Siberian Husky and sled statue from Dogstuff

Really? Yes. The federal government will pay someone — exactly one person, among its nearly 20 million employees — to run a dog sled.

The National Park Service needs a new kennels manager at Denali National Park and Preserve. The job entails taking care of a 31-animal dog kennel, but also includes the opportunity to go mushing into thousands of miles of Denali backcountry.

There’s more to it than that, of course. The Los Angeles Times has all the details.

Leslie Fields races a six-dog team with her all-terrain vehicle

Growing up, Leslie Fields always wanted to have her own dog team. She started small, learned what she could from other racers and from the dogs themselves, and kept racing. In 2006, she was named Musher of the year by the Rocky Mountain Sled Dog Club, one of two leagues she races with.

She and her husband own a feed store a few miles away from their ranch in Colorado, but the dogs — 15 of them, these days — are the center of Fields’ life. (She told her husband on their first date that her family came first, then her dogs, and then whoever else would put up with that set of priorities. They’ve been married 26 years.)

Her two daughters grew up helping with the dogs. Her younger daughter, Megan Garbarino, 17, has a knack for the dogs. A few months ago, mother and daughter traveled to a Russian orphanage to help them learn dog sled racing. Megan’s thinking of going back for six months on her own.

The Greeley Tribune has two (overlapping) articles about Fields and Garbarino: a profile, and more details about their trip to Russia.

The Can-Am Crown is on. Dogs and their mushers are braving the elements in Maine for this prestigious, 250-mile precursor to the Iditarod.

Needlepoint pillow from Dogstuff

Two dozen teams are vying for the $29,000 purse – enough to cover some expenses, but nobody’s getting rich. So why do it?

“To be in the company of these dogs – they’re my best friends,” said Matt Carstens, a New Hampshire musher. “I love them. We live for it.”