Back to work, Happy New Year!

We had a great holiday with family and now we're back to work. Looks like snow is coming,
hooray! Dogs have been free running, two by two, since it has been too icy to hook up either on sleds or ATV. Hopefully today we'll get some snow as predicted.
This photo is of a first lesson for my ten year old granddaughter... ride the sled without dogs and learn how to use the brake and drag and steering.

Dashing through the snow on four dog open sleighs

Hooray! We're on sleds!
It's noticeably different to hook up only four dogs and run with a small team, compared to hooking up ten and using the ATV. Especially for the dogs who are pulling. The trails were nearly perfect, new snow cold enough to be setting up.

Today was a first sled run for pup, Stella and for pup, Sherpa. Sherpa started in lead with Skinny and Stella ran in wheel with her buddy, Lillen. They both ran well and continue to be very good for yearlings. Dogs run today were : Skinny, Liller, Lillen, Frita, Buffy, Martin, Ruthie, Kiddo, Quattro, Herman, Medio, Rosie, Zoom, Stella, Sherpa, Josie and Matilda.

Nita and Anna were here with Mom, Julia . They ran seven teams, seventeen different dogs, so it was a great day.

A perfect winter day, December 17, 2005, and looking like a perfect winter night with a full moon over the snow.

Sulatna and Christmas

Merry Christmas from all of the team at Windy Pups! Sulatna has so many stories to tell , I am sure. She is such an independent yet loving dog. I'm not sure what her thoughts are but she has special bed in the basement where she collects toys, etc. She went into a bag last year and took out a stuffed Santa and put it on her bed. Yesterday she moved all toys to different hiding places and just kept Santa. I do wish she could talk. She's eleven years old and faster than any other dog, runs free with much happiness.
Merry Christmas from all of us!

28 mile finish photo

This is a photo taken as we finished strong after a 28.4 mile run. It's a nice run as the trail crosses a bridge over the Brule River into Michigan, on pine lined trails. We have seen deer mostly, but I did see a coyote one day. There are beautiful primitive looking ponds along the way and then we get to a small village where we wind around through three short streets to reach another bridge to cross, yes, the Brule again, into Wisconsin.
We have a small cabin on the Brule three miles from the last bridge crossing. We've just had it reroofed and the stove repaired, so it's a nice destination for a dog team.

Wheels or sleds?

We had about four inches of snow so we're in between ATV and sleds. We groomed the trails early this a.m. and ran six dogs (minus one in mid run) with the ATV. The sled was just iffy but possible, so we decided to give it a night to freeze, or snow some more. Last year we were on sleds on December 1st. Today is December 15.

Trying to take a photo of dogs for a friend who is ill, these photos were samples... why are we stopping? they say indignantly. Stella plays peek a boo in one photo. Sulatna quit completely when she knew she had a puppy novice behind her (she only runs with the pros and only if we don't stop... her rules.) Liller and Lillen (in lead) were more good natured and had a great time running down the hills rather than on the flat grade.
Hard to tell from photos but there are four leaders in this team... the dream team, minus one, as the pup is very fast and well behaved.

Report card time

Yesterday we had planned to run two teams early, but Ruthie had other plans. She let her buddies out of their pen and they took a free run for a bit. I shouldn't have rewarded her by putting her on the team but she was already out so she did get to go again, although it wasn't her turn. So we had time for one 6.5 mile run with six.
From time to time we do a ranking of the dogs based on seven traits. It's not to pass or fail but to get a more objective look at what needs work for each dog. The traits are: gait, weight,
stamina, speed, eating/drinking, commands and focus .

The leaders are experienced and great and it's not quite fair to include them in rankings with the young ones but they do need work on some things. Liller, for instance, works at eating too much... always looking for crumbs and pushing her way into the after run treats of every dog, etc. Martin has the same problem with weight. They are both too heavy, whereas Ruthie is such a high strung dog that it's hard to keep weight on her.

In the rankings yesterday, Sherpa came out with the top score... needing most work on learning commands, but otherwise top notch in other traits (somewhat balanced by expectation for her age).

In this photo she is in right wheel, just in front of machine. She's lined out, fairly focused, not goofing around as we stopped, ready to go, digs in as soon as I say "Let's go!". Ruthie in left lead
is goofing off a bit by pulling Liller over... should be lined out and she looks back too much for a leader, but in a small team like this she gets experience in lead.

