It was a hot and sunny June afternoon when I arrived at Rancho Luna Lobos, the home of 130 mostly rescued dogs and Utah’s largest dog-sledding operation. I assumed that the place would be relatively quiet in summer. Not so. Several cars came and went while I chatted with the outfit’s owners and founders, Dana and Fernando Ramirez. I soon learned that the steady stream consisted of parents dropping off and picking up their kids for the Ramirezes’ popular summer day camps. “We are actually busier in the summer now than we are in the winter,” Fernando says.
But, of course, Rancho Luna Lobos got its start with wintertime dog sledding. Fernando fell in love with the sport soon after he moved to Park City from Los Angeles at age 10. “I caught the tail end of that local mushing culture in Summit County and taught our family’s Labrador retriever to mush, as well as two huskies I adopted,” he says. Fernando’s passion for sled dog racing followed him into adulthood, and when he and Dana were about to be married, they hatched a plan to launch Rancho Luna Lobos. “We both wanted to make giving sled dog tours our livelihood,” Dana says.
Now, in addition to dog sled and cart tours on the 55-acre ranch in Browns Canyon (carts allow them to run tours in low- or no-snow conditions), Rancho Luna Lobos also offers kennel tours and snowshoe hikes with the dogs, a junior musher program, and summer camps. “It has evolved into so much more than a place for our guests to take a sled dog tour,” Dana says. “It’s a place of healing for the dogs, our guests, and our staff.”
About 85% of Rancho Luna Lobos’s canine residents are rescues and, once there, fall roughly into one of three categories. There are the dogs with no interest in pulling a sled, like Nala, an 8-year-old husky mix surrendered to Rancho Luna Lobos by a pastry chef. “You’d put a harness on her, and she’d just let the other dogs drag her along,” Dana says. “She’d much rather hang out in the Puebla and watch cooking shows on Netflix all day, and so that’s what she gets to do.” (The Puebla is one of several heated and cooled dog shelters dotting the Rancho Luna Lobos property.)
The dogs that love pulling a sled as part of a team but are not quite fast enough to race take guests on dog sled or cart tours. This group includes 14-year-old Kroner. Once a very competitive racer, he is now retired and continues to pull a sled for the fun of it.
Then there’s the Ramirez family’s race team: sleek, super-athletic dogs — typically greyhound or German shorthaired pointer and husky mixes — that appear more closely related to gazelles than the roly-poly malamutes or St. Bernards they share the ranch with. “These dogs have a higher red blood cell count than other dogs and can release more oxygen into their system when they need it, giving them a burst of speed that’s kind of like a superpower,” Dana says.
But what all dogs at Rancho Luna Lobos have in common is their affability. Every dog I met, from the retirees to the peak-form racers, nuzzled up against me for pets and ear scratches. “When dogs first get here, they often have a chip on their shoulder, ready to compete for resources,” Fernando says. “But when they see that there’s plenty of food and attention for everyone, they chill out and realize that here, ego is not your amigo.”
Rancho Luna Lobos isn’t the only dog-sledding outfit on the Wasatch Back powered by rescues. Maren Partridge heads up dog-sledding tours at All Seasons Adventures. Partridge founded Arctic Rescue (arcticrescue.org) almost 30 years ago after she adopted two huskies. “I would ski or skijor with one, but after I got the second, they clearly had more pulling power than I could handle, and that’s when I got a sled,” she says. Her personal pack now includes 11 dogs. “I love these dogs, and these dogs love to run,” Partridge says.
That drive to run, particularly as part of a team, is why many northern breeds — dogs like Siberian huskies, Alaskan malamutes, and Samoyeds — end up in shelters, Partridge explains. “They are loveable and particularly great with kids,” she says. “They are also independent, and when they don’t have the physical as well as mental stimulation of being part of the team, they get bored and do things like jump fences.”
Alongside shelters and volunteers across the state and Intermountain West, Arctic Rescue works to foster and rehome northern breeds and educate prospective owners on these dogs’ special needs.
Each dog’s story is a key component of the dog-sledding experiences at both Rancho Luna Lobos and All Seasons Adventures. The innate connection between dogs and humans serves as the basis for Rancho Luna Lobos’s summer day camps. “In camp, the dogs’ stories get the kids to think outside of themselves, become more servant minded, and gain accountability,” Fernando says. “[Dana and I] are the macromanagers. The dogs are the micromanagers.”
The Doggy Details
Rancho Luna Lobos is located 11.5 miles northeast of Park City in Peoa. Each two-hour sled dog tour includes a kennel tour, presentation, playtime with the dogs, and a thrilling ride
around the ranch. Cost: $450 per sled. lunalobos.com
All Seasons Adventures runs sled dog tours in the wide-open spaces at Daniels Summit, near Strawberry Reservoir, located 20 minutes from Heber City and 40 minutes from Park City. Cost: $450-$530 per sled. allseasonsadventures.com
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