Sarcasm and Sled Dogs

"tell them i'm not crazy, tell them i'm not mad, twas only six pints of that cider i had"

2012-02-12T19:03:00.000-08:00

An update to end all updates.

This season hasn't been a season at all. We've raced once. It was Atlanta, and we won it, but that's the only time we've left home. I like running dogs just to run dogs, sure, but I always run with racing on my mind; with no races to train for, I haven't been pushing them. I've only had them out twice since Atlanta. It's hard to train a race team when the trails are garbage. Run them on junk and they learn to run like junk. If you're not simulating a race situation (speed-wise, etc) then you're not training. That's just how I see it. If I can get my hands on a bike, I'm not opposed to running one or two at once to keep them moving, BUT I done trying to put 4, 5 or 6 of them on the rig when I don't even have a trail surface safe enough to let 'em open up. If I have to go out there and ride the brake for five miles, what good is that? Wouldn't hurt 'em any if it were October, but late January into February? I can't ask them to hold a race trail after that.

That being said, shitty weather happens. Hasn't happened this fully in years, but such is life. Kalkaska IS the first weekend of March though, and I absolutely HAVE to field a team for that, no question. They've had a few weeks off, but if it's looking good up there, I can get the main group out a few times and just enter them as a sport team.

What's really disappointing is that I wanted to use this season as an experience builder for Bren in front and for London in general so that I would have Bren as a main dog next year with Heini and London started by now. It's still possible. For those to two alone I need to at least get back on track for training....races be damned.

There's talk of Belding this weekend if LL doesn't go. That's not a bad drive and we might swing it. Maybe I could squeeze in a Wednesday/Thursday/Saturday this week and BAZINGA, we'd be back on track. I could keep them at two-day-a-weeks until early May. (for real). Usually by late February it has been a long, cold, strict winter (doing nothing but training and racing), but this year just feels fake....I could use my leftover conviction to finish polishing up Bren and London. AND, if Atlanta was any indication, Roman was(IS)on his way to maturing into one helluva sled dog.

Here's to running mutts in spite of everything.

dirty little freaks

2011-12-11T14:00:00.000-08:00

Routine is the best way to train a dog. Consistency pays off!

We do a lot of manual turnarounds early in the season, and I always say and do the same thing. I stop the rig, walk up behind the leaders, say their names and then "C'mon, we're done." (don't know why I decided on that...it's just what I say).

Today we did a 3-mile loop but they missed the last turn back to the truck and had us headed down the whole thing again. I had a little female in back who would not have been able to handle the six full miles (Eve), but I couldn't actually stop them and do anything because there was just enough snow to make things interesting. Figured it was worth a shot so I used our normal "whoaaa" command anyway. They stopped. Then, even though we were stopped, I KNEW they'd never hold still long enough for me to safely turn us and make it back aboard the rig, so out of exasperation, I yelled "Knock it off - we're DONE!"

Joppy and Petunia turned the team ON A DIME. Full 6dog team, leaders with a neckline and all, and not ONE dog even so much as ended up on the wrong side of the line. I'm not saying we could do it again in a million years, and I'm not saying it wouldn't have been easier if they hadn't missed the turn in the first place, but ummm AWESOME? I think yes.

It's days like this, you know?

thomas was a congressman with closets full of skeletons and dresses that he wore on friday nights

2011-11-06T15:13:00.000-08:00

I don't even know where to start. Once we get a few 3 or 4 day weeks in, these mutts just blow me away. When the training is inconsistent (because of the weather thus far), I can tell we don't progress like we should. BUT, after one day on, one day off and two days on, they're on fire.

We have Manistee this coming weekend (Nov 12 and 13), so I absolutely MUST get two days in this week. It'll probably be Wednesday/Thursday.

I ran May and Jop up front this weekend (I haven't had Joppy in front hardly at all this season because she didn't show any desire to lead early-on), and they were both PERFECT. Jop took every turn and set the speed.

I let (er, I mean made) a friend use Tune and Brew for a run this morning. They moved along at a good clip and minded their business, per usual. I think he'll use them at Manistee....and perhaps get hooked and demand to drive 'em for the rest of the season.

My big team is a little slower right now than I'd like, but I think they'll speed up a little on their own in the next week or two. I've been working so far to keep them down around 16mph, but it's time to let them open up. I'll see how we do at Manistee and then try to put them on the 4wheeler for a few weeks (we'd be into December by then believe it or not!) before the snow flies. Even being a few miles per hour off, they run so hard and behave so well, I could pretty much care less about speed right now :-)

I don't think I'd be this worried about speed if it weren't for the race next weekend, so I have to step back and realize, no, we don't appear to be at REAL race speed yet BUT and don't need to be for another two months. I'm content and I'm not going to get all flustered over a 2mile dryland!

earl had a baby, baby was her name. knew she was crazy, tiny was the same.

2011-10-18T19:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm tired but I want to write before I don't want to write, so here it goes.

Ran twice last weekend. Had to run out of trail head, which I typically avoid at all costs. I bet it started a bunch of bad habits, but to hell with it; we'll be on totally new trails before long. There's a sharp turn right out of the gate, so instead of running my full 6dog, I split them up into two 3 dogs. It actually worked great. It kept the speed down and let them really lean in and work. Rachel and Bren led one team on Saturday and Heini and Fred led the second.

Rachel isn't a driving leader so that was a lot of ask of her. She kept her head down, but she really didn't want to be up there doing that much work. Like I said in an earlier post, I've used her up front already this season and she rocked, but that was in front of the full 6dog. This was slower and a little more stressful, so I made sure to move her back on Sunday.

Sunday I let Bren lead again, this time next to Fred and in front of both the boys. Speaking of driving leader, Brennan is pure gold. She literally drove them hard enough to pull a tree. Yes, we actually cleared the trail when the rig got hung up on a downed tree.

The second team that day was Tune in front of Heini and Rachel. Heini needs the occasional break and Rachel was also happy to be behind someone. We would have added some speed with Heini next to Tune, but it was good to let her relax a little in back and just pull.

May has been leading wonderfully so far. I really think she'll do wonders at Jill's kennel this winter.

Hmmmm other news? We've been feeding twice a day. That paired with having the whole week off should get some weight on everyone. Rachel is a little scrawny these past few weeks.

And I suppose that is all for now.

there's always money in the banana stand

2011-10-05T20:24:00.001-07:00

October 11th. Look it up.

she said, “look me up when you get back to town.” “look you up,” i said. “hell, i’m gonna hunt you down.”

2011-10-05T19:36:00.000-07:00

This is probably the most overdone topic in the history of the world, but I'm going to write about my dogs' names. Deal with it.

Monsters I've named: Connor, Brewer, Brennan, Brother, London, Roman, Rebel, May, Eve, Elsie, Oakley, Jockey. Oh, and years ago there was a certain houndy son of a gun I called Grover. I think they all kind of go together come to think of it. They're all rather dignified and strong, but not clunky or contrived.

Names in my kennel that I would never consider in a million years but that I've come to like: Rachel, Fox, Petunia, Heini. They're sharp with tons of personality. Fox is a super common name, but it doesn't bother me. The others are quirky and cute.

I think Keytone is an awesome name for a dog. Sharp and completely unique.

Boring names: Juneau, Aurora, Star, Klondike. All so overdone. I actually named all of them except for Star, but I was 11. Give me a break.

I guess Freddie should be added to the "I would never consider this name" group. For a male, lame. But for a female? It just about works.

Oh, and in total disclosure, I should add Sosa, Delta and Trotter to dogs I've named....and summarily sold.

Let's see...what about meaning? Connor was named because of the Irish connotations. Brewer and Delta were named after places in Maine. London I like because it's rugged...as in Jack London. Grover, Eve, Brennan and Roman just came to me. One of those weird things where you look at the beastie and just know. Kenny and Lori have (had?) a Brother. He was a leader and a pretty cool guy. I just thought it was a fun name....and plus, my Brother dog has three sisters, so he really is THE brother. All of the boring names were my being a little girl with dreams of Alaska and all the snow in the word on my body; they sounded so noble and adventurous back then. Oakley, May and London were names I'd liked for a while and just needed a dog for them. I thought of Reb specifically for him, same with Jockey (now Joppy) and Elsie. Trotter started out as Johnny Walker, to be called Johnny, because I wanted to play along with the "liquor cabinet" theme my friend has. BUT, then I decided to be all witty and call him Johnny Trotter, because he was a sled dog and all, you know. But THEN, he wouldn't run for a damn so I have him to my dad. He called him Clyde, but I hated it....I sold him as Trotter because Clyde is a dumb name and I couldn't possibly let my father win. And Sosa was, oh lordy, this a terrible note to end on...Sosa was named for Sammy Sosa because, ummm, he's an incredible black athlete. But when the buyer asked what his name meant, I just said he was a sports legend. Politically correct, for the win.

What's interesting to me is that Kenny and Lori give the weirdest names, but they usually fit well enough. I don't change the dog's name after he's had a season on him, because usually they know it by then, but I do change a yearling's name. Before I had that rule (more of a guideline, really...), I tried to change Rachel's, but I kept accidentally calling her Rachel anyway. I never bothered to change Heini's because I hadn't planned to keep her. By the time I decided I wanted her, she was Heini to me. I was also going to change Freddie's, but she knew it so well I didn't bother. Brennan (Tazzy), London (Elf) and Roman (Coty) all got new and better names, though!

the incredibles

2011-10-05T18:11:00.000-07:00

if you wanna impress me, baby, here's my plan, all you gotta do is put a drink in my hand

2011-10-05T17:30:00.000-07:00

For anyone who saw a few weird posts that were in no way related to dogs, those were on purpose. I had to turn in some work for a class, but I have no word processor on my computer, so I typed everything into the blog and turned it in like that. Ahhhh modern technology.

We were up at Lost Lake this past weekend and it was a blast, per usual. I only got one run in, but it was a good one. I've got to slow them down a tad until we get a few more miles because the speed is a little much, especially throwing it at London all at once.

Eve has continued to be awesome in harness, and she behaved beautifully the whole weekend.

Mr. Mystery Monster came home last night! He hailed from Pennsylvania (but is out of Kenny and Lori's kennel) and he has already seemingly adjusted perfectly. He's so damn sweet. I'm already sold on him, and I have good reason to believe he's going to be an incredible asset. His puppy name is Coty, but I'm thinking he's a Roman.

