Year-Round Guided Farm Visits

A guided farm visit is a central part of all of our safaris but can also be purchased as a stand-alone product in both winter and summer. Indeed, walk-in visitors and tour groups are welcome to visit our farm and to meet our 200+ dogs and pups throughout the year.

We can offer tours in English, French and Finnish and sometimes also in German or Spanish. If you have a particular language requirement, please book ahead.

We start each tour by introducing you to the dogs in our 'recuperation' area near the house - this is the area where all the dogs on medication or needing an eye kept on them, are temporarily housed. There are normally some good examples of Siberian and Alaskan huskies (and maybe Nenet Laika and Taimyr in the mix up there), so we explain the differences between the breeds and what they are all best suited to.

We then proceed down to the farm itself where we will share information about the culture and history of the sport as well as, of course, introducing you to all of the characters in the clean and well maintained kennel. It is a good opportunity to learn about the life of arctic huskies and their careers through the seasons - for instance about what they eat, how we train them and how we take care of them when sick. A highlight of every tour is, of course, meeting any pups we may have and playing with them a little bit.

Beware, our dogs love to have visitors and the sound of their greeting may last a while, particularly in summer when there are less visitors about. Once your tour has finished, you are welcome to spend time socialising with the dogs and potentially even giving them some of the treats (available for purchase) before returning to the farm.

Duration: c. 40 mins. (NB: If you want to add on an optional extra like the puppy agility course, your tour will end up lasting c. 1 hour).

Price: Adults €20, Bus groups (over 8 adults within the party) and tour groups €12pp, children €12, families €65 (< 5 people inc. up to 2 adults)

Book Your Farm Tour Here

'Behind the Scenes' on the Husky Farm & Free-running with the pups

This is currently a combination of our traditional puppy encounter and our 'behind the scenes' farm tour. The product is 2 to 3 hours long (depending on how much energy you have) and involves a good dose of pups but also some time with the oldies and hopefully some real insight into life as a husky guide in the arctic.

Right now we have 10 rambunctious four-month old pups, 2 x 6- month old pups and one precocious 7 month old. All need cuddles, obedience training and free runs. When pups are small we simply go for walks with them and get them used to returning to us for cuddles and treats.

This is a link to a short video from a puppy run when they are about 5-6 weeks old..

Now, however, our rambunctious group of 2 month olds are faster than we are so we tend to use snowmobiles both front and back and try to keep them inbetween. Those accompanying us in these fun sessions can either ride pillion on the snowmobiles with us or in a sleigh behind the first machine. That way you get to delight in all of the pups tripping over themselves to run behind you!

This is from when they are about 2 months old and already so fast that we need to go with them by snowmobile...

We also always have c. 10 non-running / recuperating oldies up to 16 years in age who also need individual attention and walks.

And of course, we have bedding to put into kennels, nails to cut, teeth to brush, snow work to do (never-ending!) and all of the other daily chores.

So, depending on your interest and our most pressing immediate need (eg sometimes if there has been a huge snowfall and the kennels are just disappearing, that might bounce even pups out of top priority position) we will just incorporate you into our day. Of course, you are likely to do more of the fun stuff than the tedious stuff but we can basically design your ideal 'encounter' around the interests of the group.

Free running, for instance, is super fun. We head out with treat bags and let all the pups loose to gambol to and fro without restraint along the forest paths. Watching them trip over each other in their attempts to explore everything around them is truly a delight to be part of.

Duration: 2-3 hours
Price: Per Person €55

Book either of these products here.


Farm Visit Add-On Activities

In summer, we can be more flexible and you can opt to start with a farm tour and then add on some of the other possible farm and husky activities:

For instance:
• a taster ride with the dogs by troll cart or quad bike (in summer and autumn) or sleigh (winter and spring)
• a 'puppy agility session' (which most choose to do with slightly calmer, older dogs),
• a GEE HAW maze training session which, along with hiking one of two local ridgewalks, are all options if you choose to do a small walk near the farm with the dogs.
• an evening feed challenge - be warned...this is not for the faint hearted!

If you approach your visit this way, we will not charge you separately for the farm tour. You will simply pay for whatever programme you end up choosing since the cost of the farm tour is included within each.

NB: Some summer visitors enjoy their add-on activities so much that they book a longer hike on one of Hetta's hidden trails for later in the week.