Meet the Team
Who We Are
Laura Neese
Owner of MI DOG
Laura fell in love with the sport of dog mushing and long distance racing at the age of nine, when her family followed the Iditarod as a homeschool project. After five years of learning everything she could about the sport, she started a small kennel in Ohio and began running short races in Ohio and the Upper Peninsula. She graduated from high school at age 16 and then went on to receive an Associate’s Degree in Veterinary Technology through Penn Foster College two years later. In 2014 she moved to McMillan, Michigan, to work at a kennel in the Upper Peninsula and pursue her dream of long distance racing. She worked for that kennel for 8 years before buying her dog team in 2023. She has been blessed with the opportunity to train and race throughout North America for the past 10 winters and has competed in the Yukon Quest, Iditarod, Percy DeWolfe, Canadian Challenge, Eagle Cap Extreme, Idaho Sled Dog Challenge, UP200, CanAm 250, Beargrease Marathon, Gunflint Mail Run, CopperDog150, and Wyoming Stage Stop Race.
MI DOG became a vision of Laura's in 2019 and she quickly started working toward making it a reality. After about 2 1/2 years of working to build the facility, she opened MI DOG to the public in June of 2022. Laura and the dogs are loving this new opportunity to share the sport of dog sledding with the public!
Keep scrolling to meet the incredible canine team members and learn how you can join the team by sponsoring a dog for a year!