Good news on the Siberian front. A great MUSH member and owner of Oak's brothers will be leasing May and Jop for the season. I'm happy about it because that way they get plenty of training AND racing. I'm still him-hawing about Tune and Bruce. I could lease them out together or keep them and run them with Beaver. Star could possibly go with them to make a 3 dog. We'd still have Brother and Oak. I haven't completely made up my mind on that second chunk of dogs....still chewing it over.

I'd like to get 3 days in this coming weekend. Next weekend (22 and 23) is the training run at Kalkaska. I'm looking forward to the good ole All Seasons and a nice dip in the hot tub!

it's a white flag, it's a stop sign, it's the last long drag on a marlboro light...

2011-10-02T11:40:00.000-07:00

Six runs in and I already feel like this season is off to an awesome start!

Beyond the run at the Vineyards, our official start was September 24. That morning I ran on the road with the rig and used Tune and Heini in front of Rachel and London. It was my first time driving London and I was immediately blown away. We did 2 miles on the nose.

I loaded up that afternoon and headed up to Gary's, mostly to get London some truck experience. I ran teams that night and again in the morning on just a quick quarter/half mile loop.

We did a lot of sitting last week....it literally rained all day, every day, but we have certainly made up for it this weekend! I've had the main team out three times and everyone else got out at least once. Friday night (in the rain!) I ran the main team, minus London (just in case something happened between the almost darkness and not being able to stop; didn't want to put him in a bad situation), led by Heini and Bren, and then a full Sibe team with May, Star, Jop and Oak.

Got my butt outta bed Saturday morning and ran the full hound team (London included), led by Bren and Fred, then another full Sibe team led by May and Jop with Brother and Star in back.

THEN, this morning (Sunday) I...you guessed it, ran the full hound team, led by Fred and Rachel (both were GREAT), and used Tune and Fox in front of Brew and Eve to ease Evie into rig training. She drove like mad! I was really impressed.

Busy, busy! I might be able to get out Wednesday night, and other than that, I plan to run Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Lost Lake. We started with a shaky two miles, went back down to one mile for a few runs, and they really got their wind. This morning we did two absolutely no problem, so I'll probably stick to all two-milers at Lost Lake.

i could get a broken jaw from being in a fight, i know it's evening when day turns to night

2011-09-12T19:29:00.000-07:00

Got some miles on the monsters! We ran up in Manistee on Sunday, Sept 11. The trail was not quite 2 miles, which was perfect anyway because it was warm and we hadn't been out yet.

The host kennel ran first so I could ride along and see the trail. Her team did well and her new leader is a nice little female - not too far away from Rachel, I don't think. We each only brought one team, so I went next. It was heating up fast, so I took water and stopped I think four times (only watered once) to be extra cautious.

The whole point of going up there was to scout a new trail that's been put in at a winery called Douglas Valley Vineyards. It was SUCH a neat spot. The trail's just in and around the apple orchard, so there was plenty of gee/haw work. It was a lot to ask of the first run, but they all drove great and everyone came in happy. I had Heini and Tune in front, Rachel in the middle and Fred and Bren in wheel. I've got to get Bren down a little before I really start putting miles on her. It'll probably be another two weeks before it's cool enough, so we've got time.

The good news? Thanks to the hard work of the host kennel and some positive reviews, GLSDA has slated a dryland RACE (!) there for November 12 and 13. I'm pumped. I've never even done a legit dryland, so I've got to make sure everyone's up to speed and ready for that weekend. A reason to train hard right from the get-go...I like it!

And the title....it's a line from a Proclaimers song. Look that shit up.

it's almost perfectly legitimate

2011-08-30T18:30:00.000-07:00

We’re back at it. Training updates will be coming shortly. If I don’t manage to run monsters this weekend, I’ll aim for next Thursday, September 8.

If you’re curious as to why I don’t ever bother posting over the summer, it’s because I’m always drunk. That was a joke. I’m not always drunk. Sometimes I’m just buzzed.

Fine, fine, I’ll stop.

But anyway, just to reestablish who I am and who exactly you might be, here we go. I’m still Annie – and by this I do not mean that I’m “Annie the Non Mover”. As for you? I’m stumped….but I know this much: you’re at least mildly interested in occasionally reading about what goes on in this crazy kennel of mine. And see, if your interest is only intermittent and rather lackluster, then why in the world would I write more often than that? My sporadic posting, motherfuckers, it’s entirely your fault.

I’ll have more professional days, worry not. The occasional post is guaranteed to have depth and breadth. There might even be entire passages where I forget to insult you, my not-so-loyal reader. That being said, this is your annual warning – if you can’t handle receiving only a handful of venom-laced posts a month, or if you think “sarcasm” is a jerk’s excuse to be an asshole, then this blog is better left unvisited; mostly because you’re entirely right about the latter and the former is my proven track record.

I do suppose that’s it for now. The dog animals are acting crazy with the cooler temps…today stayed around 75. In the mornings until nearly 8 a.m., the temp keeps lower than 50. Dear the 2011/12 season, here goes everything!

And dear you, come again. Or don’t.

and I had a feeling I could be someone

2011-04-12T18:32:00.000-07:00

This is how fetch works:

Annie grabs a ball from the truck. Why does she keep the tennis balls in the truck? Because it’s the one spot that’s secure from all monsters; they haven’t learned to open the doors. Yet. Annie then whistles.

All monsters stop whatever they’re doing and swarm around Annie. They love her dearly, but at this moment, they could easily become confused and devour her out of sheer excitement.

Annie grabs the chuck it. She rarely throws the ball with her own arm because, honestly, and she hates to admit this, but she kinda throws like a girl. Either way, the monsters tear off in pursuit.

Well, correction….Freddie, Connor and Elsie take off in hot pursuit.
Saint chases Connor.
Eve chases Saint.
Keytone chases the group and Petunia chases Keytone.
Fox wants the ball, but is a learned doctor and can’t be seen chasing something so meaningless.
Busy follows the commotion, knowing they’re all nuts, and sometimes openly wonders why Lori would send her here to live, for an entire winter, with this group who is so clearly ape-shit-crazy.
Brennan legitimately tries to comprehend the rules and procedures, but gets confused and sometimes brings back sticks or a leaf instead.
Heini lies in wait until she can snatch the ball, at which point she’s overcome and carries it in circles, calling it her squishy.
Brew is usually too busy batting his eyes at butterflies to notice anything at all.
Artie always, unwittingly, plants himself as an obstacle; he’s regularly run over.
Rachel just runs laps around everyone because she’s pretty sure that’s the whole point.

Despite this mass of seeming confusion, the ball is (usually) returned to Annie for another round.

****

From here, we’re going to assume Freddie gets it, mostly because Elsie is fat and Connor is…..he lets her win. Shut up. So, Freddie heads back towards Annie who then begins to encourage the monster.

Eve now looses her focus on the fat blob of Saint and suddenly, earnestly believes that everyone should stop moving and that no one should be near Annie or deliver anything to her. Not even a ball. Not even during fetch. When anyone runs by, Eve tries to bite their face off. Don’t worry, she’s mostly unsuccessful.

Fred has now reached Annie and is finishing up some last minute obsessive circles. She’ll drop the ball a few times, pounce on it, spin and repeat. Annie looks on and says “thank you” when Fredly finally refocuses.

And now enter Elsie: she’s adorably impatient and all of that bullshit nonsense makes her crazy. She’s not sure who taught these monsters to play fetch, but her teacher was a helluva lot more thorough (and dark).

At this point, Connor (speak of the devil) trots up, troubled by the delay but ready to put everything back on track and right all the wrongs known to man. Annie doesn’t feel like reaching down to grab the ball from Fred, so she asks Connor to do it for her. “Sir, get that,” she’ll say. The Black Monster of All Things Wonderful will then grab the ball….either from the ground or from another dog’s mouth. No big deal. He will then, with both elegance and grace, offer it to Annie. She will accept. Then, she will throw it again.

If Connor so impressively taught Elsie how to play, then who, one may ask, bestowed this knowledge upon Connor? Who worked tirelessly for weeks and months with a new, shiny Black Baby Monster to turn him into a bundle of black, fetching obsession? Who tried to convince him not to ingest mother’s cat that one fateful afternoon? Oh, that was beside the point. But anyway….who could this person of myth possibly be? I mean, she sounds vaguely familiar, but I just can’t be certain.

Now let’s rewind and say Elsie gets the ball. She’ll bring it directly to Annie (remember, education is everything), dropping it about five feet in front of her. Connor will then swoop in from behind and deliver it to Annie’s hand. Teamwork at its fucking best. If anyone else attempts to look at/take the ball in this process, they will lose a body part.

Rewinding once more to a world where Connor gets there first: he’ll trot directly back to Annie, gleefully, and literally, running over anyone dumb enough to get in the way of a 100lb monster. Sometimes he’ll stop and frolic in the snow, or tall grass, or water, or lily pads, or something else not remotely on the way to His Beloved, but it’s Him, so she just doesn’t care. When He reaches Her, the ball will be given. She might accidentally drop it or he might place it in the wrong spot. She’ll simply ask him to “get that” and he’ll pick it up like the true gentleman he is.

So, that’s what fetch is. Annie falling in love with The Black Dog all over again.

...reaching a fever pitch and it's bring me out the dark

2011-04-10T17:38:00.000-07:00

Day Ten: One confession.

What? That's not exciting at all. A confession? Ugh. Ummmm school continues to stress me out and I'd like a few things in my life to be different. That is all.

And it took me an extra week to reach day 10 because shit was insane. Last week was...was one that nobody wants to repeat. We still had good times, because you can't just stop living life, but we were together for all the wrong reasons.

.........

Today was god damn near gorgeous and perfect, so I couldn't wait to get home and let the dog animals out. I had Eve, Artie, Elsie, Brew, Fox, Keytone, Fred, Bren, Busy, Rachel, Heini, Tune and Joppy all out for about an hour. We went down into the field for a few minutes, but it was so hot that everyone was sluggish and boring. Usually their antics entertain me, but today was in slow motion haha. We mainly hung around the kennel and they all got to be crazy and play in the pools.

We played fetch for a few minutes...well, Fred and Elsie played fetch with me while everyone else just ran around confusedly. Story of my life.

Fred and Keytone need rabies shots and Eve needs to finally finish her baby dog shots....or, more likely, start them over.

