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Granite

Trail Breaker Kennel

Chapter One

Susan Butcher lived alone in the Alaska wilderness with her sled dogs. Her home was a little log cabin. Susan was a musher, so in the winter she traveled across the snow-covered trails on a dog sled. The dogs loved pulling her sled and she loved them in return.

One spring day while Susan was feeding her dogs, she heard a familiar sound. Puppies were being born. She quietly walked over to the barn. Listening there she heard cooing coming from inside. Slowly she looked, and there on a cozy bed of straw were five newborn pups. Their mother gently nuzzled them and cleaned each one with her tongue as they lay curled up next to her. All the pups were shiny, fat, and healthy—except for one. His fur was dull, he had knock-knees, and he let the others push him away from their mother.

Susan loved the puppies and was proud each one. She was always showing them off to other mushers who visited. Again and again, the visitors would say they all looked great, except for the timid one. They said that he would never become a real sled dog and that she should give him away to someone as a pet. But Susan believed in him so she gave him a strong name: Granite.

When the pups were old enough, she started taking them on daily walks in the woods. Susan and the puppies developed a close bond. Susan watched Granite and was impressed by his intelligence. He always knew where he was because he remembered the trails they had taken before. Even when they went somewhere new, he could find his way home alone while his brothers and sisters closely followed Susan so they would not get lost. Every evening she ran alone with him to develop his strength. She was sure that someday he would race on her team.

Granite grew to be a fifty-eight-pound, deep-chested, fast dog. He overcame his knock-kneed legs with a powerful stride. He pulled the sled better than the others, and his confidence grew. He learned to lead the team. Leaders need to be able to guide the team over a rough trail, find the way when they are lost, and run fast. Granite did all three. After years of work, Granite became the main lead dog of Susan's racing team.

At the start of his first Iditarod, Granite seemed to sense it was a race. He stood in front of the team with his head held high, waiting for the command to go. Finally the race started and Granite charged down the trail. Susan was amazed by him. They stopped often every day to eat and rest, but when it was time to go again Granite would be the first to jump to his feet, barking and prancing, anxious to head down the trail.

Soon they were leading the race. One night when they crested a small hill, there in the trail ahead of them stood an angry moose. Susan stopped the team to let the moose get away, but it didn't run. Instead it charged into the team, kicking and stomping. Granite lunged at the moose, trying to protect his teammates, but the moose kicked him and he flew against a tree.

When the attack was over, Susan saw the damage the moose had done. She gently cared for her injured teammates before deciding that for the good of her beloved dogs they should leave their dream of winning behind. They withdrew from the race. She took her bruised and battered team home, but she promised the dogs that next year, they would win.

People doubted Susan and Granite. They often said, "Susan will never win the Iditarod because she babies her dogs." Susan didn't listen to them and continued to care for her dogs as she always had. It was a long, hard year. Susan and the dogs worked tirelessly to recover. In the fall Susan and her dogs started running every day, training for the race.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Graniteby Susan Butcher David Monson Copyright © 2007 by Trail Breaker Kennel. Excerpted by permission of Trail Breaker Kennel. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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