Harness Training Puppies

I am beginning to wonder if we are ever going to get a break from the extreme cold, temperatures are staying between -30 and -50f with most days being about -40f. I have taken advantage of the warmer -30 days to take the race team out on longer runs, and then on the colder days I have been trying to catch up on my sewing and other projects I have going. I spent part of our very short daylight hours yesterday and today harness training puppies. When harness training puppies the idea is to keep everything fun, not scary, and also to prevent them from chewing on things like their harness. I have been taking teams of 3 puppies and 4-5 adult dogs out at a time. The adults job is to set a good example, pull most of the weight so the pups don't have to, and of course keep the team moving in the right direction. This group of puppies is by far the easiest I have ever trained, they catch on quickly, haven't even tried chewing on anything, and just want to run and pull. I have been taking them on runs about 3 miles long and they come back wagging their tails still wanting more which is exactly what I want to see. I am looking forward to having these pups on my race team next year.
Below are a few pictures of a couple of the pups learning the ropes.

Tramp (L) and Charley (R) being really good and patiently
waiting to start the run. Their sister Jana looks on from her spot in
the dog yard, she ran with the team on the previous day.

Drift (7.5 month old pup) with Summit (an almost 2 year old adult)

Charley and tramp in wheel with drift on the left in front
of them about a mile into the run. 

Matrix during a quick break during yesterdays run, refusing to look at
me so that I can take her picture. I honestly think this dog knows what a camera
is, she will refuse to look at just about any camera but will look at you all you want if you
aren't holding one. 

A cold start to the new year

So far 2012 has been cold, with temperatures ranging from in the -40's on colder days to the -20's on warmer days. The cold weather hasn't slowed us down to much though, we've still been getting out with the dogs. Going on runs up to 36 miles and we've even started getting some of our pups into harness for the first time and going on 2.5 mile runs with them. It is a lot of fun watching pups grow up and become part of the team. They change so much in their first year of life it's amazing. They go from being blind, deaf , and unable to walk at birth to amazing athletes at just over a year old who can run 50-100 miles in a day.

Everything takes longer when its cold out, you have to put more gear on before going out side, let the truck run longer to warm up before driving anywhere, and last but not least put booties, coats and fox tails on all of the dogs before a run. The only thing that happens quickly when its this cold out is things freezing. At -40 a cup of boiling water will turn to steam instantly when thrown into the air. -40 is also cold enough to freeze bubbles before they can pop.

This is my friend Jana, she went on a 20 mile dog run
with me on Monday, and about 8 miles from home tipped
her sled over and fell in some overflow while crossing spinach
creek.  we were able to get some dry clothes on her but she had a
mostly damp cold ride home. It was -20 when we started the run and
-30 when we got home about 2.5 hours later.
The photo below is of Jana's pants after we got back to the cabin
She had so much ice on them she could hardly bend her legs and had to
stand in front of the heater for a very long time just to thaw them out
enough to get them off. Due to good cold weather gear and only a 8 mile
run to get home she managed to escape the incident with little to no frost bite.

Here Rogue shows of her fancy coat that is designed to
keep her belly and inner thighs warm and protected from the wind
while running as these are some of the areas more prone to frostbite
on female dogs. Swamper the tall handsome guy next to her is wearing
a fox tail to help protect the sheath of his penis from getting frostbitten
while running in cold temperatures. I sew Velcro to both ends of the
fox tails so that I can quickly attach them to their harnesses while gearing
up the team. 

White Mountains Christmas

My husband Robert and I spent Christmas Eve and morning in the white mountains this year with most of our dogs. We left the dog truck at about 5pm on christmas eve and mushed the dogs out about 16 miles to the moose creek cabin where we spent the night, it was a very hilly run so every one got a good work out including us mushers who ran up most of the hills behind the dogs. I got my christmas present early this year so that I could use it on the trip, I got a Piko headlamp made by Lupine from Robert. It is an awesome gift and one I will put to very good use, it has 750 lumens of light so compared to the other head lamp I was using which only had 120 lumens it's a bit like turning on the sun. I really appreciated this head lamp on the run out to the cabin since it was all done in the dark.

For this trip we split the race team in half I took 5 dogs and Robert took 6, and then we had two if our 7 month old pups (Jana&Drummer) running loose with the team. They spent most of their time running up in front of the team playing with each other. They did both of the 16 mile runs like they were nothing and didn't even look tired after day number two. I think I have the makings of an awesome race team on my hands with this litter.

We did the run back to the truck on christmas morning and then finished off our day by having a delicious dinner with our friends at Dome Creek Kennel.

My team consisting of: BP (lead) Rapid and Rogue (Swing)
Summit and Chaos (wheel) and Drummer and Jana ( running
loose up front)

BP sleeping in his straw next to the cabin to help block the wind. We had a very
windy night with temperatures ranging from -20F to 0F the
dogs handled it just fine. The star and aurora viewing
were absolutely fantastic.

Getting ready to leave the cabin in the morning.
Roberts team consisted of: Pip and Adidas (lead) Swamper and
Chupa (swing) Sierra and Molly (wheel)

Robert petting Chupa after the run.

