The owner of a Yellowknife dogsled business says he’s not worried about extra scrutiny of his kennels, saying his “dogs are happy.”

The city’s municipal enforcement division says it’s investigating concerns raised about the conditions at Beck’s Kennels, while Yellowknife RCMP say they are also looking into a complaint about an unnamed local kennel.

Chris Brady is among those who have voiced concerns about the business. Brady, who lives in Toronto, recently visited Yellowknife as a tourist and he wanted to try dog sledding.

“I thought it’d be a cool experience,” Brady said.

He went to Beck’s and he says the visit left him stunned. According to Brady, some dogs appeared malnourished with mangy coats and were yelping.

“It was like we were in a third-world country,” said Brady. 

Brady says he also saw frozen feces in the caged pens where the dogs were kept. He believes that could pose a health hazard to the dogs if they were to eat it.

Brady said he raised his concerns to both the city’s municipal enforcement division and RCMP.

CBC News asked police if they were aware of any recent complaints involving Beck’s Kennels. In an email, Yellowknife RCMP said they received a complaint “regarding a kennel in the Yellowknife area” on April 11. 

Bylaw aware of concerns for months, emails show

The City of Yellowknife declined an interview but a spokesperson said in an email that the city is “aware of concerns raised regarding conditions at Beck’s Kennels.” It says municipal enforcement received a complaint and visited the business.

“The file remains under review, and the city will not be providing further details at this time to protect the integrity of the process,” the email reads.

“The operator has been co-operative with municipal enforcement and responsive to questions during engagement to date.”

The N.W.T. SPCA has also raised concerns about conditions at Beck’s Kennels. The organization sent an email to the territorial government and the city in January, saying they had received many complaints about the business in the last month.

City officials responded in email, shared by the SPCA with the CBC News. The January email says municipal enforcement “has been actioning this complaint over the last few weeks, visiting the site multiple times and addressing raised concerns with the owner.”

‘Not concerned,’ business owner says

CBC News visited Beck’s Kennels and spoke to owner Grant Beck. He says he’s not worried by the scrutiny and says municipal officials are welcome to visit anytime.

“I am not concerned about it,” Beck said. “We’re doing everything we need to do and the dogs are happy.”

He says all of his nearly 150 running dogs are in top shape, fed at least twice a day and they get plenty of exercise. He says the dogs, Alaskan Huskies, are specifically bred to pull sleds.

CBC News also showed Beck a picture Brady provided, of one of the kennels at the business. Beck said his staff were already in the process of cleaning kennels that day, and the one pictured hadn’t been cleaned yet. Beck said staff clean each kennel daily.

Beck says people sometimes express concern about the status of his dogs. He believes it’s often based on misunderstanding, such as when a barking dog is believed to be in distress when it may just be excited.

“I think there will always be concern,” said Beck. “Some education, I think, would help. Educating the people that don’t know what it’s like in the North.”

Susan Fleck, co-owner of Beaulieu Kennels in Fort Providence, N.W.T., says she’s seen Beck’s Kennels for herself and she has no worries.

“It was just a joy for me to walk around,” she said about her experience there.

She says one of the best ways of knowing if a dog is being properly cared for is if it’s happy to work. That’s what she saw with the dogs at Beck’s Kennels.

“They’re excited, they’re barking, they want to go,” she said. “They just love to do their job.”