Mike has been involved with dogs his whole life. 

Back in Massachusetts, his grandfather and godfather raised beagles. Mike always loved being around the dogs.

As a kid the only thing his parents could get him to read were accounts of polar explorers getting stranded in the ice, watching their ships get crushed by the ice and making a heroic dash to land with their sled dogs.

He says, “It isn’t easy living for nearly fifty years with the lingering, almost nagging feeling that I was born in the wrong century.” 

He always thought those days were long gone, then Will Steger reenacted Robert Perry’s historic trek to the North Pole and National Geographic chronicled it on their weekly program Explorer. 

That was it, Mike decided he would become a polar explorer.  He quickly purchased his first sled dogs, though he didn’t know about the Iditarod at that point. He was about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime.  Every evening and weekend was spent finding places with enough snow and wilderness to run his dogs.  Since then, he has been pursuing his dream of a lifelong bond to his team of dogs. 

Caitlin makes everything at DogGoneIt possible.

She also grew up in Massachusetts where she studied Mathematics at Smith College. 

Caitlin and Mike met through their shared love for dogs and the sport of mushing.

She has taught 3rd through 12th grade at the local two room school house.  A capable musher in her own right, Caitlin has helped to make every mile of Mike’s journey possible. Beyond training puppies and sewing harnesses and jackets for the dogs, she inspires Mike about the importance of following dreams.

Max is the most capable of all of us. 

Born in 2013, he has grown up surrounded by sled dogs and the Alaskan wilderness.  He is the head puppy trainer, dump truck driver, and dog musher.  Beyond the dogs he is an excellent student, participating in the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program, and making great strides in his homeschool curriculum.  He regales guests with stories of his experiences growing up in Alaska.  Max’s participation enhances everything at DogGoneIt beyond our dreams.  

In 2005, Mike and Caitlin decided they needed a place that was true wilderness. 

They moved to Alaska and began a search for a place to build their home.  They needed a spot with access to training trails, plenty of snow in the winter, and cool summers.  In 2007 they purchased the property now home to DogGoneIt.  This property was homesteaded in 1948 by John Rumohr, one of the first park rangers at Denali National Park.  Rumohr and his wife Luella were also mushers traveling the backcountry of the park by dog team.  Rumohr advocated for sled dogs arguing that they are more reliable than snowmobiles.

This magical property was uninhabited for nearly 30 years before Mike and Caitlin purchased it. 

With time, the buildings aged. All of the original structures were in various states of disrepair and the Alaskan wilderness had almost completely regained control of the place.  Mike and Caitlin have spent the last 20 years bringing the property back to life.  Like all mushers they began by building what the dogs would need, kennel space, houses, a feed and tack room, and an indoor dog barn. We’ve moved every one of the original buildings (the dog barn, the meat shed, the house, and the outhouse) and we’ve lived in almost all of them at one point or another during the reconstruction process.  We spent our first year in the dog barn, which, at the time, had a gravel floor and we finally got running water in the spring of 2014.  More recently Mike has worked on the log cabin, moving it to a new foundation, cleaning the logs, and replacing the roof.  Every log and all of the wood we harvested from the property and the surrounding bush.  We’ve found it, hauled it out of the bush,  peeled it, milled it, notched it, planed it, sanded it, and stacked it all.

Today, DogGoneIt is home to 50 Alaskan Huskies, Mike, Caitlin, and Max. 

We live in the log cabin that Rumohr built in 1948, keeping the tradition sled dogs alive in Denali.  We still live a rustic Alaskan life, and have the opportunity to spend each day in this beautiful place, surrounded by the dogs, wildlife, and open spaces we love.

Sled dogs captivate the imagination of the world.  The Santos family encourages you to join them in their pursuit of dreams.  It is really fun to know that you are excited about dogs and the Iditarod.  We invite you to meet our dogs in person and watch them in action at DogGoneIt. 

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