Solstice 100

I realize that this post is a few days over due and I would like to start by apologizing for that, it has been a crazy hectic week. This past weekend the team and I ran our first 100 mile race and had a blast and learned a lot. This was a very fun and relaxed race consisting of two 50 mile runs with a 4 hour lay over between them, the perfect way to start my racing career. I have wanted to race with my sled dogs ever since I was 5 years old and I finally got too, and now I am hooked! It was everything I thought it would be and then some.
The team did beautifully, I am so proud of them. They did the 100 miles in 11 hours and 46 minutes coming in 9th place out of 12 teams. Not to bad for our first long race. Previously the longest race we'd run was the Hamburger run which is about 30 miles long. We crossed the finish line at 3:08 am sunday morning with a happy team of 9 dogs. We started the race at about 11 am  saturday with 10 dogs. I dropped Chupa at the half way check point because her feet were a little sore because of a few splits in the skin between her toes, she didn't let it slow her down though and came into the check point with a tight tug line and wagging tail, but it was in her  best interest in the long run to have her wait with the handlers with the dog truck for the rest of the team to run the last 50 miles with out her.
The trail was absolutely fantastic! it was hard packed and all the over flow was dry on the way out. On the way back some of the over flow spots were a little wet but not enough to be of any concern. 10 minutes after leaving the check point on the second half of the race my wheel dogs went for a little swim in the Chena River after a musher ahead of us broke the ice out accidentally on one of the river crossings. It wasn't a big deal, I stopped the team and they were able to easily climb out. I dried them off the best I could and then put dog coats on them for a few hours. Further down the trail it got to warm and I had to remove their coats to keep them from over heating.  It was -10 f when we got to the check point and +20 f  when we finished the race, a little warm for the dogs which contributed to a slightly longer run on the second half of the race. We did the first 50 miles in 5 hours and 17 minutes and the second one in 6 hours and 29 minutes.
The photo at the top of this post is of my team at about the 20 mile mark on the first stretch of the race, it was taken by Carol Falcetta. You can see some of her other photos of the race by going to this link http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150419239047064.356662.673387063&typ e=3
And you can go to this link for the official race times and to see how other mushers placed http://www.trdma.org/solstice100.htm

With only 4 hours of day light on race day this was my
view for most of the race. This was taken during the second half of the
 race. Note the coats I put on the wheel dogs Sierra
and Chaos after they fell through the hole in the ice.

The race is on!

Here at the kennel we have been waiting to hear if the Solstice 100 race in Two Rivers Alaska is on and we just heard its a go. It was up in the air for awhile as to whether to cancel the race or not due to lack of snow, but over the past week we have gotten enough snow to make the trail safe. The race is run in two 50 mile runs with a four hour layover at the Angel Creek Lodge in between runs. For more information on the race please visit http://www.trdma.org/solstice100.htm

I am excited and nervous about the race, it is my first 100 mile race, but I hear its a good one to start with. I will be running 10 dogs in the race: Adidas, Rapid, BP, Chupa, Swamper, Pip, Summit, Sierra, Rogue, and Chaos. The photo at the top of todays post if of the race team on a 40 mile training run sunday with my friend Hollie Ann in the basket. The team looks great and I have no doubt we will finish the race with a happy team still ready to run.

Pictures From The Trail

Over the past few days the temperature has warmed from a brisk -20f to a very balmy +20f, and with the warmer weather has come more snow. During the past three days we have gotten about 2-3 inches of fresh snow, while not much it has helped to smooth out our rough trails a little. The dogs don't seem to mind a bumpy trail but my knees and feet are rather tired of all the bouncing and   jarring.

  I have slowly increased the dogs mileage over the past week from about 20 miles a run to just over 30 miles a run and they are loving it. They look great and return home from running still wagging their tails and barking to go. This group of canines is undoubtedly one of the most athletic I have gotten the privilege of training in my 16 seasons of running dogs. I hope to be doing 40 mile runs with them by the end of the week.

   With all of this new snow and the warmer temperatures it is necessary to put booties on all of the dogs feet before every run. Dog booties are  made out of a fabric called cordura and are worn on the dogs feet kinda like socks, they are held in place by a strip of Velcro that goes around the dogs leg and attaches to its self. They help protect their feet from rough snow and ice and also wet snow that will stick to the hair on their feet and pack into snowballs between their toes which can rub and create painful sores and splits that will some times bleed. While it can be time consuming and very costly at just over a dollar a boot to bootie up the whole team it is well worth it to protect their feet. A bootie is only good for about 100 miles before it wears through and becomes useless, needless to say we go through a lot of booties in a season.

  Some dogs have what mushers call "good feet" which means that they don't tend to get snow balls or sores on their feet and their feet require very little maintenance to keep them healthy. While other dogs have "bad feet" which means they are more prone to getting snowballs in their feet and usually require more maintenance like dog booties on every run.

  On long runs I will stop the dogs about every two hours for a snack, its just a quick stop only about 5 minutes or so. The snacks aren't very big only about a 1/4 of a pound or so of meat per dog. I give them things like frozen beef, fish, or chicken, I try to avoid really fatty snacks especially when its warm (above 0F)  that would make them sluggish. These short breaks allow me to briefly check dogs and make sure they all still have their booties on and what not.

 I have added quite a few pictures to the end of this post in hopes to give you an idea of what I see on a daily basis during my training runs behind the kennel located northwest of Fairbanks Alaska.  These photos were all taken over the past several days, I hope you enjoy them.

Fading Daylight Hours

Well we were supposed to have a race today but it was cancelled for the third year in a row for lack of snow. So instead of a 10 mile race I went on a 20 mile run with the dogs, which of course was a lot of fun. We are slowly opening up more and more trails  which is always fun and exciting.

Sun rise and set are only about 5 hours apart this time of year so we don't have a whole lot of daylight hours which makes taking pictures a bit more difficult, so consequently I only have one picture to go with this post, I will work on getting some more soon.

Having a quick break at mile 10 of 20 today.

Weather lately has been chilly staying close to -20f, however we did have a few days of about -5f which were really enjoyable. The weather forecast is calling for warmer temperatures and more snow this coming week which is really good news, we could really use some more snow to make running larger teams possible. With the current condition of parts of the trail running more than 6 or 7 dogs at a time really isn't a good idea. The tussocks are still sticking through in places making it rough going.