His company, Mad Dogs and Englishmen Expeditions, an adventure dog sledding and skijoring outfit offers day or afternoon trips in the Bow Valley, as well as expedition length tours. Customers are not exclusively adventure-seekers; the British Army is also a client with soldiers participating in military training, survival skills and team building. The company's kennels are home to about 100 dogs. Only 70 are actually working, the rest are either in training or enjoying their retirement. Donald’s dogs typically live long into their teens and while they can still run and pull a sled, that exercise is no longer required of them. If the dogs aren’t enough, he and his wife Dawn are pursuing a shared passion for cooking. With a Burmese grandmother and a father born and raised in India, Donald's history is steeped in curries. Under the name, A Russell Donald Curry, Canmore and area residents have been enjoying spice kits, samosas and other East Indian delights for years. So here’s the punch line. This man, Russell Donald, is a paragon of living your dream. Perhaps he won’t see it this way, but from an outsider’s perspective he is doing exactly as he pleases, no midnight sun required.
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Photo by Neville Palmer
routesmagazine.ca
JAN FEB 2012