Old School Alaskan

From the Job Site

2012-01-27T19:03:00.000-09:00

RACING NEWS:

Rohn Buser earned a hard won victory in the Kuskokwim 300 sled dog race last weekend, edging out his nearest competitors by only a few minutes. Named after a checkpoint on the Iditarod trail, Rohn topped a field filled with mushing royalty -- defending Iditarod champion John Baker, who finished second; last year's Kusko champion Paul Gebhardt, who was third; four-time Iditarod champion Lance Mackey, who placed fifth, plus a number of the sport's top veterans, like Ramey Smyth and Ken Anderson, and some of its rising stars, like Pete Kaiser and Richie Diehl.

Rohn’s father, four time Iditarod champion Martin Buser, finished more than 3 ½ hours after his 22 year old son. They will have an opportunity for a rematch in the 2012 Iditarod.

This weekend the Don Bowers Memorial 200/300 will include several mushers from around our area, including Aliy Zirkle and Ryne Olson from the SP Kennels, Tony Angelo and veterinarian Tamara Rose. Down on the Kenai Peninsula, The Tustomena 200 will include the teams of Dan Kaduce, Jodi Bailey and Jeff King. Both races offer a chance to check out teams that will be competing in this years Yukon Quest and Iditarod races.

The Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race will be starting next Saturday (February 4th), running from Fairbanks to Whitehorse, YT. I’m planning to attend the start banquet Wednesday night. Given my track record at trying to predict Quest winners, I’ve decided that this year I’m not even going to try. There are some awfully good teams in this year’s race, and I’m cheering for several of them.

With his unprecedented record of success in both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod, everyone expects great things from Lance Mackey. This year he has been focusing on training himself and his own team, rather than bringing along rookies running leased dogs. I can’t see that as being anything other than a good thing. Those young dogs he was running last year are now experienced racers, and Lance knows them better than ever, so naturally I expect Lance give us a great run.

Brent Sass is young and tough, and he’s proven his ability and that of his dogs to take on the toughest trails in the toughest conditions and make it look easy. In a recent post Brent noted that his famous hero lead dog Silver will be on either his Quest or his Iditarod team, but didn’t specify which. If it were me, I’d put that big ol’ boy in my Quest team, just because conditions in the Quest are usually more brutal than those in the I’rod, and like Brent himself, Silver seems to love the bad trails and brutal conditions. Regardless of who he has on his team, you can expect Brent and his team to do a tremendously good job out on that trail.

Allen Moore will be representing SP Kennel in this year’s Quest, and I’m expecting to see an awe inspiring performance from him. Having finished last year’s race in sixth place, Allen will be working to improve his performance, and when Allen seeks to make improvement you can always expect excellent results. He’s just that kind of guy, and the SP Kennel raises and trains just that kind of dogs. He is one of the toughest mushers and smartest woodsmen that I know.

If I had to choose one word to describe Abbie West I would use the word “driven”. During her rookie Quest in 2010, Abbie set the current record for the fastest time over the trail by a woman, shaving more than 13 hours off of Aliy Zirkle’s 2000 championship time. When asked about her goal, she flat-out states it is to win the Yukon Quest, and there is no reason to believe that she won’t achieve it. This year Abbie is running a completely different team than that of 2010, made up of young dogs from the Yukon Flats region. I’ve met those dogs, and even have a sibling to many of her racing dogs in my kennel. Her dogs are well matched in size, conformation and temperament and I’m convinced that great things are in store for the Cosmic Canines kennel.

If anyone in the world deserves a “most improved musher” award, I believe it would be Hugh Neff. In just a decade he’s gone from ‘laughing stock’ to top-dawg-contender and more than proven his ability to put together and race a team of dogs that is second to none. In recent years his performance has exceeded most onlooker’s expectations, and there is no reason to believe he won’t do so again next month.

With over 40 years of sled dog racing experience, Sonny Lindner should never be discounted. He was the very first Yukon Quest champion and though he focuses on the Iditarod he seems to have a soft spot in his heart for the Quest trail. Sonny is one of the most experienced mushers out on the trails, and that experience frequently pays off on the race trails.

Like Sonny, Dave Dalton and his Dalton Gang has many years of experience to draw on, and many of us feel like he is way past due for a Quest win. This year Dave will be taking his 22nd trip down the trail and though he’s never won the race, he has frequently finished quite well.

You don’t want to describe pure-bred Siberian Huskies as “Slowberians” to Mike Ellis – his record on the Yukon Quest trail proves otherwise. I don’t think anyone knows the breed or how to run and care for them better than Mike. While I doubt his pure-bred dogs can win the race against the competitors he faces, I have no doubt at all that he’ll give them something to worry about as they march their way across the Yukon and Alaska.

Jason Weitzel is one of my friends and neighbors, and he’ll be embarking on his rookie run of the Quest next Saturday as well. Just a few years ago he was training for the Quest when a juvenile delinquent ran over his leaders with a truck, killing several dogs and maiming some others. It’s taken Jason a few years to recover from the tragedy, but now he’s ready to race and I think his team bears watching. He’s one of the hardest working guys I know, and also one of nicest. I’d really like to see him and his dogs do well.

WEATHER UPDATE:

8:00 AM, January 27th

The weather has been uncommonly COLD up here. Although nothing quite record breaking, January has been considerably colder than average. So far the average temperature for the month in Fairbanks has been minus – 15.5 degrees, with an average low of minus - 34. At 8:00 AM the thermometer outside my work building was showing minus – 42 and at 4:00 this afternoon it had risen to a balmy minus-40. National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Berg was quoted as saying “Conditions are not going to improve between now and the end of the month.”

ANTICIPATING SOME NEW ARRIVALS:

I just received an Email from Nita Fowler telling me that she and the puppies, Animosh and Chetan, were checked in at the airport ready to board. Both pups are riding in the same crate, which saves us a bit of money. Apparently they have been very calm and collected thus far into their great adventure. According to Linda Newman, the TSA agents were surprised to learn that the girls weren’t sedated, but were just being naturally calm puppies.

Nita will be caring for the puppies until I get off duty on Tuesday. I loaded an airline crate into the car before heading to work, but don’t know if I’ll be able to pick them up on my way home or will have to wait until Wednesday morning. I have a medical appointment to keep as soon as I can get back into town from my workplace. Depending upon how long it takes for me to escape the doctor’s office will determine whether or not I can make the trip out to Nita and Josh’s place to meet the babies.

Linda Newman with Animosh and Chetan

Meanwhile, in Vancouver Tiffany McLean is most likely packing and preparing for her trip to Alaska where she will be visiting and helping out at my place for the next few months. Tiffany will be staying at the Stardancer Kennel until summer, when I’ll be seeking a new handler.

Sometimes it seems like the fun never ends around here. Kyle Belleque’s bitch, Juliet, whelped a litter of 7 males and 2 females from a breeding with Brent Sass’ famous leader, Silver. We’ve been offered one of the males from this awesome Nushagak Kennels litter and it took me about 3 nanoseconds to accept. That boy will be arriving when Kyle comes up to race the Two Rivers 200 in March.

ANTICIPATING TWO VERY BUSY R&Rs:

According to my employer, the acronym “R&R” is supposed to mean “rest and recreation”. Well, I have no doubt the next two R&Rs will be recreational, but I kind of doubt I’ll be getting very much rest. With new puppies to socialize and train, a visitor who wants to learn how to care for and work with sled dogs, equipment to gather and prepare for Kyle Belleque’s Two Rivers 200 race, all of the activities associated with the Yukon Quest plus the normal general housekeeping activities, I suspect I’ll be just a wee bit busy.

There is nothing at all wrong with being busy when busy means doing the fun stuff.

Cha-ching

2012-01-16T17:12:00.000-09:00

It's Monday again, and time for me to prepare to return to my workplace. I just got off the phone with my counterpart, and have been warned to expect a busier than normal time - and a normal time is more than busy enough nowadays. Oh well, forewarned is forearmed, or so they say.

I did my typical "pre-return" trip to town for my monthly haircut ("make me look like a Republican"), a few last minutes items from the store, fill the car with fuel and so forth, all of which costs money. I hauled the garbage to the dumpster station and checked my postal box one last time and headed home, hopeful that my checkbook could remain in my back pocket for a while.

Hope was in vain, however. I had been home for just a few minutes when a 'visitor' pulled in. A very expensive visitor.

Cha-ching. At $3.84 per gallon this is NOT my favorite visitor.

The cabin, heated with a small monitor stove, required only 65 gallons, but the tank for the house took 532, so the end result is nearly $3,000.00 worth of #2 heating oil. Since the forecast isn't showing a warming trend anytime soon, I'm afraid this winter's fuel bill is truly a budget breaker, especially when combined with my winter electric bills. Oh well, groceries are way over-rated anyway.

My friend Aliy Zirkle posted a good description of her experience with the Copper Basin 300 sled dog race and the cancellation of the event on the SP Kennel blog. Aliy wrote "Now, I have heard some silly rumors that some folks believe that I should have "toughed it out" and put on my snow shoes for 30 miles at 40 below and put in my own race trail. But, you are simply wrong. I certainly have the ability to do that - and have done so on many camping trips, North Slope adventures or training events but this was a race. In saying that, please remember that I am mentally prepared for a race, my sled is packed for racing conditions, as is my personal gear. I was not carrying the extra 75 pounds of dog food, fuel, camping gear and personal equipment that I would want if I knew that I would be out breaking trail for 30 miles.

So, anyone who cares to take a hard core attempt at trail breaking or thinks that the Copper Basin Trailbreakers are "sissies", I welcome you to try your luck.

Here are some simple directions:

Come to Alaska.
Drive to Meier's Lake Lodge on the Richardson Highway
Take the trail from the lodge off to the Southwest
Follow this trail for 12 miles until you come to it's end
Start snow shoeing
Call us when you are done and we'll have a race!"

I certainly haven't heard anyone who was actually there criticizing the race committee's decision.

I do know it's going to make things difficult for some of the rookies who want to run either the Yukon Quest or the Iditarod this year. At least 3 Quest rookies are in danger of not meeting their prerequisite qualifications, and I have no idea how many I'rod rookies may be in the same boat. While I do have some sympathy for them, I also have to shrug a bit. It IS Alaska, it IS winter, and if you are going to play in Alaska during winter you are going to have to take what you get, do the best you can with it, but respect the fact that She can slap you down at any given turn.

Alaska isn't the only place where mother nature makes and enforces the rules. Earlier today the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon in Minnesota was cancelled, due to lack of snow. There are still a few options out there for folks needing to finish their qualifiers. The John Bowers Memorial Sled Dog Race is still accepting entries, and if someone were really lucky and really hustled s/he might be able to get into the Kuskokwim 300.

It's all moot for me, though. The only place I need to get is outside to feed the team, and then into the kitchen to clean up, and back downstairs to finish packing. If circumstances permit I may make a post here and there while at work, but if not, I'll see you in a couple of weeks, most likely with fun news to share.

Weather Permitting...

2012-01-15T16:06:00.001-09:00

We are enduring a pretty brisk cold snap in the Interior, and though it wasn't expected to create problems for the Copper Basin 300, it nonetheless did so. At 9:30 this morning, the CB300 race committee posted the announcement that "

The CB300 Race Has Been Officially Cancelled!
The 2012 Copper Basin 300 has been cancelled at Meier's Lake, 75 miles into the race. Heavy snows and high winds obliterated the middle section of the trail; the race trail is impassable. Furthermore, temperatures have consistently ranged between 45 and 50 degrees below zero. The decision was made in the interest of the dogs, mushers and race staff.

Greg Parvin
Race Marshal

The decision to cancel the race has drawn mixed reviews from fans posting comments on line. Writing on the Copper Basin 300 Facebook Page, Chuck Schaeffer, from Kotzebue, wrote

"I am appalled that the CB300 officials deemed it necessary to cancel the race! postpone, sure. That's reasonable because mother nature is not predictable. Tomorrow or even today conditions will change. The Kobuk 440 is a race that will happen through "Hell or high water". Any race should not forget that dog racing is a sport where you put the musher and dogs against all odds. Those include other mushers, elements, environment, temperatures and whatever else mother nature deems necessary to throw in to make things interesting. I look at pictures at the start of this race and see dogs in their full regalia, with coats, tee shirts, leggings etc.....What has this sport come to? It looks like an NBA game where teams can sport their best warm up suits. We as mushers protect our dogs to the best of our ability. They are our life, we love them and we will do anything to make sure they and we are protected. Dog racing is dog racing! Leave it that way. Again.....postpone, sure! Cancel.....NO!"

Posting under his wife's FaceBook profile, experienced musher and Yukon Quest trail boss John Schandelmeier was also critical, though not necessarily of the cancellation decision. John wrote, "

Here are the facts. I was there, I know the trail. The trail was not put in prior to the race. The race organization knew that. We stalled out 12 miles from Meiers because there were 2 machines trying to break trail thru deep snow, that they were not capable of doing. I got off my team and took one of the machines and was not able to get much farther. The trail needed to be broken from the other direction, the race organization was informed of that by locals who use the area. There has been no wind or snow for the past 2 days anywhere on the race course. The section we are discussing almost never blows in. It was not drifted anywhere in that area---other places, yes, but not there. Temperatures, ranged from -35 at our place on Paxson lake, to -40 on the Gulkana R. Currently it is -15 at Meiers. Yeah, Wolverine is -50, bit we were a long ways from there. If one is unable to manage a dogteam at -35, then I'd guess you aren't in Alaska...... The Cb300 stopped the race because they didn't organize the resources to put in a trail. Glossing this over won't solve the problem--looking at the facts, facing them and then correcting the issues will. Let's get on with that.

Most folks commenting on the CB300 page were supportive of the decision, feeling it was indeed in the best interest of the dogs and mushers. As I'm not anywhere close to the race course, I think I'll reserve comment or judgement until I've had a chance to talk with mushers who were. Nonetheless, I suspect this decision will be controversial for some time to come.

I'm still trying to cope with lower back pain from the injury I suffered while running dogs Thursday. Other than feeding the dogs and cleaning the yard, both of which require some significant load bearing and twisting/turning and other movements not so great with a sore back, I did mostly indoor activities, much of it oriented toward making my house a safe and fun environment for the new puppies.

Linda has posted some new pictures of the puppies, and I snagged a couple to share here.


Animosh, 8 weeks old


Animosh running with her mother, Topa

Chetan at 8 weeks of age

Last night I ventured into town in spite of the deep cold weather to attend a co-worker's retirement party. Having spent 32 1/2 years working on the pipeline, Johnny Rogers finally pulled the plug. In spite of the weather the party was well attended and I enjoyed myself a great deal.

Today I've done work around the kennel, washed my laundry, and unloaded 400 lb. of dog food from the car. That's enough for now - once I've fed the team and scooped the yard again tonight I think I'll consider it to have been a good, cold day's work.

A day on the trail

2012-01-13T10:06:00.000-09:00

My only priority activity yesterday was to run dogs, and I'm paying a bit of price for that today in the form of lower back pain. No worries, with a bit of care it will pass within a couple of days, but meanwhile it's looking like an ibuprofen breakfast.

I ran Aumaruq (the dog formerly known as Thor) on the first team yesterday, and that was a lot of fun and very informative.

The original line up for that team was;
Just & Capella (lead)
Selene & Aumaruq (swing)
Amazing Grace (single team)
Beau & Seamus (wheel)

That was plan "A", but I had to create a plan "B" to accommodate Selene, who has come into season and has the interest of all of the males in the kennel, even those who were neutered at a very young age. Since Aumaruq is intact he needed to be switched out. I ended up hooking up this configuration:

Just & Capella (lead)
Selene & Beau
Amazing Grace
Seamus & Aumaruq

The original configuration was intended to have 11 month old Aumaruq well ahead of the sled, as many young dogs get quite nervous about the thing sliding along right behind their butts. No such concern for the big puppy, though. He did exactly as Jay Cadzow desribed - he pulled hard and ran straight ahead. There was a bit of confusion when he and Seamus switched sides of the gang-line during start up, but they got things sorted out quickly.

The team faced and overcame some pretty good challenges. A fair amount of snow has fallen over the past week, so they had to break out the feeder trail and power-line segment, about half a mile or so, before they could really stretch out and run. Even with the flat-bedded toboggan sled and a light-weight passenger it was challenging work, but the team was up for the challenge and did quite well.

Once on the main trail they were able to stretch out and show some speed. They wanted to maintain that speed over much of the Swamp Trail, which is a windy trail with a few pretty narrow spots, so it makes for a fun ride. Going up the hill on the other side of the Swamp was a physical work-out for the dogs but they trudged up it without any serious issues, and then it was back to breaking out a trail in soft powder for the run down Rod and Julie's feeder trail and their long driveway.

Even more challenging was the "haw" back onto the powerline Right of Way and onto the new leg of our own feeder trail. Again it was some tough going, but the dogs proved even tougher and got the job done in good fashion.

Here are some video clips from Aumaruq's first Stardancer run.

The second team was in some regards more challenging, because of the behavior of the dogs. That team consisted of;
Orion & Cassiopeia (lead)
Midnight's Son & Denali (swing)
Innoko (single team)
Nels & Rose (wheel)

Innoko is NOT well behaved toward other males, and it is causing issues that I may not be willing to manage much longer. Midnight was so worried about the dog behind him that he spun around in his harness during the launch, resulting in a major tangle and Midnight being dragged a few feet. Getting the team stopped, and then trying to keep them stopped, was a problem in the deep, soft snow. Even with hooks planted and my passenger standing on the brake they were able to drag the rig forward quite a ways.

Most of the team worked very well, and their max speed (now on a broken out trail) was a bit higher than that of the first, with an average speed that was nearly the same. That's pretty good considering that Innoko was slack-lining much of the time. That's something I've not seen with him before.

The next major issue occurred almost immediately after we crossed the driveway on our way back to the yard. Innoko's collar was very loose, and when his tugged slacked, the neckline jerked the collar over his head. Freed of the restraint of a neck line, he immediately spun around and started fighting Nels. He and Nels have had issues before and things weren't looking good at all. It took a bit to get a hook down and get Trish up on the brake so I could deal with the dogs. Wading through soft, nearly waist deep snow was difficult, and getting Innoko off of Nels, who was down on his back and being mauled required a lot of force and effort. I finally got them separated and Innoko again restrained, and then checked over Nels. He didn't have a mark on him, for which I was VERY grateful. Unfortunately, the battery on my digital video recorder had died a mile or two before the fight, so I don't have any video of that event to share.

Once I got the team home I realized that at some point during the run I twisted wrong or something, and tweaked my lower back. Lower back pain if a familiar friend to most experienced paramedics, but this is the first time in over a year that I've had to deal with it. Last night my supper included 600 mg of ibuprofen, and this morning my breakfast included 400 mg. It was severe enough that I asked my handler to feed the team last night. This morning I feel confident I can manage the kennel chores without aggravating the injury, but it is nonetheless a vexation that I'm hoping can be remedied in short order with some thoughtful care.

Meanwhile, Innoko's future in the Stardancer kennel is very much in question. If he continues to run with a slack tug line, I'll be seeking a pet home for him. A "sled dog" who doesn't want to pull isn't a sled dog. He is such a love muffin toward humans and such a beautiful big dog that he would adapt to life as a pet very quickly. If he decides to regain the work ethic he's demonstrated before I'll consider continuing his training until I can find a more suitable team for him to run in. At this point the decision is his to make and it won't take more than a couple more runs for me to determine what it is.

Time Flies...

2012-01-12T07:09:00.002-09:00

The last couple of days have gone by in a bit of a blur. Unfortunately, much of that blur has been set in the backdrop of town. I got off work at the regular time (roughly 10 am) Tuesday for the long, slick drive into Fairbanks. In town, I had a doctor's appointment before doing my grocery shopping. I by-passed home to get to post office to pick up my mail.

Ted, my handler, had succeeded in starting the tractor and cleared enough snow from the driveway I was able to get my car in, but it was still a challenge. While dog food was soaking I fired up the machine to work on snow clearing. Even with good equipment it was a challenge, and there is still more work to be done with it though it's not immediately pressing.

At feeding time, I decided to try out new names on the dog formerly known as Thor. He was playing around in his circle and I called out the first option, Gataan. He never even glanced my direction. Next I called "Aumaruq" (Ah-ma-rok). He danced toward me, those long gangly legs going in all direction, bounced a time or two, and barked three times. I gave it a few seconds (and a few pats on his head), and repeated the exercise, with almost exactly and same result. Obviously Aumaruq made his decision, and Aumaruq it shall be.

With the dogs fed, I enjoyed supper at Two Rivers Lodge and great conversation with Abbie West. Abbie is gearing up for this weekend's Copper Basin 300, as are most of the competitive long distance racing mushers in the area. From the looks of the weather forecast and reports of up to two feet of new snow on the trail, the race will likely live up it's reputation as the toughest 300 miles in Alaska.

Yesterday was another day of errands down in the big city. I had to stock up on dog-food, always an expensive proposition. I had to make a bank deposit, deliver a mortgage payment for a friend, make a quick stop at one of the local warehouse stores, get my teeth sand-blasted in hopes of keeping those that remain firmly lodged in my head, buy gasoline, mail off some parcels, and finally returned home to feed the team long after the sun had set.

Now the weather is cooling, and we are expecting a deep cold snap to come rolling through just in time for the weekend. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to run dogs today, and probably tomorrow. Once the deep cold hits tomorrow night and into the weekend I'll be less likely to venture forth onto the trails. I'm leaving the option open, however. It is frequently warmer here at the house than in the valley floor and when I return to work it will be back to my normal two week on / two off schedule. Some good runs over the weekend would set the stage for some longer runs when I return in February.

That February R&R is looking like LOTS of fun. Early on I'll be picking up the new Hedlund puppies Animosh (currently Grand Marais) and Cetan (she-ton', currently Lutsen). Introducing them to their new life in Alaska should be a heck of a lot of fun.