Snowy trails

The sleds should come out soon with predictions of 4 to 8 more inches. Today I ran alone , first, with six on a 6.7 mile run and then with five on a 6.7 mile run.
Running alone without talking gives me a chance to really look at the dogs and compare them for gait, stamina, work ethic (they all have that), size, etc.
Because it takes a lot of energy for me to hook up teams I chose to only run two, although they wanted (and so did I ) to run more.

I've been thinking I might take a dusk run, perhaps not today but with the snow coming we'll be on sleds soon.
The photos are of the two teams... the six dog had to stop so I could take the photo with my frozen fingers and the five dog was busy drinking soup for their photo after their run.

Medio did get a chance to be spooky today as there were power crews on both sides of the trail, moving, talking, standing, looking and large trucks starting/stopping, plus we had to stop for traffic twice, but he seemed really okay.
They did themselves proud today.

Let it snow!

Looks like some 'good' snow coming this week... this is a photo from a wonderful snow last year.
We did have some snow, just to cover trails yesterday, and it's hard packed under that, so we are buildng a good base. This morning we'll take a 15 mile run with ten dogs. Hopefully the trails won't be so hard on their feet this time, although they just love running , no matter where it is.
The leader on left in photo won't be able to run much this year. She's Frita , a great little leader.
She has a hip dypslasia type injury and also some kidney problems. We're resting her and treating her in hopes that next year she'll have bounced back. She'll still run around here, two miles or so, but not extended runs.

Christmas photos of our dear dogs

These are three special dogs, all gee haw command leaders, who have come from a very special kennel in Alaska. Their original owner is quite ill and we are trying to get a Christmas photo of her dear dogs to send to her.
Each of these dogs is fast, leads extremely well and each is semiretired. Two of them are still running races and all three are puppy trainers. Their breeding and training are very evident in their work. All three have had many miles in Alaska. If only they could tell their stories.
In this photo something was going on with the other dogs in the kennel... they had just seen a deer and the interest was not in looking at the camera!
Left to right: Lillen, Sulatna and Liller

Happy First Birthday, Sherpa!

Happy Birthday dear Sherpa! Sherpa is one year old today. She's quite a gal,
steady, easy to train, eager to go, energetic. She's Skinny's and Liller's granddaughter; her father is Emmett and her mother is Susan Butcher's Cricket. She has logged 120 miles to date in fall training... very impressive for a yearling. She still has to work a bit on her fence manners, but she's coming along with that , too.

Buddy's photo

Buddy

Buddy is eight years old. He was retired by a racing musher and needed a rescue last year.
At the time he was quite unhealthy but now, on new food, having had some medical intervention, his only ailment is a chronic shoulder problem. Because he has been a racer he gets depressed when we hook up everyone else and leave him behind. We don't think he'll race, but we're not sure, as he shows no discomfort whatsoever while running. We're going to let him get miles and see how he does. No one on this team was prouder than Buddy... he's in wheel,
to the left in front of machine. His partner, in right wheel, is Swix , a two year old in training.

Bridge crossing

Stella's first bridge crossing didn't faze her... she's in left swing (behind left leader). The view is great but can't be photo'd too easily while running dogs.

Over the river and through the woods

The dogs were definitely wound up to run to Michigan today. It was Stella's first run over a bridge and her first run to Michigan. We ran at a steady speed of 12 mph, picking it up a bit to get all into a lope. Every dog did well and had fun on their 8.6 mile run.

When we came back we hooked up another ten (but one was pulling out of harness a bit too much, Josie) so we took nine to Florence and back, 6.5 miles. We chose that shorter distance for Buddy. He has a sensitive shoulder, but just loves to run. He shows no discomfort in running and looks like he's proud and happy. He is a rescue we took in last winter and his health has improved immensely.
Both Skinny and Buddy had a massage with Algyval on our return which they also both liked.
Skinny is such a great leader... alert, smart, thinking all the time. Sometimes he'll throw a curve
and take an unintended shortcut , but he thinks it's the best and shortest route... a thinking dog for sure.
The photo of ten shows Martin (Quest retiree) and his daughter , Yepa, running in wheel.

