On tonight’s The last Alaskans, Tyler Selden has his hands full.
Up north of the arctic circle, Ashley and Tyler Selden are two of the most interesting people on The Last Alaskans.
Together this family of three (daughter Sydney is a toddler now) show us their precious dog sled team and Tyler tries to manage their behavior tonight on our exclusive clip.
Breeding sled dogs is still a fine art, as is managing t
In the clip, Tyler has his hands full with alpha dog’s behavior and the dog team turning on the leader of the pack.
A good lead sled dog can cost many thousands, and Ashley and Tyer rely on their dogs for more than mushing, they are protection and sound warnings when apex predators like bears are nearby, too.
In our exclusive clip, Tyler is putting together a chore team for hauling logs or getting firewood.
He is struggling to get the dogs to calm down to be harnessed.
He says: “You don’t want too many dogs because you’re right on the edge of being able to control them.”
Showing how aggressive some are and how some seem ready to mush, he says: “Every dog is an individual just like you and I are individuals. They all have their own personalities… their own quirks and you have to take all that into account.”
He adds: “When you’re picking your team and you’re stringing out your dogs…you’ve got a roster of athletes [that] you know to choose from. You’re kind of like the coach so the team.”
He shows us his female who is the alpha, allegedly. He says: “This is Goose …she’s a good sled dog. She’s a little more jacked up than the other dogs. She’s got a go-go-go kind of mentality but [she is] a good solid work dog
[who has] got a little aggression in her.”
Tyler says: “We’re gonna go take them through a little warm-up here and then head into the woods to get some logs. I gotta burn off a little steam…go on go on guys.”
Goose is very aggressive.
A full-on dog fight erupts as the back dogs all circle Goose and
It is vicious and Tyler has to break it up quick for fear of a dog becoming injured and requiring vet services which are hard to come by where they are.
For those new to the series, back in 2005, Tyler took a restaurant job in Denali National Park and made the decision to move to Alaska.
Now established, Tyler and Ashley live off the land and frugally at that, maintaining trapline trails which are life-saving arteries that allow them to get into the wilderness then back to the safety of their home.
Out “there” Tyler traps all sorts of animals. In a 2018 interview, Tyler and Ashley shared they “catch or grow around 75% of their food.”
And Ashley blogs about their lives too. She wrote: “Whether or not the weather brings us snow in time to travel with the dog team cross country in order to trap and make our living. “
“There are many accidents that can happen traveling with a dog team; breaking up dog fights, setting conibear traps, falling on the stob of a tree, or getting caught by the hook or brake.”
The Last Alaskans airs Sundays on Discovery.