Grandville — When Joey Sabin was in Kelly Venhuizen’s first-grade class at Central Elementary School in the late 1990s, he remembers reading a book about sled dogs. Later, in fourth grade, he remembers a project on the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, learning about the race’s history and following mushers and their dog teams through the course.
The details are fuzzy, Sabin admits, but they made an impact nonetheless.
“The book about sled dogs was really interesting … and (the Iditarod project) definitely got me inspired,” he said. “And as a kid, I was always outside on my rollerblades and skateboard with my pet dogs, having them pull me around, and my favorite movie was ‘Iron Will’ … Being a dog musher has been a dream of mine since I was a kid.”…