I'm still seeking a new dog handler, as Ted and his wife are moving into a new, larger home in the area. I'm going to miss them a great deal. His team is growing as are other familial responsibilities, and a 12 X 16 foot cabin is no longer large enough to meet their needs. Ted has been a tremendous asset to the team and I recommend him highly for any endeavor he might attempt. In the parlance of my youth back in the cattle country of western Colorado, Ted is the kind of guy who was generally described as "a damned good hand."

In the News:

The Knik 200 sled dog race offered as close a finish as one could ask in a dog race. Lance Mackey crossed the finish line only moments ahead of Jake Berkowitz. When they calculated the times it was determined that Jake won the race, with Lance coming in second. Ray Redington Jr.'s team came in third.

Southestern Alaska has been struggling to dig out from under near record breaking snowfall, and more is in the forecast. National Guard troops have been dispatched to Cordova which is buried under 18 feet of snow. City officials have even resorting to ordering more snow shovels from Canada. Anchorage is right on track to set a new record for snow-fall.

National Guardsman helping to dig out Cordova (photo by Alaska National Guard)

Meanwhile, the Russian ice-breaking fuel tanker Renda, escorted by the USCG ice breaker Healey, is literally inching it's way toward Nomehttp://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/ice-cowboys-reckon-ships-stuck-stubborn-alaska-ice and there are reports of a 25 foot ice ridge blocking the harbor at Nome.

So, that pretty much covers the events of the moment, aside from all the local car wrecks, murders and other mayhem that seems to define modern life in any given city. Perhaps this evening or tomorrow I'll have some fun photographs or video to share from the Stardancer Historical Sled Dogs' adventures. Meanwhile, I wish you the very best as you dig in, or dig out, for whatever may be coming next.

Sunday Musings

2012-01-08T09:18:00.000-09:00

Dog Names:

I have been contemplating names for dogs that are new to theStardancer kennel. I think naminga dog is very important. I’mpartial to Native American and Eskimo names for working dogs, as they tend tobe relatively unique and reflect a spirit that I admire and hope that Ishare.

I’ve had two different ladies who are very important in mylife suggest that Thor needs a new name. Since both are very wise ‘dog women’ and I was once a very well trainedhusband, I can take a hint. Although he has a light colored mottled splotch on his chest that looksa bit like ash from a fire, he is predominately a black dog. In fact, his shining coat is VERYblack.

For this big, goofy adolescent pup the choices came down tothe Greenland Eskimo word Gataan (guh-TAHN) meaning “black”, and the Inupiaqword “Aumaraq” (AHM-a-rok) meaning “charcoal”. To prevent confusion with a name I plan to grant one of the ToPoints Unknown puppies, I’ve select Aumaraq to replace the name Thor.

Years ago, I had a yellow, pointing Labrador Retriever who borethe name ‘siyo ‘sunka (shee-yo SHUN-kuh), Lakota for “bird dog”. Called ‘Shunka” for short, a Lakotaspeaker who once heard me call the girl looked at me rather incredulously andsaid “You REALLY named your dog ‘Dog’?”

Yes, I did – and I’m going to do it again. When she arrives at the StardancerKennel, Grand Marais will become Animosh (pronounced ‘Aw-neh-mush”), which isthe Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) word for “Dog”. The potentially confusing name will be going to youngLutsen, the buff-colored girl from Minnesota. Like my yellow Lab, her name will be borrowed from theLakota language. Lutsen willbecome ‘Cetan (pronounced “chay-DAHN”), the Lakota word for hawk.

Thus we can acknowledge their Minnesota birth place withname originating from Native American tribes historically indigenous to thatregion.

Off To the Races:

According to an article in theFairbanks Daily News-Miner, Sebastian Schnuelle just can’t resist running theYukon Quest, despite his best intentions. Sab has signed up for next month’s race, but Stardancer Kennel’s Denali won’t be coming out ofretirement. Sab will be running GerryWillomitzer’s race team. After training Gerry Willomitzer’s team for the CopperBasin 300, Gerry asked Sab if he’d like to race them in the Quest. “It was a real spur of the momentdecision,” Sebastian said. “I kind of look at it like you only live once, you mightas well enjoy yourself.” Schnuellealready has plans to visit Europe in March and has no plans to run theIditarod.

SinceLance Mackey’s “Idta-Quest” wins, it seems like a lot of long distance racersare making an effort to run their teams in both races, even if someone elsedrives the dogs in one of them. For example, the SP Kennel will have teams in both races. The Quest will be run by Allen Moore,and the I’rod by his wife Aliy Zirkle and their trusted handler RhyneOlson. Sonny Lindner is signed upto run both races, as is Hugh Neff, Brent Sass, Lance Mackey and perhaps a fewothers.

TwoRivers is going to be well represented in this years 1,000 mile sled dograces. Four of the 70 mushers nowsigned up for the Iditarod list Two Rivers as their home base, and 5 of the 33mushers currently listed on the Quest web-site are from our little community.

All of the Two Rivers musherssigned up for the Quest are worthy of support. Abbie West earned the title of fastest woman over the YukonQuest trail during her rookie run in 2010. Since then she’s developed an entirely new team of youngdogs from Jay Cadzow’s line, which he has been developing for over twodecades. Although she says thisyear’s run is intended to be a training run for the young team, I’d be verysurprised if she and her dogs didn’t perform incredibly well. They are very, very nice dogs. Abbie has a great coach (Jay), and isdriven to excel.

Mike and Sue Ellis are well knownfor their team of pure-bred Siberian huskies, and for the exceptional level ofcare and training they provide their dogs. Sonny Lindner has been running dogs for at least 40 years,and has run the Quest 6 times, always finishing in the top 10.

Although technically a Quest‘rookie’, Judy Currier has been running dogs for some 15 or 16 years and is anIditarod finisher. Although a true‘rookie’ to 1,000 mile races, Jason Weitzel has proved himself to be bothphysically and mentally tough. Histeams perform well in local events and it will be fun and exciting to watch hispremier Quest run.

Sonny Lindner has won the racebefore, and there is no reason to believe he isn’t just as capable today. Allen Moore finished in 6^thplace during his rookie run last year, and an SP Kennel team was barely beatenby Jeff King in the Sheep Mountain 150 last month.

The Sheep Mountain 150 was justone of several middle-distance races in which long-distance mushers compete,some with an eye towards earning a few dollars to keep their kennels inoperation, and even more aiming to provide their dogs crucial training in aracing environment. This weekendthe Knik200 drew some of the most well-known names in the sport. It’s said that Martin Buser has 6 teamsfrom his kennel all running in this single event. The last time I was able to check (about 9:00 am Sundaymorning), Lance Mackey held a narrow lead over Mike Santos, followed closely byJake Berkowitz. DeeDee Jonrowe andRay Redington Jr. make up the last of the top 5 teams thus far.

Next week many of these same teamswill be racing the Copper Basin 300. Billed as the “Toughest 300 Miles in Alaska”, a claim that few woulddispute, the CB300 is viewed by many as THE middle distance race to watch inorder to assess the condition and abilities of the race teams and the skillsand judgment of their drivers.

News From Around the State:

Current events around Alaska today are dominated by weatherrelated issues, which is certainly not uncommon. Nome normally receives the fuel it needs to power and heatthe city by barge, but this year early ice formation made it impossible for thelast barge of the season to get through. In an attempt to provide the necessary fuel, a Russian ice breakingtanker was hired to do the job. Escorted by the U.S. Coast Guard’s only functioning ice breaker, thecutter Healey, the Russian flagged Rebna is making slow but stead progresstoward the iced in community, and is expected to arrive sometime tomorrow orTuesday.

Communities on the Prince William Sound have been gettinghammered with a much heavier than normal snow fall. The Richardson Highway was closed for a considerable timenorth of Valdez due to the risk of avalanches and need to remove snow withheavy equipment, and Alaska National Guard units were mobilized to assistdigout efforts in Cordova, where more than 8 feet of snow has fallen in justthe past few days.

Bird's Eye View of Richardson Highway, north of Valdez

Meanwhile the Interior has been enduring bitter cold sincebefore Christmas, with little relief in sight. At the moment the forecast indicates some moderation oftemperatures early next week, followed by another deep dip of the thermometer.

While trail conditions are pretty reasonable through most ofthe area, the Alaska Dog Mushers Association has cancelled all of their earlypreliminary races. Lack of snowfollowed by grooming issues caused the initial delays. Today, when everyone was lookingforward to racing on freshly groomed trails, race marshal Mike McGowan arrivedat the Musher’s Hall to find frozen water pipes, forcing yet anothercancellation.

Personal News:

I’m winding down a single week at work and looking forwardto one week of R&R beginning Tuesday. Each year we flip the schedule around so the opposite crew can enjoy theholidays off. That’s what’shappening with the unusual work schedule.

Tuesday and Wednesday will both be tied up with domestictasks such as medical appointments, grocery and dog care supply shopping and soforth. It’s likely to be Thursdaybefore I can get my own team out on the trail.

Happy New Year - Hopes and Aspirations

2012-01-01T11:40:00.000-09:00

I celebrated the changing of the calendar in the company of a lovely lady, great friends and a spirit of good cheer that always prevails during the New Year's Eve party at Two Rivers Lodge. Each year the Lodge throws a big bash, including an awesome fireworks display. Here are a few photos of the fire in the sky.

Two Rivers, Alaska is the only place I know of in North America where a "pick up band" at a party consists of a pair of Scots pipers. My friend and mentor Mike Green is a piper and member of the world famous Red Hackle Pipe Band. Last night he brought along a friend, and they entertained and delighted us all with a jam session.

Only in Two Rivers - or maybe the Highlands of Scotland - does a 'pick up band' include highland pipers

While others spend time on New Year's Day may spend time reflecting on events of the past year, I try to look forward to the new, current one. It is at least my intention to do so in this post, though in all truth the present is always connected to the past as well as to time yet to come.

The Future of the Team and the Stardancer Historical Sled Dogs Project:

Since most followers of my blog were attracted because of the dogs and my pursuit of historical authenticity, I'll start there. At present there are 15 dogs in the Stardancer kennel. All are in good health and good condition. Of those 15 dogs, I can easily field a team of 8 that are honestly reflective of teams used in the late 18th or full 19th century Canadian fur trade. The dogs on the team today range in age from 11 months (Thor) to Denali (10 years). I don't think I'll need to retire any of the older dogs this year, though of course that is dependent upon many uncontrollable factors. Dogs who retired in the Stardancer kennel STAY in the Stardancer kennel.

I am bringing in some new blood very soon with an eye toward establishing my own breeding program. The opportunity to purchase Thor was an incredible stroke of unexpected luck. Grand Marais and Lutsen from the Points Unknown Kennel of Minnesota will be coming home at the end of this month. These deep Hedlund Gray Huskies may well become the foundation of a future breeding program, along with another puppy I've been promised from a Hedlund breeding from entirely separate lines. There is a third breeding done by a friend that may also provide a very suitable puppy for the team, so I'll have no need to bring in additional dogs for at least a couple of years, and perhaps won't need to do so for the remainder of my mushing career.

As frequent readers know, it's important to me to maintain a good age spread in the team so I don't some day wake up to realize I have lots of retired dogs in the yard, but not enough young, sound dogs to make up a team.

Training for the remainder of this season will be focused primarily to training my youngest leaders, with Rose, Orion, Capella and Cassiopeia getting lots of hook-ups and lots of time 'up front'. I couldn't be more delighted with their progress thus far and it is time to give them every opportunity to gain experience. Of course this is in conjunction with puppy socialization, habituation and training, all of which is crucial to their future mental health and abilities in addition to just being a heck of a lot of fun.

Of immediate concern is the need to recruit a new dog handler. I've tried to not share too much information about our handler as he prefers to live a quiet and private life, but he's recently given notice that he and his wife, Clare, are buying a home of their own in the area. This is great news for them and for our little community, but not so great news for me and the team. Ted is an EXCELLENT handler and dog man in his own right and his loss will be felt from a long time to come. He will certainly be missed by me and by the dogs.

In terms of equipment, I have nearly everything I need to achieve my goal of accurately reenacting any period of dog mushing history from 1763 to 1963, with the exception of harnesses and rig for running historically authentic single file teams. I need to make that gear myself, and it's a project that has been on hold for a couple of years now. If I were to make a New Year's resolution, that would be the one.

Having a good handler on the property is extremely important with my work schedule being as it is, and at the moment I have no idea who I might recruit for the job, though I'm confident it will someone very good. I keep reminding myself that we do have a lot to offer in exchange for a moderate amount of labor.

Next month the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race will be running from Fairbanks to Whitehorse, and the celebrations and events associated with the start of the race provide some great opportunities to bond with friends I only rarely get to visit in person. In March, my friend Kyle Belleque will be bringing a team of his Nushagak Kennel dogs to Two Rivers to race in the TRDMA's Two Rivers 200, and will be basing here at the house. I've offered to provide logistical and handler support to him so he can run his old school dogs with some of my old school gear in that event.

With a current temperature of about thirty-below zero F (- 34 C), it's not easy to anticipate the tasks of summer. There are just a few kennel improvements I'd like to make this year. I want to install two more pens, one of which will be unconnected to any of the others to provide a safe place for females in season or a place to house dogs who may be ill with potentially contagious disease. I want to rearrange a couple of the existing pens to make it easier to access them when working in the kennel. If resources allow, a covered shed of some sort in which to store the tractor and other wheeled equipment could be very useful to us, and a vermin resistant food storage building of some sort might make it possible to buy dog food in larger quantities thus providing some financial savings as well as some peace of mind would be a nice addition.

Being in the midst of THIS mushing season, it's even harder to express hopes and aspirations for the next. I'll have puppies to introduce to harness and the work for which they were bred, along with (hopefully) strong teams of experienced dogs to train and condition. I'd like to be able to at least consider some longer trips through the back country, since that really is the goal and job of the team. Certainly some camping trips into the White Mountains and perhaps some other areas new to me and the dogs would be great fun.

Other Hopes and Aspirations:

With rapidly changing conditions in the Alaskan oil patch comes rapidly changing conditions on the job. I've had some difficulty coping with some of my increased work load, but I'm now confident of my ability to do so and conditions are such that job security shouldn't be too scary of an issue so long as I can keep my own head and attitude toward the job together. That "attitude" part has been rather difficult the past year, but again I'm confident in my own ability to adapt.

My job requires that I travel Outside for clinical rotations to maintain my medical skills three times each year. I'm tentatively planning on doing those rotations in April, July and either September or October. By scheduling that way I can reserve most of my "R&R" time for the winter dog mushing season.

I don't have much hope for improvement in my financial status. While prices of everything continue to increase, my income has been flat for several years and I see little reason to believe that is likely to change. Financing the tractor I purchased last summer was a calculated risk that so far is working out well, but it does mean I have to be very careful about controlling my spending for the next three years or so. Financially, things seem to be under control - but it has to be strict and careful control.

My social life has seen recent very positive changes and I feel like that is likely to continue through this new year. My ability to participate in living history events around the State is entirely conditional depending upon who events are scheduled in relation to my work schedule, but there is nothing new about that situation at all.

My writing endeavors will probably remain stable, though I have been able to expand my historical research activities quite a bit recently. Frequent followers can probably expect to see some new historical information posted here, on my web site, and of course in On the Trail magazine and perhaps a new (to me) market or two as well.

In terms of personal health, I'm very happy with the result of last year's intensive weight loss effort. I feel I'm at a healthy weight and in better than average physical condition for a many of my maturity. My most important health related goal for now is to stabilize my weight and continue to work on expanding my capacity for physical endurance. I've found that my tolerance for extreme cold isn't as high as it once was, and I'm hopeful that my physician can help me out with that a little bit. I think it may be related to some of the medications I take, and with my reduced size at the very least we may be able to adjust dosages downward or perhaps even eliminate one or more of the most likely offenders.

In Summary, as I look forward to the year ahead I am feeling good about the prospects. Barring major unforeseen events I think it can be a year of considerable accomplishment and contentment. I'm very much enjoying the lifestyle I've created for myself, and I'm feeling good about my ability to maintain it.

Introducing Thor

2011-12-29T15:14:00.001-09:00

Sometimes things happen pretty quick around here, and sometimes it takes a while. This is obviously my year to bring in younger dogs with an eye toward future trails. Just a couple of days ago I was told that Abbie West might have some dogs available. Abbie's current team all come from Jay Cadzow, originally of Fort Yukon. The quality of Jay's breedings is unmatched and I doubt anyone in the region has a more thorough knowledge of the village dogs that were once a common part of every bush or rural household.

When I spoke with Abbie, she recommended Thor as a good match for my team and mushing goals. Thor is an 11 month old intact male from Jay's best dogs. He has wonderful tight, tough feet and ran with Abbie's race team through much of her fall training. Jay has tried him in lead, and when I asked how he did up front Jay's answer was "He always pulled forward." In such a young dog I think that's a pretty good sign of the trait that Mitch Seavey referred to as "Forward orientation" in his book Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way. (an excellent read, by the way)

Thor is taller than his siblings, is deep chested, with conformation similar to that I've seen in other working dogs from bush villages in the same region. He was a bit shy when I first approached him, but not in a fearful sort of way. He let me examine him all over, lifting his feet readily, letting me press on his spine, lift his lips and so forth. Although not accustomed to doing so, he took treats readily from my fingertips and did so very nicely.

The opportunity to purchase a dog of this caliber, from known and highly respected "village" lines doesn't come around every day. In fact, it doesn't come around very often at all. I really like what I see in Thor, so now Thor is out in the center of the Stardancer yard, getting acquainted with some of his new kennel mates. When I checked on him just a few seconds ago he and Midnight's Son were playing with each other while Orion was not so patiently waiting his turn. I imagine after a couple of feedings young Thor will feel right at home.

Here is a photo I shot of Thor earlier this afternoon, just minutes after he arrived at his new home. As he gets settled and comfortable I'll try to capture some more images that better display his conformation.

Thor - from the Fort Yukon lines of Jay Cadzow

Even though he was still plenty nervous about his sudden change in lifestyle, he was willing to look at the camera, which is a very hard thing for many dogs to do. I have a really good feeling about this young boy.

Thor will get a couple of days to settle in to his new digs before I can run him on a team. I have to run some errands in town tomorrow, and it looks like the cold snap that the weather service has been predicting for the past week is finally arriving, so it may be a few days before I hook him up with a team to show him some of our local trails.

Every time I talk to Jay I learn something really cool about the dogs of the Fort Yukon region. Today I learned that some of the smaller dogs from that area were referred to as "River Dogs" as opposed to trail dogs, and were used primarily for fast travel over ice covered rivers. From the looks of some of the dogs Jay pointed out as being that type, I suspect that Abbie will have no trouble retaining her crown as the fastest women to run the Yukon Quest.

Another Training Day

2011-12-27T22:00:00.000-09:00

Today I wanted to run further than we've been doing lately, so hooked up a team of seven for a run. I didn't get as early a start as I had hoped, so didn't have enough time to run two teams. I nonetheless had a great day out on the trail with the dogs.

We had quite a variety of trail conditions today. As we left the yard we were running on packed powder. When we hit the busier trail that parallels Two Rivers Road we were on packed snow. We transitioned onto the Wood Cutting Road, which has been plowed and run so much that it was hard packed, icy and very fast, with little control of the sled. (That's why they call it a "skid" road, I guess).

We took a 'haw' onto the Little Chena River Ridge trail, which was nicely packed snow. A 'gee' onto the Money Trail was much the same, but the 'haw' onto the new Borough cross-over trail had us breaking trail in new powder again. Once back on the busier Swamp Trail we were again on packed snow, and then back to packed powder for the final sprint home.

The dogs did a very nice job for me today, overall. I had three-year-old Orion next to Just up in lead, and though they missed a few cues, they always corrected very readily. We did have one head-on pass with another team, and Just surprised me when he balked. Nonetheless we were able to get by each other without major mishap. I watched that section of video several times in slow motion, and can say with confidence that none of my dogs engaged the dogs of the other team.

I've been trying to contact Abbie West over the past couple of days, following up on a rumor that she may have a dog for sale. As she was working at Two Rivers Lodge tonight, I decided to let Jon cook my supper. There were more people there than I expected, so holding a conversation with Abbie was a bit of challenge. She'd pass by with someone's order, and I'd ask a question about the dog, and as she passed on her way back to the bar or kitchen, she'd give the answer. It was actually kind of fun, in a Two Rivers sort of way.

I'm very interested in a young dog named Thor. At 11 months of age he's outgrown his litter mates, in fact, he's outgrown Abbie's team. He's apparently a "big goofball", not particularly light on his feet, but he trained with her race team through most of the autumn and has always kept a tight tug line. Abbie thinks he'd be a good match for the Stardancer team, so I'll take a look at him as soon as I can arrange to do so. He sounds like a nice, big boy who could be a heck of a lot of fun. He's the right age to fit into that little age gap between my three-year olds and the new puppies that are coming next month.

Tomorrow the entire team will get the day off, as I need to go to a medical appointment and then do some shopping in town. I'm hopeful to be back out on the trail on Thursday.

Back on the trail...

2011-12-26T10:32:00.000-09:00

I enjoyed a lovely Christmas day with friends yesterday, but the dogs have had two days off, the weather is reasonable, so today we headed back out on the trail. We are continuing to focus on bringing along these young leaders, so the goal is to get lots of hook-ups and lots of gee-haw work. In other words, still running small teams relatively short distances over a variety of trails and trail conditions.

I imagine my training log entry will explain the runs well enough, but a couple of incidents were worthy of additional comment, and some video. During my first run the right runner of my toboggan sled rode up on a root that dumped me over. I tried to bleep out the worse of the language in the video clip. No harm was done, the team stopped for me (I don't know if they responded to "Oh S**T" or to the "Whoa", and I was able to plant hooks in order to get the sled flipped back up in short order. I'm afraid I'm not athletic enough to do that without anchoring the team.

