Spring Cleaning and Spring Snow

Oakley (this is from last spring around this same time when she was pregnant)









Maddie







Kuz and June having a good time
_________________________________________________


Yesterday was a big cleaning day in the kennel. From re-bedding (adding straw) often to their houses and from feeding lots of bones and raw meant, there was plenty to clean! I pulled the tractor up into the yard (well okay, I instructed that the tractor be pulled into the kennel...I didn't actually drive it) and started filling the front-end loader full of junk. It took me allll afternoon to get everything done. The dogs always love fresh straw and I felt good about getting everything clean. Everything was dry (finally!) so it made the job pretty easy. We also used the tractor to back-scrape the ground in the kennel. We do this every spring and ever fall before it freezes. It fills in the holes and acts as a giant rake to clean leaves and sticks that have accumulated. By the end of the day, everything looked fresh and clean. It definitely put me in the mood for summer!
.....
And then it started snowing this morning.
.....
The dogs have had 3 weeks off since we last ran at Lost Lake, the last race of the season. The last race was at a perfect time because it has been way too warm to run ever since. In those 3 weeks, spring break-up has come and gone. Everything is thoroughly dry (just barely muddy) and it has been around 60. Anyway, because of the warm weather and because the season is over anyway, I haven't been running any teams. I've been playing a lot of fetch with everyone and giving them plenty of free time in the field and play pen, but they're still pretty bored. Today when I noticed it was only 34 degrees by 11am, I decided to run.
The first team was Oakley, the four pups and Fox. The second team was the rest of the hounds and Brew. I should have put Brew with the sibes and Fox in the big team, but I wanted a good leader with the sibes. We did 2.5 miles and everyone was awesome. They've been so calm and quiet for the rest of the afternoon. I fed everyone dinner and I haven't heard a peep.
This snow wont stick, but the cool down was nice so that the dogs could get some exercise. I'll run them throughout the summer every two weeks or so just to keep them in the zone and moving. I plan to get the girls swimming, which will be great for them.

I have a few projects left, but it has to warm up again first. The dogs are loving it though...because as long as it stays cold, I'll be keep running them.