I'm excited to see what I can actually do with Fredly this summer. We shall see if she'll actually swim. I hope little Eve monster will figure it out also. Elsie is patiently waiting for me to get her into shape, forget about the other two noncommittal time-wasters and take her to the lake!

you've really got a hold on me

2011-03-31T18:20:00.000-07:00

Day Nine: Two smileys that describe your life right now.

One that means, “I’m starving and we’re having spaghetti tonight so I’m happy as fuck,” and the shark one mainly.

..........
I let the girls out tonight. Story of my life. It was a good time. Super quick. I fed them and they were only loose for about 10 minutes. I had just gone for a run and was tired anyway, so I just wanted to let them stretch their legs and have a few minutes of excitement.

I don't know what it is about those girls, and this isn't even going to make any sense, but I just love them. Just watching them move and working them. They're incredible.

Tomorrow some people are coming out to take a gander and learn a little about the sport, owning/running a kennel, etc. I love to talk, so of course I'm ready for it. Short and sweet tonight. And I thank you kindly.

and truth be told, i'm lying

2011-03-29T16:19:00.000-07:00

Day Eight: Three turn ons. (Uhhhh hawkward? Let's avoid taking this seriously at all costs.)

1. Being a fucktard. Funny people are all sorts of badass.

2. Being an asshole. I’m too competitive to let it slide.

(See what I did there, everyone? Look at the previous post and you'll be all like, "this girl's a god damn genius face.")

3. Being everything I’ve ever wanted. What? It would work.

..........
No dog news tonight. I was coaching Girls on the Run, so the monsters were already fed when I got home. I know that my grandpa let the little girls out tonight. I probably should have gone out and handled them a little bit, but I was hungry. Hahaha don't think I'm a terrible asshole.....he's been in the kennel all day. No one is dying for attention.

Oh, wait...that's something semi interesting. The groups. Everyone is put into groups by ability/who they get along with/just so we know who we're talking about without having to say everyone's name allllll the time.

23 dogs.
The girls (Fred, Bren, Heini, Rache, Tune, Keytone, Fox).

Then there's Busy...my grandpa calls her "the other dog." When it comes to everything BUT running, she's one of the The Girls.

Brew is in his own group. Sometimes my grandpa calls him Buster or "the male."
Sometimes Joppy and Brew are together.

Kuz and Them: Kuz, June, Roary.

The Little Girls: May, Star (Joppy).
But usually that group, as far as training at least, is just May and Them: May, Star, Oak, Brother.

Joppy, as mentioned, is sometimes one of the Little Girls, but she's usually a loner or with Brew because I use her in either group.

Then there's the house/yard dogs, aka Connor and Them: Mr. Monster, Monroe, Elsie, Saint and Arty.

And little Beaver dog is in her own little world.

You know what this makes me wanna do? PLAN TEAMS FOR NEXT SEASON. Holy shit balls. That will happen soon.

he smiles politely back at you, you stare politely right on through

2011-03-28T20:37:00.000-07:00

Day Seven: Four turn offs.

Being a fucktard. Unless it’s endearing, then keep it up.

Being an asshole. Unless it’s the only thing you’re good at, then have at it.

The inability to quote things. If you’re stupid, I can’t be seen with you.

Being a baby. There are only two children in this world that I like...and you are not one of them.

............
Ears bleed so much! Fox ripped her ear on the fence and by the time I had put everyone away and cleaned it a little bit, it honestly looked like she had attacked and attempted to kill me, but that I avoided death by leaping into a pool of blood and swimming around just for kicks. Ugh.

The funny/worse/terrible part is that she lives with Keytone....and Keytone is now also covered in blood. Seriously, multi-racial blood-fest in my kennel tonight.
Anywho, she'll be fine...just a little sore. And she'll look like a bad ass prison survivor for the rest of her life. What a hardcore monster.

Also, who the hell knew that Rachel was an obsessive pacer from hell? Lordy. I'll never be able to keep weight on her. But she is rather fond of her chain. I think Heini and Bren dislike theirs very much. A-kennel building I will go.

prototypical non-conformist

2011-03-23T18:39:00.000-07:00

Day six: 5 weekends from the past few months that you'll never forget....in no meaningful order.
Yes, I changed it. I made it better. And less uncomfortable. And I made it more winning. And the title is from a Say Anything song. It doesn't get much better than that bullshit.

Kalkaska this year. Because our training worked.

Tubing with the sister. Because it was a Wednesday night.

Finnishing Chute of Badassery Party. Because it was technically canceled, but we rocked it. And Jonny was a racist.

Indian River. Because I technically became professional that weekend. We won money.

Pudding shot night. Because who knew they were even possible? Or that they fucking rock?

Every weekend involves either beer or dogs. Some both.

...............
In case you're wondering, Busy is not in heat. No where near. Kenny and Lori will be home April 1 (!) so I'll probably just take her up there that weekend. Rachel, too? Still deciding. Probably.

I think tonight is a great night to go to fucking sleep. Early. Most nights are. It just sounds lovely. Say Anything, anyone? Oh hell yes.

there's....something on the wing...some....thing

2011-03-22T18:10:00.000-07:00

Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.

You know, if wishing I’d never done those six things helped in some way, this might be worth it. But it’s not.

Well god damn, aren't I in such a charming mood tonight?

Suppose I could list six of the most influential dogs in my life....because listing people is far too personal and I could never bring myself to do that bullshit.

1. Kuzin. Because he ran like a stubborn SOB, but that dog would drive through hell and back without making a poor choice. He allowed me to realize that I COULD train dogs well enough to beat the shit outta anyone.

2. Fox

3. Freddie

4. Keytone. Because they were the original "the girls" for an entire year together alone. I can't say they started it all, because Kuzin started it all, but they started everything I have now.

5. Heini. Because this season wouldn't have happened without her. God damn. When Freddie quit that day, I actually cried. Heini took over from there on out and made everything okay.

6. The Pretty. Because he's everything a monster should be. Because I'm more proud of what I've done with him than anything else I ever have.

...........
This is the current ability of my brain to function. I'm tired and I'm never a pleasant tired.

Must check to see if Busy is in heat. Must learn subtraction to see how many months ago November was. Must call Tim to see if he'll take her in the near future.

Must check to see if Rachel is anywhere near coming into heat. Fuck math. Must decide if I even want to breed her yet. Must say no to Rachel puppy. Fuck.

Must figure out what the hell is wrong with Connor's feet. Must might maybe require medication. Must find and learn addition to see if I can afford. Must afford. Fuck.

Must get rabbies shot for Fred and Keytone. More math. More money. More fucking.

Must stop eating fresh for lunch to save $12 a week. Must stop calling Subway, "eating fresh." Just realized I did math. Fuck.

Must put weight on Petunia. Must not make it sound as dire as a "must". Must buy different wormer to see if that helps. Must buy thing. Fuck.

Must get Elsie into shape. Must join dog park and Air Dog club because I really fucking want to. Must involve money, I'm sure. FUCKKKKKKKKKKKK.

Yep. My current mood is just peachy. Fuck money and fuck math.

well, i think it's hella tight

2011-03-17T13:24:00.000-07:00

Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.

Connor

Miles (as in the actual number on my dogs at any given moment)

My addiction to Coke/Dr. Pepper and how long it has been since I’ve had one (3 weeks, I do believe)

Thoughts of my comfortable bed...THE CAVE.

JG

Dog food...as in which brands I'd rather be feeding.

Money. Always money...and I’m not even sure I know why.

.....
It's Saint Patty's Day! You had better be having a great one, you fools. As for me, I skipped class. I slept in. I worked on the kennel for 4 hours....and I think I'm a fan of the result. Chains? Oh heck yes. The dog houses are temporary (just barrels), but everyone is dry and happy and it doesn't look half bad.

There's a damn half tree/ sapling wannabe in Busy's circle, but she has been very patient and allowed me to rescue her whenever her chain catches. Once I find the brush-clippers...or a machete....that problem will be no more.

Petunia is happy to have some company down there. Rachel complains until I'm out of sight, per usual, but has lived her whole life on a chain, so it doesn't phase her. Freddie is preoccupied digging a mote, presumably to keep her soon-to-be pet dragon animal from escaping. Heini is super fucking happy to be dry and in the sun.....she just keeps rolling around like a puppy. Brennan is a baby and has been pouting, but I find it adorable anyway.

What about Foxer and Keytone you wonder? Well, I don't want to put Fox on a chain at all and Keytone was already in one of the nice, new kennels (with Bren...but I moved Bren), so I left her and tossed Rockstar in there too. I still have a spot (almost 2) left down below, so I might put Keytone down there in the next few days.

Wouldn't it be awesome if I could take pictures and post them? God dammit all to hell I NEED A CAMERA. I had one....but then it landed forcefully on the ground.

Just take my word for it- everything is bad ass. It's hella tight. Promise.

Oh and I wanted to add, Brew is still up in a kennel. He's really rough on chains (a terrible, obsessive pacer), so a kennel is much easier. Six on chains, three in the kennels (plus all the sibes...they're in kennels). I think I like it.

between you and the liqour, I'll take the booze

2011-03-16T17:34:00.000-07:00

Day Three:

Stay the fuck away from my dogs. You’ll need to act interested and attest to their awesomeness, but for the most part, go to hell.

Take a joke. If you do something ridiculous, I’m going to tell you. If I didn’t enjoy you, I wouldn’t bother laughing. Wait....that’s not true at all.

Make fun of me. I do stupid shit and say really dumb things. Call me out on it.

Be crazy. Or be chill. Be whatever it is that you are. That’s probably why I like you anyway.

Don’t be pushy just because you think you’re being helpful. I’m an indecisive person. There are only a select few people who can push me. You’re probably not one of them. At least not yet.

When you bring me a drink, make sure there’s ice in it. I mean it. I FUCKING LOVE ICE.

In the summer, no matter how cold the water is, GET IN. I’m a freak of nature, so bring your A-game.

If you see a magazine with JG on the cover, buy it.

.......
It was a good night with the girls. It was gorgeous all day so I let everyone loose for about an hour when I got home from work. I've known for a few months now, but today it hit me harder than hell.......I legitimately hate the way everything is set up. The kennel looks practical, but it's more dysfunctional than damn near anything.