The second team had newly promoted 3-year old leaders Orion and Cassiopeia up front. We we came off a side trail onto my neighbor's long driveway, which I had noticed had been very recently groomed, we encountered young Edie learning to ski with her mother right at the intersection. Edie fell to the snow to prevent running into the dogs, and those very young leaders, though distracted and I'm sure tempted to give Edie a face licking (they LOVE children) nonetheless responded to the "on by" cue and took the tream right on down the trail. I'm VERY pleased with that.

I plan to run two teams again tomorrow, and already have my run board made up for the day. The goal remains the same, to give these young leaders lots of hook-ups and lots of gee-haw work. Wednesday I have to make a run into town. In any event, I'm sure there will be more to post tomorrow evening.

Date, Day, &c:

12/26/11, Monday

Mileage & Speed:

5.25 miles. Max speed 13.6 mph. Average speed 9.1 mph

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Home to 2 Rivers Rd. Trail to Swamp Trail to Money Trail to Borough Cut Off trail to Swamp Trail and return home. Very light layer of powder on packed powder. Toboggan sled.

Weather:

-7 degrees. Partly cloudy skies.

Team:

Just & Capella (leaders)

Midnight's Son & Selene (swing)

Amazing Grace (single team)

Beau & Seamus (wheel)

Narrative:

Primarily intended as a leader training run for Capella, hence her running beside my most experienced (albeit sometimes block-headed) leader.

Easy hook up for the most part, and fast launch. Just and Capella took most of their directional cues well, but had trouble going "haw" past Rod and Julie's feeder trail. I have no idea why except that maybe Just figured it would be the quickest way back home. In any event, they corrected and we were able to continue the run.

I had to stop from time to time when either Beau or Selene would get under the gangline and crowd his or her running mate. The dogs had a heck of a time trying to understand "whoa" today, and wanted to run off as soon as I pulled hooks rather than waiting for their "alright" cue. We'll be working on that behavior a lot more this season.

However, I did take a tumble when the sled clipped a hidden root on the side of the trail, flipping us over. I don't know if they considered the cue to be the "whoa" or the "Aw S**T", but they did stop for me and I was able to plant hooks, flip the sled back up on the runners, and get off to a controlled restart in short order.

Date, Day, &c:

12-26-11, Monday.

Mileage & Speed:

~ 4 miles. Speeds not measured.

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Home to 2 Rivers Rd. trail to Swamp Trail to Rod and Julie's feeder to trail, to side-loop off R&J's trail, to home. Traveling basket sled, light powder on top of packed powder.

Weather:

- 6 degrees (F). Partly cloudy.

Team:

Cassiopeia & Orion (leaders)

Rose (single swing)

Innoko (single team)

Nels & Denali (wheel)

Narrative:

Orion continues to be a PITA on hook up. He just gets too excited. I have a scheme to make it easier for him to stay lined out while I'm hooking up his running mate. Innoko was grabbing lines, which is equally a bad thing and something I need to spend some time on.

Once we got started the run went very well. Cassie and Orion responded nicely to directional cues. When I called the "gee" to go on the side trail at Rod and Julie's, it took them a bit to figure out what I was asking, but they did figure it out for themselves, which is a very good thing.

As we came off that side trail, Edie was skiing with her Mom on the main trail and we met at nearly the same time on that intersection. Edie fell on her skis, well within the radius of the gang line, yet Orion and Cassie took the "on by" cue, though they were incredibly curious and probably interested in licking Edie's face as clean as possible. Nonetheless, they did go on by.

They didn't even try to veer off to visit Ted's dogs, took the "haw" onto the power line very well, went straight ahead over the driveway with no hesitation at all, and took the haw onto our feeder trail like they'd been doing it all their lives.

After the run I let dogs play run amok for a bit, and Innoko attacked Nels for no reason I could perceive. I ended up having to pull him off of Nels and dragging him to his circle. In the future he'll have to come and go from the hook up line on a leash - probably a very short leash.

MERRY CHRISHANAKWANZATICE

2011-12-24T16:56:00.004-09:00

I celebrate the winter solstice, but I have friends who celebrate Hanakku, some who celebrate Kwanzaa, some who celebrate everything and even a few who celebrate nothing much at all (any ol' excuse for a party, eh?). Of course living in Alaska, U.S.A., most of my friends celebrate Christmas, even friends who aren't particularly Christian. To each and all, I wish a very merry celebration, regardless of what you wish to call it.

Yesterday I ran two small teams, both of them relatively low miles. My goal for the day was to give some of my young leaders some gee / haw work, and to give 1 year old Innoko a nice, fun run with the team. I think I was able to accomplish both goals pretty nicely.

The local trail I refer to as the Swamp Trail is now open and can be run quite easily on sleds, which allows me to do some short runs with more gee/haw work that otherwise is feasible. The first team, with the overgrown puppy, did a 4 mile run. For the second team I did a loop that incorporates a new, Borough constructed cross-over trail, that extends the run by 1 mile, and offers some nice gee/haw possibilities. Since both teams were breaking trail through several inches of new snow, it was a good workout for all of the dogs.

Here is some video with highlights from our runs. A few things of note - Cassiopeia (aka "Cassie") ran lead beside Just and Innoko was in the single team position of the first team I ran. Innoko worked very well throughout the run, so I'm confident I can bump up his mileage a little bit and not have to worry about burning him out. The second team also did a nice job, considering that neither Orion nor Capella, my young leaders, have fully learned their gee from their haw. What they DO that's important is they offer to go the opposite directing, giving me a behavior I can reinforce with the opportunity to run some more. That second team had a devil of a time with a head-on pass (also in the video), which tells me I need to do a lot more training that requires passing other teams.

Here are the entries in my training journal for yesterday's runs:

Date, Day, &c:

12/23/11, Friday.

Mileage & Speed:

4.0 miles. Max speed 13.2 mph, average speed 8.2 mph

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Home to 2 Rivers Road Tr to Swamp Trail to Rod and Julie's feeder trail to home. Toboggan sled on several inches fresh powder over hard-pack. Trail breaker run.

Weather:

Overcast, light snow mist. 15 degrees at start, 16 degrees at finish.

Team:

Just & Cassie (leaders)

Midnight & Selene (Swing)

Innoko (single team)

Nels & Denali (wheel)

Narrative:

Intended to be a basically a "puppy run" for Innoko.

Innoka was all "in your face" with Midnight during harnessing and hookup. Midnight had no interest in backing down, which caused a harness tangle during hook up. One I got he and Selene untangled Midnight lined out nicely enough.

Fast launch, especially considering conditions. Damned near pitched me off the sled.

Just and Cassie set a pretty fast pace. They hit all of their directional cues on the run without any hesitation at all. Even the "straight ahead" across the driveway, and the 'haw' onto the very obscured 'return' trail.

All of the dogs worked pretty well on this run. Selene was a star, keeping a tight tug line the entire run. Innoko did a nice job of keeping up and only rarely had a loose tugline.

A nice little training run to get young Innoko out on the trail. I was overall very pleased.

Date, Day, &c:

12-23-11, Friday

Mileage & Speed:

5 miles. 14.0 mph max speed, 8.3 mph average speed

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Home, Two Rivers Rd tr., Swamp tr., haw onto Little Chena River ridge tr., gee past Rod and Julies, gee onto new Borough cross over trail, gee onto Money tr., gee onto Little Chena River ridge tr., gee past swamp trail, haw onto Rod and Julie's feeder, and on into home. Breaking new snow over hardpack, especially in section over new trail.

Weather:

16 degrees start, 15 degrees finish. Overcast, but starting to clear a little.

Team:

Orion & Capella (lead)

Seamus (single swing)

Grace (single team)

Beau and Rose (wheel)

Narrative: I chose this route, slightly longer than the first run, to give my very young leaders some gee/haw work and for the whole team to have to work together to break out some relatively steep trail.

Better behavior on hook-up than before, so I think they'll come along nicely with that. Orion and Capella set a very fast pace, and I pretty much let them do so, knowing they would get a really good workout when we got into the unbroken snow. I think I was right about that.

Orion and Capella had some issues with some of the directional cues, but they corrected and responded to the correct cue in due time, showing me they are thinking about it which is great. It won't take them long to better learn their left from their right.

1 pass with an oncoming team that didn't go terribly well. I ended up stopped in the trail while his team moved on by, which they did quite nicely, by the way. That's something we REALLY need to work on with these young leaders.

Grace was grabbing lines again at start. I'm really vexed as to what to do about that. Otherwise her behavior on the trail was fine, but of course she doesn't have a running mate to snark at.

Overall, a good training run with a pretty decent little team of sled dogs.

Today I've stayed home and been "Mr. Domestic", doing a bit of housekeeping and enjoying a peaceful afternoon.

Solstice Trail Breaking Run

2011-12-22T07:48:00.001-09:00

Yesterday my friend, Trish, came over to help me run a team of dogs. We received several inches of snow during the time I was done, and in the hours before our run, so the dogs were leaving fresh tracks over most of the trails we covered. Trail breaking is hard work, but I was very pleased with the way the team tackled to job. I had Orion and Capella up in lead, and they did a very nice job working together.

We took a different route this time than we've done in the past. I had heard that the 'Swamp Trail' is in much better shape now than earlier this month, so wanted to incorporate that into our run. I also wanted to take the team on a route they've never seen before, so chose to run from the house, up the trail that parallels Two Rivers Road, then cut across a survey line to Rod and Julie's feeder trail. That trail (more like a path) crosses Potlatch Creek and although we haven't run it before, someone on a snow machine had been over it for at least 1 pass, so it was visible and I was confident the creek crossing would be O.K. The snow was especially deep over that section, but the dogs worked hard and we made surprisingly good time over that section.

Breaking trail on the survey line

The survey line includes a pretty steep hill climb, but the dogs managed it with no more than a couple of stops to catch their breath. Mostly they keep their bellies to the snow and just did their "freight dog thing" to gain the summit.

Climbing toward the summit

We made first tracks out Rod and Julie's trail, zig-zagging through the trees. I only bounced the new sled off 1 tree when my wheel dogs cut the corner a bit too close. My friend got a giggle when I commented "Well, that'll scratch the paint". That was really the closest thing to a mishap we faced once we'd gotten the team moving down the trail.

I feel I should apologize for the quality of the photos. They are stills, captured from video recorded on my CountourGPS video recorder. There was a bit of snow on the lens which caused the photos to be a bit pixilated in spots. The darkness is an accurate depiction of the light we had at the time, about mid-day on the shortest day of the year.

We only had about 3 1/4 hours of sunlight yesterday, and with the heavy overcast and falling snow, not much of it was available at ground level. Nonetheless, we took advantage of what we had and enjoyed a great, albeit physically challenging, day on the trail.

Here is the entry in my training journal:

Date, Day, &c:

Wednesday, Dec 21, 1011

Mileage & Speed:

~ 5 miles. Distance and speeds not recorded, but video play back with GPS consistently showed speeds of 8 to 10 mph

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Home to 2Rvrs Rd trail to survey line to Rod and Julie's feeder to Little Chena River ridge trail to swamp trail to home. Unbroken powder over hard-pack. Traveling sled with passenger.

Weather:

Snowing. Temperatures in the + 20 degree range

Team:

Orion and Capella (lead)

Seamus (single swing)

Grace (single team)

Rose and Beau (wheel)

Narrative:

Orion was difficult to get harnessed and hooked up beside his sister. Grace grabbing lines, and chewed through one of Seamus' tug lines. Would have been a problem if he were not in a single position on a dual dog line. Once moving things smoothed out nicely.

Had some difficulty getting the leaders to take the "haw" onto the survey line as we've never gone that way before. At first they needed some help so I had Trish stand the brake while I pulled them over to the trail. As I was returning to the sled they dashed back to the main trail, but I called for a "haw" and they responded to it properly. They did very well with directional cues the rest of the run.

Most of it was just hard slogging while breaking trail, and the team did a very nice job of it.

Happy Solstice

2011-12-21T05:43:00.003-09:00

I returned home from work yesterday, and this my first opportunity to catch up the Blog a bit. The combination of very restrictive security filters on the Company's system and the world's slowest dial up connection in the living quarters makes it very impractical to do so while I'm on the job.

First, I'd like to wish you a very happy solstice and delightful holiday season. The majority of belief systems around the world celebrate holidays this time of year, so we all have good reasons to get together and spend quality time with friends of all persuasions.

Locally, the sun will peak over the horizon at 10:56 this morning and will set at 2:39, giving us a length of day of 3 hours, 43 minutes. I plan on spending the bulk of that daylight out on the trail with some dogs. I hope your plans for the day include something you find at least equally enjoyable.

The weather has been quite warm the past few days, even warm enough to be thawy and drippy a couple of days ago. We've gotten a little bit of snow while I was away - not much - but I've received reports that the Swamp Trail I use so frequently is in much better shape than before, so I' hope to incorporate that into some of our training runs. Within a few days I should be able to start running the dogs further and further afield.

Things at work were pretty routine for the most part. Certainly there wasn't anything happened that I can write about in a public forum. The oil is still flowing and everyone is still healthy.

Locally, there have been a couple of events worthy of comment. Rusty Hagan's wife, Gidget, operates Dog Daze Grooming Salon in Fairbanks. According to an article in yesterday's edition of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner the business suffered a fire in the laundry room last Friday morning. My friend Bobbi Snow was the hero of the day, as she safely evacuated all 8 dogs that were in the business at the time, and called the fire department early enough to limit damage to the laundry room, with a bit of smoke damage elsewhere.

Also locally, officials with the Fairbanks North Star Borough Division of Animal Control have proposed a change in the fee structure for adopting dogs and cats. The The change would raise the standard adoption fees for all dogs from $90 to $130 and from $55 to $90 for cats, but that increase would also cover the cost of a spay or neuter — if needed — along with vaccines and a tracking tag. Currently the cost of sterilizing the animal is added to the base fee, which makes for a relatively inconsistent list of charges, and sometimes requires potential adopters to wait several days or longer to actually receive their new pet. The News-Miner article I linked above provides some additional information, and some interesting commentary below the article.

Wanna see something really cute? Check out the "puppy updates" on Linda Newmans "To Points Unknown" blog. Now, look at the pictures of the female called Grand Marais. Grand Marais will be coming to the Stardancer Kennel in late January, with some help from mutual friends. I'll post more details when it seems appropriate to do so. Here's a picture of GM at four weeks of age, from Linda's Blog.

Grand Marais at 4 weeks of age - 6 lb, 1 oz.

Grand Marais is a deep Hedlund Gray Husky, with a bit of Linda's Zulu line mixed in for genetic diversity. These Hedlund Gray Huskies are about as "old school" as dogs come these days and I truly love the way my Rose and Nels work. I am hopeful I can get a puppy from another Hedlund breeding from entirely separate lines to serve as a foundation for my own breeding project, but we'll have to see what the future holds.

Meanwhile, if you happen to be in Minnesota and want to check out this crazy game of dog mushing, I highly recommend Points Unknown as a great starting place. They offer a variety of mushing and training adventures, including women's winter adventures that seem to be quite popular.

Speaking of the future, I need to stop thinking about puppies and start thinking about feeding the team their breakfast, feeding the primate who rides the sled, getting a couple of sleds ready for the day and generally doing a bunch of little projects so I can get out on the trail. I've no doubt I'll be posting updates again in the near future.

2 More Days

2011-12-08T19:11:00.001-09:00

I've been VERY busy the past two days, running the dogs coupled with some errands.

Yesterday I ran two small teams (6 dogs each) with a friend riding in the basket of my fancy new traveling sled as a helper. In between I had a kennel visit from a very nice couple who are helping me transport a new puppy in late January. More about that when it actually happens. Nita and Josh operate Sirius Sled Dogs as a tour operation and are interested in some of the same lines of old-school dogs as I.

Trail conditions are not particularly good. The rain and freezing rain we got the other day, on top of already hard packed trails, makes for difficult mushing conditions. The section of trail I call the "Wood Cutting Road" is an active logging road, and the workers have plowed it very close to the surface. With the hardpack and ice it is impossible to keep the sled, any sled, tracking directly behind the team. Finding a safe place to plant snowhooks is also a serious concern, to I am running only small teams and relatively short distances to try to keep things safe and under control.

Here is a photo of one of yesterday's team, along with my friend Trish, standing the brake to keep the team in place.

Trish on the Sled, holding the team back.

I've been worried about burning out my more experienced leaders, Just and Rose. Although more experienced than the born Stardancers, Rose still needs a lot of work before she can be described as a "finished" leader. Today I decided to mix things up a bit, give Just and Rose a chance to cruise along back in the team, and put some of those young LITs (leaders in training) to the test.

For the first team, I put Orion and Cassiopeia in lead, followed by Just and Selene with Seamus and Rose at wheel.

Today's team, with Cassie (left) and Orion (right) in lead.

This team was truly a joy to drive. We left the yard in great fashion, and the leaders were very responsive to their cues. They missed a few, but corrected very quickly making it easy to keep things moving along. Even the straight-ahead to go past the driveway happened with very little hassle. As far as I'm concerned, today's run was their "graduation ceremony". They are no longer consider "Leaders in Training". I have no problem running either of them in lead in front of any team. Here are some of the highlights.

We returned home, put the dogs away and watered them before grabbing a quick hot lunch and beverages, and hooking up the second. I wish I could report that performed as well as the first, but I'm afraid I'd be lying if I did. On the second team I put Capella (usually a stellar performer) in lead next to Midnight's Son, Beau and Grace were in swing and Denali and Nels were in wheel. That lasted less than half-way through the run.

Capella did her level best to keep things moving, and Midnight did well in the narrow, winding, exciting parts of the 2 Rivers Road parallel trail, but once up on the Wood Cutting Road Midnight apparently became a bit bored. He tried running up on the berm until I asked him to move over to the hardpacked surface. Then he decided he needed to sniff at stuff from to time, though he kept moving. Finally he decided he just had to stop and lift a leg against a tree, and I'd about had my fill of his crap.

I swapped out Midnight for Beau. Beau is a pretty good trail leader, but really hasn't been trained for "gee / haw" work. As soon as I cued up the team Grace cut loose on Midnight. Midnight retaliated and we had a full blow, screaming squabble on our hands. I went up and gave the dogs a piece of my mind, pulled Capella and Beau away from the miscreants to 'line out', and we finally got moving.

The rest of the run was reasonably uneventful, but it was clear that Capella didn't have her brain in the game. I'll give her another opportunity when I return home from work in a couple of weeks.

Yep, it's time for me to return to work. I'll be leaving early tomorrow morning.

Last 2 days.

2011-12-06T22:40:00.000-09:00

It's been a long day, and I'm very tired so I hope you'll forgive me if the post seems shorter than it should be. There is a lot to describe, yet I already hear my bed calling to me.

Yesterday the weather continued off and on nasty, with snow squalls and high winds blowing in seemingly from nowhere, and disappearing as quickly as they arrived. Since we had received only an inch or so of snow the day before, I decided it was time to switch to my new Dave Klumb Laughing Husky basket sled. This sled is basically a reproduction of an early 20th century type of sled sometimes referred to as a "traveling sled". Not so large and cumbersome as the huge freight sleds of the day, but nonetheless large enough to handle plenty of gear for an extended wilderness trip. My sled has a 6-foot long bed, is 19 inches wide, light weight yet stout enough to handle just about anything I can imagine putting in it.

Of course putting the sled on the trail required a bit of fitting out. It needed a drag mat and a pair of snow hooks with lines of a length that accommodates the sled. First, the drag mat.

The drag mat is used to maintain tension on the gangline, making the sled controllable when traveling downhill or over a fast, level trail. It can also be used to help slow a willing team. For this sled, I chose to make the drag mat out of a fairly long chunk of well worn snow machine track. I used short sections of chain (called "drop chains") to attach the mat to the links that attach the bridle to the brake brackets. To attach the mat I drilled and installed a pair of eye bolts to the underside of the mat, and used a chain tool to crimp S hooks into the eyes and chains. Here's a photo that may explain things a little more clearly.

Drag mat installed on new traveling basket sled

Snow hooks are basically steel claws used to anchor the team and sled to snow on the trail. They can also be used to 'hook' a tree, soft soil or anything else that might hold the team. I install two different styles of hooks on each of my sleds. On the left side I install a sharp pointed 'ice hook', and on the right side fluted hooks with a lot more surface area in hopes they'll hold in softer snow.

A line runs from the snow hook to the gangline (NEVER to the sled) to anchor the team. The length of the line is typically just long enough to stretch from the carbiner that attached all the various lines to the bridle of the sled to a position that is convenient for a musher standing on the runners to manipulate the hook while the sled is still moving. The proper manner of 'setting' a snow hook is to call a "whoa" and just half an instant before the sled stops, plant the hook, allowing forward momentum to help the fins of the hook dig into the snowpack.

I like to use 3-strand, twisted nylon rope when making my own lines (most of my gear is commercially manufactured of other materials). Nylon is stronger than polyethylene and also offers a bit more stretch. Some nylon lines can stretch as much as 40% before breaking. Since I had quite a bit of three-strand, 1/2" nylon rope here at the house, that's what I used to make my snow hook lines.

Each line requires two eye-splices. On through the eye of the snow hook, and another to fasten into the carabiner between the gangline and bridle. Spliced eyes are much stronger than knots, so really are far preferable if one knows how to make them.

How to make an eye-splice in twisted line.

With the snow hooks ready to install, I also needed a snub-line. The snub-line is used to tie the team to a tree or other structure to hold them in place. To make my snub-line I measured out roughly 20 feet of line, made an eye splice in the standing end (the end attached to the gang line), and a combination of a crown knot and back splices to prevent the working end from raveling.


Crown knot

When snubbing my team, I prefer to use a slippery knot called a 'highwayman's hitch'. It generally holds well, yet it's very easy to untie when ready to whistle up the dogs.

Highwayman's Hitch for snubbing a team of dogs

Today, I put the sled into service and ran two teams of dogs. I'm very pleased to report that the sled rides very well indeed. The drive bow is the perfect height to accommodate my own height, so it's very comfortable. It glides well over the snow and though a bit stiff (it's still brand spanking new), it is MUCH easier to control than my toboggan sled.

