Jobs at Green Dog Svalbard

Green Dog Guide

Green Dog Svalbard has a permanent staff of 14 people. Most are working for us minimum 1-2 years and longer. While working for us, we offer you a place to stay close to the kennel. All of our employees are sharing the workload. The daily job routine includes handling and driving with your own 30 dogs.

It can be physically hard and the winter darkness can also be a mental challenge. But you also get the chance to live and work in the High Arctic nature together with 275 dogs and your international colleagues – you will meet many exciting people from all over the world and you will have some wonderful nature experiences!

Green Dog are specifically looking for guides with the following qualifications:
  • Sledding experience – not a must, but preferably.
  • a professional, loyal and committed attitude.
  • Longterm employment. Minimum a year.
  • Social, happy, mentally stable.
  • You like working with animals and people.
  • You can lead a group – you are an authority.
  • Good English skills.
  • Experience from outdoorlife.
  • Experience from winter acticities.
  • Any craftman skills are welcomed.
  • A drivers license for both car and trailer is a must and we expect you to be a responsible and good driver.

“Partyguider” have no interest, we only wish to employ serious people who thrive in nature and around animals and people.

We expect you to bring your own equipment, such as:
  • GPS
  • Headlamp
  • Boots for winter
  • Hikingboots for summer
  • spikes
  • Multitool (Leatherman)
  • Compass etc.

If you wish to apply for work, please upload all the documents we are asking for. We need a photo, an application, a CV and at least two references from former employers, including email/phonenumber contact details. We will only reply to serious applications.

A REWARDING WORK

Working as a handler or guide for Green Dog Svalbard is rewarding work, but can be physically exhausting, especially in the beginning. If you have worked as a dog sled guide before, you will know roughly what you can expect. If you are new to it all, you are either fit or will get fit within the next couple of weeks.

Depending if you start as a handler and maybe later on become a guide or as guide from the beginning (who might also occasionally handle), the job will be quite different. Handlers take care of a lot of the daily hard work in the kennel. They have to do a lot of shit-picking, feeding, and preparing food as well as lots of other maintenance work. They are invaluable for keeping a kennel with ~300 dogs running, and they can make a guide’s life easier if one shows them the respect they deserve for their hard work.

As a guide one is in charge of 30 dogs, ranging from 20 kg Alaskan huskies to 40 kg Greenland dogs and mixes between the two. This involves shitpicking, providing them with heavy buckets/cans of breakfast, snacks and dinner (and water in the summer), taking care of wounds and medications and everything in between. A guide takes care of up to 8 guests and goes out with 4 sleds on their own for trips ranging from a couple of hours to 3 days. The guide takes care of the guests from pick-up in town to drop-off and is in charge of getting them dressed in warm suits/hats/gloves, briefed, and on the sleds. She/he provides them with food/ coffee/ cookies at stops, guides them through the ice cave or over a glacier and drops them back to town in one piece.

Although the dogs are as friendly as can be, they can be a handful when they get excited and one sometimes has to step in if they start a fight. Thus, it can sometimes be a bit of a struggle to get two at a time to the sleds without faceplanting in the snow. But finding your favourite clever/cuddly/silly/chill dog and sledding in the stunning landscape in Bolterdalen and beyond is well worth it.

On Svalbard it is essential that one carries a rifle (and a signal pistol) for polar bear protection when sledding or hiking but hopefully you will never have to use it. There is a shooting range in Longyearbyen, and one is shown how to use the rifle (and keep it in good working order). Going to the range with colleagues for practice is good after-work fun.

Another essential tool is a GPS to navigate in bad visibility (snowstorms or fog) and to help find your way in the polar night (hard to navigate when one can’t make out landmarks).

Accommodation is provided mostly on-site at the kennel (10km outside of Longyearbyen) and can range from basic but cosy cabins (single or shared, with electricity and a kitchen but no running water) to shared cabins with running water. One picks up water for cooking at the kennel, does laundry there, and catches a ride with colleagues to town for a shower at the gym. Longyearbyen provides everything one needs and more, and the community is immensely welcoming. Additionally, there seems to be a different festival/event happening every month.

Karina and Martin are awesome bosses who take good care of their handlers and guides and Svalbard is a stunningly beautiful place. The wildlife is amazing and there is nothing better than to see your first polar bear, Arctic fox, or walrus, and the comically short-legged Svalbard reindeer is both amusing to watch and delicious.

Carina Gsottbauer

Fantastic Nature Experiences

Fantastic Nature Experiences

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Vanskelighetsgrader

SG1
Passer for alle
SG2
Passer for de fleste
SG3
Passer for de med normalt god form
SG4
Passer for de med over gjennomsnittet god form
SG5
Denne aktivitet krever veldig god fysisk form

Avbestilling

  • Ved avbestilling inntil 22 dager før aktivitet full refusjon.
  • Ved avbestilling 21-8 dager før aktivitet 50 % refusjon.
  • 7 – 0 dager før aktivitet regnes for en ”no show” og berettiger derfor ikke til refusjon.
  • Har man en reiseforsikring kan man søke forsikringsselskapet om refusjon mot legeerklæring.
  • Velger Green Dog å kansellere en tur, får du full refusjon!

Difficulty Levels

SG1

Suitable for everyone

SG2

Suitable for most people

SG3

Suitable for those in normal good shape

SG4

Suitable for those in good shape

SG5

This activity requires very good physical shape

Cancellation

  • If cancelled 22 days or more prior to departure 100 % refund.
  • If cancelled 22-7 days prior to departure 50 % refund.
  • Cancellation less than 7 days prior to departure is a ”no show” and does not qualify for any refund.
  • You may apply to your insurance company for a refund if you provide a medical certificate.
  • If Green Dog Svalbard decides to cancel a trip due to weather conditions or any other reasons, you will receive a full refund!

Gavekort

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