Family owned and operated since 1976, Trail Breaker Kennel is one of the longest operating kennels in Alaska. The kennel was founded in Eureka, Alaska by the late Susan Butcher, a four-time Iditarod champion, and David Monson, her husband and Yukon Quest champion. Built on a reputation of exemplary dog care and hard work, Trail Breaker Kennel became the premier racing kennel in the world. In 1990, Susan and David purchased property in Fairbanks, Alaska and established Trail Breaker Kennel on the banks of the Chena River.
Today, David and Susan’s eldest daughter, Tekla Butcher-Monson, and dedicated staff members provide visitors from around the world a look at the lives of mushers and Alaskan huskies in Interior Alaska. For over 20 years, Trail Breaker Kennel has been a favorite stop on the Riverboat Discovery tour. Kennel tours, dog sled rides, and other custom tours are offered seasonally. We hope to see you on your adventure in the Last Frontier!
David moved to Alaska in 1977 from South Dakota. After working for the Alaska Railroad in Anchorage, as a king crab fisherman in Dutch Harbor, and working with the people of the remote Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea, he turned his focus to mushing. In 1981, he joined forces with fellow musher, and future wife, Susan Butcher to train and race in the 1,000-mile Iditarod. Over the years, David and Susan built Trail Breaker Kennel into the premier racing kennel in the world. He participated in many races throughout his career, most notably winning the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest in 1988. For over 20 years, David has educated visitors from around the world as part of the Riverboat Discovery tour in Fairbanks. By welcoming guests to Trail Breaker Kennel, David has been able to share his incredible journey as a musher in one of the harshest environments in the world.
Tekla, David and Susan’s eldest daughter, was born and raised in Alaska. For many summers, she has welcomed guests who stop by Trail Breaker Kennel on the Riverboat Discovery tour. After graduating from Wesleyan University in Connecticut with a degree in Theater, Tekla spent a year in New York City doing scenic and costume design for theater. Tekla recently moved back to Fairbanks to work as the Creative Director at Trail Breaker, while also independently pursing her many artistic passions.
Tekla has been mushing since childhood. She remembers being taught how to drive her own one-dog team by Susan at the age of five. In 2006, at the age of 11, Tekla mushed 700 miles of the Iditarod trail with her own eight-dog team. The trip honored and celebrated her mother’s legacy on the Iditarod trail. Tekla, and her father, David, traveled with racers and visited villages that Susan has stopped at numerous times throughout her career. In 2012, Tekla repeated the trip when her sister Chisana turned 11. In 2021, Tekla participated in her first competitive sled dog race, a 200-mile race along the Denali Highway. In 2022 she competed a team if Trail Breaker dogs in the 300 mile Copper Basin Sled Dog Race. Tekla plans to continue training the dogs at Trail Breaker Kennel for mid-distance races throughout the state of Alaska.
Elena has been a member of the Trail Breaker community since 2022. As the Kennel Manager she cares for dogs and gives them individualized attention. She first came to the Fairbanks area in 2014 to work with a competitive long distance kennel in Eureka AK and has been enamored with sled dogs ever since. Elena draws from a varied background from shipwright to building tourist destinations from ice, but she has found a great fit for all her passions and skills here at Trail Breaker. She loves watching both the dogs and the people around her grow and gain experience as they travel down the trail together.
Jack was born and raised in Minnesota, and is returning as the Tour Coordinator for his second official season in Alaska. His love of dogs and the outdoors spurred his decision to join the team in 2025, and he immediately found joy and fulfillment in sharing the world of mushing with the thousands of guests that visit the kennel each year. He’s excited to continue this journey by welcoming people from all over the world to Trail Breaker Kennel.
Katrina grew up in Washington state and has always had a love for the outdoors. An avid mountaineer, and wildlife caretaker/educator, Katrina frequented the trails of Washington to get closer to wildlife. After attending Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, she decided to move up to Alaska in 2017 in search of fewer people and more wilderness.
After working for a tour kennel and running a short race in 2018, she started to seek out opportunities to work in the racing world of mushing. Katrina joined the Trail Breaker Kennel team in the summer of 2018, as well as a second racing kennel. During her time in Alaska, she has trained teams to compete in the Iditarod and Yukon Quest, and has ran races including Yukon Quest 80 in 2023, and 2025; the T-Dog 200 in 2024, and 2025. Katrina lives in Fairbanks with her five Alaskan huskies while she continues preparing for future sled dog races and expeditions.
Keaton first came to Alaska for a summer job in Denali where he met his 3 loves – Alaska, Erika (his wife), and mushing. He happened to be living next to a dog sledding kennel and made friends with some people who worked there. One thing led to another and his love for sled dogs sprouted. He soon knew he wanted to race.
Keaton and Erika moved up to Fairbanks and soon started their own kennel and over the course of three seasons, Keaton qualified for and finished his first Iditarod. Keaton loves spending as much time as possible with his dogs. He is already looking forward to next years training season and running the Iditarod again.
Coming soon..
Keira Irish, 16, is TBK’s Jr Musher (under 18). She has been running dogs since 2019 and has done a handful of races, including the Solstice 50 2022, 2023, and 2024, the Yukon Quest 80 2025, the T-Dog 110 2024, the Two Rivers 100 2025, and the Jr. Iditarod 2023, 2024, 2025. Besides running dogs, Keira enjoys hiking, skiing, camping, kayaking, and any other activity with dogs. She is also a second degree black belt and has been doing/teaching taekwondo since she was 3. Currently, Keira is studying at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and is set to graduate next spring.
Tori Boulding, 17, is a second-generation musher. She owns a small team that she used to train other mushers’ pups and yearlings. She raced a team of Brent Sass’ yearlings in both the 2022 and the 2024 Jr. Iditarod (4th, 7th) and Jr. Willow 100 (1st, 6th). She also placed 2nd in the 2024 T-dog 50.
Most of Tori’s life was spent on her family’s remote homestead, living a subsistence lifestyle. Fishing, hunting wild game, gardening, and of course running dogs. Tori’s parents operated an 80-100 dog yard while her Dad, Charlie Boulding, competitively raced. Tori is homeschooled and set to graduate next spring.
Born and raised in Fairbanks, Anna has always been into sled dogs. Growing up, she watched the finish of the Iditarod in Nome at age 1. Despite never having dogs herself, she has always found a way to make them part of her life whether through work at the kennel or her first-grade science fair project. She has worked at Trail Breaker Kennel for 3 years now and loves getting to be outside and working with dogs. This past winter she focused on training our puppy team and completed her first race, the T-Dog 50 with 8 dogs from TBK. She looks forward to expanding her racing horizons in the next few years and hopes to have dogs of her own someday. When not working or running a team, Anna can be found adventuring in Alaska with her family and friends.
Leif, 16 is a Junior at Lathrop High. He grew up off the grid just outside Fairbanks. His early years were spent surrounded by dogs at his family’s kennel. He’s raced in multiple mushing events and, even though the kennel now totals just 11 dogs, they’re still a huge part of his life. Leif loves spending time outside, especially when running dogs, skiing, or camping.
Learn about the huskies in our crew here!