The one row of sibes looks good, but the original section looks like hell. Even thinking about it driving me up the wall. It might be tomorrow, or later this weekend, but I think I'm going to throw the girls on chains for a few weeks while I brainstorm and things dry up.

Chains right now would give them more room than their current kennels and will be easier to clean until I figure out what to do. We have plenty of fencing and room for kennels, I'm just not convinced. If I'm this unhappy with them, I think I should at least try chains for a few weeks. The dogs would be so accessible. (SO MUCH MORE ROOM FOR ACTIVITIES)I can always go back to the old way if anyone (myself included) hates it.

Have you heard? Bird is the word AND tomorrow is St. Patty's day!!

she’s seen all the classics, she knows every line

2011-03-15T18:17:00.000-07:00

Day Two: Nine things about yourself.

I’m more than crazy about JG.

I have what I like to call a texture problem- make of it what you will.

I can’t handle wearing turtlenecks/scarves.

I genuinely appreciate people who are smart enough to be funny.

I eat spaghetti at least twice a week.

I have an excellent imagination; I amuse myself more than any normal person probably should.

My life is still very much evolving....I feel like I'm waiting for something.

I’ve never lived alone or on my own really at all...except for my summer in Juneau, but still, we all shared an apartment.

I was shocked to discover that I no longer own a bike. They’re a quintessential part of being a person...who the hell doesn’t have a bike? This girl.

...

And I would like to add: Eve is intermittently an excellent fetching machine. Tonight, she was flawless. I plan to capitalize on this and turn her into an obsessive mess soon enough.

if i outlive this, and some do, i shall have only good to say of you

2011-03-14T20:41:00.000-07:00

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.

Or nine things. Nine is fine, too.

You are a professor who will remain unnamed, and I want to tell you that I’m fantastic. You doubt it, but you’re wrong.

You. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the way you act, you’re just stupid. I’m not even trying to be that mean...honestly though, you’re not smart.

You can’t take those words back; I’m keeping them.

I have a very good memory, so go ahead and pretend as you please.

Your humor is insulting...I mean this as the highest of compliments.

Had I known, it wouldn’t have been so terrible. But really now, it’s not my fault. Most days though, I find myself wanting to apologize because I could have saved us from each other.

I’m going to be honest with you, that smells like pure gasoline. (did anyone really think I could make it though without quoting something?)

Sometimes I even tell myself that you’re happy.

And last but not least: Hey you. Yeah you. Fuck you.

Awwwwww look at me go....a few of them are even angst-y and deep. I dislike that very much. Don't act like you're not impressed and I wont act like I want to delete this and make them all funny instead.

what's an adventurer to do...

2011-03-14T18:13:00.000-07:00

Holy hell. I think I might just be terrible at doing this regularly. Well then.

There are more than a few things I can manage to do regularly, even habitually, like day dream, eat Burger King, honk my horn at assholes, feed the dogs (at least six days out of seven), and ponder my summer plans. I should try in earnest to add this blog to that comprehensive list of "Annie's Daily (aw hell...weekly) Bullshit".

I had this grand idea of posting every week. Which turned into every month.....which ended up being twice almost the entire winter. I created this blog specifically to brag about my amazing monsters of lore, so I should probably do that less infrequently, eh?

The almost news is that perhaps I'd like to dabble in weight pull. Honestly though, nothing grabs me like mushing. I really like disc. And I really like UAD. Wp would be fun. A few from this group might really like lure coursing or even a slew of other sports.....but those other sports only bide our time until the temps drop and the harnesses come out.

The season ended a month ago today and I'm ready to start training again. Ah well...disc with Elsie and teaching Eve to swim will be entertainment enough until September.

BUT ANYWHO...race season is over and my life has no meaning.

I think what I meant to say was that A)maybe I'll actually get into the habit of posting, ummm, a lot and B)hopefully this next thing will help me with that. I have this idea. I got it from a friend. I get a lot of ideas from said friend. Here goes nothing:

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.
Day Two: Nine things about yourself.
Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart.
Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.
Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.
Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)
Day Seven: Four turn offs.
Day Eight: Three turn ons.
Day Nine: Two smileys that describe your life right now.
Day Ten: One confession.

Uh oh....some of these are sappy. There's a reason why I didn't name this "sappy shit and sled dogs." Gulp. I refuse to admit anything worthwhile...and avoiding any sort of serious response is something I do actually excel at regularly.

wish you'd just freak out

2011-02-09T16:56:00.000-08:00

So, this was my thinking. I figured, being that we got a foot of snow last week, the trails at the Fort would be shitty at best. I says to myself, I says, "I'm too lazy to run two teams, so I'm going to combine them. It's probably not packed at all, so the slower dogs shouldn't have a problem." But really now, what the hell do I know?

I had this whole crazy concoction of teams swimming around in my head all after noon. I was going to run the girls for two miles, then come back and grab the other two (Brew and Joppy) and do another two or three. I knew some of the trail would be broken because we got the storm on a Tuesday night, so the snow machiners would have been out there all weekend. I honestly didn't think it would all be packed. They NEVER pack the whole thing. Until this time.

First of all, I expected Tune, Keytone, Fred, Heini, Bren, Brew and Joppy. I got Rachel instead of Petunia. I opened all the boxes to let everyone out and I asked my grandpa, "where's Petunia?"
"She wasn't on the list," he said.
"Yes," I corrected, "she was."
He pulled out the list and I pointed to the name "Tune," right next to Brennan, per usual.
"I thought that said Rachel," he said.
"But it starts with a T. T-U-N-E.," I growled.
"Looked like Rachel."

UGH, so anyway, Rach has bad feet right now, (which is why I DIDN'T put her on the list for tonight), so I decided not to run her. And then there were six.

Genius, lazy me decided that the six dogs left would fit beautifully into the six dog gangline I was unraveling. I'm such a thinker.

Wanna hear my thoughts once more? "Hmmm, the trail looks a little fluffy. It'll be slow. I bet we wont go over 16mph We'll only go 4.5...Joppy and Brew can handle 16mph for that long." WHAT DO I KNOW? Seriously now.

We took off. Bren and Keytone up front, Heini and Fred in the middle and Brew and Joppy in back. Obviously the front four are WAY faster than the back two....but I was thinkin' tonight would different. Not exactly sure why.

We made it to the top of the hill and around the first right turn. (I'm really damn proud to say that Brennan took it! No neckline between her and Keytone, but she didn't miss a beat.) This was hardly a mile into the 4.5. Brew was doing fine, but Joppy was in over her head. She was driving harder than hell, but she just wasn't there. We were going around 18mph. I was hitting the drag a little, but it was still too much for Joppy. I didn't have her on a neckline, so every time she fell a step or two behind, she'd get pushed into the deep snow and I'd have to really hit the break.

At this point, just after a mile, I considered just making it an interval run. That didn't end up making much sense because no matter what, you can't beat the build of a dog. I had to swallow hard and realize I'd made a big mistake. My choices were to either ride the break and wreck the run for my pro team or leave it at their pace and ruin Joppy. I didn't want to do either. She drove hard and hung on for another mile. By this point, Brew was done also. He hates pressure and he didn't want anything to do with the last 3 miles.

I stopped, pinned the sled behind a tree and un-hoooked Joppy's tug. I put her on a neckline only. We took off again. But, because Bruce didn't have a neckline on anymore, he backed off completely. He wound up back by the sled with the harness over his head, caught around his legs. I stopped again. I tried to call him up, but he was done, done, done.

Decision time. I didn't have any more necklines, and with Bren in lead, I couldn't keep them stopped for long. I turned Brew loose completely. For a second, he spun and was going to run home backwards (no, not physically...just directionally), but I let the girls go and called him. He followed.

In just a few strides, everyone was happy again. Joppy was thrilled with her "free run" and really poured on the speed trying to keep up. She relaxed and her happy grin returned. Brew stayed behind us for a couple hundred yards, but then he shot ahead. It was a perfect pass! (Good practice for Bren at least,eh?)

I thought he'd quit listening and fly home on his own, but he didn't. He held a comfortable distance in front of Keytone and Bren and settled in. I stopped once just to see if he was paying attention, and he was. He stopped and waited patiently for the "ready." When I called them up, he took off.

By now, we were about 2 miles from home and things were looking great. I had absolutely no steering power (lack of wheel dogs haha), but I was making it. We were coming up on a gee, so I shrugged and gave it a shot. "Brew, go gee!"

I shit you not, he took that turn so hard he literally fell halfway through. It was amazing. I think he was expecting to lean into the harness. I laughed at him a little bit...in a loving way of course. Just a few hundred yards later was a left. The monster took it. Meanwhile, Bren and Keytone were on the wrong side so they were pushing each other like crazy. They were both off the trail and all I could think about was twisting shoulders in the deep snow. On the haw, Bren, dove under the line went behind Keytone, switching sides. We sped up. So did Brewer.

One last turn and everyone took it without hesitation. Our last step was down the hill and a right into the truck. Brew almost went left, but actually listened and figured it out. He charged into the campsite and into the open van. He was a little stressed, but he wandered back over to say hello when I started to water.

Brennan was happy as could be. She was calm and smiling. I gave her a giant hug and let everyone loose (except for Joppy). They all jumped into the truck and we headed home for dinner and Facebook.

This weekend is Boyne. Sometime after race reason I've got to actually try Bruce in lead....with a harness. Pulling.

fancy drinks and fifty dollar cover charge

2011-01-23T16:18:00.000-08:00

Whew! Here it goes:

Kalkaska was GREAT. We did 6dog sport and 4dog pro; I've never had cleaner runs! In 4dog pro, we took 7th of 38. Not too damn bad, eh?

And now let's skip ahead to this weekend....Fife Lake. I should probably begin by saying IT WAS COLD AS HELL. I will then continue trying to explain how DAMN COLD it was. Once again, we did 6sport and 4pro. The sport team started out as pretty much a joke and just a way to exercise my "extras," but they ended up pulling (pun very much intended) a 3rd place finish in that class. Those dogs ran hard....all four of them. Damn straight. I ran four dogs in a six dog class and we took 3rd place. Not too damn bad, eh?

The trail was pretty intense, so you had to drive the sled like your life depended on it....because it pretty much did. My 4dog was on fire. Seriously, there were flames. We were sitting in 5th on Saturday. Sunday started at a balmy -20 and warmed up to a searing -3.

