Join us and our Siberian huskies in Lapland, Finland

Detalles

• 

  Descripción

  We are a family with a kennel that has 80 Siberian huskies of all different ages. We live on a homestead in the arctic wilderness, 50km north of the Arctic Circle, in the heart of Lapland. Our family's forefathers were among the first pioneers who settled here back in 1733.
  
  We're primarily looking for people who can help us look after our dogs at any time of the year, but we're also looking for somebody who can help with housekeeping during the winter season. Our priority is giving the dogs a high standard of care first and foremost, as well as giving our guests a top quality service.
  
  Before applying, please check our calendar for availability.
  We have been hosting workawayers since 2011.

• 

  Tipos de ayuda y oportunidades de aprendizaje

  Práctica de idiomas

  Jardinería básica

  Proyectos creativos DIY «hazlo tú mismo»

  Cuidado de animales

  Ayuda en una granja

  Ayuda doméstica

  Mantenimiento básico
• 

  Intereses

  

  Política / justicia social

  

  Sostenibilidad

  

  Cultura

  

  Agricultura

  

  Música

  

  Bricolaje y manualidades

  

  Arte y diseño

  

  Cuidado de plantas

  

  Historia

  

  Libros

  

  Cocina y alimentación

  

  Animales

  

  Yoga / bienestar

  

  Fitness

  

  Baile

  

  Navegar / barcos

  

  Playa

  

  Naturaleza

  

  Acampada

  

  Deportes de invierno

  

  Montaña

  

  Deportes acuáticos

  

  Actividades al aire libre

  

  Senderismo

  

  Deportes de aventura
• 

  Intercambio cultural y oportunidades de aprendizaje

  We are a bi-lingual family, with both English and Finnish spoken at home, although English is our working language. So you can certainly practice your English, but if you want a challenge, you can try learning Finnish - it's one of the most difficult languages in the world!
  
  What you learn here will depend on how proactive, motivated and receptive you are, and of course, what time of year you travel. In addition to learning how to care for our huskies, you can also learn about the wilderness and the way we all live up here, if you are keen to explore places nearby. You can join us when we go fishing in nearby lakes, hiking with the huskies, and picking wild berries and mushrooms. Hopefully, you will learn how to dress properly for the arctic weather, and how to be sensible in our challenging conditions. Also, you will be living with people from different cultures and with different personalities, so we hope this will give you a chance to refine your social skills and develop your teamwork abilities.
  
  We believe that one of the great benefits of any cultural exchange is gaining an understanding of other people's customs and lifestyles. Ours is at times hectic and at others quiet, adjusting to the rhythm of the seasons.This famous quote by naturalist Alexander von Humboldt sums up the way we feel about travel: “The most dangerous worldview is the worldview of those who have not viewed the world.” So hopefully staying here helps to broaden your own worldview.

• 

  Ayuda

  We're looking for kennel hands/handlers who can provide routine care for our dogs and an extra person who can help to clean log cabins to a high standard and sometimes help out in the restaurant. We pay all of our workawayers and you'll be provided with more information about this during the application process. In spring and summer (from April onwards) we have places for a minimum of one month up to a maximum of three months. During the autumn and winter, we have places for a minimum of three months and a maximum of six months, starting in either October or January.
  
  Looking after our huskies means showing up on a daily basis, and includes training them as well as maintaining the kennel area. The kennel work includes cleaning, feeding, exercising and monitoring health. It also involves taking dogs for walks, brushing them when they blow their coats, looking after sick, injured or recovering dogs, handling raw meat and bones while preparing their food, as well as clearing up the dogs' poop. Sometimes we have puppies that require extra feeding and attention and occasionally we go to dog shows. We usually fix sledding equipment and dog boxes ourselves, so help is needed here as well.
  
  We start training the dogs in preparation for the winter season in September, once the weather has cooled enough. This means helping to set up teams of excited, energetic dogs and exercising them with our quad bikes. We also give our cabins a thorough clean during October and get them ready for the up-coming season. Then from mid-November to mid-April we do sledding tours, in addition to the normal kennel routine. The extra team member joining us for the winter season (cleaning cabins and helping in the restaurant) would be able to help out with the dogs in their spare time. Our winters usually last for around seven-eight months and usually everybody has time to learn how to drive dog-teams during that time.
  
  In May the snow starts to melt but we still need to keep the dogs exercised and the kennel cleaned throughout the spring and summer. We sometimes need help in the garden and the forest as well. We also cut and chop our own firewood and clear or maintain our forest trails.
  
