The Striders Adventures Association is a Swiss-based non-profit organisation created in 2019 by myself, Rachel Frei Bandieri, and my husband Marc Bandieri, to support animal welfare projects and organisations. In 2021, after a four-month volunteering mission in Lapland, aware of the critical situation caused by the Covid crisis, the Association decided to mainly support the rehoming and adoption of sled dogs in Finland.

The organisation adopted 6 Alaskan huskies in March 2021 from Bear Hill Husky, a professional kennel with a strong no-kill policy based in Rovaniemi, Lapland, to help them go through the Covid economical crisis. 

These 6 dogs, along with my own two previously rehomed huskies, Bobby and Quint, are the Face of the Association and my best training buddies. Oak, a young female, joined the tribe in November 2021.

Your support help us provide for their needs - incl. food, training, necessary gear, shelter, care, and expand our services to other kennels and dogs, as foster home and intermediary before adoption. 

Why supporting the rehoming and adoption of sled dogs?

Too many of these dogs are put down because their people cannot keep them , because they are not a perfect match to a kennel or because they are simply not made for mushing, when they could become amazing home dogs and family animal friends. And we are talking of hundreds of dogs... Something needs to be done. Even if we starts small and it might take time to change the mentalities and prejudices around huskies and sled dogs. The point is not to judge why kennels or mushers cannot keep their dogs. It is to offer an alternative solution. 

It is a big project but totally worth the investment. Supporting animal welfare (and any cause by the way) implies taking risk and dreaming big, isn't it? A similar non-profit, The August Fund, exists in Alaska, where sled dogs and mushing are so famous, but none in Finland or Europe. If there are many dogs shelters and welfare associations, none supports directly the rehoming and adoption of sled dogs.

The Striders Adventures Association works in partnership with kennels, mushers and other non-profit organisations in Finland. It is a free service and no money is paid to or asked from the mushers or owners of the dogs to be rehomed. An adoption fee is paid by the new family to cover the association costs and work. 

There are different ways to support The Striders Adventures Association for the Huskies.