Firewalkers Alaskan Malamute — Attraction in Alaska

I was very excited to see the dogs and puppies at Firewalkers Alaskan Malamute after seeing all the great reviews, especially after our attempt to see the northern lights fell through last night. I made an appointment a month in advance for a 1 hr kennel + dogsledding tour. And because ultimately we decided not to participate in the activity, I cannot speak about the tour itself. However, my interaction with the owner/staff was less than pleasant so I’m writing a review about that.

I contacted the owner/staff to see if everything was good to go this morning (our appt was today at 2pm), to which he asked if I could switch to tomorrow. This was not an option for us. He said the trail is a bit bumpy from the snow yesterday but they were working on it. Then he said “we will be there about 1:30 and see what we can do”, so I thought this meant he will check the conditions of the trail and keep me posted.

I didn’t hear from him at 1:30 so contacted him again at 1:40, to which he told me 1:30 was my appointment. We never agreed to changing our appointment by 30 minutes. He said things like “we are not the weather man”, “everyone is dealing with snow”, etc. and I felt the interaction grew to be extremely unpleasant for me. I never asked him to predict the weather or blamed him for the weather conditions. I simply asked for updates to see if we are able to continue with the tour or not so we can plan our day accordingly. After this interaction, I no longer wanted to continue with the tour and explained that I was not happy with our interaction, to which he told me “you know what get over here”. I think I tried to keep our conversation as polite as possible despite my frustration but this really threw me off.

I became very upset at this point as I didn’t feel respected by the owner/staff at all. When I expressed that I didn’t want to do the tour anymore because I felt that our miscommunication led to a very unpleasant interaction and I didn’t think I’d be able to enjoy the experience either anymore, he tried to send me pictures of the alaskan malamute puppies and said that the puppies will always give you a good experience and he’s willing to give me the “opportunity”.

I strongly believe that this was a problem that stemmed from a language barrier (I noticed that a lot of his texts did not make sense and I had to really interpret what was being said) but I still felt that I was disrespected and that the owner or staff I talked to assumed a lot of things without actually asking the necessary questions and confirming what was actually happening. I don’t think he should’ve been the point of contact for prospective customers for...

I’ve been trying to get ahold of someone from this facility for the past 4 days while in Fairbanks and only received an email stating “$75 a person”. For what though!? My email had multiple questions to it, I did not know what all is offered here, what does that $75 even include?? I’ve seen posts about people going mushing with the dogs and I’ve seen posts of people just getting tours of the kennels and getting to meet with some of the dogs, along with learning about their breed and family tree, which is what my family and I were wanting, not the mushing. The reply that I received was just unprofessional and very uninformative. I’m visiting from Tennessee and it really interested me to come and see the malamutes and view their home but I do not want to go mushing. $75 a person to just come visit the dogs seems way too high and I’m confused as to what is all included in that: if there is more to it than that then I really would have liked to know but no one has returned calls or further emails that I have sent asking more in-depth questions. I’m sorry that I seemed like a bother to you, clearly that...

Very well run Kennel! Being the HUGE dog fan I am I was soo excited to see all the malamutes & Huskeys. Oliver & Maria have the most beautiful well taken care of animals! The love they have for their dogs is so heart warming and really shines through! The dogs are not on chains which I love! I loved hearing all about them & loved that each had a name. Oli is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the dogs & history of mushing! So much fun to learn about.

The dogs are obviously loved and love what they do. They wanted to go again after we finished the tour. I am soo happy we booked this tour! The views were spectacular! It is cold in winter in Alaska, so dress warm! & bring a scarf for your face. It is worth every second!! The owners + their team were very patient & understanding. They made us feel safe & welcomed, they were soo great with our kids too! They answered all our million questions & did it all with a smile! 10000/10 would recommend booking!! You won't regret it!!! We loved our winter tour so much, I had to take mom in summer when she came up to visit.! Book the tour, make the life...