BY THE WAY, THIS IS STAR. YOU'LL SEE WHY...
What has 75 and a half training miles and chases squirrels? My professor! His goal is the Boston Marathon. Funny joke, eh? Well, it's half true, but of course I'm talking about my main team. I am loving these hounds and appreciating them more by the minute. We ran at Lost Lake Halloween weekend aka the Midwestern Tsunami Weekend and everyone kicked butt. Fox, Ketyone, Freddie and Brewer pulled me through the sand and puddles at 17mph for 4.4 miles. I used Petunia, Oak and Sosa boy in the structured run to add some excitement and head on passing. I added Jockey and May to that team for power. By the end of the weekend, I had tired dogs in the truck and a giant smile on my face. Bring on the snow!
This weekend I'm taking the kennel up to train with Ken and Lori Chezik. They are great friends of ours and I'll be taking four of their pups for the winter. Their trail system connects to state land, so I can't wait to use it again. Fox is actually their "retired" main North American leader, so it'll be a little reunion.
I've begun to make the switch to quad training. I had been running the rig almost exclusively this season, but it's time to switch to the motor so that we can add more speed.
Oh, on an excellent side note, the puppies have a new trick. It's called "chew through the fence and run around the kennel eating food from other bowls before that dog notices." Makes for a good time, really. Let me mention that my Brother Dog would never think to partake in suck barbaric practices, but the girls are pretty sure they are alive for the sole purpose of racking up points. The pulling? Simply a fringe benefit.
Last week, the one and only Star Face pulled a small corner of fence away from the post. She pranced around and woke up the entire kennel, just being Star. A few loops of wire were tied and she was fooled. It’s been a week. Tonight I got home late. It was already dark. Everyone was hungry and pretty pissed off. I let Kuz and June out for a few minutes while I filled their bowls. I fed Brew, Sosa, Rebbie and Klonnie on the way back to putting Kuz and June away. I saw two dogs in their kennel. I began to shut the door. Kuz came up behind me. I was confused. I wondered if someone had spiked the Kool-Aid. I felt the presence of more fluffy tails than the number currently living in that particular kennel. Then Star barked at me…from inside Kuzin’s kennel. She was ready to run amok (amok, amok, amok!). Kuz and June looked on in disbelief as May, Jockey and Star began to eat THEIR food. June was all set to chew on a baby for dinner instead of arguing over kibble. I called to the girls and they came bounding out, happy as could be. Star was daring me to chase her. Brother Dog looked on and howled from inside the puppy kennel. He had no idea how his sisters magically transported themselves THROUGH the fence- it simply wasn’t fair. He kept howling.
I had a little talk with the girlies, explaining to them A)they couldn’t leave their cute brother all alone and B) they were not allowed out unless INVITED out. Thank you, Star. Anyway, I temporarily blocked off the hole with a wooden bench and fed them dinner. I had one last thing to do in the kennel—clean Freddie’s pen. Freddie is their favorite. It’s probably because she’s a sweet, crazy idiot who likes to pounce on them, but the babies love Freddie. Her kennel door was hardly open when, Star leading the way, 1,2,3 little Seppalas came slithering under the gate. Freddie was delighted, naturally. She began pouncing. Brother was stunned once more. He laid down by the gate and hoped it would suck him under also.
After Fred was put away, Star led the amigos back into their own kennel, where one little boy was relieved to have company once more. Like I said, it’s a great party trick. NOT. We re-wired the bottom, but Star watched us do it…so she’s probably figuring out a way through right now. The force is strong in that one. Brother on the other hand…..
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