Teddy's Troopers

Last year, Hugh Neff's long distance race team was awarded the nickname "Annie's Army".  I'm not sure where it came from, maybe their kennel location at Annie Lake, but in any event, Annie's Army they were, and many of us enjoyed following the march of the army in the Quest and Iditarod. 

Today Ted volunteered to run a team of the Stardancers, in spite of the minus-30 degree F (- 34 C) cold.  I was more than willing to encourage him to do so, so we hooked a team I'll call "Teddy's Troopers".  We hooked up Just and Amazing Grace in lead, Nels and Capella in team, and put Seamus next to Orion in wheel and away they went.

The very first few feet out of the yard Ted had to stop them to deal with a tangle.  He did so in very short order and then they were off again for the hinterlands - actually off to do that little 3.4 mile loop we've been using for early season work. 

While Ted was off with the team I spent the time hobbling about scooping the yard and consoling the dogs who remained behind.  Then I hung out with the dogs until they returned, no more than half an hour after their launch.  When I asked how it went, Ted's response was "The dogs performed perfectly". 

Grace and Just were prancing with joy and Grace was just beaming, as though trying to say "I ran for Ted.  Did you see me?  I was good for Ted."  Indeed, Ted's description of each dog during his run was a glowing report of excellent performance.  I couldn't have been more pleased with Teddy's Troopers today.