We were in the chute for 4dog and, literally at the LAST second, Freddie decided that she also wanted to wear Heini's harness. We barely cleared the chute and I had to hook down, untangle them and explain to Freddie that single beds are only made for ONE. After that, the run was FLAWLESS and fast as anything. Even after all that, we held our 5th place spot. Not too damn bad, eh? I'm happy with it.

Now, like I've been saying, it was way too hot all weekend. Oh, wait....no it wasn't. Silly me. I think we've established that it was finger-number cold, right? Good. Just have to make sure you're following me. It was during my 4dog that I realized how much my ear hurt. Question mark I thought to myself. I took off my gloves to feel it....only problem was, I couldn't. My fingers were fine, but my earlobe was stiff and numb. Naturally, I said to hell with it and concentrated on my run. I forgot about my ear until we started the truck to drive home.....and then I realized the feeling in my earlobe was similar to what I would expect if a small raccoon, no more like a badger or a wolverine, were trying to CHEW ITS WAY THROUGH MY SKIN. Needless to say, I frostbit my ear. No, THE FROST bit my ear. Uncalled for. BUT, it's still attached to my head. Not too damn bad, eh?

if your heart is nowhere in it, i don't want it for a minute

2011-01-11T11:46:00.000-08:00

KALKASKA IS THIS WEEKEND! Do you have ANY idea what that means? It's my favorite race of the season. Oh Lordy I can't wait.

It always seems so surreal to go from all of this crazy training and preparation to the dead calm of a race trail. It's honestly the time to take a deep breath and say, "well, we gave it hell, so let's see if it worked." It's a little like being on your deathbed, only way happier of course, because once you hit the trail, there are no excuses. Either you got the miles, or you didn't. Simple as that.

That being said, I'm running tonight. The last two weeks have been 4X's, and this week will be also. I'll run tonight (Tuesday) and either tomorrow or Thursday. I'd prefer to run tomorrow and avoid Thursday because I have class until 6pm. We shall see. I'd run those crazy assholes in the dark with Kalkaska looming!

I think I lied about Bristow. I do LOVE that name, but I keep calling her Rachel. I very much dislike the name Rachel, but it's so HER. You know?

Brennan gave me an exciting positive sign last week. Since day one she has been a driving fool, but sometimes her head isn't quite in it. WELL, she led for three miles last Thursday. I put her up with Tune and they led away from the truck, turned us around (manually....I purposely ran them into a dead-end), and drove home like professionals. I love to see progress like that. She's a solid-headed little dog, so I really think I can start leading her in training more often.

Speaking of training, we've been running like the crazy fools we are. Last year, I had "problems" on race trails because my dogs were gaited for the twisty bullshit at Fort Custer. They had the miles, but not the reach nor the right wind to power through a semi-straight trail. This year, I hope I've changed that.

There's a 1.5mile stretch that we've been running. We hit the end, turn around and run back to the truck. I switch leaders and we take off again. That's six solid miles of flat-out speed. At least I hope. At the very least, because they pick their heads up a little early in preparation for the turn-around, it's four solid miles. Twice a week I add a loop through the woods, which is mostly straight, making it five or so.

Tonight, to get them on a new trail and to test their stamina a little bit, I'm going to do six miles in the woods. It'll be a little choppy, but they need a refreshing run before their big debut weekend.

As I sit here now, I have 10 dogs who have worked their asses off, consistently given me their all and driven their hearts out. Let's see what the competition has to offer!

call me up if you're a gangster

2010-12-29T13:54:00.000-08:00

Well, this is Sydney Bristow. Remember way back in the first post or two when I mentioned Alias? My level of obsession has not waned in the least. I've got a Brennan and now a Bristow. I'm set for life.

Bristow is very easy to work with and she's pretty much a bad ass, per her onscreen persona. It's like having my own Jennifer Garner.

Oh! I have an idea, sometime soon, I'll make a post about dog houses.

As for now, I'm out of ideas. I do believe I'm going to work on clicker training Eve tonight.

That is all.

baby, you're a firework

2010-12-05T11:39:00.000-08:00

Gus(daddy)

Moon (mother)

Little EV

Eve is eight weeks old. Eve is half Border Collie and half Eurohound. Eve is adorable!

To begin, let me say that her momma is a lady and her daddy was a rammlin' man.

But really, Her mommy dearest is a great little cow dog who is very docile and social. Her daddy dog is out of Egil Ellis and her aunt on that side ran ONAC and Rondy last winter. Eve is the perfect mix!

She'll be an Everything dog, in every sense of the word. I have no doubt that she'll run, and she seems to have a pretty good toy drive. She's very focused on me already, so I've got big plans. Big plans for this little monster!

at least there will be plenty implied

2010-12-01T17:06:00.000-08:00

Dear December, where have you been all my life? I've missed you more than I'd miss my own liver if it were traveling around the black market somewhere without me.

I'm pretty happy that you brought that really cool guy, snow, along with you. He's badass....for a guy and all.

Now, here's where I'm confused. Today is Wednesday. Tuesday, it was 50 degrees and rainy. By this morning, it was 23 and snowing, yet no one could figure out why their cars weren't stopping.

So, I'm going to risk sound really sappy here and say I may or may not love my job. I'm also going to risk sounding like an arrogent ass hole and say I may or may not be pretty damn good at it. What is my job, one might ask? Well, I could tell you I train wildabeasts to long divide and I save nuns, puppies and innocent children from flaming vehicles by day.....and by night I'm a ferris wheel mechanic with six wives and a knife-throwing act alongside the managerie.

Yes, I could easily say that....but it wouldn't be entirely true. If I told you this, you might doubt it at first and then slowly begin to realize that was my OLD job. I rarely do those things these day.

You see, as of late, my boss and tax forms call me an editorial assistant. I tend to agree with them. Let me just tell you what I'm editing. It's a magazine. It's a dog magazine. In the end, if you want a straight answer, I edit and design articles for three different dog publications.

An even shorter version is that it's my dream job. I guess that's all you really needed to know in the first place.

....inside a dog, it's too dark to read

2010-11-29T20:01:00.001-08:00

"OUTSIDE A BOOK, A DOG IS MAN'S BEST FRIEND. INSIDE A DOG, IT'S TOO DARK TO READ."
-Groucho Marx

Thought I'd mention....btw....these books are where Kuz got his name. It may sound crazy, but his name IS Kazan. I usually spell it with an "O" (Kazon) if I write it out. He's not registered or anything, but I consider it his official name because it's what's on record at the vet. Ha! He has always been Kuz or Kuzin....so I'm quite sure he has absolutely no idea and probably wouldn't even respond to his full name....just thought I'd share.

I randomly ran across these books tonight. Interesting.

Also, "Baree" is Brother's real name. I know, I'm throwing you for a big, damn curve ball tonight. Being all weird and tell-y. But really, Brother's name on paperwork is Barrie. Some fucktards say Barry, but they're wrong as hell. I tried to make the spelling easy on them, but they insist on failing. Either way, Brother is Kuz's only son, so we HAD to name him Barrie. Make sense? Thought so.

Next time, I'll be more normal.

and we'll do anything when the time's right

2010-11-28T20:27:00.000-08:00

Well then, can I just ask one question? WHERE DID FALL GO?! What is happening? Last I checked, the semester had just started and we were on our way into October. But now? Thanksgiving is out the window (the second story window) and December 1st is three days away.

So, that was my question….and this is my fact: race reason is one month away. ONE MONTH, people! Are YOU ready? Am I ready? No comment.

I have a confession to make, and it’ll probably bite me in the ass before I can even turn around, but a 4dog team seems much less stressful. For 6dog last year, I was a mess. A complete mess. If we missed a day of training, I’d go off the wall. Unless miles were going my way, I was pretty damn near impossible to be around. This year, I’ve made an effort to change that.

Taking my pro team down to 4dog has helped a lot. Right now, we SHOULD be nearing a comfortable four miles…..but we don’t have it. We’re at a solid, solid, solid, three. It bothers me a little, and I care a lot, but I’ve resisted the urge to flip out. It’s life. It’s training. It’s Michigan weather. It’s what happens when you’re a full time student and the good trails are off limits for the last two weeks in November.

There comes a point where I have to step back, shut the hell up, and realize there are worse things in life. I’d so much rather be where I am right now, calm and relaxed and enjoying every minute of it, than where I was last year……right on the dot and wound so tight I’d literally panic if I had to take a third day off. And by panic, I actually mean it. I would go hysterical if the weather didn’t work out. Honestly now, what can I do about the weather?

Getting miles for the wrong reasons can be miserable. It’s nothing short of torture if you’re comparing your schedule to everyone else.

We should be running 4X/week. We’ve comfortably managed two and three days all season. I don’t think it’s killing anyone. I’ve got happy dogs and I’m done worrying about things I can’t control. I’m trying this game called optimism. The season will turn out just fine. See? I’m not half bad.

The setback with Keytone is a real bummer, but she got hurt working her ass off for me, so I’ll let her dig into her retirement savings a few years early.
Oh, and did I mention….to fill out my 4dog, I think I hit the jackpot. The female on her way to me (in place of the white pony of wonder….aka Keytone) may or may not have previously raced Rondy and ONAC…..four times. Excited? You’re not the one who has to act interested in normal life while you wait for a day off to go pick her up…..

'cause she's the girl all the bad guys want

2010-11-24T13:54:00.001-08:00

This is Keytone. She's seven years old. She's the best gee-haw leader I have. She has more race experience than I do. She's the most honest dog money can buy. And, I regret to inform you, Keytone is retired.

Such is the life. It has really put a damper on the season so far. Remember last winter when I wrote that she was going to sit out the last two races because she had an odd limp? Her gate was off and her back end was tender? Well, she DID sit out those races. She sat out the whole summer. We started training in early October. She made it up to late November and 3 solid miles. Now, The Limp of Unknown Origins is back. So she's out.
At seven, with the career she has had, we're all pretty sure she'll never make it back. I'm about to sound hugely dramatic, but I've never heard worse news. This dog is a big deal to me. She's the epitome of the perfect sled dog.....until she starts limping. The worst part is that she would gladly run on three legs, but of course I'm not willing to allow that.

Right now my idea is to lend her and another older dog to a jr on weekends. That way, she can still run, but it'll only be a mile or two. A mile and a half run will seem like one big joke to her, but it'll have to work.

Oooooh Keytone, when dogs like you get hurt, this life becomes a hard one.

