DENALI PARK, Alaska – The countdown has begun for watching this year’s Denali National Park Puppy Cam, which gives viewers a peek at the pups at the only sled dog kennel in the National Park Service.
The Denali Sled Dog Kennels Puppy Cam will go dark for the season starting on Tues. Oct. 7 at 4 p.m. local time, after broadcasting views of this year’s pups for over four months, according to the NPS.
This is due to temperatures beginning to drop below freezing and the nights becoming longer and darker in the Alaska Interior. Plus, this is the time of year when adult dogs in the kennel are starting their busy fall training season as they prepare for winter.
The Puppy Cam will be turned back on in early summer, should the Denali Kennels have a litter of puppies next year.
Meet the ‘Weather Litter’
Puppies of the Weather Litter.
(NPS Photos / K. Karnes / FOX Weather)
Earlier this year, they welcomed a litter of Alaskan husky puppies. The NPS said they were known as the “Weather Litter,” in celebration of 100 years of weather data collection by the mushing rangers of Denali for the National Weather Service.
Given the weather connection, the pups were then given weather-related names – specifically, after words that describe the ways water influences the weather:
- Squall (female)
- Storm (female)
- Graupel (male)
- Dew (male)
- Torrent (male)
- Fog (male)
- Vapor (female)
Squall, Storm, Graupel and Dew are Alaskan husky puppies born on May 3 to a sled dog at the Denali Kennels, according to the NPS. Named Merlyn, she was part of a litter named after 9/11 Search and Rescue dogs.
Torrent, Fog and Vapor were born on May 6 to a different mother, or dame, at a partner kennel.
SLED DOG CAM AT DENALI NATIONAL PARK GOES LIVE
All the pups of the Weather Litter share the same sire, a dog named Drumlin from a partner kennel at Lake Minchumina, which lies north of Denali National Park.
Denali Kennels often share litters with other Alaska kennels that breed the same type of large, freight-hauling style huskies, the NPS said. Doing so allows them to increase the genetic diversity and health of the dogs.
How sled dogs are selected for breeding
FILE: Denali sled dogs.
(NPS Photo / Jacob W. Frank / FOX Weather)
To provide the best sled dogs for these duties, the NPS said the kennels look for certain qualities as they create each year’s litters.
For example, some physical characteristics include long legs to help the pups move through the snow, compact paws to help prevent ice from building up between their toes and robust coats and tails to keep them warm.
Ideal characteristics also include personality traits, such as tenacity, love for pulling and working as part of a team and social skills that allow them to thrive when given attention by thousands of people who visit the kennels every summer.
How to watch the sled dog puppies
A still frame of the Puppy Cam featuring the Weather Litter on Thurs. Oct. 2, 2025.
(National Park Service)
The five-month-old pups can be watched via the Denali National Park Puppy Cam webpage until Tuesday evening.
Park officials said the Puppy Cam is made possible through their partnership with Alaska Geographic.
For those who might want to care for their own sled dog, retired sled dogs from the Kennel can be adopted.
The Denali Sled Dog Kennels is one of the oldest sled dog kennels in the U.S. Since it was founded over 100 years ago in 1922, it has built on the age-old Alaskan tradition of raising dogs to protect the wilderness, according to the NPS.
