Finding their pack: Sleddog camp in hilltowns bonds campers with huskies

WEST CHESTERFIELD — Gia Bonaiuto stills at the beginning of the trail, preparing to start her run.

“Line out!” she says to her dog Frita to create tension in the bungee cord connecting the dog to the apprentice. Frita is alert, her cream tail swinging back and forth, muscles poised to run.

Sunlight dapples the ground, filtering through the thick tree canopy above the Hilltown Sleddog campsite, and the only sound comes from birds chirping and the occasional crunch of shoes on earth.

“Hike!” she shouts. The pair bursts forward into the forest to the cheers of campers, who chant, “Fri-ta! Fri-ta! Fri-ta!”

Moments later, Gia and Frita come bounding back to the start of the trail, the apprentice petting Frita, who receives attention and praise from everyone.

Cani-Cross, or cross-country running with a dog, is just one of the activities that campers learn to do at Hilltown Sleddogs Summer Outdoor Adventure Camp, or sleddog camp. The camp, which is based in West Chesterfield, teaches campers to get to know sleddogs, how to care for them and be active with them. They also learn about mushing, or dog sledding, from an expert: Marla B. Brodsky, also known by her moniker “Marla BB.”

Originally from New York City, Brodsky started Hilltown Sleddogs, a touring and racing kennel in West Chesterfield, after training as a musher in Alaska. She raised her daughter and multiple litters of Alaskan huskies in western Massachusetts.

The sleddog camp has run for over 12 years, and some campers come from across the state and the country to get to know Brodsky’s huskies and learn about mushing, or dog sledding. There are several camps during the summer: the earliest starts in late June, and the latest takes place toward the end of August. The youngest campers are 8, and the oldest campers are 15 or 16 years old. This summer, Brodsky has about 10 to 11 campers each week, and on the first day of camp, the campers spend their morning meeting each dog for a few minutes. This process is done in silence.

“We let them go right to that nonverbal place, because that’s the place where the dogs communicate the most, not with words,” Brodsky said. “I hear the hum, the hum of camper and dog just connecting, looking at each other.”

Each camper connects with each dog and picks one that resonates with them to work with. Throughout the week, campers and dogs do everything together, including hiking, swimming, playing in the pen, racing rigs and learning about mushing.

By the middle of the week, all the campers have learned to match their dog’s energy, handle them, walk them, and the dogs learn what the kids can handle. After going to camp a couple of times, some of these campers return to help throughout the year as apprentices and eventually become counselors. This fall, Brodsky is looking for another apprentice as she undergoes her second surgery.

Gia Bonaiuto was a longtime camper and is helping out this year as an apprentice. Selena Argiro-Bevilacqua is also an apprentice and says her experience training and living with athletic working dogs will help her achieve her dream of training dogs for the military in the future, as working with the huskies has helped her understand pack dynamics.

Camper Cassie Matoney said she had come to sleddog camp multiple times because she loved meeting all the dogs. On the weekends, she comes to visit the dogs and learn how to take care of them as an apprentice.

“Once you get to know them, they have different personalities,” she said while petting her dog Vinnie in one of the pens. She says that Vinnie is energetic but also loves tummy rubs and kisses.

Across the pen with her dog curled up next to her, camper Phoebe Kovacs said her dog Violet was her “favorite friend.”

Sleddogs have played a major role in the life of Brodsky’s daughter, Ruby Rothenberg, who grew up with Alaskan huskies and is the camp director for the summer. A rising senior at Indiana University, Rothenberg now manages much of the operations at sleddog camp.

Rothenberg says that growing up with strong working dogs who were also part of the family really built her confidence. After years of helping take care of the dogs and growing up with them, she began to get involved in the sleddog camps in 2020. Rothenberg now helps train apprentices to be counselors and manage the camp, which she enjoys doing.

“I would say I’m like introverted in general, but I think here’s especially a place [where] I feel confident,” she said.

Amidst all the moving parts — the campers, dogs, the counselors and the weather — she thrives ensuring everything runs smoothly.

Her favorite part is seeing the campers gain confidence by handling their dogs, especially seeing campers do tasks independently when they were nervous at the beginning of the week.

“It’s all about meeting the dog’s energy,” Rothenberg said. “So even if the dog is really strong or like even bigger than the camper, they learn how to work with them and connect with them and get to know them.”

Brodsky says that people come back because they love the dogs, and their experience at camp empowers them.

“I get a lot of kids that have different things going on, and the dogs … help them, you know, have less anxiety. If they’re on the spectrum, the dogs don’t need words to communicate with them. You know, kids that are more ADHD, lots of energy, well, they’re going to go home tired at the end of camp,” she said.

Brodsky added that it didn’t matter if a camper didn’t know anyone at first because the most important thing was getting them to bond with their dog, and other relationships would organically happen.

Sitting on tree stumps arranged in a circle as campers ate their snacks, Brodsky asked campers about their favorite thing about camp. The unanimous answer was the dogs. Giving belly rubs, receiving “kisses” and a dog resting their head on a camper’s lap all featured large in the discussion of favorite moments from the morning.

“Sounds like the magic is already happening,” said Brodsky, looking around at her campers. “Can you feel it?”