BUT, okay, I can't end on that note....in other news, Fred, Heini and Bren are ready to kick ass this season regardless. Joppy has a pretty solid grasp on commands thanks to Petunia. Fox and Brew are going to make the sport class look like a cake walk. Star and May are both leading very well. You see? Not all the news is bad.......

"what was she doing putting her face by tires?"

2010-11-16T18:33:00.000-08:00

I don’t even know how to tell this story effectively enough to do it justice…… here is my opening sentence: A FUCKING MOUSE JUST HIT ME IN THE FACE.

Let’s set the scene—I was feeding dogs, as they generally tend to require food daily, and I leaned down into the bin of dog food. The terrible little bastard children were lying in wait; they lept at my face. They were bloodthirsty, I swear.

I almost didn’t make it out alive.

A bystander’s account says I screamed and dived out of the way, treating the furry pieces of varmint like shrapnel, covering my head and screaming more. I don’t believe it.

If my being HIT IN THE FACE BY A FUCKING MOUSE isn’t a good enough story already, then how about this: allow me to tell you how my dedicated team of personal protectors responded.

Obviously, the fate of the free world was at stake here….I couldn’t feed dogs without reaching into the bin and I couldn’t reach into the bin when it was full of (2) lion-sized, mouse beasts.

I yelled for Elsie first. Well, actually first I grabbed a shovel—in case things got out of control, and then I yelled. She sprinted in and immediately lunged into the open dog food bin. I exhaled a relieved “thank you,” feeling satisfied that she had read my mind and the horrifying ordeal was done…..but then I saw one of the mice jump onto her nose. She merely shook her head and kept eating dinner.

“What!?” I screeched in honest disbelief. What kind of farm dog doesn’t eat mice!?

“You’re not doing anything!?” I questioned in a very high voice, panicking because I knew the lion-mice were only gaining strength and planning another attack.
Elsie knows that having one’s head in the dog food bin is a giant “ima kick your ass” infraction, so added to the fact that I was yelling like a fool and wielding a shovel, she scuttled away.

This was it. It was time to call in the big guns. I needed a specialized tool, known for his cunning and intelligence.

I yelled for The Black Dog Himself.

Luckily Connor was trained by Lassie, so he tore into the shed bent on investigating why I was screaming like a sober homeless man. This all happened much faster than it seems….. I was still in the fetal position, protecting my most vulnerable organs from danger, and rocking back and forth, knowing I’d never truly be the same person again.

Connor bounded towards me.
“Sssssssic it!,” I managed and rapped the shovel handle on the side of the bin.
The monster went to work. He shoved his nose into the bin. At first, he started eating and acting like a terrific failure……but then one of the little fuckers made a dash across the one-foot space. Bad idea. Connor used his immeasurable stealth to snatch it up and swallow it whole. That made me scream again. When Connor looked at me, I thanked him for the work and asked him to never mention my reaction to anyone. He agreed.

It wasn’t over yet; there was still another bastard in the dog food bin. I can’t exactly explain why, but I literally said, “Repeter, S’il vous plait. Vite!”
Apparently, in times of great need, I speak French. Good to know. Apparently, Connor understands French, which is also good to know. He re-inserted his top half into the dog food bin to finish the deed.

The hunt didn’t last long. He snapped and shook his head. A mouse body flew through the air. “Absolutely unnecessary,” I told him.

He grinned and pounced on it. He smacked his lips and licked his nose, eyes sparkling in delight.

“You’re nasty, but I love you for it,” I said.

I think his response was something like, “you’re a giant wuss, but I love you right back.”

They're brainless wonders, but it’s endearing!

2010-09-25T19:23:00.000-07:00

When Brennan came running out of the garage with a bra in her mouth, I knew the chase was on. Oh, it was so on.

Freddie immediately joined in on the destruction of my Target bra. She started with wrestling, but soon her head was through one of the straps and Brennan was leading her around the yard like she was a pet pony.

For a minute, I actually thought I’d be able to salvage it; that was a funny joke. On her second lap around the front yard, Fred realized she was not, in fact, a horse at all, but a dog—a dog who loves, more than anything, to play tug-of-war. Brennan happily obliged.

As I watched, my single bra became two. Well, two halves. Freddie was elated and she brought her spoils of war over to me, dropping the ripped fabric at my feet, watching me. I knew exactly what she wanted.

“No, we are not playing fetch with my bra,” I told her.

When I snapped back from the memory of the last time I said that (Who knew I’d get such crazy responses when I asked the tech center employees what their plans were for the weekend?), I happened to look up just in time to see Brennan burying her half of the garment.

All I can say now is “please grow.” A tree of bras would be most excellent.

Paparazzi

2010-09-12T17:11:00.000-07:00

I cannot find my camera! Arggggg! This post would be so much more exciting if I had pictures...damn.

But anyway, things are rollin' right along in my crazy world of dogs. Brennan has fit back in seamlessly and I've been having a great time with her. I'd promise pictures soon, but I'd be lying!

I've never been more proud of the way the kennel looks. Aesthetically, it's awesome right now....and uber functional. The pens are all in one row with (mostly) matching dog houses. We got a truck load of sand earlier this week, so all of the holes are filled in and everything is even and smooth. Honestly, it's great. Don't you wish I could SHOW YOU? Ugh.

Hmmm what else? Oh, tonight EVERYONE got into a bag of flour that was, for some reason, sitting outside on the trailer. Everyone. There was flour all over the trailer and all over the dogs. It was almost like wintertime again....only not. Heini was seriously covered! After the initial "wtf are you doing?!" wore off, I couldn't help but laugh hysterically. Let me just upload a few pics from THAT ordeal. Oh, wait....

Ha! So I'm thinkin' that's it for now. If the weather in the morning cooperates, I just might run the monsters. We Shall See.

Yellow and Yellow

2010-08-22T19:49:00.000-07:00

and one arnold palmer, please

2010-06-06T18:04:00.000-07:00

Have you tried one? Go buy an Arnold Palmer. You can thank me later.

Oh, and I just remembered that I forgot to worm dogs before I left! Arghhh! This means I have to find a weekend, soon, to head home. I'd like a pay check first so that I can afford the gas money to get there. Hmmm let the planning begin.

There's nothing new on the dog front, BTW. I've been up here working for two days, so I couldn't even tell you what's going on in the kennel :-/ Like I said, it's pretty hard to be away!

If I am guessing correctly, I do believe Connor will be visiting me within the next few weeks. Shall we begin a count down? I think yes.

in the mood for a melody

2010-06-02T19:30:00.000-07:00

I leave tomorrow afternoon for my summer job. I'm excited on one hand...because I know I'll have a blast, but then again it's so hard to leave the monsters for that long. Of course I left them for longer last summer (almost four whole months instead of just two), but still. It's not as long this summer AND I have time to come home on weekends if I feel so inclined, but still...

I'm in the midst of making cups for each dog so that they receive the right amount of food. The good thing is that I don't have to worry about them going underfed. The "bad" thing is that I DO have to live in fear of returning home to grossly obese dogs that will take weeks to trim down. Hopefully my planning can avoid the latter. I'm trying to find enough sizes of feeding cups to write their names on them.
Trying to explain to someone how much a specific dogs eats is so damn impossible. Yes, I can say "half a can," or 1.5 cups, or one blue cup, etc but I adjust their food daily. There's never a cut and dried amount that's perfect day in and day out. If they're picky one night, the next night they get less. If they're super antsy, I know they're hungry and needing more. "More" and "less" are also relative, so it's difficult. It sounds painfully simple, but it's really not. I know I'm super picky and all, but it does matter. Ah well, if they get fat, it won't kill 'em.

And for the good news: Tazzy is home!! We drove up today. I drove the van it drives better than my car does. I'll try to get pics of her tomorrow, but I really might not have time. I'm changing her name to Brennan. Yes, I love Bones. This is true. Brennan has never fit a dog more perfectly though, so laugh all you want! I like it.

May and Star are in heat. Yay! Oh, wait, I mean fml and shoot me in the mouth.

like a glove

2010-06-01T18:25:00.000-07:00

Let me think.....the dogs have been crazy! I've been a busy with human stuff for the past week, so the dogs were fairly certain they were going to die of boredom. They had no idea that it actually doesn't kill them to be in their kennels for more than a day at a time. The first full 24 hour period left them screaming and writhing...until they realized they were still alive when the sun set. Then they shut up for a few hours.
I let them out for more than 20mins for the first time in a week, and they were literally bouncing off the walls. Freddie did an interesting vault/back flip thing....it was halfway on purpose, too.
Also, someone, no hints as to whom, but someone tossed a full bag of rotten oranges into the kennel. Every single dog monster is crazy about tennis balls, so they're all overjoyed that the "tennis balls" are suddenly edible.

Oh yeah....that guy in the picture is Saint. He lives here now :-) Such a cutie with the most outgoing personality! He fits in perfectly. In his future I see many, many pheasants.

if it was her or the sun, i'd be one nocturnal son of a gun

2010-05-26T12:55:00.000-07:00

I have wonderful news! Tazzy is coming home to stay! I am simply thrilled. I was hoping Tilly mutt would be available, too....but she is the perfect size for super-competitive open racing. Even though Tazzy is a little too 'blocky' to be on one of the best open teams in the country, she's just the perfect size for me! I'm picking her up next week. Oh, and there's a name change in the works. I'll keep it under wraps for a while though. Deal with it :-)

it's a stampede

2010-05-13T21:30:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update before sleeping until noon....

Elsie and I had tons of fun at our disc event on May 1st. We didn't score very well, but she preformed flawlessly. The pressure is me to learn how to throw!

I found another great place to jump the mutts. Elsie is crazy about it and it's my favorite spot hands down. I met up with a lady last week and helped her work with her dog on jumping. By the end of our session, the dog went off multiple times, gaining confidence with each jump.

Everyone is in heat. Even the boys. I swear. The kennel is nuts right now! Heini is out now, but Fred, Keytone and Fox are in standing heat and Petunia would be if she realized she was a female.

Brother and I went for a great 5 mile run yesterday. He was awesome and stayed out front the entire time. Beyond begging to have a Boston Terrier for lunch, he behaved very well. (and I don't blame him for wanting to eat the pipsqueak; the little dog bit Brother's lip!)

