Puppy Runs

Today was a red letter day for four 'babies'.  Animosh, Chetan and Vladimir all got their first experience running with a team today, as did my friend Trish's rescued husky, who is probably a yearling but has never run in harness before.

I decided I wanted to run the babies with a team of older, steady and experienced dogs to make things as easy as possible.  The whole purpose behind puppy runs is to make the game as much fun as we can.  Of course any time we are working with puppies we can expect a few challenges.

One of today's challenge was Animosh wanting to peck a squabble with her sister, Chetan, as we were running.  After about 3/4 of a mile or so of that stuff we stopped and traded their positions.  Then Ani was a bit snarky with Selene, who was behind her, but she quickly realized that Selene (the kennel sweetheart) was no threat so she settled down to run and pull like a 'big girl' sled dog.

Maggie and Vlad ran in the second run, with the same older dogs that had just finished the first.  The older dogs weren't as enthused as during the first run, and it showed.  Especially in Rose who spent a lot of time slack lining, rubber necking and generally acting like she wasn't particularly interested in leading the team.  I'll have to watch that closely in the future as I've never seen her do that before.  I suspect that once home she figured her day of work was over and didn't much care to be asked to do it all over again.

All of the puppies did just great today.  They seemed to have a good time out on the trail and back in the kennel.  I have no major concerns about them at all.

Here are my training journal updates and some video clips of today's puppy runs.

Date, Day, &c: 10/17/12 Wednesday

Mileage & Speed:  1.25 mi.  Speed Unk

Equipment: Fourwheeler

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:  Home to Rod and Julie's loop and return.  Fresh powder snow

Weather:  Overcast, light snow, 27F

Team:  Just - Rose Denali - Animosh (switched for Chetan during run) Beau - Chetan (switched for Animosh during run) Seamus - Selene

Narrative:  First puppy run for Animosh and Chetan, so that was the focus of the exercise.  Ani got in a bit of a tangle on launch, which was corrected fairly easily.  She was very worried about the dog behind her (Chetan), which I figured was because the two sisters have been having squabbles among themselves lately.  Both dogs did all the little puppy jumps and rubber necking things I expect, but Ani kept turning back to growl and challenge Chetan. Near the top of the big hill the behavior was worsening rather than improving, so I swapped the two dogs into different places.  Afterward Ani was much better though she did turn around to challenge Selene a time or two.  On the return leg of the run everyone settled in and ran very nicely.  Rose tried to pull the team down the driveway and Just isn't big enough to pull her back to the "straight ahead" I wanted, but with Trish's help we were able to get that straightened out.

Date, Day, &c: 10/17/12 Wednesday

Mileage & Speed:  1.25 mi.  Speed Unk

Equipment: Fourwheeler

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:  Home to Rod and Julie's loop and return.  Fresh powder snow

Weather:  Overcast, light snow, 27F

Team:  Just - Rose Denali - Vladimir Beau - Maggie Seamus - Selene

Narrative:  Second run of the day for the older dogs in the team, so they were nearly so enthused as during the first run.  This was the first 'puppy run' for Vladimir and my friend, Trish's, rescued dog Maggie.  Vlad got into a harness tangle at the very start which required a stop, and then Just and Rose tried to turn back which complicated the issue.  We got that sorted out in good time.  Both puppies settled into the "game" very quickly.  On the downhill side Maggie was still doing the slow then jerk thing that I sometimes see, but only for a short time before she figured out a steady pull works better.  On the hill Rose was looking back, slack-lining, rubber necking and acting like she wasn't very interested in leading the team anymore.  That's something I'll have to watch  in the future.  I've never seen her do that before.  On the return Rose again turned the team away from the "straight ahead" onto the driveway.  Just was on the inside, but ducked underneath her to put the team back onto the proper trail.  That caused a harness tangle for Rose that required assistance to straighten out.  The rest of the run up to the house was uneventful.