Peter Bartlett’s long journey all started with a Siberian husky named Tara he was given as a pet. At the time, he was pursuing a degree in legal technology for a future in law enforcement. But the husky led Bartlett into sled dog racing, and the sled dog racing quickly led him to Alaska.

After graduating magna cum laude from University College in Bangor in 1996, Bartlett changed his career goals, left his home in Dexter, and went to live in a tent in Alaska. Today he lives in a one-room cabin without running water with his wife, Theresa. But he doesn’t mind. Bartlett is now running Mawg-Dawg Kennel in Willow, Alaska, and preparing for another, more trying journey.

Next month, Bartlett will race in the Iditarod, the granddaddy of sled dog races.

“I went to a couple of local races in Maine. I wrote to Joe Redington Sr., and then talked to him by phone,” Bartlett said of the Iditarod founder. “He encouraged me to come up here. I packed up my truck. I didn’t know anyone. I took seven dogs, and lived down the road from Joe.”

Bartlett will make his debut in the 1,100-mile Alaskan race that runs from Anchorage to Nome starting on March 2. It will be the 30th running of the Iditarod, but for Bartlett, it will be the first time he and his team of 16 dogs will race more than 300 miles.

According to Bartlett, he has always had dogs, always loved the outdoors, and always been a competitor. At Dexter High School he played on two state championship football teams. But it was the late Redington who inspired Bartlett to leave Maine.

“He wanted to get people into the sport,” he said of Redington. “Joe saw sled dog racing was dying out in Alaska. Snowmobiling was replacing it.”

The first 1,000-mile Iditarod Sled Dog Race was held on March 3, 1973, on the Iditarod Trail, now a national Historic Trail. It was held to honor the mushers and sled dogs that carried medicine to the children of Nome who were stricken with diphtheria in 1925.

That first year, the Iditarod had 34 teams start the race.

This year, the race will feature more than 73 mushers from six different countries and 16 states. Bartlett likens the event to the NBA Finals with its $7 million purse, its large corporate sponsors, and its multitude of veteran participants.

By most accounts, there have been few Maine natives to ever compete in the race.

Joanne Potts, the Iditarod press relations director, said that in 30 years, there has never been a Maine native listed among the race entrants. But that’s not to say other Mainers, like Bartlett (who entered as an Alaskan), did not leave their home state to live and train elsewhere.

Kathy Pickett, who has run Nooksak Racing Supplies in Oxford for 25 years, said Bartlett has to be one of the few Maine-born mushers ever to race the Iditarod. That’s one reason she and her husband, Grey, gave him 20 dog harness.

Their gift, valued at $400, was among the $15,000 in donations Bartlett received from Maine.

“Peter works real good with animals. You have to have a certain personality,” Pickett said of professional sled dog racers. “It’s kind of a weird personality, not a loner, but more comfortable being outdoors with animals. And Peter puts the time in.”

Bernie Ronco of Ripley is another Maine musher who has supported Bartlett’s campaign.

After all, Ronco was the one who gave Bartlett the Siberian husky that got him into sled dog racing. Ronco saw early on why Bartlett became enamored with the sport.

“That dog really started it all,” Ronco said. “Deep down he wanted to race. He’s very competitive. I was surprised when he went to Alaska. But knowing what he wanted to do, that was the only place to do it. So he had to go.”

Bartlett said he originally wanted to become a U.S. marshal, but, had he pursued that career, he would not have had the chance to race sled dogs professionally. As it turned out, it hasn’t been easy.

Before Bartlett moved to Alaska, his experience in sled dog racing was limited to a few short sprints around New England.

To qualify for his first Iditarod, he had to place well in a 200- and a 300-mile race. He was fifth out of 25 teams in the Tustumena 200 Sled Dog Race in Kasilof, Alaska, last year, and third out of 11 in the Klondike 300 in Big Lake, Alaska, on Jan. 22.

But the Iditarod, which can take up to two weeks to finish, will be a different kind of adventure.

“You need $30,000 minimum to do it,” Bartlett said. “It’s hard for us to compete. It’s a slow process. It’s costing $1,500 a month just to feed the dogs.”

When he’s not working at his kennel or in dog sled races, Bartlett is making money during the summer however he can. Two years ago he worked on a glacier in the Juneau area running sled dog rides for tourists.

“We put all our money into the dogs. I wouldn’t give up running dogs. I can’t say I love going to the outhouse when it’s 30 below,” he said. “But when the moon is full, seeing the dogs breath when it’s 20 below, it’s really quite peaceful.”

Like a long-distance runner attempting his first marathon, Bartlett’s goal this year is just to finish the Iditarod and for him and his dogs to get a taste of it.

But the competitor in Bartlett will not be left behind.

“If you try to focus on racing, I’m told, you’ll burn the dogs out. But I’d like to finish in the top 40,” he said. “The top 20, top 30, that’s all corporate mushers. You can’t beat those guys. We’re a good team. We’re just inexperienced.”

Anyone interested in helping Bartlett’s campaign can reach him at mawgdawg@worldnet.att.net.

Deirdre Fleming covers outdoor sports and recreation for the NEWS. She can be reached at 990-8250 or at dfleming@bangordailynews.net.