(upbeat music) - Rancho Luna Lobos is a family-run dog sledding kennel near Park City that combines professional racing with rescue and rehabilitation for northern breed dogs.

Founders Fernando and Dana Ramirez join us today to share more about their mission.

Hi both, thanks for being here and bringing Doula and Sadie with you.

- Thanks for having us.

- Yeah.

So Fernando, tell me how you got started doing this.

- Well, I grew up in Park City, and I saw a cartoon called "Balto" at that time, and I had interest prior to the cartoon, but anyway, that just fueled whatever ambition I had.

And so I started racing sled dogs as a young boy.

And what's funny is that my mother, she said "We'll run along this avenue.

My only condition is is that we have to rescue the dogs and we'll formulate your team this way.

So you're not gonna be spoonfed.

We're gonna work with your team and train them."

- I love it, so you rescue dogs, and you brought Dana along when you married her, though she's allergic to dogs.

- We found that out a few years into the project, yeah.

But we told her toughen up.

- Yeah, yeah.

Okay, so you rescue northern breeds, and then you train them to be part of a dog sled team.

- We do, if they love to run, that's the one thing we can't coach.

They have to want to run.

They have to have that drive and passion.

So we offer tours year round.

We do kennel tours, snowshoe tours, dog sled rides.

We have a kids summer camp, and the goal for all of our tours is to show how every single one of these guys are living their best life.

That's our mission at our ranch, to make sure that we find the path that makes each and every dog happy, and we hope to inspire people along the way.

Every dog has a truly incredible story that will tug at your heart strings and hopefully leave you feeling really inspired.

So that's what we do.

And then he also races professionally and chases that dream as well.

- I love it.

A perfect life and a perfect life for these dogs.

I have Huskies, I know.

- Yeah, they love to run.

- They need to run.

And so do you find homes for them?

- We do, if they don't love to run and they don't love being a ranch dog, then we'll find them the perfect family.

So we really take our time to just make sure that they find the perfect spot.

- Well, absolutely love what you're doing, and I'm gonna come visit you.

So thank you for what you're doing and thanks for being here.

- Yeah, thank you.

- We'd love that.

- All right.

And if you'd like to know more about the Rancha Luna Lobos, the great thing they do, go to lunalobos.com, lunalobos.com.

I'm Mary Dickson.

Thanks for watching "Contact."

(upbeat music) - Local events, arts, culture.

It's what brings us together.

Hi, I'm Mary Dickson.

Here on Contact, we introduce you to local events and organizations that serve your neighborhood.

If you work for a nonprofit and would like to appear on our show, please visit pbsutah.org/contact.