Andy's Dogs (1987)

In the late 1980s I was video taping things that were going on in my life, including snippets of relationships with family members and friends. This was just a few years before I filmed STEVE'S MEDS (1992/2024), a video featuring my late-brother Steve as he described the medicine he was taking an HIV positive man living with AIDS.

My brother, Andrew Busby, got into dog mushing as a young man. He was first introduced to it through friends when he moved to the Yukon and he has continued to do it throughout his life. He usually has about 20 dogs and feeds them with meat donated by people cleaning out their freezers. He prides himself by being the recycler of old meat that would otherwise be thrown away. For Andy, a forestry technician and high school teacher, dog mushing is a life-long passion project that connect him and his family with their community.

ANDY'S DOGS, featuring Andrew Busby, was filmed in Barrie and Orillia, ON, in 1987, as well as Hazelton/Gitanmaax, BC, in 2023; the work was completed in 2026. Concept and camera by Cathy Busby, with editing by Charlie Mahoney-Volk.