David Straub

David StraubSled Dog Central: David Straub Interview
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David StraubAlaskan Sled Dogs

David Straub about the Iditarod
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Do you have a question you would like to ask David?Send him an e-mail at: info@alaskansleddogs.com

An excellent article on David Straub by Dawn Borman/The Kansas City Star written 2/19/00
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David Straub at the start of the 2000 Iditarod Sled Dog Race - Anchorage, Alaska

It would have been easy for David Straub to stay in Kansas City, where his friends and relatives lived, where he worked for the family business. But his heart was not in it. His thoughts were of sled dogs and a great race thousands of miles away.And so, four years ago, he left the comfortable and the familiar and moved to Alaska. Next month Straub, 39, will stand on a sled drawn by 16 dogs and live his dream by competing in the Iditarod. The Iditarod, which some call the last great race in the world, has become Straub's purpose, his passion.His dogs have become his love, and a one-room cabin his home. The journey has not been easy.He lives a solitary life, working as a carpenter in the summer and training dogs in the winter.He trains them as long as 17 hours a day, rotating dogs on small teams every few days. He depends on propane for heat and light, and a generator for electricity.His visits back to Kansas City are limited to holidays.
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As a young man, David Straub bred dogs for show, and he traveled around the Midwest to competitions where he could show off his Samoyeds and an Alaskan husky -- both breeds used in sledding. "You start working with sled dogs, and after a while you just start reading about the Iditarod.We started tooling around."He hooked his dogs up to a three-wheeled cart and rode around Westport. After graduating from Bishop Miege High School, he worked for veterinarians to learn more about dogs.He eventually joined the family business, Straub Construction, as a carpenter, but spent his spare time working with his dogs.He sneaked away at lunch to read the newspaper's latest Iditarod update. When city living became too cramped, he moved his dogs to rural Warrensburg, Mo.But it wasn't enough. "He was always talking sled dogs, and it was a little funny when somebody was talking sled dogs in the middle of July," said David De Feo, a Merriam veterinarian and former employer."I remember one of his dogs died, and I thought we were going to lose David.He was a walking zombie for a couple of days." He developed a four-year plan to move north, but it became a three-month plan when his father got wind of it. "My father took me out to lunch, and he said if I wanted to move to Alaska, there was no use waiting four years, to put my place on the market and go," Straub said."It was pretty great to have somebody's support." Now his father says he has never seen his son happier, despite the hardships.
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Straub expects his reshaped team to reach Nome in 12 or 13 days.
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The dogs will guide Straub through the route using instinct and smell.Along the route Straub will stop at 18 checkpoints where veterinarians will ensure that the dogs are not being mistreated and that mushers are following race rules.Straub also will pick up 1,400 pounds of meat for the dogs, dog booties, fresh straw and other supplies that have been flown to the sites ahead of time.At some checkpoints Straub will be offered sleeping shelter, but in other areas he expects to sleep near the trail, next to his team.