The drag mat I rigged worked well, though it may prove to be a bit more drag than I need. Time and experience will answer that question, and if need be it's easily shortened with a hacksaw. I had to both hook down, and even snub down the team a time or two, and all of my new lines served their functions perfectly.

Traveling sled, ready for dogs.

As I noted earlier, I ran two teams today. The first team included Just and Cassiopeia in lead, Beau and Selene in swing / team, and Capella and Seamus at wheel.

Date, Day, &c:

Tuesday, 12/6/11

Mileage & Speed:

8.5 miles, max 14.2, average 7.9 Basket sled

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Home to Two Rivers Rd parallel to Wood Cutting Rd to Little Chena Ridge Trail to Rod and Julie's feeder to home. A couple of inches of power on hard packed, icy base.

Weather:

+5 degrees. Mostly cloudy

Team:

Just - Cassie

Beau - Selene

Capella - Seamus

Narrative:

Very first run for my new "traveling" basket sled, and I couldn't be happier. The drag I rigged yesterday worked just fine, we didn't break anything that I am aware of, and the sled handles quite nicely, albeit a bit stiff.

Dogs were well behaved on hook up, left at a high lope, and maintained a good pace throughout the run. Just and Cassie responded well to cues, though did have to correct mistakes in a couple of places.

Generally it was a very nice "maiden run" for new equipment.

The second team started out with Rose and Denali in lead, Orion and Midnight's Son in swing / team, and Grace and Nels in wheel. Grace was horribly snarky with Nels, prompting me to exchange her and Midnight's Son before we even got off of our feeder trail and onto the powerline right of way. That made things work much more smoothly.

Second Team. Orion and Grace were both jumping with joy at the prospect of a run.

Date, Day, &c:

Tuesday, 12/6/11

Mileage & Speed:

8.5 Miles, max 12.5, average 7.7

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Home to Two Rivers Rd parallel to Wood Cutting Rd to Little Chena Ridge Trail to Rod and Julie's feeder to home. A couple of inches of power on hard packed, icy base.

Weather:

+10 degrees. Mostly cloudy

Team:

Rose - Denali

Orion - Midnight's Son (at start, switched very early)

Nels - Grace

Narrative:

It was kind of a rough start as Grace was snarking very badly at Nels, who didn't take it well. He ended up on the ground being dragged, and I had to stop and snub the rig while I swapped Grace and Midnight's position. Grace only snarked at Orion a couple of times. Grace was not on a neckline at the time.

Once we were moving again the team maintained a nice, steady albeit somewhat slow pace even on the wood cutting road, where we had head-on passes with a series of three trucks. The dogs managed the passes quite well and I was pleased with that.

Rose and Denali needed Ted's guidance to do the "straight ahead" across the driveway to take the new feeder trail home. They didn't even try to offer alternative behaviors I could reinforce. Just stood there with the "dumb" look in their eyes.

After our runs I watered the teams and then made a quick trip to town for my monthly haircut and to pick up my prescriptions at the pharmacy. Consequently "supper" was late for both the dogs and myself.

That, my friends, brings us up to the moment. I'm not sure what your plans are, but I plan to crawl into bed straightaway so I can run dogs some more tomorrow.

Weather Permitting

2011-12-05T07:22:00.000-09:00

In our last installment, it was 2 o'clock in the stinking morning, way too warm out, and weird things were happening. Yesterday was the kind of day that defines the concept of "weather permitting'.

Travel in Alaska, whether a journey of a few miles or a few hundred, is always contingent upon weather conditions. Yesterday showed good examples of that. In the grip of a chinook, thawing weather turned to freezing rain, combined with warmth that turned everything to a sort of gunky slush, which was in turned followed by dropping temperatures, high winds, and a promise of snow that sort of fizzled out.

After feeding the dogs, I fired up the little tractor. The snow that had sloughed off the roof the night before was piling up in front of the house, and I figured that if I could clear it we could maintain an easier pathway to the kennel gate for feeding and performing other kennel chores. Although the job took longer than I expected due to the weight and volume of the fallen snow, it was accomplished in good order. Machinery can be a blessing at times, especially in snow country. I had barely finished the job when the rain started falling.

This wasn't just a typical light mist of rain, either. It was serious drops of water falling from the sky in summer-time volumes, soaking into the snow and freezing to a slippery glaze over every surface. I kept checking out the weather forecast, and hoping beyond hope that the promised shift from rain to snow would happen quickly. Meanwhile, the rain kept falling. Fortunately, so did the thermometer and by about 2 o'clock it seemed to be snowing quite nicely, though the wind was picking up to sometimes fierce levels.

In town, conditions were so bad that some roads were closed to travel, and many people had the good sense to just stay home. That was bad news for Mike and Kim's annual Christmas get-together. I had planned on making it to the gathering with a friend, so called ahead to see if it was still a "go". Indeed it was, for anyone who could get there. That didn't include very many people.

So, my friend and I loaded into the dog truck for the three-mile drive over to Mike and Kim's place. I chose the dog truck, even though it really isn't designed for travel in party clothes, because it is quite heavy, especially with that big ol' dog box on back, and has studded snow tires on all four corners. It was a decision based on safety.

By the time we left my place the road wasn't in all that bad of condition. I did a skid test and found pretty good traction underneath the rig, so it was easy rolling to Mike and Kim's road. As we drove up the road we did encounter another hazard of the weather conditions, though.

I didn't have either a saw or an axe in the truck, so I grabbed the next best thing. I used my cell phone to call Mike and asked him to bring his chainsaw to cut away the fallen tree. Mike is no dummy, he lashed his saw to his four-wheeler for the quick trip over rather than messing with a highway vehicle. In short order he had the various limbs bucked away, which I tossed onto the side of the road while he made the main cut needed to clear the log. Then he chained the log to his machine, to drag home for firewood. Did I mention that mike is also a thrifty sort?

Though originally planned as a huge 'bash', the get-together was an intimate evening with friends, lots of laughter, good food (most of which fit into my diet nicely), kids running amok and generally just an old-fashioned good time among neighbors.

It was still snowing, albeit lightly, when we returned to my place and fed the dogs. Since I'd had little sleep the night before, I crashed pretty early and apparently so did the snowfall, because this morning I find only about an inch of powder on top of the frozen base. I'm not even certain there is enough left of the trails to safely run the dogs, though I'll do what I can to find out later on. If not, I'll have to chalk it up to one more instance of travel only with weather permitting.

2 AM is NOT fun.

2011-12-04T02:23:00.000-09:00

Here it is, officially 2 o'clock in the stinkin' morning, I'm wide awake and not even at work. "What's up with that?" one might ask. Well, I'll tell you.

There I was, lying in bed fairly peacefully when one of the dogs started going off. It was Beau's distinctive voice, baying like a hound because he never has learned how to bark like a real dog. I thought little of it at the time, he does that once in a while. I hollered "That's enough, Beau." and he settled down. Every so often I'd hear another dog bark, but none of it of a nature to draw any particular attention.

Then, a huge WHOOSH as the snow on my tin roof sloughed off. On some other night I might have just ignored that, but with power cords extending from the outlet on the side of the house out to the rigs I decided I really did need to get up and dig them out before the snow slide sets up like concrete. I lived in Crested Butte, Colorado for several years back in the 1980s, and responded to several calls in which people were buried in avalanches. I learned back then that once the snow stops sliding it sets up hard and fast. Besides, I've been slow about digging out cords in the past, resulting in the darned things disappearing until break-up.

So, I donned socks, shoes, pants and even a light jacket to do what I figured would be a fairly quick task. I stepped out the door to hear the rhythmic 'drip, drip, dripping' of melting snow, perhaps mixed with a bit of rain.

When I looked toward the dog yard, there was Innoko, looking back at me with his big old puppy grin, dancing at the gate. "AHA!!" says I. That explains why Beau was being so noisy. When I went to grab him by the collar to return him to his post, I realized he wasn't wearing his collar. He'd apparently slipped it and decided to play a game of run amok, or at least wander around the visit his buddies.

So, I called him over to his post and he came trotting over willingly enough, until Orion decided to mess with him (probably pay-back from some earlier event). The next thing you know Orion and Innoko are going at it hammer and tongs in a good, old-fashioned ballyhoo type dogfight. I grabbed Innoko by the tail to drag him away, and Orion (bless his little heart) decided to get in at least one more lick. Unfortunately, his eye to mouth coordination was off a bit, and he NAILED me in the left forearm. It sure was a good thing I'd had the foresight to don that heavy canvas jacket, or I'd be treating puncture wounds rather than a bruise.

I finally got the combatants separated, got Innoko back into his collar and that tightened enough to keep him in place (I hope), gave both dogs a cursory examination and didn't find any particular injuries, so returned to my original mission, all the while mumbling unpublishable words about a certain pair of young dogs.

With a lot of tugging and hauling and shovel work, I got the electrical cords freed from the snow, rolled up and tossed under cover until they are next needed. I went inside to wash up, and while doing so I saw blood - and it wasn't mine.

So, I put the jacket back on, found my headlamp, and went back to the dog yard to check things out more thoroughly. The blood was Orion's, coming from a minor ear laceration that neither of us are going to worry too much about.

I finally made it back into the house, washed up, most of the extra clothing off, and my eyes are wide open, one of my handler's dogs is making all kinds of noise, and I'm just waiting to see what happens next. It's obviously just one of those nights.

When I was a child, my mother used to warn me that there would be nights like this. What she failed to mention was that there would be so many of them.

Happenings

2011-12-03T08:02:00.001-09:00

Good morning. I'm sort of easing into another rest day for the team, enjoying my coffee and catching up on Emails, news and so forth.

There is an interesting discussion on Jeff King's FaceBook page about an article that appeared in the Alaskan Dispatch yesterday. Craig Medred wrote the article under the headline Baker's back to defend Iditarod title, but he's got 68 challengers. Some of Jeff's supporters have taken issue with Medred's somewhat harsh observations concerning mushers over the age of 50. I can't say I blame them for taking offense. A few years ago, writing in the Anchorage Daily News, Medred described Rick Swenson along the lines of a washed up has-been, that drew my ire.

Wanna see that allegedly washed-up has-been training just the other day? Well, I recently learned who I encountered at the trail intersection - it was Rick, running the second of three teams he was training that day. As a reminder, here's the clip again.

Considering that most of us are running small (six to 8 dog) teams short miles because of trail conditions, I'd say that "washed up has been" is doing just fine, thank you.

I guess the point is that we have to take what Mr. Medred or any other journalist writes with a huge grain of salt. They are writers, not dog mushers, and though they can be very expert they don't necessarily "get it" when it comes to the bond between musher and dogs or the importance of experience in a game where so many variable factors such as weather, trail conditions, human or canine illnesses and many others, plays such a huge role in the outcome.

Speaking of running small teams short miles, I ran two teams yesterday, having given them a day off to rest and build muscle after increasing the mileage by a huge jump. The first team's run was nearly perfect. No tangles or major issues though at 1 point I was concerned that Capella might have been injured (she had a very pronounced limp in her gait). When I stopped to check her out I couldn't find any tenderness at all, and when we started out again the limp was completely gone. I don't know what to think of that. In any event, here is my training journal entry from that run.

Date, Day, &c:

12-2-11, Friday

Mileage & Speed:

8.5 miles. 13.5 mph max speed. 7.7 mph average speed

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Home to Two Rivers Rd trail to Wood Cutting Road to Little Chena Ridge to Rod and Julie's feeder to home. 1" and growing depth of new snow on hard packed, icy base.

Weather:

21 degrees at start. 25 degrees at finish. Overcast and snowing.

Team:

Just & Capella

Cassie & Selene

Beau and Seamus

Narrative:

Nice, steady run throughout. No major tangles or issues except that on the wood cutting road it was looking like Capella was limping. I stopped and checked her over and could find no tenderness, but also no snow balls or any other explanation. When we started again she was running along normally, so I'm not sure of the cause of that.

Ted helped the team figure out the "straight ahead" to cross the driveway to the new leg of the Y on our feeder trail. The team took the haw onto that new Y with no hesitation at all.

As I was preparing to run the second team I got a call from my handler. He wanted to introduce me to the friend who helped him get Torus to the vet last week, and I wanted to meet her as she is interested in taking over the handler position when my current handler moves. Since the day was growing a bit late, we exchanged greetings and I then invited her to go out with us on the run.

With only 6 dogs on the line, this made for a considerable load. Since we are at a stage where we can focus on strength training, I didn't really see a 'down side' to that. I did have to work just as hard as the dogs in a few spots, because there are some significant hills on that route, but the spontaneous idea of bringing along a passenger seems to have had a big pay off.

Those who follow the blog know that I've been concerned about Orion. He's a gang-buster dog full of enthusiasm and drive, to the point that he works MUCH harder than any other dog in the team and consequently exhausts himself on relatively short runs. Well, yesterday I saw Orion settle down to work along with his team mates rather than doing his own thing, trying to speed things up to his preferred lope. He kept a tight tugline through the run, but truly worked as part of the team. In my mind, that is huge, and I hope it represents a change in attitude with the guy.

Here is the journal entry from that run:

Date, Day, &c:

12-02-11, Friday

Mileage & Speed:

8.5 miles. Speed not measured

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Home to 2 Rivers Rd trail to Wood Cutting Road to Little Chena Ridge to Rod and Julie's feeder to home. 1 to 2 inches fresh powder on hardpacked, icy base.

Weather:

Light snow at start, moving out as the run progressed.

Team:

Rose & Midnight

Grace & Denali

Nels & Orion

Narrative:

Judy Cooper's handler made a spontaneous decision to come along and help, which added some weight to the sled and made for an excellent strength training run in the hills as well as providing some help for badly needed leader training.

Good, well controlled launch and the team realized they were hauling a pretty good load so settled to a working pace relatively early. Nice steady run up the 2 Rivers Rd trail. Hard slog up the wood cutting road and big hill up Little Chena Ridge. The dogs needed quite a bit of help from me to get up some of the hills. Good, steady trot down to home.

Midnight's first run in lead, and he did OK with it, though he doesn't have the drive or desire of his siblings. Grace did well off neckline on the initial portion of the run, but was a bit snarky with Denali once I put her back on a neckline for the wood cutting road portion. Had I been thinking about it, I could have taken off her neckline once we got onto Little Chena Ridge trail.

Leaders missed almost every cue, and once tired did not offer alternatives, so gee/haw training was not particularly useful for good on this run. Things need to be moving a bit more quickly and the dogs need to be a bit more fresh to offer alternative behaviors I can reinforce.

Perhaps the most important thing is that Orion seemed to figure out he needed to start pacing himself. He pulled well, but at the team's pace rather than trying to speed everything up to his preferred lope. That could be HUGE for him.

Today I'm giving the dogs another rest day. As with humans, rest is as important to strength training as is exercise. I may benefit from the rest as well, as I also got a pretty good workout on that second run.

While the dogs enjoy a day off, I need to make a run into town to pick up some moose bones from a friend who enjoyed a successful hunt. I haven't been able to give the dogs bones in quite a while so I'm sure they will enjoy a good chew. Later, Stephanie Little Wolf plans to come over to take some measurements of the handler's yard. She is also interested in the position, but needs to be certain there is room enough to house her team and include a fenced free-run play area for her dogs.

So, I have two very qualified, experienced candidates for the handler position. Stephanie is my first choice because I've known her for several years, she and my dogs already know and like each other, and Steph shares my passion for the nearly-obsolete aboriginal types of sled dogs. I already told the other candidate that she is second on the list - and she understands the situation. If Steph decides to accept the offer, I'll do everything I can to help Courtney find an appropriate position, because I think she is quite capable of doing a great job for any musher who needs the help.

So, my coffee cup is empty, the day is progressing along. It's time for me to feed the team, feed the primate, and accomplish a few domestic chores before heading into town. Tomorrow promises to be a busy day. I'll have help in the morning to run some dogs (perhaps a larger team??) before heading over to Mike and Kim Green's annual holiday party at three-ish. I'm sure I'll give you an opportunity to read all about it.

Two Runs, 1 Day

2011-11-30T17:06:00.000-09:00

A friend of mine came over this morning to help me run dogs, a scheme that went pretty well according to plan. The trail conditions are still marginal, and I wanted a helper in case I had to clear a tangle or anything. There were a couple of times I had her stand on the brake while I dealt with small issues, but overall there weren't any major problems. Trish has never been mushing before, so she got a nice introduction to the sport, though I must admit I turned the sled over once, on an extremely tight right hand turn. It was a gentle upset, so no harm done.

For my local friends, I took the new Borough cross-over trail between the Money Trail and the Little Chena Ridge trail, and it was in pretty good condition. Like all of our trails it could use some more snow, but it is certainly runable.

Here are the reports as I logged them in my training journal.

Date, Day, &c:

11-30-11, Wednesday.

Mileage & Speed:

9.54, max speed 13.9, average speed 7.2

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Home to Wood Cutting Rd to Little Chena Ridge Trail to Money Trail to New Borough Trail to Rod & Julie's access trail, across driveway to the house. Toboggan on hard packed, icy, not near enough snow. Passenger along

Weather:

High overcast. 15 degrees (F) at start, 16 at finish.

Team:

Just & Cassie

Denali & Grace

Midnight & Nels

Narrative:

- Grace grabbing lines

- Just and Cassie good line-out

- Good start

- Fast trails

- Decent response to cues

- Team slowing significantly about 1/2 way into the run

- Grace dinking around, hooked to neckline

- Cut down Money Trail inadvertently

- New Borough trail

- Dumped sled trying to make a gee onto Rod and Julie's trail

- Took some effort to get Just to go straight across the drive, but haw onto new Y on feeder trail was excellent.

Date, Day, &c:

11-30-11, Wednesday

Mileage & Speed:

8.5. Speeds not measured.

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Home to Wood Cutting Rd to Little Chena Ridge Trail to Rod and Julie's access trail to cross driveway and into home. Toboggan on packed, icy, low-snow trails. Passenger along.

Weather:

High overcast. 16 degrees at start - 13 at finish.

Team:

Orion & Rose

Capella & Selene

Seamus & Beau

Narrative:

- Orion chewed harness (dammit), required redressing

- Dogs anxious to launch, fast pace to main trail

- Passed pick up truck on wood cutting road

- Passed logging truck on wood cutting road

- Difficult "haw" onto Little Chena Ridge trail, required Trish' help to get them into

the turn.

- Difficult "gee" onto Rod and Julie's feeder, but they finally got it on their own.

- Difficult "straight ahead" across driveway, required Trish's help to get them

started.

- Excellent "haw" onto new Y into our access trail.

- Orion very tired at end of run. Bless his heart, he still hasn't learned to pace

himself.

Censorship in Two Rivers?

2011-11-30T06:07:00.004-09:00

First off, lets start with the obligatory disclaimer. This post is based on a rumor floating around our little community. I have not been able to confirm it, so of course there is considerable reasonable doubt. However, the rumor does help show a kind of quirky side to Two Rivers that anyone who has ever lived in a small rural community can certainly appreciate.

As in many small Alaskan communities, ours center around two locations - the post office and the laundromat. The post office is a lovely little contract station attached to Pleasant Valley Store, which offers a range of necessities, a good stock of treats, a decent little liquor store and fuel sales. Becky and Alex, proprietors of the store are HUGE supporters of the community and go to great lengths to keep their prices as reasonable as possible while keeping their enterprise alive and thriving. Since many of us receive our mail in post office boxes rather than risk theft, vandalism or just snow plow damage to roadside boxes, and everyone receives packages from time to time, nearly everyone in town shows up at the post office from time to time.

The laundromat is also a center of community traffic. It is located in the same building as an excellent hair saloon (Yeah, I know it should read "salon", but I like saloons more), Bob's Fix-It Shop (and he's GOOD at what he does), and sometimes other small businesses that kind of come and go. The popularity of the laundromat is based on a couple of factors. Many homes in Two Rivers do not have water wells, and those of us who do have wells understand fully and completely that water in Two Rivers is HARD water. I mean seriously hard enough to drive nails. Unless filtered and/or softened, it comes from the tap with a color ranging from pale amber to blaze orange. Doing your laundry in untreated Two Rivers well water is guaranteed to turn your whites to an uneven tie-dyed shade of yellow, orange or some combination of the two. The water at the laundromat is very well treated, so the risk of discolored clothing is much less.

For years and years, one of the big tables at the laundromat has served as a sort of community book exchange. This is also very common in Alaska communities. You read the book, drop it off at the laundromat and grab another. Some folks might read, leave and exchange several at a time, some might only come across an occasional intriguing title, and some avid readers might make exceptionally heavy use of it.

Now, Two Rivers is home to some pretty earthy characters, and I include myself in that group. It is also home to some pretty 'churchy' characters. We have a Church of the Nazarene mission and a Baptist Church that is described as a "independent, fundamental Baptist Church. Both are led by a fellow named "Pastor Bob", so when one is speaking of 'Pastor Bob' it can be helpful to specify if he is 'Baptist Pastor Bob' or 'Nazarene Pastor Bob', though most commonly I believe 'Pastor Bob' refers to Nazarene Pastor Bob.

In any event, both churches contribute a lot to our community, and I don't want to come across as too irreverent, though I must admit I have my moments. As with any group, the congregations of both churches include some really good people, and some who can be described, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, as jerks. That's just the way of the world. There are posers in all walks of life.

In recent months, those who frequent the laundromat have been reporting some pretty darned thin pickings at the book exchange table at the laundromat. About all that now lies on the table seem to be children's books and religious tracts. The rumor of the day is that one of the Pastor Bobs or perhaps a member of one or even members of both congregations, have made it a point to patrol the book table to ensure that no book or magazine which might not be 100-percent "acceptable" to their religious faith ever again sees the light of day.

Now, it could be that the people of Two Rivers have just stopped reading, but I think that's pretty unlikely. Most of us enjoy the benefits of a reasonable, plain education and we have some very brilliant highly educated (VERY highly educated) people in our community who are very well read. Previously the book exchange was very lively, and a vast array of topics and titles were represented. Therefore, even though it's only a rumor, the dirth of interesting titles is highly suspicious.