Tomorrow, Elsie and I are headed to Mutt Strut in Dearborn. My sister and brother in-law are letting us stay at their house for night and it'll be a trick to convince Elsie not to eat their cats. Also, I left ice cream in their fridge a few weeks ago and I am beyond excited for my reunion with it.

Oh and the title, I helped "the bike people" with their annual race at Ft. Custer a few weekends ago. They seem like a pretty nice group.

muhlenberg county

2010-04-28T20:25:00.000-07:00

This is Elsie's happy face

Everyone here is psyched for this weekend! On Saturday we'll be hitting the first event of the summer!
Elsie is still super-duper out of shape, but this event is too close-to-home to pass up. Connor will be tagging along, and I might let him play a little, but he won't be doing anything serious. I had realllly considered taking Freddie, but I have decided against it.
Anyway, I have been trying to bikejoring with Tune because she has been a nutcase lately and needs some exercise to relax. I added Fox into the mix the other night and it was crazy. I am not sure how people actually enjoy that....I just felt happy to make it home alive! I was behind two of my most trustworthy dogs, but still, the speed was terrifying!! I don't think my crappy little mt bike was meant to go that fast.

Oh, and attention everyone in the world: it is now summer. Officially. Amen. Forever and ever. I'm going to start getting up early to run teams in the morning before it gets too warm. I'd like to keep them all at two miles like once a week.

Other than that, I'm still waiting on word from Lori on dogs. It'll probably be early or mid fall before I hear much of anything. We have been playing tons of fetch around here and I found the best balls ever. They're made my Chuck-It. They are phenomenal and I've already squandered my life savings to buy every single one in existence. Really.

And the title? That's from an old song that reminds me of summer, which I found fitting.

MAY

2010-04-24T19:40:00.000-07:00

I wanted to write about her on the first of the month, but ah well. I have the time, so I'll do it now.

May baby is the cutest dog ever. She turned one year on March 30th, 2010. That litter will be 13 months the end of April.
May immediately showed desire to lead and she did well last season in training runs. She has never been asked to take full responsibility, but this season she'll be on her way and I'll have her up there a little more. Her problem in front is that she's too nervous to pass. She doesn't bother the other team, she just gets really bashful and waits for her partner to drag her by. That will be easily worked out of her this year. May is a joy to be around. She's such a little cuddle bug. She's friendly, smart and social. She's not as fast as Jockey, but her drive makes up for a lot.

The first picture is her at 1 month, and the second is her at 1 year from just a few days ago.

ever take it off any sweet jumps?

2010-04-24T19:26:00.001-07:00

Not yet, but I will! :-) Kidding, of course.

Say hello to my sweet, new wheels!

It'll be the most hip-happening dog truck around!

did you eat paint chips as a kid?

2010-03-29T08:37:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh Tommy Boy. A classic.

Annnnywho, I'm deciding on paint color for the sheds and dog houses. I've been thinking on it for a few weeks, and I have yet to make a decision. I have made a little progress though...I think I want a dark color. I was going to go with a lighter blue, but dark green or deep red sounds best. For the sheds, I'd like a dark khaki/ not quite brown, brown with green trim. I saw some buildings like this at a storage unit on Saturday and I they looked nice. Maybe I could paint the houses to match? Meh, brown dog houses would be painfully boring. Or, I could do the sheds khaki with green trim and have the doghouses a deep green. Hmmmm

Speaking of Saturday, it was awesome. We went to an upland hunt test put on by the Great Lakes Hunting Retriever Club. I had never been to one before, so it was tons of fun. My mom has been on a waiting list for a lab pup because she wants to get into hunting, so she suggested we watch this trial to learn a little. I had never been interested in hunting before, but watching the dogs work certainly perked my interest. I"m hopefully going out to hunt later this week with a person I know through UAD to learn even more.
Connor is far from a hunting lab (which is my fault), but I'm now interested in trying this sport in earnest. I haven't officially begun looking for pups on a time line, but a squirmy BLACK (and only black) mini monster might be in my future!
I took Tilly and Elsie rollerblading yesterday. Things didn't go as planned. For one, it started raining the minute we pulled into the parking lot,so I decided to switch parks. Instead of rollerblading, I was going to just let them run around for a while and maybe play fetch. We got to the second park and I decided to hell with it, so I put on my rollerblades. Things went well for a while. But then the pavement went to hell and we were headed down a hill....and there was a stick on the trail. Painful story with a quick ending: I fell and it hurt like crazy! My knee is sooo swollen today. It was little Tilly's first outing though, so things went well considering.

They've started putting the docks in at Gull Lake, so spring training here we come! Elsie is psyched. Hopefully Freddie and maybe Tilly will swim too.

'Rora Mutt

2010-03-26T18:57:00.000-07:00

This is the stunning, but fat, Aurora. She's Kuz, June and Reb's sister...collectively I call them the Fantastic Four. Roary will lead a little, but not very well. I didn't even race her until she was almost three. At eight, she'll line out and pass and all, she's just not a real lead dog. In the middle of the team, she's great and minds her own business. Though, the heavier she is, the less she works. Her weight has always been a problem, and being that I didn't work her very hard this past season, I know I've let her slip a little anyway. She is a fun, happy, lovey girl.My favorite story about her is the first time she got loose last year, I just saw a streak of black and white headed for the road, so, completely out of ingrained habit, I dropped to one knee and said "c'mon! (whistle)" and spread my arms just like I do in the kennel when I'm offering her a hug. She whirled around perfectly and sprinted into my arms! Quite the feat for a Siberian!

Fox

2010-03-21T20:26:00.000-07:00

Fox aka "rock star"

She's 8 right now and will be 9 in October. She's very easy going and VERY easy to handle. Foxer is an excellent racing leader because she has had so much experience...she has probably raced more in her 8 years than I have in the 11 years I've been mushing. Fox has led some of the most competitive teams in the country and that is no exaggeration. When it comes to training, I've found her to be a bit stubborn in lead, but most dogs are when they've run the same trail for 3 months. I kept her a little heavy this winter because I think she looks a little better with some weight on her, but it definitely slowed her down, as she had trouble with anything past a high and consistent 17.4mph (which we only keep for 5-7 miles on the best trails...[though we should always be running at least that, but that's a different story for another day]). For next season, partly because physically she's ready to slow down a little (not that she's unhealthy, it's just that a 9 year old can only be so competitive), I think I'll use her in my speedy sibe team....I add the word speedy just to make myself feel good! Instead of having to hit 20mph out of the chute and maintain the high teens, she'll be able to settle in at 14mph with bursts of 18mph tops. She'll be a great asset to the younger team as a leader.

Spring Cleaning and Spring Snow

2010-03-20T15:28:00.000-07:00

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.

Not so........skijoring

2010-03-17T18:59:00.001-07:00

THIS is how I started the 2 mile race. May, running beautifully and displaying confidence that made me so proud, while I steadily skied behind her....like a pro. That only last for so long. Hahahahaha

..........

And THIS is how I ended it. On my own two feet! I kept falling and I felt so bad for poor May baby that I decided to ditch the skis and just huff it across the finish line. Everyone asked me if I was ever planning to run in the skijoring class ever again. My answer? "Yeah, with a dog sled." For the record, I CAN ski.....just apparently not with the particular pair I was trying to use. It made for a fun weekend with lots of laughs and little May stuck in there and didn't let my colorful language on the trail distract her at all.

Hunny Bunny

2010-03-13T10:43:00.000-08:00

How she escaped without a "T" name, I do not know! Once she grows up, we'll never know what litter she's from...just kidding. She's definitely the odd ball of the entire litter though. There's Tilly, Tazzie, Tara, Trent and Toby....and Hunny. Anyway, she is a great looking dog. She has grown up perfectly and she just looks awesome right now. I think she has the best build aside from Tilly, but we'll see. Her personality isn't as fun and outgoing as the others. It took her a while to learn to speak dog- she was super shy and nervous at first, so it was terribly annoying when she used to piss off the entire kennel on accident. She has changed a lot so far and she gets along with everyone now....she doesn't drive them crazy anymore. She's completely sweet and gentle, but she's a got a shy side that makes it hard to work with her. She tends to panic way before the others. She forgives quickly and hasn't completely shut down ever, but I can see problems in her future. She really is a cuddle bug though and she stays around perfectly, so I hope she'll be a phenomenal dog.

Tazzie

2010-03-13T10:38:00.000-08:00

Tazzie is a very quite, sweet, squirrely little dog. She's not shy or scared, but almost pensive in that she's not the first one to charge into new situations. She doesn't stick around as well as the other three, but she's still very easy to handle. She seems to have a good gate, though she might be a little thick through the front.

Tilly

2010-03-13T10:32:00.000-08:00

The infamous Tilly cake! Tilly is from Lori's litter that I've had all winter and I've succeeded in spoiling her rotten. I guess I have never previously understood the real extent of that phrase until raising Tilly. We moved her in the house during the winter because she was just too pitiful sitting out there with her sisters. She's a lot smaller than the others, but she has the same fun personality. If I could keep her, I would hope to put her on a 4dog team this season. She has been a lot of fun to work with this whole time. I've taught her to play fetch and I'm beginning frisbee work.

Tara

2010-03-13T10:22:00.000-08:00

This is one of the pups I've had all winter. She's full of piss and vinegar, but that makes life exciting. She has turned into an absolutely gorgeous dog- very well proportioned, nice shoulders and back. Her coat is just icing on the cake. She's crazy, but once she has a few minutes to run wild she'll calm down and turn into such a sweetie. I have no idea if I'll get to keep her, but she would make a great addition. I'll know for sure by the summer or early fall.

best.season.ever

2010-03-02T16:12:00.000-08:00

Tanick-I've got a giant crush on her! She has been amazing for me this season.

