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, his two daughters 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.
When he’s not performing with his band, Jack has always had a keen interest for the outdoors and adventure and is never one to pass up a hike or a camping trip.
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 to explore. 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 long distance races, and is working to get her Iditarod/Yukon Quest qualifiers. Katrina lives in Fairbanks, Alaska with her four Alaskan huskies while she continues handling and preparing for future sled dog races.
Keaton first came to Alaska for a summer job in Denali where he met his 3 loves – Alaska, Erika (his girlfriend), 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 to run the Windy creek kennel and ended up doing 4 races this past season (Solstice 50, Willow 300, Yukon Quest Alaska 300, and the Percy DeWolfe Memorial Mail Run). The dogs did amazing, and Keaton is so grateful for each of those races. Now Keaton is officially qualified for the Iditarod and will hopefully run it within the next two years.
Trail Breaker Kennel is the 4th kennel that Keaton has worked at, and he loves learning as much knowledge as possible about mushing and sled dogs.
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 was has lived her whole life on a remote homestead on the Tanana River in Alaska, where her family lives a subsistence lifestyle. This includes fishing with nets and fish wheels, gardening, and hunting wild game. Their cabin also serves as a school, since Tori is homeschooled. All of Tori’s life, her family has owned a few sled dogs that are used as leaders when they train various other mushers’ pups. Before Tori was born, her parents operated an 80-100 dog kennel while her dad Charlie Boulding raced competitively. In 2022, Tori ran the Jr. Iditarod and Willow Jr.100 with a team of Brent Sass’s yearlings that she trained since they were pups. She placed 4th in the Jr. Iditarod and 1st in the Willow Jr. 100.
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.
Kate grew up in Northern California. After attending college there she began traveling and eventually her travels led her to Fairbanks, AK in 2023. She immediately knew she had found her forever home. After working with sled dogs her first winter, she developed a strong love for them and was determined to learn to mush. Her next winter she worked with Howling Bay Kennels where she began mushing, leading tours throughout the season while running Inuit and traditional sled dogs. She feels fortunate to have met several local mushers who have shared their knowledge about the sport she loves. She is very excited to be working with Trail Breaker Kennel and to continue learning!
Learn about the huskies in our crew here!