If the rumor is true I feel it represents a lack of respect for the beliefs and choices of others that I find outright despicable, and frankly I feel it serves to confirm the generally low opinion I already harbor toward organized Christian churches and their minions. On the other hand, it's also rather humorous. With the widespread availability of the Internet, excellent public libraries less than an hour away, and a lively exchange of reading materials between friends and neighbors throughout the community, it's an exercise in futility.

Nonetheless, it's eliminated a north-country tradition of exchange that used to reflect the true diversity of thought, taste and culture in Two Rivers, and that loss is lamentable. If the rumor is true it certainly would not be the first time that allegedly Good Christians have stolen those gifts of tradition and culture which, like faith, can also be described as a gift from God.

Moving Right Along....

2011-11-29T15:34:00.000-09:00

Even the loss of Torus can't stop the flow of life around here. We've enjoyed a couple of training runs the past few days, though not so many as I'd originally planned. Bitter cold weather combined with other events have rather abbreviated our run schedule.

Snow conditions aren't particularly good, and our four-wheeler is down due to a mechanical malfunction I can't afford to repair straightaway, so we are running small, four-dog teams short distances for a bit of gee/haw training for young leaders and of course 'head' runs for all of the gang, including the big primate.

Friday I was able to run all 12 of the sound adult dogs, in three different teams. Trail conditions weren't TOO bad, mostly because my access trail hadn't yet been packed and groomed. Here are the training reports from those runs, along with a bit of video of some video of behavior I particularly liked (in Team #2).

Date, Day, &c:

11-25-11 (First Sled Run of the Season

Mileage & Speed:

1.5 miles, max speed 11.8 MPH, Average speed 9.1 MPH

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Home to trailhead parking and return. Powder on the feeder trail. Packed on the powerline and main trail, with plenty of vegetation and dirt showing

Weather:

Thin overcast, temperature within 5 degrees of 0 F

Team:

Just & Capella (leaders)

Seamus & Denali (wheel)

Narrative:

This was a fast, easy first run of the season with no noteworthy problems or issues. Mostly just a heck of a lot of fun.

Date, Day, &c:

11-25-11 (First Sled Run of the Season

Mileage & Speed:

1.5 miles, max speed 11.8 MPH, Average speed 9.1 MPH

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Home to trailhead parking and return. Powder on the feeder trail. Packed on the powerline and main trail, with plenty of vegetation and dirt showing

Weather:

Thin overcast, temperature within 5 degrees of 0 F

Team:

Rose & Orion

Beau & Selene

Narrative:

Less difficulty dealing with Orion chewing. I think he got a taste of bitter lime and decided it was yucky. I sure hope so. Orion was a wild boy to hook up, but once on the line his behavior was perfect. The whole team stood quietly while I released the snub, pulled the hook, and when I called them up they launched with their normal exuberance. Another excellent run. Selene kept up a tight tug the whole run, and didn't look back toward me or the sled once that I saw.

Date, Day, &c:

11-25-11 (First Sled Run of the Season

Mileage & Speed:

1.5 miles, max speed 11.8 MPH, Average speed 9.1 MPH

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Home to trailhead parking and return. Powder on the feeder trail. Packed on the powerline and main trail, with plenty of vegetation and dirt showing

Weather:

Thin overcast, temperature within 5 degrees of 0 F

Team:

Grace (single lead)

Cassie (single swing)

Nels & Midnight's Son (wheel)

Narrative:

Grace ran single lead without hesitation, and set up a nice pace for the team. She took the "gee" cues very well, but had difficulty with the "haws". Otherwise, she was very, very good up front in single. The rest of the team ran very well and there are not problems or issues to report.

Temperatures remained bitter cold over the weekend, and I felt that indoor activities were probably more appropriate than freezing my arse, so we didn't run again until yesterday. Even at that, a variety of little issues added up to a point where I decided that running two of the three teams was sufficient. Here are the training reports:

Date, Day, &c:

Monday, 11-28-11

Mileage & Speed:

1.5 miles. Max speed 12.1 MPH, Average speed 9.2 MPH

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Trailhead and return. Fast, icy hard packed snow - toboggan sled

Weather:

-4 degrees under mostly clear sky

Team:

Rose - Capella

Seamus - Orion

Narrative: The only truly unusual thing was that I dumped the sled in the trailhead turn around. Skidded sideways, hit a rut and went over the high side. The team responded well to my "whoa" and was able to catch a tussock with the hook, so all was well.

Date, Day, &c:

11-28-11

Mileage & Speed:

1.5 miles. 12.7 mph max, 8.0 mph average. On toboggan sled

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Trailhead loop. Fast, icy hard packed snow - toboggan sled

Weather:

- 2 degrees (F), mostly clear sky

Team:

Just - Cassiopeia

Selene - Beau

Narrative:

Odd run. First the ratchet strap stretching out my hook-up line broke, causing me to have to release all the dogs, jury-rig the hook-up line, and then harness and hook up everyone. As we approached the main trail we had a near collision with another, much larger team. Made for some interesting video. This is a relatively short clip.

The dogs were very well behaved and handled it all like old pros. I was very pleased and proud of them.

Since both of the earlier runs involved mishaps, of escalating degree, I decided that maybe a third run wasn't a good idea.

On Saturday I went to a community meeting that had been called by some neighbors, with no explanation as to the topic. It turns out they were first concerned that Steese Area Volunteer Fire Department had a person living in the Two Rivers station (a concern that was easily resolved). Next, they were concerned about the lack of fire service in the area. They don't seem too pleased that the prospects for forming a community fire department are highly unlikely. The expense is great, and the ability to recruit, train and especially retain qualified volunteers is very limited. Although they would like to at least create an organization similar to our old Two Rivers Rescue Volunteers, Inc. to provide EMS quick response service, it is unlikely the Borough government will support an organization that is not part of a fire department. Since I was the one pointing out the reality of the situation, I suspect the message, and the messenger, were not well appreciated.

The good news is that Steese VFD does indeed have a live-in paramedic at our station. Although not available 24/7, it is a huge improvement over the past few years, when we've had no local quick response at all. That he is a paramedic rather than an EMT or ETT (equivalent of a Lower-48 First Responder) is HUGE in my book. It takes roughly half an hour for an ambulance to arrive on the scene of a medical emergency here in the community, and a competent paramedic can do a LOT to save a life in the longest half hour of a critical patient's existence.

Today I made a quick trip to town to pick up some groceries, and especially a new tensioner for the drop-line (aka Hook up line). This afternoon I did a more permanent repair on the drop line and prepared the sled for tomorrow's events. A friend will be coming over to help, so I'll be able to run larger teams and longer distances. As she has never before been dog mushing, it should make for a very fun day.

Tribute to Torus

2011-11-23T18:13:00.001-09:00

I first met Torus when we were filming for the Weather Channel's documentary When Weather Changed History - The Race to Nome. I needed to borrow a dog or two to help fill out the team, and Tammi Rego offered the loan of her great leader, Torus. He truly was great, and really helped make the day and the program.

Torus was whelped, raised and trained by Eric Butcher, a middle distance champion and long distance musher. Eric once told me in an Email that Torus was the first puppy of the litter, born literally in the snow. After bearing the puppy, his mother (a Susan Butcher bitch named Sister) went to her whelping house to finish the job, leaving Torus stranded. Eric heard a little squeak while doing his kennel chores, and found the puppy, which he reunited with Mom. I think that explains some of his later behavior.

Torus was running in the team position in Eric Butcher's team pictured here.

When health issues forced Eric to leave the sport of mushing, he gave Torus to Tammi and Manny Rego, where he was the "main man" through many miles and many races. As their team grew in speed and Torus aged, he was unable to maintain the pace of the team. Knowing how much I loved him, Tammi gave him to me as a working retirement home.

Torus was without question the very best lead dog I've ever driven. I can't recall that he ever missed a cue. He would run through anything, in any weather, over any trail. He maintained a nice, steady pace and kept "his" team in line.

Every great dog deserves a story, and here is one for Torus. One day I was running a team of 8 dogs down by the Chena Lakes Recreation Area, and got myself a bit "geographically challenged." I wasn't exactly lost, but I was certainly a might confused. As we trotted down the trail we came to an unmarked, three way intersection. I had no clue which way to turn to get us back to the truck.

Torus was looking back at me, waiting for a cue. Seamus and a couple of other dogs were barking and impatiently pounding their harnesses, obviously not caring where, just wanting to GO. Finally, in exasperation, I told Torus "Hell, I don't know. You decide."

Torus did so without hesitation, taking the team into a hard "haw" that took us down onto the more frequently used trails nearer the lakes, and in short order we were back on familiar ground (well, familiar ice) and well on our way back to the truck.

From the day he came to our kennel Torus wasn't just a lead dog, he was also the "boss dog". I can't recall him ever instigating a fight, and until earlier this summer no other dog dared to challenge his authority. He had the kind of natural demeanor and authority that all dogs (and most humans) immediately recognized and honored.

Torus was the consummate professional. When hooking up, even when every other dog on the line was wild with excitement, Torus just laid down and let things happen, resting up for the run ahead apparently. As soon as everyone was ready he'd stand and then lead the team out with a vigor that would surprise someone who didn't know him and his sometimes quirky little ways.

For most of his life, Torus refused to sleep in a dog house. Instead, he'd drag his straw bedding out of the house and make a nest. I've seen him curl up in a ball to snooze outside of any shelter at temperatures well below minus-50, and no amount of coaxing would get him inside.

Torus especially loved to go camping, and when Amazing Grace was but a young pup we took a trip up into the White Mountains. It was Grace's first overnight camp out with a team, and when I hooked the dogs up to their picket line, I snapped Grace into place in between Torus and Just, both veterans of long distance racing trails. Just and Torus both settled into their nests of straw, but Grace, being a young dog in an exciting new adventure, was fidgety and jumpety and being a pest tugging and pulling on the picket. Finally Torus gave her a low growl, as if to say "settle down and sleep." Grace immediately complied.

Last year, Torus' age started catching up to him. As much as he still loved to run, and was especially good at helping to train the young dogs and LITs (Leaders In Training) he became injury prone, and it was clearly time for him to retire. On the truly bitter cold nights we would bring him inside the house, knowing that otherwise he would curl up in his nest of straw as he always had done, and shiver. In time he came to accept "inside" as preferable to bitter cold, though we always knew when the weather broke, because Torus would quietly but firmly ask to be let back out with "His" team.

Through the summer the signs of aging were increasingly evident. Torus grew more fragile, finding it more difficult to move around. He was less willing to jump up on his house for handling, and I was less willing to ask him to do so. When playing runamok the young dogs would dash off in a million directions while Ol' Torus would just amble about the yard, visiting his friends, peeing on stuff, and ignoring the chaos around him. The lenses of his eyes were growing clouded with cataracts, and at times it seemed his hearing wasn't so good as it once was.

As fall progressed, Torus began using his dog house as shelter - a first for him and probably a sign he wasn't able to regulate his temperature so well as he used to. This record breaking early cold snap we've had the past couple of weeks were the last straw. One day my handler found him sleeping in the snow, well away from his straw insulated nest. When he stood he was unable to maintain his balance, his head was wobbly, and he seemed terribly disoriented.

Then, over the course of the past week, it appears that he's suffered a small stroke. No longer sure on his feet, wobbling around, dragging his rear feet as he tried to walk. The past few days have been difficult. While I was at work Torus became obviously confused, unable to walk and refusing food and water. Then he developed hematuria, blood in his urine, which is a sign of kidney failure. Ted, with the help of good neighbors, got Torus to the vet, where he seemed to rebound a little.

The hope of the rebound was a false hope, though. This morning Torus was weak, uncoordinated and just not doing well. He refused all food, even salmon or chicken, he refused to drink water, and in essence told me it was time for him to go to another, better place. He didn't like being unable to move around, to do the things he did so gleefully in his youth.

Tonight, Torus is in that better place, and I'm shedding tears not just for my venerable brilliant leader, but for all of those dogs that have passed before him. Some believe they are waiting at the Rainbow Bridge, playing and cavorting until my own time comes. I like to believe that upon my own death I'll be reunited with all those other wonderful dogs. When that happens I'll have one hell of a great dog team to whisk me across those new, unknown trails that await our Spirits. When that time comes, you may see us as a streak of light across the night sky. If so, you can bet that Torus will be running lead.

2011 AAHA Vaccine Guidelines - The Reader's Digest Version

2011-11-20T16:22:00.000-09:00

Determining an appropriate vaccination regimen for your dog(s) is in some respects similar to drinking alcohol responsibly at a really fun party. At the party you want to drink enough to have the desired effect, but not so much that you suffer adverse effects such as a DUI conviction or nasty hangover. To achieve those sometimes conflicting goals one must determine what to drink and how often to refill the glass or mug.

When vaccinating dogs one must determine what vaccines to administer and how frequently to administer them to provide adequate protection against the target diseases while avoiding adverse effects that can have a huge impact on your dog’s health and longevity.

As with alcohol there are factions with extreme philosophical views on opposite ends of the spectrum. Like adamant teetotalers, some believe that all vaccines are akin to deathly poison and should never be administered to dogs. At the other extreme are owners and some veterinarians who believe that if a little is good, a lot must be better and advocate vaccinating far more frequently than is required.

Like the partier, most of us are seeking the middle ground that provides adequate protection against preventable diseases while avoiding adverse events that have been associated with canine vaccines. A few days ago one of my Facebook friends posted that the American Animal Hospital Association recently released their updated 2011 AAHA Canine Vaccination Guidelines. Based on the best currently available scientific knowledge, the AAHA Canine Vaccination Guidelines offer a well reasoned middle ground that you and your veterinarian can use to develop an appropriate regimen for your particular circumstances.

The Core Vaccines:

There are only four “core” vaccines recommended for all dogs, regardless of their home location or status as companion, sporting, or working animal. These four are vaccines against canine parvovirus, canine distemper, canine adenovirus and rabies.

Three of the four core vaccines (the rabies vax is the exception) are ‘infectious vaccines’ which must infect the host’s cells to immunize. Infectious vaccines are more effective than noninfectious types because they provide the same types of cellular, humoral, systemic and local immunity that are produced by natural exposure, but the vaccine organisms are attenuated and will not cause the disease.

Because they are so effective, the AAHA guidelines acknowledge that a single dose will prime, immunize and boost the dog’s immune response to disease-causing organism unless maternally derived antibodies (from mother’s milk) interferes. Infectious vaccines provide immunity for many years, perhaps even for the lifetime of the dog.

Like most of the non-core vaccines, the rabies vax is a noninfectious (inactivated or killed) vaccine. These vaccines do not infect the host to produce new antigens, and therefore must contain adequate amounts of antigen to immunize. Additionally, many of the non-infectious must also contain adjuvants, a wide variety of substances that maintain or deposit the antigen into tissues to promote a more robust immune response. Some adjuvants, such as aluminum salts, are inorganic and others such as some oils are organic. Although not permitted in human vaccine, oil based adjuvants are common in veterinary products.

Many veterinarians consider noninfectious vaccines to be the safest because the virus or bacteria is dead. It can not possibly revert to virulence or cause the disease the vaccine was intended to prevent. On the other hand, hypersensitivity reactions and apparently other adverse effects are more commonly reported after vaccination with noninfectious products, perhaps due to the higher concentration of antigen, the presence of potentially toxic adjuvant, or a combination of both.

Because noninfectious vaccines do not actually infect the animal, the immunity they provide is more short lived than that of infectious vaccines, thus they need to be ‘boosted’ from time to time to provide protection.

Deciding Which Vaccines to Administer:

I believe one of the most important things the 2011 Guidelines provide is a firm statement against over-vaccination of dogs, especially on page 33 regarding adverse reactions to vaccines. “Vaccines are biologic products; administration should be tailored to the needs of the individual dog and should never be given needlessly. All vaccines have the potential to cause adverse reactions following administration.”

As noted earlier, there are four vaccines that are considered vital for all dogs in the United States and Canada, regardless of where they live or their life circumstances. These four vaccines are against parvovirus, canine adenovirus, canine distemper and rabies. Rabies is such a frightening public health concern that all 50 States have laws requiring that dogs be vaccinated against the disease, sometimes far more frequently than is healthy for the dog.

Noncore vaccines can be considered ‘optional’, and the decision to use or not use the products should be based on a variety of factors. For example, the prevalence of a particular disease in your area, whether or not your dog(s) may interact or be exposed to other dogs that may carry and transmit the diseases, how well your dog may be able to fight off a vaccine preventable disease if the wrong decision is made, and so forth. It is HIGHLY recommended that you consult with your veterinarian before adopting a particular vaccination regimen.

At least 1 commonly administered canine vaccine is not recommended at all. That is vaccine against canine coronavirus. Neither type of coronavirus vaccine on the market has been show to reduce the disease. In other words, it just doesn’t work well.

Vaccines against Lyme disease, Leptospirosis, and Western Diamondback rattlesnake venom are recommended only for dogs living in or visiting regions where the risk is significant. The decision to vaccinate against Bordetalla bronchiseptica (one of many causes of kennel cough) is also based on the risk of exposure.

Deciding When to Vaccinate:

The decision on when to vaccinate is most critical when dealing with puppies. During the first few weeks of life, puppies enjoy the protection of maternally derived antibodies which they receive from their mother’s milk (specifically, from colostrum). When the puppy is weaned the level of those maternally derived antibodies starts dropping, but the loss of immunity is not instantaneous.

Those maternally derived antibodies do a great job of protecting the puppy from disease, especially if the dam was properly immunized. The problem is that so long as the MDA are active, they will attack an infectious (core) vaccine just as readily as they attack naturally acquired pathogens. Attempting to vaccinate a puppy at too young an age is an exercise in futility, a waste of money and an unnecessary exposure to risk.

Anecdotal observations seem to indicate that too early vaccination carries an increased risk of vaccine related adverse events, and that some ‘primitive’ breeds of dogs including our ‘village’ or ‘trap-line’ types of huskies are particularly susceptible.

On the other hand, waiting too long can leave the puppy vulnerable to potentially fatal diseases. This can easily occur when puppies are orphaned, weaned early or for some other reason do not receive adequate MDA.

Since it isn’t practical (nor inexpensive) to measure MDA in every single puppy, the AAHA guidelines recommend administering the infectious core at 8, 12 and 16 weeks of age. Under this regimen puppies with inadequate MDA are immunized as soon as their systems are mature enough to respond, and late enough to ensure that puppies from dams with exceptionally strong immunize systems are also covered.

Following the puppy series, Table 1 of the Guidelines recommends that puppies completing the initial vaccination series by 16 weeks of age or younger should receive a single booster vaccination no later than 1 year of completion of the puppy series, and be revaccinated at three or more year intervals afterward. Since the text of the guidelines on page 13 notes that the duration of immunity from infectious vaccines extends from 5 years up to the life of the dog, it may be quite reasonable to hold off a year or two or to run ‘titer tests’ before revaccinating. We’ll address titer testing later in the article.

Because the noncore vaccines are noninfectious, they don’t have nearly so long duration of immunity as the infectious core vaccines. The recommended schedule of administration of the noncore vaccines varies somewhat, but are included in the AAHA Canine Vaccine Guidelines for easy reference.

Rabies - The Red-headed Step Child of Vaccines:

Being reasonably politically astute, the AAHA was apparently careful to avoid any recommendation that might run afoul of the laws of any jurisdiction. In my opinion, that is rather unfortunate as the legal requirements of some jurisdictions do not seem to be based on any sort of scientific fact but are instead founded on fear. That’s unfortunate because the rabies vaccine has been implicated in more adverse events than any other product. Although there is good evidence to show that rabies vaccines currently on the market have a duration of immunity of at least 5 years (which has been proved in France) and likely greater than 7 years, all 50 United States require at least a 3 year revaccination schedule, and many local jurisdictions require annual revaccination, even if a licensed 3-year vaccine is given.

Alaska’s State requirement is defined in title 7 of the Alaska Administrative Code. 7ACC27.020 (b)(3) reads; “rabies vaccination of dogs and cats is required in accordance with schedules in the Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control, 2002, as adopted in (1) of this subsection; evidence of such a vaccination is to be recorded on the Standard Vaccination Certificate specified in (2) of this subsection; at the time of vaccination, the owner or keeper of a dog vaccinated must be given a metal tag bearing a number and the year the vaccination was given that is recorded on the Standard Vaccination Certificate; the tag must be affixed by the owner or keeper to a collar or harness and must be worn by the dog for which the certificate is issued except that the dog need not wear the tag while harnessed in a dog team or while participating in organized training or competition;”

The CDC’s Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control calls for the vaccination of dogs at 3 months (12 weeks) of age, with a second dose administered within a year of the first. Afterward, a three year schedule can be followed when using an appropriately licensed 3-year vaccine.

If you live in a State other than Alaska I’d suggest you research the law applicable to the jurisdiction in which you reside.

Titer Testing:

The 2011 AAHA Guidelines offer some good information on serologic testing, commonly called “titer testing” as a means of determining and monitoring immunity. There have been significant strides in serologic over the past few years, making the tests more readily available and less expensive, though they are usually more expensive than vaccination. Today most (perhaps all) laboratories have qualified and standardized their methodologies with samples that were tested by “gold standard” methods, to ensure accuracy. There are also two quick in-clinic tests that provide a positive or negative result that have been approved by the USDA.

Serologic tests run 2 weeks or more after vaccination can be used to determine whether or not the vaccine elicited an immune system response. If the dog does not have antibodies, it can be revaccinated with a different product. Titer testing can also be used to determine whether or not a dog needs to be revaccinated after a number of years have passed since his or her last vaccination. It the titer test is positive, there is no reason to revaccinate the dog and subject him to potential adverse effects.

