Portraits

This is Evalina. She nearly died when she was born, was shifted aside by her mother on a 90 degree day. She was virtually lifeless and we massaged her, fed her milk replacer for 3 days and now she is a 'wild thing'. She met the porcupine yesterday. Usually shy, I wish I had been there to see her 'meet' it as she's more likely to hold back , although she runs with wild abandon. She has trouble with other dogs and needs to be shifted from pen to pen as she gets too dominant for any of them to tolerate for long. They seem to sigh when they see her coming to 'visit'. Being that she only had five quills, perhaps she just reached out toward it and then moved back.
Cute little gal.

Free running and Good News! and Porcupines :(

First, the good news!! We think we have a handler coming for the winter, a young woman from California who is interested in sled dogs. More on this as it happens! Wow, will be great !

We're enjoying my daughter and granddaughter right now, wish the weather were better for them, but nice to have them here.

Free running is the only way for fun right now as this snow looks 'good', but it is wet and has an underbase of ice and mush. It's good to be a dog in this stuff as humans need Yaktrax for the hidden ice. It has prettied up the pens a bit if it doesn't all melt (which at the moment it is doing). This is Medio, in lead, Zoom, Kiddo and Sherpa . Lillen and Yo are looking on.

No sleds yet, wow, very late! No ATV either as too slippery. The dogs are running in families and they love it. Of course this is a 'training' that they can get out and run free. This will require some retraining once we can run hooked up again.

Another drawback is that Evalina ran off and met a porcupine yesterday. Just 5 quills, we were lucky, as I was able to remove them, whew! Not a good weekend to have to call a Vet.

Herman

Herman is a quiet but tough young male dog. He is first in line for food, but knows he is tied while feeding. He hangs back and lets the others go for free runs first and then he takes his turn. He's a great wheel dog, easy to harness, never quits or tires.

Yaktrax

This is the weather for Yaktrax. The pens are so icy from rain and foot prints frozen in them that this morning the dogs were having trouble running in their pens. Twenty dogs came out to play in different combos. This is Buffy outrunning pals Medio and Rosie. They are competitive and cheer from in the pens, awaiting their own turns to 'win'.

Winter Wonderland

Finally, snow, again! But, high 30's tomorrow could make this awfully messy.

This is just after dogs' breakfast this a.m., still pretty. Just the beginning of many footprints today. :) If yesterday's rain had been snow, we would be buried! This is about three or four inches , at most.

Merry Christmas, 2006! Snow!

Merry Christmas, 2006!

This has been a busy year for our kennel. We had excellent training and while we hoped for two races, because of an accident in our racing family, we had just one race. But it's not all about racing for us, anyway. We enjoy training and running with the dogs, giving them great days. Any racing is a plus. This year we are looking at, possibly, two races again. (Yes, I know I said, no more races, last year... ha ha!)

Photo: Liller, recovering in her 'required' coat on the front porch , with Sulatna's required ramp, as well.

This fall has been challenging, mostly with weather and dog health related issues. Several dogs are still recovering from surgery,illness, which requires extra attention and trails have been either too slippery or muddy (or full of hunters) for safe ATV training. But we did get some good miles prior to deer hunting. Now the dogs are all READY for some action again! Now we need some more people! as well.

This timeout is for Christmas and then we HOPE to be back to 'normal'. This morning , after a DELUGE of rain like I've never seen before, yesterday, (lakes in pens), there is a snow cover and it's still snowing. Of course, that means I get to make trails and shovel out pens in addition to all that must be accomplished on the day before Christmas Eve , ho ho! I don't think the temp is cold enough for the 'lakes' in pens to be frozen, so we will have a wet day, as well.

Wishing for all, a Merry Christmas! and lots of good days for dogs and people , alike, in 2007!
Wondering if weather will come back to 'earth' this year?

Racing Season

http://www.dogsled.com/sheep-mountain-150/index.html

Race season is on, in some places. This is the link to the Sheep Mountain 150 mile race in Alaska. There are fifty great teams.

We're looking at a race close to home (in Antigo) on January 27th, probably just one team.
Anyone want to race it?? Anyone want to be a handler?? Room and not so great, board, (bread and peanut butter) for a handler :) But guaranteed lots of furry face hugs.

Busy front porch

Since we've been having rain (mud) several of the dogs share the front porch... Skinny, Liller,
Sulatna's ramp, for in and out without stairclimbing, and this is a photo of Buddy, visiting his pals on the porch. Liller had some problems with her stitches so she is back to house rest. Sulatna is still on 'bed rest'.

