Yeah, it about dogs, but it was about dogs and their owners. You see the owners, Blair and Quince run a sled team. It’s the story of a couple who wanted to share their story, the story of life with their dog team and what comes with it.

Let's jump into this 

Book cover.  Courtesy of: Harper Collins

Ok, let me share with you my thought about this book. The title is ‘Dogs on the Trail’. The story is a photographic journey into a year in the life of a team of sled dogs. The page passages are based on the author’s, Blair Braverman, wildly popular Twitter feed. You can find the link to Blair’s Twitter account on the script and in the show notes found on my website. 

When Blair started posting pictures of her dog team on Twitter, she had no idea the response to her Twitter feed would be enormous. Her Twitter entries provide various stories covering the ridiculous, scary, and spontaneity of being a musher. Since starting her Twitter in 2014, the number of followers has grown to almost 130,000. 

Blair and her husband, Quince Mountain [and I’m not making that name up] describe in the book, that being a musher, isn’t just about racing. She and her husband, wanted to share various stories about life with their dog team, the good and the bad. The raising of these dogs from puppyhood to retirement (and beyond) is a full-time job. There’s very little slack time, and you must be committed and love doing this. 

Getting the dogs ready. Courtesy of Blair Braverman

Being a musher and caring for a team of dogs brings many challenges. We’re not just talking about leading an expedition and having to encounter a Moose, but the everyday chores. 

Let the list begin: scooping poop, shoveling snow, chopping meat into single-serving pieces, checking the dogs for any physical abnormalities that could impede their ability to run, mixing various dog food recipes [some dogs prefer venison, beef, pork, even hot dogs], how to build a team and determine key roles; such as the wheel dogs, team dogs, swing dogs and lead dogs; how best to store a thousand pounds of raw meat, even how they train puppies to be brave for the world they’re about to enter. 

As mention, the book spans over a year in the life of Blair’s dog team. The trip begins in the Fall as the weather starts to cool. During this time, some of the venture dogs work with the new dogs, training on dry land and in the snow, then camping and racing. No rest for the weary. With Spring, the dogs, and more so the new dogs, start dealing with mud, which makes it lousy for sledding. And summer is the season of puppies. 

I found the book very informative, not only about what it takes to operate a team of dogs and being a musher, but about being brave, particularly when facing the unknown.  It comes down to trusting your instincts and knowing you are in good hands with yourself and your dogs 

If you love dog photography, then this book is for you. It’s a fast read and the text runs smooth, so I think you like it. 

So, here’s some background on the author

Blair Braverman, is, and may I say, has a list of accomplishments;  adventurer, dogsled racer, musher, advice columnist, and nonfiction writer. She raced and completed the 2019 Iditarod, the 1,000 mi (1,600 km) dogsled race from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska.

Lead dog, Jena, now retired. Courtesy of Blair Braverman

Her creative writing talents lend itself to being a great storyteller, thus providing a visual of the wild outdoors that come to life. She is the author of Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube, a contributing editor to Outside magazine, and a contributor to The New York Times, Vogue, and This American Life. She lives in the Northwoods with her husband, and their team of sled dogs.

Publishers Weekly called Braverman the “21st century feminist reincarnation of Jack London.” Her book, Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube, was recommended by  O, The Oprah Magazine.

Oh, almost forgot. Blair just released a new book on November 1,2022. It’s a novel and the title is Small Game. 

What drew me to reading this book?

What drew my interest in reading this book stems from my keen interest in pure nature, dogs and those brave enough to venture into long journeys, and screw the risk. 

I admire Blair for what she does. She has challenged nature over the years and is willing to accept any and all of the shortfalls that come with it. For Blair, it’s an ongoing affair testing nature, learning about who she is, and adapting at the drop of a pin. 

Blair getting love. Courtesy of Blair Braverman

In writing this book, Blair wants to share her learning experiences with how she and her husband overcame those challenges, such as tackling the realities of blizzards, isolation, and wild animals.

From her many expeditions, she has learned to be strong, self-reliant, and not panic when found in a dire predicament. Life is completely unpredictable, it’s uncontrollable, almost anything can go wrong. She’s learned that there is always a way out, you just have to believe in one thing…you. 

What can we learn from this story? What's the take away?

Having read Braverman’s first two books, ‘Dogs on the Trail: A Year in The Life’ and ‘Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube’ I learnt a new perspective in dealing and confronting your fears.

For Blair, she wanted to face her fears head on and become a “tough girl”. So, she took that giant leap to court danger to become fearless via dog sledding. 

She’s dealt with physical exhaustion the likes she would never have imagined. Other moments of not losing your grip were when she was buried alive in an ice cave, and driving a dogsled across the tundra through a whiteout blizzard to avoid wild wolves. 

From the many journeys Blair has faced, she teaches us all that fear is a limitation we plant in our minds. However, if we use our imaginations, our will to learn from our failures, the possibilities for all of us become limitless.

Well, there you go. That's life, I swear.

For further information regarding the material covered in this episode, I invite you to visit my website, that you can find on either Apple Podcasts/iTunes or Google Podcasts, for show notes calling out key pieces of content mentioned and the episode transcript.

As always, I thank you for listening. 

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