It should be noted that the AAHA states that the concerns some have expressed about the variability in titers among serologic tests have little or no validity when applies to protection from distemper, parvovirus, adenovirus and rabies. Nonetheless, titer tests for rabies can not legally be used in lieu of vaccination. If the rabies vaccination is not current and dog bites someone, the dog must be treated as though s/he were unvaccinated and quarantined. In some cases the dog might even be impounded or even euthanized.

Other Factors that Impact Vaccination Decisions:

Mushers who participate in races, formally organized runs and similar events may have to consider another issue when making their vaccination decisions. The rules of some races, including the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, require more frequent vaccination. For example, Iditarod rule number 40 states that all dogs running the race must have received vaccination against distemper, hepatitis (from which protection is derived from the canine adenovirus 2 vaccine), lepto (a noncore vaccine against an organism that can’t survive freezing temperatures)and parvo between April 1, 2011 and February 18, 2012. As a consequence many long distance racing dogs are put on a de-facto annual schedule of vaccination, in spite of the AAHA recommendations. The RGO (race giving organization) provides no rationale to support the rule that apparently requires excessive vaccination of a fair number of dogs.

Winding down…

The 2011 AAHA Canine Vaccination Guidelines have evolved somewhat since the 2006 Guidelines were released. My impression is that they provide more information about the available vaccines, risks and types of adverse events that can result from vaccination, support the use of serological testing as a tool for making informed vaccination decisions and lays some groundwork to support a more reasonable schedule of rabies vaccination should the current rabies challenge study prove that rabies vaccines provide a longer duration of immunity than that for which they are currently licensed.

As I noted earlier, the AAHA Guidelines seem to represent a reasonable, scientifically supported middle-of-the-road approach that weighs the risk of disease against the potential adverse effects of over-vaccination. I highly recommend all dog owners, especially those accustomed to vaccinating their own dogs, download and become familiar with the guidelines.

1st Cold Snap

2011-11-16T11:44:00.000-09:00

We are 'enjoying' our first serious cold snap of the season. Yesterday a low temperature of minus-thirtyfive degrees (F) set a new record for November 15th in Fairbanks. It isn't quite so cold here at work as we are high enough above the valley floor to avoid the 'cold sink' effect. Nonetheless, the thermometer was reading plenty low when I came on duty at 6:00 AM.

One of our patrol officers noted a low temperature of minus-58 at the Yukon River crossing this morning. Now THAT will make a fellow shiver, I don't care who you are.

The forecast is calling for cold weather through the weekend and into early next week. That may be interesting as I'll be getting off duty for some well deserved R&R (and dog running) Tuesday morning. If it stays bitter like this I may be more interested in soaking in the hot springs than running dogs in the ice fog.

Help Wanted - Sled Dog Handler

2011-11-14T06:00:00.071-09:00

Have you ever wanted to drive and care for a team of sled dogs while someone else paid for their feed, veterinary bills and equipment? Well, here is a nearly perfect opportunity for someone to do just that.

I am seeking a new sled dog handler to begin some time between the first of 2012 and break-up. In exchange for roughly 50 to 60 hours of work each month, the handler is provided his/her own new, private 12' X 16' dry cabin with sleeping loft with heat and electricity provided. Water is easily accessible nearby and the handler also receives shower and laundry privileges in the owner's house. Best of all, there is room to house up to about 20 of your own sled dogs if you happen to have your own team.

In exchange, the handler is responsible for providing day-to-day care of up to 20 sled dogs with ABSOLUTE reliability for 2 to 3 weeks each month while the owner is working at a remote industrial site. This requires about 1 hour each morning and 1 hour each evening. Additionally, when the owner is home from work, the handler is asked to assist in various kennel related activities such as training and conditioning dogs, maintaining the kennel and so forth. For more information on duties, I'm posting the full job description and barter agreement below.

The Stardancer Historical Sled Dogs Kennel is located in Two Rivers, Alaska, about 20 miles outside of Fairbanks. This is far enough from town to qualify as rural, but close enough to be reasonably convenient for work and social activities. We boast one of the most extensive trail systems in Alaska and consequently one of the highest concentrations of dog mushers and equestrians in the State. Residents of Two Rivers are frequently referred to as "bush rats with electricity." Both the kennel and handler's dog yard are immediately trail accessible, making it convenient to condition and train our dogs.

Handler Agreement:

Consideration and Renumeration:

This document serves as a barter agreement. In exchange for reliably performing the duties listed below, the handler will be entitled to live in the handler’s cabin on the kennel premises free of additional rent and will be entitled to shower and laundry privileges in the main house and space to house up to 20 sled dogs.
If the handler is interested in learning to mush sled dogs, the owners will make every effort to teach you to do so at mutually convenient times or may help make arrangements with other experienced dog mushers to train you. Handlers who demonstrate the ability to safely do so may be awarded the privilege of “running” some of our dogs unsupervised, but doing so is not a condition of this agreement.

About the Stardancer Historical Sled Dogs Kennel:

The Stardancer Historical Sled Dogs kennel in Two Rivers, Alaska is a recreational sled dog kennel established with the goals of accurately reenacting historical dog sledding practices while maintaining the highest practical standard of humane dog care based on the best currently available canine husbandry information.

The Stardancer kennel is co-owned by Thomas “Swanny” Swan and certified canine behaviorist Janece Rollet. Although an absentee owner, Ms. Rollet is a full and equal partner in the kennel and has full authority to direct and supervise the work of the handler.

The kennel facility consists of six fenced pens and 7 elevated post & swivel tethers enclosed within a common perimeter fence. The canine population of the kennel ranges between 12 and 20 sled dogs, primarily Alaskan huskies of the type usually referred to as “village” or “trap-line” dogs. Many of our dogs have been rescued from the animal control shelter and sled-dog specific rescue organizations. Others are part of the Hedlund Husky Preservation Project, and some are from our own breeding. Support facilities include our small, 2-bedroom log home with ‘typical’ modern conveniences, 1 warm storage area (attached garage), several cold storage areas and the handler’s cabin.

Minimum Qualifications of the Handler:

1. The handler must be 18 years of age or older.

2. The handler must be physically able to safely lift and carry 5 gallon pails of water or prepared dog food, 40# bags of dog food and/or bales of straw from their storage areas to any point in the kennel.

3. The handler must be physically capable of safely walking a large, powerful, unruly dog on a leash without injury or release of the dog.

4. The handler must possess and maintain a driver’s license valid in the United States and State of Alaska.

Use of the Handler’s Cabin:

1. Under this agreement, you will be providing up to 60 hours of labor per month in exchange for the use of the handler’s cabin located on our property as your primary residence. The owners provide heating oil and electrical service. The handler may also use our DSL Internet connection through our wireless router, and is granted shower and laundry privileges in the owner’s home.

2. Guests visiting the handler do so at their own risk, and are not permitted to enter the owner’s home or the perimeter fence of the kennel. All duties described in this document are to be performed only by the handler or an owner-designated emergency responder. Guests are not permitted to interact with the dogs unless an owner is present and has agreed to the interaction.

3. You have the right to privacy within your own home (the handler’s cabin) and the owner will not enter the cabin unless expressly invited by you except in the case of emergency or exigent circumstances.

4. Appliances and furnishings provided in the cabin belong to the owners and are provided for your use and convenience only during the time you are renting the cabin. None of the owner’s possessions may be removed without the express consent of the owner.

5. Malfunction of any appliances provided within the cabin must be reported to the owner(s) as soon as possible to ensure their timely repair or replacement.

6. The cabin is equipped with both smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. The handler is expected to maintain these important safety devices in good working order, including the periodic replacement of batteries.

7. The manufacture, possession or use of illegal substances anywhere on our property is expressly forbidden. Violation will result in immediate termination of this agreement and eviction. Violations may also be reported to the Alaska State Troopers.

Roles and Responsibilities of the Handler:

It is imperative that the handler recognizes and understands that everything done to, for or with our dogs and kennel is done for a reason and any deviation from the policies and procedures established by the owners may result in discharge from service and eviction. If you don’t understand why things are done a certain way, please don’t hesitate to ask. Your questions not only help you learn, they also make us reexamine our reasoning to ensure it is valid and consistent with recognized best practices.

The general role of the handler is to provide daily care, husbandry and health and safety monitoring of the dogs , to perform routine general maintenance of the kennel and home when neither owner is present, and to respond appropriately and effectively to any emergency which may arise in the absence of the owners.

1. The handler is expected to perform his or her kennel duties with absolute reliability, regardless of his or her personal circumstances. The owners will provide all resources necessary to make it as convenient to do so as we can. Failure to perform the duties listed in this contract will be considered a breach of this contract and may result in eviction. Should the handler be unable to fulfill his/her kennel duties for any reason a designated emergency responder must be contacted to perform the necessary work and the owner(s) notified as soon as practical.

2. The handler is expected to read and be familiar with the Mush with P.R.I.D.E. Sled Dog Care Guidelines and recognize that the Stardancer Historical Sled Dogs Kennel is a P.R.I.D.E. certified kennel, and must meet or exceed the standards expressed in the Guidelines at all times.

3. The handler is expected to collaborate with the owners to develop appropriate policies and procedures for the care, husbandry and on-going training of the dogs and for responses to emergencies or exigent circumstances. Much of that collaboration will be via telephone, Email or instant messaging.

4. The handler is expected to feed and water the dogs and scoop the yard of solid waste twice each day, once in the morning prior to 9 AM, and once in the evening any time between 4 and 10 PM.
     a. Feces is to be placed in a conveniently located cold-compost pile.

     b. Preparation of baited water and/or food will be as directed by the owners.

     c. The handler will be trained and is expected to learn to monitor the weight and body condition of each individual dog and to adjust quantities of food as needed to maintain optimal body condition.

     d. The handler is expected to interact directly with the dogs while feeding, watering and scooping. Such interactions may include, but are not limited to;

       i. Physical examination of each dog to identify injuries or signs of illness.

       ii. Positive training of desirable behaviors

       iii. Interspecies play

5. When neither owner is present on the property the handler is expected to live on the premises and to respond to any disturbance or emergency that may occur. Short-term absences for employment or personal activities are permitted and encouraged so long as dog care and husbandry duties are performed as scheduled and directed.

6. The handler is expected to collect, wash and redistribute all food dishes at least once weekly.

7. The handler is expected to accept deliveries of dog food or supplies if the owner(s) are not available to do so, and to ensure that delivered food or supplies are placed in the appropriate storage areas.

8. The handler is expected to administer any medications required by an individual dog on the schedule established by the owners in conjunction with our team veterinarian. When the opportunity arises the handler may be trained to administer deworming medications and subcutaneous injection of medical fluid solutions, vaccines or medications. In most cases these procedures will be performed by one of the owners.

9. The handler is expected to monitor the condition of straw bedding within the dog’s houses and replenish or replace the bedding as needed.

10. Although the owners will try to schedule routine veterinarian visits while one or the other is present, emergency or exigent circumstances may require the handler to transport a dog or dogs to and from the veterinarian’s office in Fairbanks using our purpose-built dog truck. Therefore the handler will be trained and is expected to learn how to safely load and unload dogs onto or off of the truck and how to safely operate a diesel-powered, four-wheel drive, standard transmission light duty truck.

11. The handler is expected to identify and correct safety hazards within the kennel. All necessary tools and supplies are provided.

12. The handler is expected to respond to emergencies that may arise as directed by written procedures or direct communication with one of the owners.

13. The owners of the Stardancer kennel are strictly LIMA trainers (Least Invasive, Minimally Aversive). The handler is expected to interact with the dogs in a non-aversive manner at all times, even when it is difficult to do so. If you have difficulty managing a dog’s behavior you are expected to contact the owners for guidance in training the dog to behave differently. Striking, kicking or in any way attempting to “punish” or intentionally injuring a dog will result in immediate eviction and a criminal complaint of cruelty to animals lodged with the Fairbanks North Star Borough Division of Animal Control. NO exceptions to this policy will be granted.

House Related Duties:

1. The handler is expected to monitor the condition of infrastructure (furnace, water softener, plumbing system, &c) and report problems to the owners as soon as possible so they can be corrected.

2. The handler is entitled to use some amenities in the house, including clothing washer and dryer, shower and kitchen appliances. The handler is NOT authorized to share these amenities with any guest or other person without the express consent of the owner(s).

3. The owners value the privacy of our home. The handler is not permitted to entertain guests within our home without our express consent.

4. The handler is not expected to provide “maid” or “house keeping” services other than what you feel is necessary for your comfort. You will be expected to perform the following tasks prior to the owner’s return.

     a. Wash all dishes that you’ve used. They may be either put away or left in the drying rack.

     b. Clean any appliances that you have used in the owner’s absence.

     c. Change the sheets on the bed if you have used it.

     d. Restore any furniture you’ve moved back to its original position.

5. There are several firearms stored in various places of the house. Many of them are stored in a “loaded and ready” condition. The handler is expected to leave them strictly alone (do not touch) unless or until trained by the owners to properly and safely handle them. If you wish to learn to operate and shoot them one of the owners (Mr. Swan) will be happy to train you at a mutually convenient time and place.

If you are interested in applying for this sled dog handler position, please send your resume' and contact information for at least 3 references to me by Email (preferred) to swanny@norwestcompany.com or snail mail to;
Thomas Swan
P. O. Box 16237
Two Rivers, AK 99716

Still Some Hustle in the Hustler

2011-11-13T06:18:00.000-09:00

The other day I was checking in a truckload of workers, and noted a young man with the last name of Attla. "Are you related to George?" I asked. Another villager in the truck looked astonished and asked "Do you know George?" My response was "Everyone who loves sled dogs knows George Attla."

Back in the heyday of sprint racing the "Huslia Hustler" was a king of the trail. His crown was not indisputed - George had to defend it against the very best in the game. Guys like Doc (Roland) Lombard, Gareth Wright, Bobby Vent, Lester Erhart and who knows how many others did their level best to knock that crown from his head, but he stayed at the top of his game and showed mushers throughout the north that a man doesn't need a whip to train the very best sled dogs in the world.

There is an excellent article in today's issue of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner that provides a nice synopsis of George's sprint racing career. Just click on the link to read how "Setbacks Don't Keep Legendary Musher off the Runners." BTW, at nearly eighty years of age, George is still out training dogs, and still winning races.

19 Years and Counting

2011-11-12T07:12:00.001-09:00

I arrived in my new home state of Alaska 19 years ago last month. Sometimes it's hard to wrap my brain around the fact that I've lived in Alaska longer than any other place. Before I was pretty footloose. I was born in Missouri, raised in Colorado, and at various times lived in California (as a very small child), Missouri, Wyoming, Colorado and Washington and have additionally spent significant amounts of time in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho, North and South Dakota and Kansas. About the only states west of the Missouri River that I haven't done more than just drive through were Nevada, Nebraska, Oklahom and Texas, and I have driven through them from time to time.

Even when living within the confines of a single State I've moved around quite a bit. I returned to Colorado after a three-year stint in Wyoming in 1976 and remained until 1989. During that 13 year stretch I lived in Buena Vista, Loveland, Denver, Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, Mesa Verde National Park and Crested Butte.

So, being naturally footloose and fancy free it seems remarkable that I've lived in the Interior of Alaska for 19 years, and in my current home for 16 of those years, with no immediate intention of moving. It's even more remarkable when you consider that Alaska is one of those places where a person consciously and intentionally makes the decision to stay each and every year, generally about break-up. As much as I enjoy winter activities, winters up here aren't easy. Some are just harder than others. After one of those hard winters with weeks of forty-below temperatures a person really does have to make a conscious decision to stick around for a while longer.

My regular trips Outside for training are a nice perq of the job, but they also serve to remind me why I choose to remain in Alaska. Even though I do my rotations in a rural area, that country is crowded with people. You can't hardly throw a rock without hitting someone, or someone's house or car. The hassles of driving in traffic and coping with neighbors who are too damned close too damned often is more than I choose to accept. Especially given the lack of back-country wildlands in which to escape that traffic or those crowds.

OK, enough reflection - let's share some news.

Linda Newman reports that Topa is coming right along in here pregnancy and she is expecting a little sometime around Thanksgiving. That's very cool and I'm looking forward to receiving a puppy from the litter. Topa is a full Hedlund Gray Husky and was bred to Oken, who is half Hedlund and half from Linda's remarkable "Zulu" line of old-school trapline dogs. The combination of the two is likely to produce some remarkable dogs to help preserve and perpetuate the Hedlund Gray Husky line.

With a bit of help from my handler, Ted, Kyle Belleque's leader Juliet is now in Eureka, where she is to be bred to Brent Sass' famous and heroic leader Silver. Kyle has offered me a female put from Juliet's breeding and I'm very excited to be able to bring some of that DNA into the Stardancer kennel. Silver is known to "throw true" for head, conformation and feet and Kyle's leaders are always excellent.

I love to boast that Ted is the best damned dog handler in the business, because he is. He knows his job inside, out and backwards, is a hard worker and is absolutely reliable. He has a cool head when things are going "wierd" around the yard. He is especially knowlegdeable about working Siberian huskies and is well on his way to developing a world class team of purebreds. Unfortunately, he and his wife Clare are also well on their way to home ownership. As a result, I need to recruit a new handler to start sometime between the first of next year and break-up.

In a day or two I'll try to post a full job description and information. Meanwhile, if you are interested in exchanging about 60 hours of labor each month for use of a new 12 X 16 foot dry cabin with heat and electricity provided, easy access to water, shower and laundry privileges, and room for your own team of dogs, please contact me by Email to swanny@norwestcompany.com.

Harness Repairs

2011-11-06T15:18:00.000-09:00

My R&R is starting to wind down as I have to return to work on Tuesday morning. Since I'm to be scheduled on straight day-shifts all winter there is no need for me to even try to take personal projects along, as there just isn't any down-time to allow me to work on them.

There is just enough snow on the ground to have me thinking about running sleds rather than the four wheeler, and the forecast is looking kind of favorable for more, so I'm trying to think ahead to do those things that are needed so I can get up and out straightaway when I get home.

Consequently, instead of running dogs as was my original plan for the day, I figured I'd best be getting at least 1 sled ready to run, and repair some harnesses as well.

The sled I prepped today is my old, reliable toboggan sled. I've put a ton of miles under the runners of this sled, and it's been through some pretty interesting adventures. It nonetheless holds together year after year, handles reasonably well for what it is (all toboggan sleds handle like bricks) and if I do damage it beyond repair I don't have to feel like it's a horribly expensive loss.

Today's prep was easy enough. I just made sure the proper snowhooks were in their holders, all of the lines (including the snub line) are in good repair, and then hooked all those lines to the bridle with a new, steel carabiner.

All of the lines inspected and in place

The toboggan sled has a lot of miles under the runners, but it still has a lot of miles left in it.

The second project of the day was more time consuming. When Orion is harnessed but not yet hooked to the gang-line he gets so excited he can hardly contain himself. When he gets excited, his teeth get itchy, and he likes to scratch them on his harness. Unfortunately, scratching those itchy teeth result in shredding harnesses that cost somewhere between $40.00 and $50.00 to replace. It's a whole lot cheaper to repair them instead.

The first harness I tackled was the easiest, yet most important that the repair be well made. Orion had shredded one of the tugs (a primary load bearing strap) about 3/4 of the way through. It wouldn't have taken more than 1 or 2 really hard jerks to snap it.

Damaged Harness #1, before repair

To repair the harness, I reinforced the sliced area by sewing in a patch of 1 inch nylon webbing, using heavily waxed nylon thread and a back-stitch for strength. I couldn't think of anything reasonably quick to repair the torn padding, but that isn't so critical as having solid webbing to bear the load.

Harness #1 repaired

The second harness was the easiest of the four. Orion had simply sliced one of the back bands in two.

Harness #2, a simple slice

Since there was no missing section all I had to do was melt the edges of the nylong webbing to prevent them from raveling, and then I used a whip stitch to rejoin the two ends.

Harness #2 repaired

The third harness was more of a challenge. Although the damage was to one of the back straps, which aren't load bearing on the trail, he had removed a sizeable chunk.

Damage to harness #3

This repair required measuring the damaged strap to it's mate on the opposite side of the harness, sewing it in to fill the gap, and then whip-stitching the loose ends down to prevent them from catching on brush and stuff (or curious dog teeth) and ripping out the repair.

Repair to harness #3

The damage to the fourth harness was very similar to that of number 3.

Harness #4, missing a chunk

The method of repairing the backstrap was the same, measuring and adding a bit of webbing to fill in the gap.

Harness #4 ready to go back in service

I've a few domestic chores to do this evening. It's typical single-guy stuff like washing a sink full of dishes, folding and putting away some laundry, sorting through clothing I'll need at work and some minor clean up. Most of tomorrow will be dedicated to errands in town, such as getting my monthly haircut, picking up my meds for the next month from the pharmacy, and a couple of other errands that are a bit unusual.

I need to stop by the auto parts store for a door trip removal tool, and a window crank removal tool. I need to remove the trim panel from the truck door in order to put the darned window back into the frame so I don't freeze something important when trying to drive it around. Even with the cost of the tools it will be a lot cheaper for me to do it than to hire someone, and a lot more comfortable than trying to drive it to a shop in town.

Happy Birthday, Mike Green

2011-11-06T11:08:00.000-09:00

I had NO clue that Mike Green is nearly 70 years old until I was invited to his surprise birthday party at Two Rivers Lodge last night. Mike and I have been friends for a very long time, we've spent time out in the woods hunting, mushing dogs, and just messing about. For a very long time Mike boarded my dogs while I was away at work. He and his wife, Kim, were among the many local friends who encouraged me to take up dog mushing after the death of my wife.

Although he's retired from dog mushing, Mike is still extremely active in the sport and is one of the primary people who maintain and groom our local trails. NO ONE knows the trail system here so well as does Mike.

Kim outdid herself in putting the party together. In such a small, close knit community keeping a secret is very difficult, yet someone we all managed to preserve the surprise.

I certainly hope that I can be so well preserved when (and if) I reach the age of 70.

