Husky Puppies on Livecam
Viewers can watch the progress of future Alaskan sled dogs online
June 21, 2013 -- The cutest U.S. government employees just got their own live webcam.
Three Alaskan Husky puppies--Munter, Prusik, and Clove--were born to mother Sultana and father Typhoon on May 22 at the Denali National Park and Preserve in Denali Park, Alaska. The pups have already begun their training to become sled dogs like their mom and dad.
The sled dogs are used by park rangers to "help to patrol the inner 2 million acres of designated wilderness where mechanized vehicles are prohibited," according to the department's website. "The dogs help us to contact winter visitors, haul supplies, transport wildlife researchers, and help insure that there are not illegal activities happening within the park, such as poaching or snow machines entering into the wilderness area."
Viewers can see the puppies' growth and progress on the National Park Service's live puppy webcam.
Watch: Puppy Webcam
"Besides the cuteness factor of this event, it is an important part of the kennel's cycle of life because the arrival and subsequent training of the new puppies means the oldest generation of Denali sled dogs can retire," the National Park Service's Communications Director Marjorie Hall wrote in an email to ABC.
The park tries to retire the aging sled dogs by age 9, when they are "ready to slow down a bit" after years of trekking thousands of miles and greeting tens of thousands of visitors.
"They are both four legged working partners for the rangers and a time-honored traditional facet of the park beloved by the employees and visitors alike," Hall wrote.
In order to prepare them for that life, the puppies are trained starting when they are three days old.
"We do just some really basic stress testing, and studies have shown that, by putting puppies just under a minimal amount of stress, it will actually help them to better handle stress later in their lives," said Denali Kennels Manager Jen Rafaelli in one episode of Denali's "The Puppy Paws," which features last year's sled pups, Polly, Annie, and Lucky.
The Denali Kennels will give updates on the puppies through summer "Pupdates" and more episodes to come of "The Puppy Paws."
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