It's good to see Buddy looking so well as when he first arrived as a rescue he was losing his fur, he was skinny, had mange, had wounds and was limping severely. Now his fur is beautiful and he only limps once in awhile (colder weather). What a handsome guy!

Aliy's team out of Willow last March

Happy dogs enroute to Nome!

Patience, Patients! Dreaming of Alaska.

Still have two patients recovering here. Sulatna goes outside on a leash about every four hours.
She's doing very well , but would like her stitches removed. That will occur on December 20th, so it's a bit of a wait for her. She is running in her dreams.

Liller is in her recovery pen, running laps (try to stop her!) Still no answers on Skinny, who is still not eating.

The weather is rain, slush, mud this morning. It has been sunny and 40's and now will be in the 30's with rain/snow mixes. We'll all be happy to see cold temps return.

Attaching a photo we took outside of Willow Restart of Iditarod last year, just for fun, to see dogs and snow :) Noah Burmeister's team from Nome.

Sulatna update

We received the histology report yesterday and Sulatna's bandages were removed.
The tumor is malignant and is called a peripheral nerve sheath tumor. Good things are that it is slow growing and that it was outside the abdominal wall. Not so good, is that not all could be removed and that this type of tumor does usually regrow.

This is a link to info on this type of tumor in dogs:http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/72219.htm

Another good thing is how many walks we get with her under the moon, on the starry, snowy trails and she enjoys every walk. She wants to run, but is restrained for 21 days. She does not like the E collar that is necessary to keep her from licking the incision . I have ordered a new type of safety collar that allows better vision, more freedom, etc.

Snowing, then warmup

It has been snowing, intermittently, for a few days. Yesterday the windchills were below zero and the winds were bitter. The dogs have been enjoying sausage soup at bedtime. But, Saturday we are due for temps near 40 degrees.

Sulatna is due for a vet check this afternoon. She is an excellent, although sad, patient. She is only allowed upstairs and she misses her basement den. She will be restricted in activity for 21 days. For a free running, happy spirited dog , this is a major adjustment. We do not yet have the histology report on her mass removal.

The other current house dogs are also responding well to the tight quarters and furniture barriers separating them from each other. The Christmas tree will have to wait as, at the moment, that corner is a hospital ward for Sulatna.

Tough and smart Liller (in photo) is one of the restricted house dogs. She will be very happy to rejoin her family soon. They are posturing for dominance in her absence and I've moved them around a bit. She'll sort it out when she's back to health. The good news is that her most recent surgery results showed no more malignancy.

Update on Sulatna

Sulatna had her surgery yesterday and the prognosis is uncertain. It was a large soft mass that was growing and we will await results from the lab. She was stable post surgery and I will drive to Green Bay to bring her home today (accompanied by snow!). She is such a pretty, sweet girl, I couldn't resist taking this photo prior to leaving yesterday in early a.m. We had just gone for a walk under the full moon, down the snowy trail . Her blue eyes do not show up in this photo but they are bright and so intelligent. Yesterday was a long day awaiting results.

Sulatna Surgery

Sulatna is scheduled for surgery today for removal of an unidentifiable large growth in her rib cage area. While first analyses determined it to be a possible hematoma, it has not absorbed and has grown. This will be extensive surgery for her. Her doctor is driving her to the surgery at an out of town referral center. Pretty nice! Sulatna is twelve years old.

The photo is of her playing with one of the Santa toys she 'shares' with Chena.

Herbie Nayokpuk, In Memoriam

Herbie Nayokpuk passed away on Saturday, December 2, 2006. This is the Anchorage Daily News article: http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/ap_alaska/story/8462792p-8356725c.html

Herbie Nayokpuk, The Shishmaref Cannonball

As a newcomer to Iditarod a few years ago, I was thrilled to meet Herbie Nayokpuk and his wife, Elizabeth. I had read many stories about Herbie as a racer and was just happy to have an opportunity to speak with them.

Now Herbie is in a race with life, having suffered a major stroke. This is an article from The Anchorage Daily News. http://www.adn.com/iditarod/hall/story/8456726p-8349721c.html

Herbie said an Inupiaq prayer at Susan Butcher's funeral in September. I'll find a photo of Herbie and Elizabeth that I had taken and post it later.