Mike Green at his 70th Birthday Party

Little Big Dog's First Time Out

2011-11-05T16:22:00.001-08:00

Innoko, 11 months of age, photographed on November 6th, 2011

"Little Big Dog" is actually named Innoko and is an 11 month old Canadian Eskimo Dog - Alaskan Malamute - Yukon River Dog mix from Charlie House's lines. Innoko was given to me by Mike Cavaliere last May.

Though still just a pup, he's far and away the largest dog in the Stardancer Kennel, tipping the scale somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 lb. or so. He is just as scrappy as one might expect from dogs of his lineage, but he is truly just a big puppy. He LOVES people - and I mean ALL people. He really LOVES food - any sort of food, and he LOVES playing with the other dogs, he just expresses that joy in a rather snarly manner. We are very careful to manage him in such a way to prevent him from reinforcing that behavior, which means he doesn't get as much contact with his team mates as I'd prefer.

I've been a bit slow in training him to harness. He's had just one session pulling a tire and not much else. Due to his age I've had concerns about damaging the growth plates in his long bones through overwork. However, he IS a sled dog, and he NEEDS to learn his trade.

Today, in one of those "spur of the moment" moments I decided to hook him up in a team. He was just so excited watching the other dogs going out and coming back that he could hardly contain himself, and I figured that if I plugged him in near the back of a strong team that could keep him lined out he probably couldn't get into too much trouble. I certainly wanted to do it while on a four-wheeler as it has so much more control this time of year than does a sled.

I hadn't really planned on posting today's video, but it is a red letter day for the Little Big Dog, and I'm sure that blog followers who are familiar with his story will be really interested in seeing whether or not he truly has what it takes to be a member of a team.

So, here is the video from Innoko's First Time in a Team. Just in case his massive size doesn't give him away, Innoko is the big dog running in the single team position (just ahead of the wheel dogs).

Although we had to slow way down toward the end so he could keep a tight tugline, and stopped on the way home to generate some enthusiasm in all the dogs, Innoko was remarkably well behaved and performed very well for such a young dog. Whether or not he'll be able to keep up with his longer legged running mates remains to be seen.

Here are my entries from my training journal for both of the teams I ran today.

Date, Day, &c:

Sat., Nov 5, 2011

Mileage & Speed:

1.5 miles. Speed not measured

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Boyce - Stricker Drive Loop. Fresh powder on packed dirt. Four-wheeler

Weather:

Partly cloudy, 19 degrees F

Team:

Rose & Capella (lead)

Denali & Grace (swing / team)

Beau & Midnight's Son (wheel)

Narrative:

Pretty easy hook up and start, and the dogs took the "gee" cue onto the powerline, and the second "gee" to the drive easily, though perhaps more from habit than as a response to the cue. Everyone pulled well past Ted's yard and Grace didn't try to check out any of the smells beside the trail.

At the top, Rose and Capella had a tough time figuring out the "haw" cue, and it took some temptation in the form of treats to convince Capella to hold the line out to the left, rather than wanting to run to the right. Nonetheless that worked. The most interesting thing about all of that was that Ms. Grace was trying very hard to turn the team from the swing position, with no neckline. I was actually quite impressed by her effort, though it did turn out to be rather futile. I was also less impressed when she grew frustrated with the wait and started grabbing the gang line.

On the way home Grace thought it might be fun to visit Ted's place, and got rudely jerked backward was a 'reward'. She quickly regained her place in the team and we finished off the run in good fashion.

Date, Day, &c:

Sat., Nov. 5, 2011

Mileage & Speed :

1.5 miles. Speed not measured

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Boyce - Stricker Drive Loop. Fresh powder on packed dirt. Four-wheeler

Weather:

Partly cloudy, 22 degrees (F)

Team:

Just & Cassiopeia (Lead)

Orion & Selene (Swing)

Innoko (single team)

Seamus & Nels (Wheel)

Narrative: I decided to run Innoko on this team as a sort of spur of the moment decision.

In designing the team, I wanted enough dogs in front of the scrappy little big dog to hold the line out when we stopped, and I wanted a pair of larger, more burley males behind him, just in case he decided to start something. It probably wasn't necessary as he was very well behaved the whole time.

Innoko balked for only a split second on launch, and was then tight into his tug line and running well. He maintained a tight tugline through most of his run, though it showed a lot of slack (probably from inexperience) once in a great while, and we had to slow down considerably toward to the end in order for him to keep up and keep pulling.

Just and Cassie had very little difficulty with the "haw" at the top of the drive, as Just pushed Cassie into the correct direction very nicely. All of the dogs seemed to be having a good time during this run and things went very smoothly as a result.

Only time will tell if Innoko will be able to keep up with his long-legged compatriots.

Playing with Dogs

2011-11-04T20:56:00.000-08:00

I spent much of the day playing with dogs - and I can't think of a better way to spend my time. I took two different teams out for short training runs, and then let Torus, Innoko and Chinook enjoy a long, hard game of Run Amok in the yard.

Considering it's been three weeks since they last ran, I felt like the dogs did a great job today. Here are the entries from my training journal, along with some video clips.

First Team:

Date, Day, &c:

Friday, November 4, 2011

Mileage & Speed:

1.5 miles. Speed not measured.

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Boyce / Stricker Drive Loop, 2" powder on dirt. Four-wheeler

Weather:

25 degrees (F), overcast skies.

Team:

Capella & Just (Lead)

Denali & Grace

Selene & Midnight's Son

Narrative:

Overall a very smooth, easy run. Just and Capella missed the "haw" cue at the top of the loop, but recovered very quickly. Grace did not have a neck-line, and had to be prompted to run with the team just once. I kept her hooked to the drop line until just before we launched, so she did not have an opportunity to grab the lines. Best of all, she didn't snark at Midnight once that I noticed. Selene was watching Midnight pretty closely through much of the run, but both dogs were hard onto their tug lines so there was no apparent problem with that.

Second Team:

Date, Day, &c:

Friday, November 4, 2011

Mileage & Speed:

1.5 miles. Speed not measured.

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Boyce / Stricker Drive Loop, 2" powder on dirt. Four-wheeler

Weather:

25 degrees (F), overcast skies

Team:

Rose & Orion (lead)

Seamus & Cassiopeia

Beau & Nels

Narrative:

Orion and Rose swapped sides while we were attempting to launch, which resulted in a harness tangle. It was easily fixed and the second attempt to launch went off without problems. Orion did not chew his harness today, but I didn't really give him an opportunity to do so.

The leaders needed quite a bit of help making the "haw" signal at the top of the loop, but they were spot on in their responses to all other signals during the run.

New Sled and a Crazy Day

2011-11-03T09:12:00.001-08:00

When I got home from Kentucky there was a message on my machine. Dave Klumb of Laughing Husky Enterprises finished my new dog sled, which I had commissioned last fall.

The sled is representative of an early 20th century "traveling sled" that became very popular during the Klonkyke and various Alaska gold stampedes. Based on an ancient Siberian native design, it's a basket sled built smaller and lighter than the freighting sleds of the period, but nonetheless large and stout enough to carry all of the provisions and equipment needed to support a musher and team as they traveled long distances in harsh trail and weather conditions. The only significant modern alterations to the historical design is the "bar" type brake, which I feel is safer and more secure than the spring-board type that was used historically, and black plastic runner shoes, which are more easily replaced than the iron or steel shoes of history.

New "Traveling Sled" by Dave Klumb

The "wave" in the cap rails is an intentional design feature that allows the rail to flex as the sled traverses rough trails. It is that natural flexibility that makes this type of sled more durable and less likely to break in rough conditions.

Dave did a masterful job for a very reasonable price. While I was picking up my sled I had a chance to view a work in progress that is even more impressive. On this new sled under construction, Dave is using no metal hardware at all, which was uncommon even back in those days. If there is ever a "Hall of Fame" of dog sled builders, Dave should be it's first inductee.

I had some other errands to run in town, including a health care appointment. With a bit of time to kill, I decided a stop at one of our local espresso stands was in order. MISTAKE. When I tried to roll down the window of the truck to order my coffee, the side window stuck in the frame, slipped out of the track, and then dropped down into the bottom of the door. That meant driving home in sub-zero weather with a big, wide open hole blowing cold air into the cab. I'm hoping I can repair that myself, but I'm not terribly confident. Removal of the door panel doesn't look to be particularly straight forward, and I'd hate to break either the panel or the window glass. We'll just have to see how that goes. I'm not going to worry about it today.

Last night I went out to the Hot Springs with a friend for supper and a good long soak in the rock pool. It was a beautiful evening with clear skies and of course the foggy hot-water mist blowing gently over the pool. The temperature of the water was "just right" in the hot-spots and we stayed later than I would have expected. When I got home I turned off the alarm clock, and got a good night of sleep as a result.

Plans today? Well, we'll just see how the day goes.

A Hundredweight

2011-11-02T07:30:00.000-08:00

WHOOHOO!!!! I DID IT. On November 1st of last year I weighed in at a very chunky 268 lb. This morning the scale reads 168. I've lost the equivalent of one and a half of my larger dogs in the course of a year. Now THAT is something worth celebrating.

I just got home from a week of clinical training down in Kentucky. Unfortunately, I came down with a short but intense case of the creeping crud that made the trip less pleasant than usual, but I survived and didn't miss any of my ride-along time. I enjoyed the company of my good friends in that beautiful part of the country, so overall it was another great trip Outside.

I always suffer a bit of culture shock on these trips. This time around I flew into Cincinnati, arriving in the midst of rush hour. Relearning how to drive in city traffic is always a trip. Here in Two Rivers "rush hour" is condensed into a few waves of traffic passing down the Hot Springs Road at about 6:30, 7:30 and 8:30 AM, as folks head into town for work, and a fairly steady stream of not terribly congested movement between about 4:30 and 6:30 in the evening. That's it - no big deal. Down there it's a whole 'nother story as 6 lane highways are packed with rigs running bumper to bumper at around 70 miles per hour.

It's a pretty time of year down there. While we are still in the midst of transition from late fall to early winter, they are just coming into true autumn. Colorful leaves still cling to many of the trees and though the nights are frosty the days are either wet and rainy or pretty and comfortably cool.

All of my flights were on time yesterday and there weren't any major disruptions to the travel plan, so I was in town by 5:00 PM, and on the way home from the grocery store around 6:25. Of course the dogs were very happy to see me.

Today I have a medical appointment at 3:00, and in a bit I need to make a phone call. If things work as tentatively planned I may have a fun announcement to make tomorrow, complete with photographs and everything. We'll just have to see how it all works out today.

Meanwhile, I have baited water ready to deliver to the dogs and plenty of domestic chores to catch up on. Mostly I just wanted to brag a bit - it isn't often that a fellow can boast of having lost 100 pounds in the course of a year.

Swanny

John Baker Announced His Intention to Race

2011-10-20T06:38:00.000-08:00

Speaking at the First Alaskans Elders and Youth Conference, yesterday John Baker of Kotzebue announced his intention to race in the 2012 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Baker won this year's race setting a new record in the process. He is the first Alaskan Native musher to win the race since Jerry Riley back in 1976 and the first Eskimo to so since the race's inception.

According to an article in the Anchorage Daily News, Baker said "This year I hadn’t thought past winning. I hadn’t thought past what happens once I crossed the finish line. Well, I realized, it wasn’t all about me. This life wasn’t all about me, me, me. There was other people involved. Other people had worked just as hard for me to win this race. So I needed to get together with my family, friends and sponsors that make up team Baker and ask them what they think we should do. They didn’t hesitate. They said, ‘You are going to race.’

… My part in team Baker is running the dogs. So I’m going to race again and my dream is to win the Iditarod and break a new record this year."

A Quick Post

2011-10-16T06:21:00.001-08:00

I'm currently at work, and don't have much time for blogging, or anything else that constitutes a personal interest. I have just a few minutes of down time this morning and saw an article in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner I felt worthy of sharing with you.

Two soldiers from Fort Wainwright who are currently deployed overseas have adopted a pair of puppies, and went to some extremes to ensure their safety by shipping them home to Alaska. The story made my whole week, and I hope it brings a smile to you as well.

Kudos to Sergeant Conan Doyle and his wife Brittney, and to Sergeant Sergeant Jerry Francis for going well beyond the call of duty to serve not only our country, but their canine friends as well.

We are FINALLY starting to get a wee bit of snow, at least up here next to the White Mountains. So far it's just been a light skiff of the white stuff, more along the lines of termination dust than serious snow, but at least it's a start. Winter has been considerably delayed this year, and it's well beyond time for it to start.

Day of Rest???

2011-10-09T18:44:00.000-08:00

I'm afraid my R&R from work is winding down, which means I'm changing gears mentally, if not physically. After feeding this morning I did some domestic chores around the house, and rewrapped the drive bow of one of my toboggan sleds. I used 200lb test, braided nylon Tuna fishing line for that job, as that's what I happened to have on hand. The braided line offers a bit more grip than bare wood, helps reinforce the laminated hickory of which that sled is built, and looks pretty decent as well, in an old-timey sort of way. Historically tarred marline would likely have been used for the same purpose.

Of course the big event of the day was training sled dogs. I ran two teams again, with 6 dogs hooked up to an 8-dog gang line. That gives me plenty of control, allows me to run a couple of dogs in single positions which I think is sometimes helpful, but mostly running two teams of 6 allows me to give every sound adult dog in the yard a chance to run and pull. Running smaller teams also gives me a chance to work with my leaders-in-training, which is very important because I have so many LITs.

Just ran in single lead position again today, and the improvement in his performance is remarkable. Today I ran Cassiopeia up front beside Rose, and both of them did an excellent job. Overall it was a fun afternoon out on the trail.

Here are the entries from my training journal for today, along with some video highlights of our runs.

Date, Day, &c:

Sunday, Oct. 9th. Noonish

Mileage & Speed (M = Measured , ~ = Approximate):

~ 1.5 m. Speed not measured

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Boyce - Stricker Dr Loop. Dry dirt

Weather:

Partly cloudy sky. 43 degrees F at start

Team:

Just

Denali & Capella

Beau

Orion and Nels

Narrative:

I tried a racy style X-back harness on Orion hoping it will lessen his tendancy to chew up his gear and maybe help him match his effort to that of the team. I did catch him with his teeth on it, but distracted him and then hooked him into the gang line to distract him. That worked regarding the harness chewing. I think he is still working too hard even in this harness which has a pull point considerably higher on his back than the wheel dog harnesses he's been wearing.

Launch was easy and strong and I slipped the machine into Neutral as we passed Ted's yard. The dogs hauled the machine all the way to the base of the hill before I had to put it in gear.

At the top Just broke right instead of "haw", but corrected very quickly so I can't complain. Much better than past runs. I took a second lap around the loop, and had to bring Just back several times again to convince him to go "gee". Nonetheless it wasn't as difficult as yesterday, so again it's an improvement.

Coasted down the hill heavy on the brake to keep the speed about 10 to 12 mph. I stopped the team just before the tough hump in the trail and let them gain some enthusiasm. Darned if Orion wasn't jumping up in the air wanting to go.

I asked Just to take a "haw" down the powerline rather than going past to the other trail. He took that with a bit of hesitation, but not enough hesitation to stop the machine. Back in the yard he took the team straight to the drop line without any problem or deviation at all.

Date, Day, &c:

Sunday, Oct. 10, ~ 1 PM

Mileage & Speed (M = Measured , ~ = Approximate):

1.5 miles. Speed not measured.

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Boyce - Stricker Dr loop. Dry dirt

Weather:

Partly cloudy. 43 degrees F.

Team:

Cassiopeia & Rose

Selene

Midnight Son & Amazing Grace

Seamus

Narrative:

Some difficulty getting Rose and Cassie to line out in the direction of the gate, and they hesitated when I gave them the "alright" cue to run. Once pulling they did fine, hitting powerline trail and the Boyce-Stricker drive no problem.

Grace pulled well out of line as we ran past Ted's yard, but not enough to deviate her team mates. This team wasn't as strong as the first when I shifted into neutral to climb the slight rise to the base of the hill. Grace snarked at Midnight as though it was his fault, but I only saw her do it that one time the whole run. She did pull out of line a couple more times during the run, though.

I called for a gee to go around the loop, and Rose and Cassie responded to that very nicely. In the loop Midnight got on the wrong side of the gangline, but Grace didn't shy away from him to get out of line. At the top of the hill I stopped and fixed that situation before coasting down in neutral.

While coasting on the downhill Grace took off to the side to check stuff out three or four times. She got back in line when I called her by name, but we lost power as a result of her dinking around. Enough so that I had to put the machine into gear to help them over the little hump in the trail and then slipped it back into neutral.

No problems going past Ted's yard and they went straight ahead past the powerline when I cued them to do so. Rose had to push Cassie into the haw onto the return trail, but Cassie was very good about responding to the hint. Climbing up the slight incline the team slowed nearly to a stop, but not quite. They took the hint and pulled harder to get us to the yard.

Rose and Cassie took us straight to the hook-up line once in the yard without any issues at all.

I'll be working night shift through my next tour of duty, which is my favorite. On day shift the job is so busy I can barely find time to breathe. At night the routine is broken up a bit more as I make my regular rounds, catch up on administrative duties that tend to fall by the wayside during the hectic pace of day shift, and so forth. I may even have some opportunities to attempt to photograph the northern lights. That would be cool.

As the R&R winds down, I feel like I've accomplished quite a bit this time around. We are well stocked with straw and dog food, the kennel is in pretty good shape, the machinery is all serviced and ready to roll and all that truly remains is for some stinking snow to fall and the creeks and rivers to freeze up. Once Potlatch Creek freezes hard enough to support the weight of the four wheeler we can safely extend our training runs considerably.

At the end of this tour of duty I'll be spending a week in Kentucky, doing my last clinical rotation for the year. I'm sure I'll enjoy the nicer weather and the good company down there. In all truth, though, I'm like a high strung horse chomping at the bit, waiting for the opportunity to run these dogs through the woods. After all, if The Diety had intended these dogs to pull around a four-wheeler, He (or She) would have named them four-wheeler dogs rather than sled dogs.

Good Training this Afternoon

2011-10-08T20:56:00.000-08:00

I ran two teams on little training runs this afternoon, and was pleased with both. We are finally back to making good progress, I believe. Here are the reports from my training journal, and some video highlights of our runs.

Date, Day, &c:

Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011, Noon.

Mileage & Speed (M = Measured , ~ = Approximate):

1.5 miles. Speeds not measured

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Boyce - Stricker Drive Loop. 2 laps around loop at top. Dry dirt.

Weather:

Clear skies. Temp ~ 45 degrees

Team:

Just

Denali & Beau

Selene

Seamus & Nels

Narrative:

Very smooth hook up and launch and run past Ted's dog yard. I had them hauling the machine in neutral more than in the past few runs, and they did well considering the weight of the thing. Just missed the "haw" cue at top as we went into the circle but corrected very quickly. Greatly improved over the past.

As we came around I called for a "gee" to take a second lap around the loop. Just didn't want to do it and I had to pull him back over several times. Finally I pulled him over and asked him to line out. He started to turn back toward the team and I growled at him. He dropped to the ground, held the line out, and led us into the correct direction.

The rest of the run was very smooth indeed with the dogs pulling the machine in neutral, against the brake, all the way down. We had to stop on one of the hills on the way down, but not for very long. They ran past Ted's yard with little distraction and then took the loop back to our own yard.

Just tried to cut left along the pens as we entered our yard, but again he was able to correct the error after a couple of repeats of the cue and then took us to the hook-up line.

Date, Day, &c:

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Mileage & Speed (M = Measured , ~ = Approximate):

1.5 miles. Speeds not measured.

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Boyce - Stricker Drive Loop. 1 lap around upper loop. Dry dirt.

Weather:

Clear skies, ~47 degrees F

Team:

Orion & Capella

Rose

Grace

Midnight & Cassie

Narrative:

The first time I've driven these two young leaders on their own, without the guidance of a more experienced leader to help them out. Stinkin' Orion chewed through TWO harnesses before I finally got him hooked in. My own fault for not hooking him in immediately after harnessing. I left Grace hooked to the hook up line until the last second to prevent her line grabbing behavior. Since she was running in a single slot, there was no running mate for her to snark at.

Very strong launch and the dogs took the two powerline turns without issue, running from memory more than following cues, but I cued them anyway as that's the best way I know to train them to recognize directional cues. Easy run past Ted's dog yard and up the hill.

My plan was to let the leaders decide which direction to take the loop, and I would just cue that direction. I didn't expect them to each chose a different direction. They did, so there was some confusion on my part with that. I really should have seen that coming. In any event, we went around the loop counter-clockwise in good style, and they took the gee back onto the main trail without issue.

I let the pull the machine in neutral all the way back, though they did have some difficulty on some of the little rises. At one point I stopped them to let them build up enthusiasm, and that worked nicely. Grace wandered off to the side of the trail but when I asked her line out she snapped into place and was ready to run.

Coming into the yard the leaders cut toward the left, and each tried running on the opposite side of a post, clotheslining themselves. I got them untangled from that, and then had some difficulty convincing them that "gee" means veer right to run to the hook up line. They got it after three reps, and led the team down to the proper spot.

Promotion & a Bit More

2011-10-08T11:29:00.001-08:00

I've Been Promoted:

I've been promoted. Not at work, but rather in my endeavors as a writer of non-fiction, historical magazine articles.

I've been a contributor to On The Trail magazine for many years. Dave Schmid, myself and often 1 other writer focusing on the Canadian fur trade of the 17th through 19th centuries have written the Les Pays D'en Haut articles on a rotating basis. French for 'height of land', les pays d'en haut refers to the "upper country", north and west of Lake Superior. That third author working on the series was originally Karl Koster for a few years, followed by Isaac Walters, both of whom are excellent researchers and writers who are enjoying historically themed careers.

Last month OTT publisher Jason Gatliff asked me for a photo and a brief biography, as he intended to "promote" Dave and I both to the position of Staff Writer. It doesn't mean any more money or (I hope) any additional responsibilities, but it is a nice feather in my writer's cap.

Here is the photo Jason selection. You can see it in context with my biography on the On The Trail website.

