Husky tours with small children
Well I did write previously that I would stay out of the blog, but the following topic has caused enough questions, which I think it’s the right time to have a more thorough answer for.
As of starting to write this article (June 2026) my son is already well over 2 years old and we have had the pleasure to join several different husky tours and visits to the kennel during these years. However with those in mind, as a first hand experience not all of the tour types are equal in how enjoyable that would be for the small child or the parent at the same time. They also require a bit of different preparation, which I’ll be going over now.
Disclaimer: My son has always had quite the temperament, which I’m basing my own advice towards and due to which my advice may not be the definite answer in all of the cases.
Main things to consider for husky tours when travelling with small children:
- Length of the tour in total, including the transfers
- Time on the trail
- Itinerary and the premise where you are going to
- Seating arrangements
- Clothing
- Nap and eating schedule
In general being with small children, at times it can be very difficult to plan anything very lengthy, while at the same time keeping the child happy. This always has the downside of limiting the actual tour options type and length wise quite a bit, but activities definitely are more fun overall when the children aren’t throwing a fit.
Length of the tour in total, including the transfers
When you are looking into your day schedule and tours to book, keep in mind the defining factor isn’t only the length of the ride. Typically the conversations surrounding husky tours are always about the ride itself, which yes definitely is a big part of the equation. However, to keep the activities properly small-child-friendly, think about the total length of the tour and how that can be matched to the child’s regular schedule.
For example basing my own child’s nap schedule on this. For the Running with the Pack tour, being 2h15min experience in total, the most optimal timing for my child would be the 09:00-11:15 o’clock departure. This would allow my child to still return to home/hotel after the tour has ended to have their nap around 12:00. Eating / small snacks can also be offered during the ride back if not offered before. This is also one good way to keep the child awake, as many parents know having a child fall asleep even for a short while during travels can really mess up the rest of the day.
Clothing
But now to the practical tips, that will likely be the core of all such activity planning. Just like with adults the clothing should match the weather. And for the parents to keep in mind: If the activity requires a lot of sitting down or waiting, little ones do get cold much faster than adults.
If there are longer periods of waiting indoors, do remove additional clothing or at the very least open some zippers. Sweat turns to cold – keep this in mind in case of longer waiting times inside followed by cold exposure outside.
For the clothing – layer smartly and with the right materials. Avoid cotton in every circumstance. Merinowool is the best material you can ever think of, it doesn’t sweat compared to cotton, but we do have polyester clothing as well. Nothing should be too tight, as the same with adults. The “empty space” is what will have air in it, which the child’s own body heat will warm up.
So from the bottom layer to the top layer:
- The feet: Socks, woolen socks, boots or booties if the baby is not walking yet. Boots once more are better to be too big than too tight. However, it is good to test that the child can still walk with the boots on if they are at that age.
- Underlayer: Shirt + pants / body + pants, underlayer overall.
- Outer overall: If the child is looking like a penguin, you know it’s good. The Finnish brand Reima has amazing clothing. Other good brands I can recommend is POP (Polarn O Pyret).
- Hands: Woolen mittens + outer gloves. Only thumb space for bigger children, no fingers at all for babies.
- Head & Neck: Kypärälakki (balaclava) + beanie. Some children are fine with the tubescarf we provide here at our kennel, our little man wasn’t a fan.
In general I would highly recommend renting clothing when coming here, or looking for your home country’s marketplaces/second hand stores for used winter gear. Buying brand clothing when the usage amounts will not be a lot does feel quite wasteful. We also have bought most of our clothing second hand over the years.
For local rental service I would recommend Winterent or Lumiawear.
Then if you want to read my total “reviews” of the tours I did with my family, as follows:
First husky tour ever – Happy trail with 11 months old
The first ever husky tour I did with my son was our Happy Trail tour. He was 11 months old at that point and we did the tour at the start of March. The weather was very mild that day and it wasn’t too windy either making it pretty much optimal conditions for having a tour with a small child.
Dressing up we had done back home as we had adequate gear already. He was very happy being his charming self at the beginning of the tour. After us parents geared up with the rest of the needed clothing we headed outside of the dressing cabin to wait for the driving instructions to begin.
The group itself was very small, at that point a total of 3 customer sleds and the guide, so definitely a bit more calm first tour than it might be on December times. The ride itself started on schedule without any delays so that was a very nice and smooth start.
I was driving the whole way with my fiance keeping our son on her lap. Overall that went pretty well and he was happy “most of the way”. There were some tears shed when we were on the lake due to the wind. At some point he did fall asleep and only woke up when we arrived back at the kennel. At the end we had some time to be with the dogs, which he was the most fond of and we did a short tour of the kennel as well, before moving indoors to warm up.
The fact that he fell asleep during the ride, did cause a bit of issues with the sleep schedule in the end, but hey it’s what it’s. Definitely a good experience all in all.
Second husky tour – Running with the Pack with 22 months old
Then the second experience we had with our little man was last spring at the beginning of March. He was 22 months old at that point and we joined for the Running with the Pack tour. Once more everything went super smoothly organization wise, but unfortunately at that point in March there really weren’t any super convenient timings available anymore to match with his sleep schedule. We joined the 13:30-15:45 o’clock departure and all went basically as bad as it could. He did not fall asleep in the car before the tour, even after driving around for a longer time before arriving at the kennel, so I guess all parents can somewhat guess what great foundation that gave for the tour.
He liked the ride a lot still and we were driven by one of the professional mushers with our whole family on the sled. I was holding onto my son with my fiance sitting behind me. Only when we started riding back from the lake to the kennel, the wind made him quite upset. But luckily it was only about 5 minutes back to the kennel, so the shorter length of the ride definitely was of benefit here. Back at the kennel petting the dogs and giving treats made him super excited and I remember him talking about that for quite some time after the tour. “Mennään katsomaan husky koiria” (“Let’s go see husky dogs”) was a sentence he repeated for quite a while after the tour. The Bearhill Husky calendar that us employees receive every year (also purchasable here at our kennel *wink wink*) he became very fond of after the tour as well.
But unfortunately, due to the missed nap, that’s where the “good times” somewhat ended.
We ended up cutting the tour short as he was simply too tired. We had the option of doing that, as we arrived at the kennel with our own car. However, I feel like if we could have scheduled this to either one of the morning departures, if available, this would have worked much better (09:00-11:15 or 10:30-12:45 o’clock). As an employee of Bearhill Husky, we were able to join this tour for free. If I would have paid for the tour, I would only have bought it if it had matched better with the nap times.
Final thoughts
All of this in mind, on top of the snowless period tours that I’ll most likely have my kiddo to join this summer and autumn, I think the most “optimal” tour would still be the Santa’s Husky Rides. Everything gets done within the 30-minute time window with plenty of different times possible ranging from 10:00-16:00 o’clock. The ride itself is 2,5Km in distance which takes around 8-12 minutes. This is definitely something even younger children will have a great time on and it is not taking anything away from the parents either.
From a parents’ perspective, travelling with very small children has of course a big effect on what kind of activities and experiences the parents can join. But it is still good to remember that for the overall enjoyment of the experience, it’s very much beneficial to pick something even the smaller participant will enjoy.
