The two-legged members of Team Tsuga are Sue and Mike Ellis. Plymouth State College drew us both to central New Hampshire, half our lives ago, and although we’ve both been away several times, we’ve now made these hills our permanent home. Mike had already caught the mushing bug when he asked Sue to marry him in 1996, and when she accepted a puppy, Birch, as an engagement present, the deal was sealed and a team was formed. Since we were married in 1997, we’ve built a house, a kennel, and a lifestyle centered on our huskies.

Outside of our dog lives, Sue is the Director of Education at the Hunter School in Rumney, NH, a not-for-profit school for AD-HD boys, not exactly what that BA in Accounting prepared her for. Mike is using his BS in geography slightly more, being a self-employed land surveying field contractor. Sue’s combination of being a former college rugby team captain and her experience with attention deficit management has her well prepared for dealing with the huskies and Mike!! We both love winter and previous to running dogs we were each at some stage of being ski bums. These days, our skis are all rusty antiques, but our dog gear is ready to hit the trail.

Since Mike’s first puppy Wyatt, our dogs have lived out their entire lives with us. We pride ourselves on the getting the best out of the dogs we have. We attempt this by keeping a healthy, happy team that has confidence, trust, faith, and respect. The dogs trust us completely because we pay attention to their needs. By never asking for more than what any dog is capable of, they have faith that when we do ask it, it is with in their reach. This gives us confidence that we can achieve new goals by working together as a team, with dogs that respect the mushers because the mushers respect the dogs.

Happy Trails and Happy Tails.