  We are looking for people who are confident, proactive, highly motivated, positive, easy-going and energetic. You should also be genuinely interested in dogs and the northern lifestyle. We expect you to be helpful and flexible in our sometimes difficult Arctic conditions, and eager to participate wholeheartedly in all of our activities. We'd like to teach you about Siberian huskies, as well as the culture and traditions of Lapland and the wonders of the Arctic wilderness. We aim for a workaway experience that will be mutually rewarding :)

• 

  Idiomas

  Idiomas hablados
  Inglés: Fluido
  Finnish: Fluido
  Alemán: Intermedio
  Español: Intermedio
  Francés: Intermedio
  Swedish: Intermedio

  Este anfitrión ofrece intercambio de idiomas
  Este anfitrión ha indicado que está interesado en compartir su idioma o aprender otro.
  Ponte en contacto con él para obtener más información.
• 

  Alojamiento

  Accommodation is provided on site and in summer it's in our cosy, one hundred-year-old lumberjack's cabin (picture below), which has been equipped with normal modern conveniences and is located next door to our own house. In winter, the accommodation is in a house over the road. We expect you to keep the cabin/house clean and tidy at all times.
  
  In the cabin there are two pairs of bunk beds; one in a separate bedroom and another in an alcove off the living room. The house has three bedrooms with either two single beds or a double bed. There is also a kitchen area, tables, sofa, TV, fireplace, WiFi and a washroom with wc and shower. We have electric heating and running hot and cold water. We also have a separate sauna by the lake that you can use. All of our accommodation is non-smoking.
  
  It's also possible to use our equipment to go fishing, canoeing, windsurfing, ice skating and skiing in your free time. You can also go hiking with our dogs. Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate your own pets because recuperating or injured huskies sometimes live with you in the cabin. Also, our huskies sometimes have "stay overs" with you, whenever it suits everyone.
  
  You'll be cooking your own food so bring a few of your own recipes to share. We also have afternoon tea together now and then, or a bbq evening in the grill hut, and we'll eat some traditional celebration meals together. We can accommodate vegetarians but we don't cook food for special dietary requirements such as halal or kosher.

• 

  Algo más...

  Our dogs are lively, happy and strong individuals that require confident handling but lots of personal attention and TLC! It's a physically demanding job and can be in unpleasant or extreme weather conditions, so you mustn't mind getting cold, wet or dirty and having dog fur everywhere. You should be healthy, have a strong body and a good level of fitness (eg. you should be able to do chin-ups and run a couple of kms). We are not looking for wannabe survival experts though. If you are travelling here in winter and keen to drive sleds, you must also be heavy enough to be able to stop a moving sled pulled by strong dogs.
  
  Hours will vary and during quieter times we usually keep to an average of four-five hours per day. In your free time you can explore the area and get to know our lakes and forests. In addition to what is available here, there are many other summer and winter sports available in nearby resorts, and travelling around the region by bus is quite easy, e.g. the nearest resort and national park is about an hour away. And although we live in a very sparsely populated area, there is a good range of shops and other services, as well as concerts, galleries, museums and tourist attractions in our nearest towns, also an hour away by bus.
  
  The compensation for our remoteness, however, is that we are situated by a beautiful little lake surrounded by the largest wilderness forest in the world - the taiga. If you like walking, hiking, reading, writing, painting, photography, etc. or just need to study, there is usually time for all that too. And if you're lucky, when the sky is clear in the autumn and throughout winter, you can go out into the garden and watch the northern lights dance through the night.
  
  We live in the land of contrasts, with the midnight sun and the polar night, which means we have 24hrs of daylight for three months in summer and 24hrs with no sunlight for a month around mid-winter. We can also have some extreme temperatures: in 1999 there was a difference of 85 degrees from -53C in February to +32C four months later! In general though, winter temperatures range between 0C to -30C and summer temperatures range between +5C and +30C.
  
  We have many applicants for a very limited number of places. If our calendar is full and you are flexible with travel dates, please consider being on our waiting list for places which become available at short notice. And please be patient when waiting for a reply - we go through and finalise the majority of applications during spring/early summer only. The exception to this is if/when there is a last minute place that appears unexpectedly, in which case you'll find us on the last-minute list.

• 

  Un poco más de información

  • 

    Acceso a Internet

  • 

    Acceso a Internet limitado

  • 

    Tenemos animales

  • 

    Somos fumadores

  • 

    Puede alojar familias

• 

  Puede acoger a nómadas digitales

  We have a 4G-5G wifi connection

• 

  Espacio para aparcar autocaravanas

  We have space for a small campervan

• 

  ¿Cuántos voluntarios puedes hospedar?

  Más de dos

• 

  Mis animales / mascotas

  Too many names to list here!

  80 Siberian Huskies of all ages, three Lapponian dogs and one Elkhound

Seguridad Web

Habla con usuarios que han visitado a este anfitrión

+54

Comentarios (63)