Doug Butler (above), Ben Barrett ‘20.5 (far left) and Jules Struznya ‘19.5 (far right) have worked for the last few years to established the Cobble Hill Dog Kennel. With over 50 dogs, the Kennel now offers dog-sledding tours to the public during the winter season, and dry-land cart sledding during the fall. - Middlebury, Vermont 
Mush! Cobble Hill Kennel opens for recreational dog sledding
Doug Butler warmly welcomed visitors to his property last Saturday, Sept. 22 but the canine members of his greeting committee were the ones who stole the show.
Dog barks and yelps echoed around Butler’s property — located three miles northeast of Middlebury center — while county residents and college students chatted, played music, grilled burgers and enjoyed the grand opening of the new Cobble Hill Kennel. Butler, a native Vermonter, worked for years alongside Middlebury students Ben Barrett ’20.5 and Jules Struzyna ’19.5 to establish a kennel for recreational dog sledding. Now open, the Cobble Hill Kennel will offer wintertime sled tours, as well as dry-land sledding in the fall.
The grand opening was an opportunity for visitors to see the kennel before they decided to spend money there, Struznya said.
“It’s also a beautiful time of year to meet dogs, hang out, sell locally sourced burgers and celebrate the opening of our business,” they added.
Attendees, many of whom found the event through Cobble Hill’s social media posts, mingled around picnic tables and puppies at the event.
“I saw pictures of the puppies on Facebook, and I texted my friend, ‘We gotta go’,” Lucy Emptage ’22 said. “I like to get off campus just to see the surrounding town and landscape. It’s beautiful out here. But also, my favorite part of the event is the four-week-old puppies.”
While the puppies played in their pens, they greeted each passerby with barks. For every neck scratch, they gave enthusiastic, wet kisses to the adoring audience; some jumped on their hind legs to give guests full-body hugs, paws on shoulders and noses in necks. Butler’s dogs, all husky and pointer mixes, are used for sledding in groups of four to 16, pulling 20 pound sleds. In the right conditions, a pack can pull a rider up to 25 miles per hour.
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