Happy trails and tails

Dogs show their confidence with their tails. Some of these dogs are a bit uncertain as they have not run this trail before or because there was truck traffic passing nearby. One man in a truck stopped to take some photos of the team. Someone said to me yesterday, "Boy, you people do EVERY thing up here!", meaning including running sled dogs, I guess. We ran 7 miles today and plan to go to Michigan tomorrow with two separate ten dog teams... that will be an eight mile run. Stella will get her first run to Michigan and her first chance to cross a bridge over the river.

After the run

This is after a six mile run... Lillen who has recovered with surgery (black dog) and Stella, the ten month old, Buffy on right has many miles.
In background is Martin, white dog, who was on a championship Quest team, is very happy to be still running at age eight. And Julie is pretty happy to be running dogs too.

Love these dogs

Sometimes visitors ask if each dog has a name. Actually each of these dogs is very individual... we know each dog's voice, of course each dog's name, their habits, their preferences, their fears.
They each respond slightly differently to situations. For instance, Medio, is spooked by people on the trail, so we're trying to get him into situations where people take photos, jump in front of us, etc so he won't have trouble in race situations. So far we're running into a few deer jumping out at us but they seem to know that' s more natural than people jumping in front.
Last year a large man with a long white beard (not Santa , but close), parked his car on highway, jumped out , ran over with his camera and Medio tried to crawl under his partner... took him whole run back to recuperate. Stella on the other hand, only ten months, and Sherpa, one year,
seem to take those kinds of things in stride. So right now we're in a conditioning phase... let them see all kinds of things that are different from our kennel trails.

On the road again

A bit warmer today(in the teens), we took ten dogs on a 6.5 mile run on the railroad grade... the rocks are sticking up so the dogs navigate around them... all were happy to go on a longer run, including Stella and Sherpa the yearlings. After returning, we then took six dogs on a three mile run.
A productive day in the kennel.

Frigid air continues

The frigid air continues, but in perspective of later winter low temps, this probably isn't too bad.
We've had some five below zero and windchills colder. Today we hope to run a six mile run.
This is a photo of a recent six dog... you can see Stella hasn't learned 'tighten up' yet as she pesters Lillen (who luckily is a very well mannered , experienced dog).

Season moves on

Stella had her first run with our teams and did very well. She's switching, for now, from the Man Mat harness system to the xback with necklines. She ran well with no problems. She's in right swing in photo (behind right leader). We'll gradually work her into more miles although she's already run a 13 mile run in Alaska. She's ten months old. Her cousin in right wheel,Sherpa, next to machine will be one year on Saturday and she's doing well, too.

Our trails are a bit of fun on the downhills, on the ATV and snow over leaves... slower than usual for safety and the dogs look back to see why I'm dragging behind them. We also run smaller teams in the icy stuff.

Stella meets her cousins

Today Stella had a chance to run free with her cousins... Skinny's granddaughter, Sherpa, and
Skinny's daughter, Kiddo. (Stella is actually Skinny's cousin so not sure if I named those correctly). She also played with Zoom, Frita's daughter. They're penned together now and all seems to be going well. Stella is very confident and is not afraid or shy with any of them. The one least receptive is Zoom but she's fine. Always makes me wonder if dogs can actually sniff something like the DNA of their close relatives and know when you're not one of theirs.

Stella loves to talk or yodel, very distinctive sound, kind of her editorial commentary about what's going on.

Stella by Starlight

Stella has come to visit us and train with us for the winter. She had a long flight from Alaska and was happy to see that she is with sled dogs again, although sleeping in my lap in the back seat was a good thing, she seemed to think. She's a beautiful ten month old pup, eager and happy.
Lillen is supervising his introduction to our kennel. Now we just need some good weather for running!

Ready to run

This is a photo of the dogs on a 28 mile run in November. We ran fourteen miles, rested one plus hours and ran back to the kennel. This was a long run for the pup, Sherpa, and she showed no signs of tiring, during or after the run. Our two leaders, Skinny and Liller, are used to this length of run, but we let Skinny ride on the ATV for a bit of the run as his back hurts him a bit.
When he knew we were close to home he was eager to be back in lead, so we hooked him up again.

Winter sets in

Today we're about nine degrees and snow expected. Dogs are very restless as haven't run since beginning of deer season. We're going to pick up a young dog today who will train with us for the winter. Photo later. Meanwhile our young Sherpa (will be a year next week) has been a little star, always eager, runs well in harness, minds well in her pen. Hoping she can run with Stella, the new pup. (Sherpa has about 120 miles so far and has run a divided 28 mile run.)