Luna Legacy dog sled podcast launched by Park City’s Luna Lobos

PARK CITY, Utah — Rancho Luna Lobos has launched a podcast to address increasing interest in their dogs, sport, ranch, family, and philosophy.

Listen to the Luna Legacy Podcast here.

Park City’s Fernando Ramerez, owner-operators of the Ranch located in Summit County, wants to use the podcast to share stories, introduce a broader audience to their passion for dogs, and discuss any of the many misconceptions around the sport of dogsledding. 

On their year-round venue tours, which are open to the public, they receive many questions surrounding the training methods for these at-risk dogs, which are often reactive and can have, as Fernando told TownLift, “tricky personalities.”

Citing dwindling snowpack, he says that although their elite international racing activity is going strong, their dog sled rides, which they once relied on to entertain and educate visiting and vacationing families, seem to be becoming less and less reliable. 

Therefore, summer camps, which are now open for registration, some of which have sold out in the past, have become one of their top priorities at the Ranch.

“Summer camp is actually our favorite season,” Ramirez told TownLift, “that’s because we get to help the youth and along the way, perhaps give them a different perspective on life.”

Children who are being bullied and/or have reason to be sad about other parts of their lives can come to Camp and see that just like a dog team, every dog on the ‘line’ is crucially important and plays a very intricate and special role on the team. Without that one dog, the whole team can fall apart, and that’s what I hope these summer campers feel, that they are needed, and that hard times we might be going through now can shape them in the future into the wonderful people they are becoming.”

Additionally, Ramirez told TownLift, “I’ve been told this by many world championship mushers, they always come up to me and say Hey, we believe that the dog is a mirror reflection of the musher and their personalities, and your dogs are some of the best-behaved and well-mannered dogs I’ve ever seen.”

He has been running dogs in Park City since he was a child. The one condition his mom had was that we had to rescue the dogs. A practice that has carried through to the mission of the Ranch today. They give dogs a second chance at life, but over the years, they’ve noticed that sharing the dogs’ individual stories with people on their tours gives them a different perspective on life. “We’re pouring into the human pack as much as we’re pouring into the dog pack.”

He is the first to shout out loud how he can’t do any of this without his wife, Dana, and their children.

There are many misconceptions about the sport of dogsledding in general, and they are striving to be as transparent as possible, a process that lends itself well to a podcast. “We try to make sure that we’re always walking with integrity.”

“So many people can relate with the animals, and that opens up a gateway to their heart and mind, and they’re able to soften up a little bit and maybe look into their soul via the Ranch Luna Lobos dogs,” Ramirez told TownLift.

The Luna Legacy is for their children; they’d love for one of their children to take over the Ranch someday, not just because of the tour business, but also because they want it to be a sanctuary for young people and animals to feel safe, seen, and appreciated.