Short Runs - Long Day

This will be just a quick Blog entry 'cause I'm dawg tired tonight. After doing kennel chores I trucked the "A" team over to Lynn Orbison's for a training run. The entry in my training journal is below. After running dogs we took Lynn's cow and calf (Charlotte and Web) over to a neighbor's where they are hanging out in a fine green pasture for a while. It was a moooooo-ving experience:


Many successful hunters donate the inevitable scrap that comes from butchering to dog mushers. On Tuesday Lynn and I cut up a lot of bones and meat, but much of it was still frozen. Today we spent a bit more than four hours cutting and grinding it. Much of it is formed into 1/4# 'meat balls' for snacking dogs during long training runs. At the end of the day my share of the largess was nearly 55# of ground moosemeat and I'm sure that Lynn got an equal if not larger share for her team and to share with our veterinarian. Things can get a bit silly when tired people are working at an interminable job. Here's Lynn working at our daily grind:


I've pretty much run out of steam after a long albeit fun and fruitful day. Dogs and human are all fed, the dogs are settled in or on their houses, and I'm only a few minutes away from my own bed. Here is today's training report:

25 Sept 08: Ran core team and then 2 dog cart racing team.

Core team – 4 miles on dirt with four wheeler. 10 dog team. Speeds unknown due to GPS receiver glitch.

Lynn’s yard to PV rd to Jean ? Loop to Anders St. to Lake Trout to Sockeye St to Anders st to Birchwood st to Wilbur St to PV to Lynn’s yard.

Planned team:

Nels & Torus

Rose & Carpe’

Gump & Seamus

Sheenjek & Beau

Polar & Poncho

Polar slipped out of his harness and couldn’t be caught. He was a horrible distraction to Nels, so we ended up running the following:

Carpe’ & Torus

Rose & Nels

Gump & Seamus

Sheenjek & Beau

Poncho and Kirby

Polar free ran the entire run with us, distracting Rose and Nels frequently. Most of the other dogs did an excellent job of ignoring him as he dashed to and fro, diving in and out of driveways, trying to hide in the woods, &c.

The team did most of the run pulling the four wheeler in neutral and had no problem doing so. I did assist them with the motor for about 1 mile or so during the run.

At the end of the run Torus was very hot and refused a treat or water until he’d cooled off in the grass for a few minutes.

Scooby Doo and Amazing Grace. Sacco Cart. 2.5 miles gravel roads and dirt trail. Max speed 16.6 mph, average speed 11.2 mph. The “sparkplug” and “wild child” were SMOKIN’ hot today. We went down PV road to Paw Print Patch, did a haw back around the phone phone pole and back up to Wilbur Rd, hence to Beechwood, then to Anders St, around behind the store and onto the trail parallel to the hot springs rd to return to Lynn’s place.

Grace snarfed at Scooby just a bit at the start, but not as much as yesterday. Mostly this pair of dogs just wanted to go, and go fast.

The only untoward of the run was when we splashed through a puddle, which thoroughly soaked the seat of my jeans, and tender flesh within.