The Other Stuff:
I had planned to run dogs yesterday, but was way-laid by the need to pick up an order of dog food while my distributor, Brent Sass of Wild and Free Mushing, was in town and available. The prompted a trip to town, so while there I stopped in at Cold Spot to buy some fish oil and some deworming tabs.

Cassiopeia and Seamus have both been having some issues with diarrhea the past few days, and it's been unusually persistent. Blue Heron capsules, which usually take care of loose stools very quickly, didn't help and a three day course of metronidazole also wasn't having the desired result. I took Cassie in to see our vet (Melissa Rouge at Golden Heart Veterinary Service), and she advised giving both Cassie and Seamus a three day course of fenbendazole dewormer. I figured if 2 dogs need to be wormed, I might as well do the entire team.

By the time I returned home the temperature had warmed enough that running to dogs wasn't a particularly good idea, so I did a few other chores around the place instead. I tidied and cleaned the storage bay and deck that overlooks the dog yard, hauled a bunch of garbage off to the dumpster station, and generally focused on domestic chores.

Now that I've gotten caught up on the news I'll eat a quick snack and then start hooking up some teams for some training runs this afternoon.

Collaboration Leads to Progress

2011-10-06T20:19:00.001-08:00

Those who frequently follow my blog know that I've been struggling with some training issues lately. Just, who is usually a spot on gee/haw leader just hasn't been getting it together this year, and my young ones who show such huge potential don't yet know their left from their right. I rely on having a strong leader to help train the kids, so I've been kind of stuck.

Last night Jenn Stutesman came over to run dogs with me, and got a first hand view of how much of a blockhead Just can be. I had him running beside Rose, who is about as easy a dog as one would ever hope to see. Rather than take the 'haw' at the top of the hill to run our training loop clockwise, he broke to the right ('gee'). The whole thing became a battle of wills as I went forward and led him to the left, and he broke right again before I could mount the machine. I'm not sure how many times we repeated this before he finally decided that maybe, just maybe, the big primate really DOES want to go to the left.

Meanwhile, Grace has been persistently grabbing and jerking on the lines while we hook up, which creates a lot of equipment damage, and even worse, she's been attacking her running mates to the point where they cow on the ground. A dog can't run while he's on his back in the dirt trying to defend himself from an unruly bitch.

Here is the entry from my training journal regarding that run:

Date, Day, &c:

Wednesday, Oct 6. ~6:30 PM

Mileage & Speed (M = Measured , ~ = Approximate):

1.5 miles measured. Speed not recorded

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Boyce-Stricker Drive Loop. Dry dirt

Weather:

Partly cloudy, ~ 45 degrees.

Team:

Just & Rose

Selene & Beau

Orion & Denali

Narrative:

Jen Stutesman accompanied us on this run. Easy hook up and launch. Just turned "blockhead" on the haw to take the upper left in a clockwise direction. He also had trouble with "gee" coming back into the yard.

Rose was distracted going past Ted's yard, but didn't try to pull out of line.

Generally a pretty easy little training run.

This morning our handler and I discussed some of these issues, and Ted came up with some insights and ideas that had escaped me. Between the two of us we came up with a training plan that has led to considerable progress.

To help Just, we decided he should run in single lead rather than be put in a position of having to either shove or guide another dog to go the proper direction. Today I saw the result in a situation similar to last night. Just broke right rather than left, but this time he was able to respond to the 'haw' cue to correct his error and we lost very little time in the process.

For Grace, who has been in danger of being required to run while wearing a greyhound muzzle, we put her in the middle of the team, but did not fasten her to the gangline ("mainline') with a neck line to her collar. We figured that if she abused the additional freedom the dogs ahead of her would jerk her along backward, forcing her to regain focus and get back into line. Meanwhile, if she didn't feel quite so confined her behavior on hook up and while running might improve.

When I hooked her into the team today she was the last dog to go onto the gangline. I moved right along so she wouldn't have to wait quite so long to actually run, which gave her less time to think about maybe grabbing the gangline. The result was great. She never put a tooth to the line and our launch proved to be very smooth.

Ted and I also discussed a very distracting habit of mine. I tend to talk to my dogs too much while they are running. Doing so doesn't do anything to change their behavior, but it does cause them to look back toward me rather than ahead of their feet and probably confuses them, making harder for them to determine whether I am asking them to perform a behavior, or just blabbering on. Today I made a concerted effort to just shut up and let 'em run, speaking only when it was truly necessary. Midnight's Son, who in the past has spent a lot of time rubbernecking and acting a bit stressed out, seemed much more comfortable as a result and I noticed the entire team seemed a lot more focused on their run.

So, here is the entry from my training journal and a 10 minute video of our run today. If you've been following our earlier vids I think you'll agree that this was one of our smoother runs of the week.

The "run board" lets me remember which dogs I want to hook up in which positions, and today included an important reminder as well.

Date, Day, &c:

Thursday, Oct 6. 2:00 PM

Mileage & Speed (M = Measured , ~ = Approximate):

1.5 measured. 12.9 MPH max speed, 7.4 MPH average speed

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Boyce - Stricker Dr. Loop. Dry dirt

Weather:

Partly cloudy. 48 degrees.

Team:

Just (single lead)

Rose & Capella

Grace & Seamus

Midnight's Son & Orion

Narrative:

Major changes on this run.

1. I ran Just in single lead.

2. I ran Grace without a neckline

3. I avoided speaking to the dogs unless necessary

Easiest run we've had in a while. I ran Grace without a neckline, and she did not grab lines. She only snarfed at Seamus once, and that wasn't a particularly serious attempt. During stops she kind of wandered off to the side to sniff a bit, but when I called the team up she jumped right into the job. This is worthy of more experimentation before I resort to the muzzle.

Just did a good job running single lead. He missed the 'haw' cue up top, but corrected on his own without me having to leave the machine and pull him and the team around into the turn.

Just Stuff

2011-10-04T08:50:00.002-08:00

Happy B'Day, Billie (aka Billie Goat aka Toby)
I'll admit it, I wasn't always the kind hearted softie I am today. While growing up my pet name for my sister Billie was frequently "Billie Goat", for no more reason than it pissed her off to no end. Mom preferred the nickname "Toby", as she was born on the 4th day of October. Though I picked on her pretty consistently through the years, I loved her dearly then, and still love her dearly today.

Happy birthday, "Billie Goat". I hope you have a great day, and still maintain a good sense of humor.

Anniversary:
10 years ago today one of the most stupid people I've ever encountered in my life shot a bullet hole in the pipe. As it occured less than a month after the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, he did the deed practically under the nose of a security helicopter observer. Danny is still languishing in prison and when he is eventually released will need to figure out how to pay back $17,000,000.00 (seventeen million dollars) in damages.

As a result of Danny's idiocy, combined with our response to the 9/11 attack, I ended up on duty well away from home and my wife, for 9 weeks (two months and change) without a break. The paychecks were good, but the rest of it sucked. It seems somehow appropriate to remember Danny today, and to let him know that he's still an idiot and currently residing in a most appropriate place.

Jury Duty:
It seems like every two or 3 years I get tapped for jury duty. The court system draws potential jurers from among applicants for the annual permanent fund dividend, which is a smart way of doing the job. Virtually every Alaskan resident applies for the annual dividend (after all, it DOES represent free money), and anyone who applies most likely is indeed a resident, and if they are not being unavailable is evidence that they lied on the application - a criminal violation that should be prosecuted more aggressively.

In any event, with my work schedule, the courts are good about scheduling my duty around the job schedule. All I have to do call their recording each evening to learn whether or not I have to go into town. It means I can't make firm plans for any given day, but it's actually rather rare for me to get "the call" into town.

The last time I did get the call, I spent most of the day waiting to be rejected, and that's what I would expect in the future. The nature of my job puts in in frequent contact with the troopers most likely to have made the "bust", and it's in my best interest to maintain a good relationship with those guys. It would be pretty unusual for them to post a witness and/or involved parties that didn't include at least 1 person I know, which is also a frequent exclusion criteria.

None the less, it's duty (a legal obligation), so I don't make firm plans, and I make the call each evening, and then I go about my business.

Election Day:
Today is election day for municipal offices and three proposed ballot issues. I know who I like for borough assembly and who I don't (stinking lawyers and professional politicians), and I know how I want to vote on the ballot issues. I'll take my cheat sheet with me to the school in a bit, and cast my "say so", which probably doesn't amount to much, but it's sort of like jury duty - an obligation of a citizen who has every intention of speaking his or her mind whenever and wherever he or she chooses to do so.

The 'relationship' between the Fairbanks North Star Borough and the people of Two Rivers isn't always friendly. In fact, most of the time it's downright contentious. That might be why I have cause to pick a bone.

A Bone to Pick with FNSB Animal Control Division.
More than a year ago I went down to the FNSB Animal Control Division's dog pound and submitted the paperwork to foster sled dogs needing temporary housing until they can be placed in permanent homes. At that time I had space available for up to three dogs, which I'd train along with my own to keep them in bood psychological and physical condition. I have experience dealing with DWIs (dog's with issues), and have access to professional advice from a highly qualified certified canine behaviorist. My kennel is Mush with P.R.I.D.E. certified, always earning a Certified Plus rating. I provided impecable references easily accessible to animal control division staff.

One would think that such a foster would be highly desirable to a dog pound that is frequently over populated and frequently blames sled dogs and mushers for that overpopulation. Apparently, such thinking would be wrong.

I was told that the only step remaining would be an on-site inspection by one of the Division staff and they would get back to me to schedule that visit. Well, it's been more than a year and they still haven't gotten back with me. I've stopped in at the dog pound to follow-up and remind them that my application is still pending on two different occaissions, and they still haven't bothered to get with me or come out and do a simple inspection, or even just review my P.R.I.D.E. inspection paperwork.

That's a pretty good indication that they just aren't real interested.

Now, there probably is a reason for the Division blowing-off my offer. I've been a harsh critic of the Animal Control Division in the past. They've done some pretty unprofessional things over the years and I haven't hesitated to speak my mind about them. On the other hand, I've also been diligent about recognizing the limitations imposed upon them by their budget, lack of adequate space and chronic understaffing. I've made note of things they do well.

Although those responsible for the Division's past mistakes are no longer employed there, it would appear that the new management has some issues of their own to address.

Life moves on, and I think I can probably find a private sector sled dog rescue organization that will happy to receive my offer. Meanwhile, the next time the borough animal control people complain publicly of their shelter being overcrowded with sled dogs, I'll use the same media to remind them of the opportunity they lost.

It's time for me to do my morning kennel chores and start my day. I'm watching young Cassiopeia closely as she has had some nasty diarrhea for a couple of days. If my current approach to treatment doesn't improve her condition by this afternoon I'll need to take her into town to visit the vet.

The sky is partly cloudy, the temperature is coolish, and I have dogs who would love to run.

Newest Home Improvement

2011-10-01T18:46:00.000-08:00

Here is a photo of the front of my house, taken just prior to breakup a few years ago.

Now, here's a photo of the front of the house taken just a few minutes ago.

OK, it probably won't ever be featured on HGTV, but I prefer my house be comfortable, and practical. Over the course of a lot of years and several owners, the place is basically built upside down, with the bedrooms on the lower floor, and kitchen, bath and living room upstairs. When I bought the place the space over the garage was wide open, with a flat roof. Quite a few years ago my wife and I built the structure over the garage to create a big, open storage area and most importantly to keep the damned flat roof from leaking every year during break up. Building this structure was actually less expensive than reroofing the garage.

The down side to that was it blocked access to a ramp that provided access from ground level to the upper level. The inside stairwell is steep and has a 90 degree turn at the top that makes it impossible to move long or bulky items up and down. So, for the last several years I've had to hoist my sleds and other large things I want to store in the cover of the bay up through one of those big windows.

Equally important is that there was no safe egress in case of fire or other emergency, other than that single stairwell. Now a steep, narrow staircase with a small landing and 90 degree turn is a paramedic's worse nightmare, and being a paramedic by trade I decided it would be smart to create a way to get stuff up and down without quite so many back aches.

When I asked my friends at SP Kennel how much it would cost to have them do the job, it was a very reasonable price, so I just said "Let's git 'er done." Now, here it is, complete with a roof to shed the worse of the snow during winter. With any luck I'll put it to it's most important test within a few weeks, when it's time to move my sleds off the deck and out into the SNOW.

More Challenges

2011-09-30T17:41:00.000-08:00

The first run of the day was excellent, and the second was really challenging. Let's start at the beginning with Selene's first time in lead. On a different forum Rose Rosenberg asked if I had yet run Selene in lead. I had not, as she is a very young dog and I have only run her a few times, and didn't want to put her under a lot of pressure. She's been running very well and showing a lot of enthusiasm, though. Last night she settled in very quickly as a house dog, and at some point through the evening I looked at her and though "why not?" I figured if she was showing signs of being overly stressed I could just have her switch places with another dog to get her back into her comfort zone.

I chose the team pretty carefully. I decided I'd run her beside Just, as he's a steady, experienced dog who gets along well with his running mates. I put Beau and Capella in wheel. Beau is Selene's VBFF, so having him close would probably have a calming effect, and Capella is a competent leader who also gets along well with all the other dogs. I put the two exuberant brothers Orion and Midnight in wheel.

Selene started out very well, but proved to be too distracted to be ready for the lead position. I think that is just a matter of maturity. Selene is part Hedlund Gray Husky and part Great Pyrenese (though I don't see much Pyr in her), both of which are reputed to be slow maturing. She didn't act or look particularly stressed during the run, but she was rubber-necking a lot rather than focusing on the job. I think a few more months running in swing or team will help her settle down nicely, and I plan to give her another leader trial later in the winter.

Here is the training journal entry for that first run, and complete vido coverage as well. The video of the complete run is about 9 minutes long.

Date, Day, &c:

Friday, Sept 30. 10:00 AM

Mileage & Speed (M = Measured , ~ = Approximate):

1.5 miles M, Max speed 12.2 MPH M, Average speed 8.5 MPH M

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Boyce - Stricker drive loop. Dirt with a few puddles.

Weather:

Overcast, 38 degrees F

Team:

Just & Selene

Beau & Capella

Orion & Midnight

Narrative:

As Selene has been running very well, and behaving wonderfully also, I decided to give her a trial in lead beside Just. I wanted Beau and Capella behind her as they are all buddies to Selene. Orion and Midnight get on well with her, but not so nicely as the others.

Hook up went well today, and on launch Selene was well focused and forward oriented. She and Just hit the first two "gee" cues very nicely. As the team settled down into the task of just running I noticed that Selene was looking back at her team mates pretty frequently. She didn't appear to be stressed by them, but more like they were distracting her. When I spoke her name she looked ahead again, but could only maintain the focus for a minute or two before looking back some more.

She focused well when responding to cues and as we were running through (in her case - around) the puddles, but any time she didn't need to pay attention to her footing she was rubber necking. It was especially noteworthy as we ran past Ted's yard. It took her quite a while to resume forward forus, and she really didn't pay attention until we took the haw onto the cross-over trail.

She has potential as a leader, but I think she needs to mature some more before I work her up front very often.

The rest of the team behaved and performed very nicely

The second run of the day was more challenging. Amazing Grace decided to be more than just a bit 'snarky' with Nels. In fact, she was down-right ugly with the big boy. It didn't quite qualify as a fight (no blood was involved), but she had him cowed three different times in the first 100 yards or so of the run before I cut her loose from swing and moved her beside Seamus in wheel. She didn't mess with Seamus at all, which shows she does have a working brain in that cranium after all.

Rose and Cassie were in lead. Cassie is just starting her career as a leader and she's plenty willing, but doesn't yet know her cues. Apparently Rose doesn't understand "haw" (left) as well as I thought she did, either. This tells me that it's time to spend some serious time with my leaders in training on the Sacco cart where I have more control over the dogs' direction and can better train 'gee' and 'haw'.

Date, Day, &c:

Friday, Sept 30.

Mileage & Speed (M = Measured , ~ = Approximate):

~3 miles , M max speed14 MPH, M average speed 7.4 MPH Measured.

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:

Twice around Boyce - Striker drive loop

Weather:

Overcast, ~40 degrees. Dirt with some puddles.

Team:

Rose & Cassie

Nels & Grace (at start)

Seamus & Denali (at start)

Position switch as described below to;

Rose & Cassie

Denali & Nels

Semuas & Grace

Narrative:

Hook up went smoothly, but the launch was rough. We were barely out the gate when I had to stop and break up a squabble between Grace and Nels. We barely got started after that before the pair was tussling again. Nels was being severely cowed, and when it happened a third time barely into the power-line segment I swapped Grace and Denali so Nels could have some peace and Grace next to a dog who won't tolerate her snarky crap.

The rest of the first lap went well, and I decided a second lap would be in order. When I gave the leaders the "haw" cue to the power-line for a second go around Rose seemed totally clueless. I had to get off the machine and move the leaders into the turn several times. Each time I'd get them lined out Rose would move back to the driveway before I could get on the machine and get them moving. I would have spent all day working on that if necessary, but Ted came to the rescue and helped get them through the turn.

On the way back I decided to take the 'haw' down the power-line rather than going past to the cut-over trail, and Rose again couldn't seem to catch on to what I was trying. Ted again came to the rescue and we got them around the corner. Rose obviously needs more work to help her learn her left from her right.

There were no other issues noted during this run.

I need to make a run into town for some supplies, and I'm thinking that little Ms. Amazing Grace needs to go in with me, to be fitted with a greyhound muzzle. She should be able to breath, pant and even drink water with one, so should be able to do at least short runs in a muzzle. That will at least prevent her from practicing her habits of grabbing the lines and snarking at her neighbors. I wish I could identify a trigger for that behavior - she does it with some dogs but not with others and I haven't really been able to identify a pattern.

Meanwhile, I need to pick up some necklines and I could stand to do a little bit of grocery shopping for some things I forgot on my way home. Tomorrow might be a good day for running those errands. I'm thinking that Sunday morning might be a good time to do some Sacco runs for these leaders in training and maybe I can recruit someone to give me a hand with some of that, since some of my dogs have never worked out with the cart before.

Meanwhile, Allen Moore of SP Kennel fame has been working on a project here at the house. I'm guessing it will probably be finished tomorrow, so I'll have fun news and photos to share.

House Dogs

2011-09-30T09:37:00.000-08:00

One of the more unusual things I do in the Stardancer kennel is rotate dogs around through different housing arrangements. I have a nice combination of pens and rotating swivel tethers, and one of those pens attaches directly to the garage, making it convenient to let the dogs in that pen into and out of the house. I frequently bring however is in that pen inside to visit.

I think that by chaning the dogs' houses and environments from time to time, it helps minimize resource guarding issues. Please note that the word is "minimize", not "cure". It won't make such issues go away, but I think it does help prevent them from escalating or in the case of younger dogs, from developing in the first place.

It also helps the dogs be comfortable in a variety of different housing set ups. Some mushers prefer to house soley in pens, some soley on tethers, and so forth. I think the more environments in which a dog is allowed to settle and become comfortable the more versatile the dog can be when other environmental factors change, for example when asked to camp out on the trail.

I also like giving the dogs the opportunity to make their own decisions, within reason. If two dogs want to share a pen I don't worry about which two unless they have had issues in the past. Then I may intervene to move one or the other. That's pretty rare except in the case of a couple of our team members.

To give the dogs an opportunity to chose, I usually let them make their choices when we've returned from a training run. I just unhook the dogs from the drop line, and let them wander about until they pick a place. I house dogs in pens in pairs, mostly a male with a female, to minimize conflicts. The pair in the "garage pen" are usually the designated house dogs for the time they are living in that pen.

I enjoy having dogs in the house, and there is also a practical reason for giving them a chance to get some one-on-one time (or two on one time) with me. If a dog should escape his or her primary confinement system and someone sneak out of the kennel perimeter fence, if they enjoy being inside they are more likely to come to the door or hang out close by. Mostly, though, I just like spending time in the company of dogs.

Last night, Beau and Selene decided they wanted to be together in the "garage pen". They are a very nice combination together. Both are very social both with other dogs and with people. I've never known either of to be involved in a truly serious fight over anything. As our handler Ted once said, when those two are together you can almost feel the love exuding from their enclosure.

Neither Beau nor Selene have spent a lot of time inside. Beau has more "house time" than Selene because he was quite ill a couple of years ago, and was kept inside to recover. Selene has a very thick, downy coat and she tends to get hot very quickly when inside. Even when she comes indoors, Selene seems to prefer to remain downstairs, stretched out on her belly on that nice, cool, laminated hardwood floor. Both generally prefer to be outside with their canine buddies, and it generally requires a bit of coaxing to get thim to come in.

Last night was remarkable, because both dogs were anxious to come inside for a visit. Once inside, Beau dashed up the stairs to the living area, and Selene clearly wanted to follow him, but was intimidated by the steep stairway. Amazingly, Beau noticed her hesitation, and came dashing back down the stairs, sat beside her for half a count, and then bounded up the stairs again. As he repeated that behavior five or six times, it seemed obvious to me that he was trying to show her how to climb the stairs. Finally, she "got it", and both dogs went bounding up.

After snuffling about for a while the two settled down very nicely. Selene was panting pretty constantly, but curled up under me feet and seemed to revel in having her ears scratched and belly rubbed. Beau sprawled out on the carpet and was content to just hang out for a while.

Selene, literally underfoot.

Beau sprawled out on the carpet

While I was messing around with the camera I noticed something that struck me as kind of unusual. Selene is bi-eyed (obviously) with a glaciar blue right eye and a dark amber left. Not only is the pigment in each eye different, but the reflection of light off her retinas in flash photographs (the "red eye" phenomenon in humans) is also of different colors. Her blue eye reflects red, while the amber eye reflects the florescent blue that is commonly seen in dogs.

Now I have to wonder whether each eye detects different light spectrums? I doubt I'll ever know, but it is a matter of curiosity.

OK, I have other things to do before I can run dogs today, so I'll let this go for a bit and either expand on it or post another entry into my Blog later on.