What a way to end it! First place in 5dog and second place in 3dog! I seriously love that trail so much.
Saturday's excitement:
I left the chute #13 in 5dog. One turn that is typically blocked off was left open...so Petunia and I had a small fight over that. Wiskee and Tanick ended up telling us both to shut up and lunged forward, breaking the sled free and pretty much braking it in the process. I grabbed it no problem, but had to let them drag me for a few yards before they rolled their eyes and stopped to let me on. During this commotion, between trying to turn, the yelling, the eventual on-by, the diving for the sled, and the dragging, Heini slipped her collar. She's a damn squirrel anyway, so without being able to solidly stop my sled, I couldn't do anything about it. I didn't train with necklines for the majority of the season, so her being free didn't bother either of us, but necklines are mandatory for sprint racing, and I didn't want to risk a DQ. I knew that at the top corner of the trail, there was ALWAYS trail help, so I just let her collar dangle for that half mile or so. The problem? I came up on the intersection where I expected the trail help to be just in time to see Kurt, the trail help, place a log across the trail and speed off on the snow machine. For a second, I honestly thought I was in 7dog, but then I counted my dogs and realized I wasn't crazy. I called Tune and Freddie to the left and we jumped the logs. I was able to flag Kurt down and explain to him, not quite hysterically, that the class wasn't over and there were still five teams behind me. He held my break while I put Heini's collar on and then sped off to fix the blockades. After that, Saturday's run was fast and uneventful. Sunday was clean and I caught number 1 early, so we were going pretty fast. 3dog was painfully slooooooow both days, but better on Sunday.
For next season, I need to work on being more competitive in pro classes. I have no problem with the rec races, but with the caliber of dog I'm running, I should be in bigger races. I'll chew on it all summer...and update about the new additions I've planned!

Second place times two

2010-02-23T19:50:00.000-08:00

Lost Lake was a great weekend! I had to flip flop teams a little, but everything worked out perfectly in the end. The trail was incredible. I just can't get over how great it was to be able to let the dogs really open up.

I wanted to go out with a bang, and I'm excited to say that we finished in second place not once, but twice! The 3dog class was out of 35. Tune ran PERFECTLY in single lead with Brew and Joppie behind. Petunia was simply amazing. Joppie was giving her all and worked her butt off. Brew was solid and provided so much power. That boy has come so far! (Did I mention that I led him the other day?) We were beat fair and square by a semi-retired team that has worked very hard to get where they are now. I respect this competitor very much and we are becoming very good friends. I was happy to see her win. I'm still just thrilled to be at the top of that many teams.

My 5dog team was Fred, Fox, Heini, Wiskee and Tanick. Freddie gave me exactly what I wanted. She was 100% the main leader for that team. On Saturday, I ran Heini up there with Fred and Heini helped a little with speed but she didn't pass as strongly as I had hoped. I was going to put Wiskee with Fred on Sunday, but I didn't want to risk him pulling a Kazon on me, so I used Fox instead. We were way too fast for her, but she gave her all. I ran Tanick at Atlanta and loved her, so I was more than happy to use her this weekend. Just like last time, the little alligator dog drove her heart out! The 5dog class was the highlight of the whole weekend. I had second place on Saturday by almost 2 minutes, so I didn't expect to be able to make it up. In first place was a friend of mine whom I helped learn to mush back when we were like 10 and I've even been on family vacations with her. On Sunday, I was dying to catch her....and I did. I passed her right around a mile from the finish. Her team hung on all the way in. She and I both thought I had it. We were both wrong. We were able to laugh about it a few hours later when times were posted, showing she had beat me by 20 seconds. It was such an exciting chase and finish. We both loved the competition.

Lost Lake might go again this weekend as a race. We're waiting on word from Drummond about snow conditions. If LL doesn't go and Drummond does, I just plan to call it a season and run at Ft. Custer this weekend. Kinross is a certain go, but I'll wait until next season for that one. This weekend was the last race of the season, but next weekend might be the last race, too.

Friendly Freddie

2010-02-19T07:15:00.000-08:00

Freddie, Freddie, Freddie. When it's cold and she looks pitiful enough, she sleeps in the house. I bought her as a started leader, but she has turned into a main leader. I've used her up front for both races this season, and I'll lead her this weekend. Freddie has a super fun personality. She's nothing but a damn goofball, which is why I love her. The only time she can be the least bit frustrating is when she jumps up unexpectedly...which has almost resulted in a broken nose on my behalf. I taught her to play fetch, so I'm excited to see what I can do with that this summer. I'm not sure if she'll swim for the ball, but I know she'll at least try- because she does like the water. Like the rest of the hounds, she's a perfect all-around dog. She can lead at 20mph, is social with other dogs, but is calm and attentive. She's perfectly trustworthy to free-drop, but I have to keep an eye on her because she'll see a person, assume they want a hug, and dive-bomb them. Freddie is only three, so she still has her entire career ahead of her. This summer, I plan to bike/rollerjour with her quite a bit.

the doliac agenda

2010-02-15T16:27:00.000-08:00

A) The Doliac Agenda is not real. It's from a tv show. It's from Alias to be exact. I needed a title and I refuse mediocrity, thus I tend to choose the most random-ass titles ever. My titles never fit my posts. As a student of journalism, I know it breaks every rule in the book, but, still as a student of journalism, it feels so liberating to steer away from conventional news style writing.

B) The rest of the story....
I ran yesterday (Sunday). Well, hold on, I'm already getting ahead of myself. First, I want to mention Keytone. I am totally bummed to announce that she is done for the season. I am really upset because I still do not even know what's wrong with her. Obviously I'm assuming it's a training injuring, which makes me angry at myself, but I have yet to pinpoint the cause. She's been battling it all season, but the limp and stiffness has grown worse and worse. It first presented itself in late December as a small limp. I brought her in the house, gave her two days off and she was back to full power. I trained normally after, bringing her inside when she seemed stiff. Last week, I took her to the vet and he found nothing structurally wrong...hips, toes, back, knees. We continued training and I kept combating it with time off and time inside (because it's heated). The past two weeks, time off won't touch it. I last ran her on Thursday. After the run (6 miles) her entire back end was weak. My next step is setting up an appointment with a dog chiropractor/acupuncturist to see if it's a muscle/ligament/tendon issue of some type.
Her injury really shapes the rest of the season. I had planned to run 7dog at Lost Lake and 6dog pro at Kinross, but I've changed my mind. With her out, I'm only running 5 dog at Lost Lake with 4 dogs:Fox, Fred, Heini, Tune. And I think Kinross is out of the picture. It's still possible, but I'd only be in 4dog and my training buddy bailed, so I have to look into a way of getting there. Decisions, decisions.
But onto the run yesterday....I only had the 4 girls because I left Keytone at home. I wanted to wind them for a long trail, so we did 6.5 miles, which is a lot of work for 4 doglets. They did really well, but we were slow. Fox and Tune led, which means we didn't go over 14 or 15 I'd say. I hope to go out with a bang and do really well this weekend. I guess it's just hard to believe that I'm already looking at the end of the season...we hit two, but the second was a 1 day. The third was canceled, fourth we decided against, fifth will be LL, and sixth is looking to be out also. Man oh man.
In other news, I skijoured with Elsie and Jockey last weekend. They were perfect, but we hardly went half a mile. I was having ski issues...and there was a rogue 'possum with beady little eyes. Ahhh maybe I am ready for spring. (that statement tastes like blasphemy!)

you've really got a hold on me

2010-02-12T14:46:00.000-08:00

The main team from about a month ago....we have a LOT more snow now.

But anyway, SNOW! I am happy to announce that we got around 11 inches! It's pretty much just in time to be too late, but I'll take it. We're not going to Alpena this weekend...long story and artistic differences, so I'm just going to hang around home. I was able to get in 4 days last week, running 4.5 miles each time. We got belted Monday night, so the roads were too bad to run Tuesday, and my school schedule doesn't permit running Wednesdays, so I ran Thursday (like usual), today (Friday) and I'll run Sunday. Today we did the 7dog, which is 6.2. There's about two miles give or take of that loop that requires breaking trail. I ran 5 dogs....there were tired! These poor sprint monsters have no idea what it means to buckle down and PULL. Haha I'll quit being mean- they were great considering they have no idea how to trot (which is a testament to thorough training!), so I gave them a few breaks. All of that heavy pulling on top of not having the wind for 6 miles anymore made for a tough day! They still easily held 10mph through the deep snow and kicked it back up to a tired 15mph on the "packed" sections.
On a brighter note (just kidding, it's a dark and frustrating note), Tillie is in heat. Oh, it's wonderful. Most of my boys are neutered....all but the one 14 year old Pointer mix- who has given me a heart attack almost every day this week. I KEEP FORGETTING that the old bastard is alive, more less potent. Ugh.
Before it gets too dark, I'm headed out to play fetch with Connor and Elsie. They're currently grossly obese, so I'm working on it. They were fat when I got home this summer....and just never lost it. I had Elsie down for a while, but then we started feeding raw meat...and she became a vacuum. She needs to be in shape for disc and water sports this summer, so off I go.

I call her my Heini

2010-02-07T15:57:00.001-08:00

Heini, Heini, Heini. I wrote about her originally when I had planned to just use her for the season....forget that. Heini's mine! I had her for a month or two, called Lori and asked her the price because she has been such a great dog. She's a little squirrel, but she's so cute she kills me. She has been really shaping up as a leader. I've been running a different circuit each time, so it has helped to keep everyone on their toes. She's only 2, so she has a long career ahead of her. I have just been so happy with her and I'm still thankful that Lori thought of me when she needed a place for her. Last year, she and Freddie were on the same competitive 8dog team with Will as wheel dogs, so they've got tons of speed. Leading them together is flippin' fantastic and it's my favorite combination. She needs work on settling down so that I can lead her at races. Kalkaska was a good wake-up, realizing she still has some puppy habits up front. For next season, I expect her to be my absolute main leader (with Freddie). The pictures aren't the best because I've posted the good ones already.

the only john wayne left in this town

2010-02-03T18:35:00.000-08:00

Truck! The infamous Kuzin. Beyond that, I call him Leader Boy Extraordinaire. He's the resident daddy dog (but never again). The babies were on purpose, planned for three years in fact, but I just don't see my kennel going in that direction anymore. Anyway, this boy has been a phenomenal sidekick and driven leader for eight years. He's absolutely single-minded and is one of those dogs happiest either in a harness, pulling his guts out, or relaxing in the kennel. He detests the house and is a very independent dog. Kuz is a sweetheart who loves to cuddle, but again, he's comfortable spending time alone. His best friend in the world is his sister, June (more to come). What I love about Kuz is that he's so damn predicable. Truck! Actually, sometimes it drives me up the wall! For instance, if we're on a run, I can predict what turns he'll take. He always speeds up before a turn or intersection and has an impeccable sense of direction. We can be out in the middle of a trail system, he'll feel us turn towards home and pour on the speed. Truck! Okay, the truck story. It's more than a story....the truck is Kuzin's life. Speaking of pouring on the speed, just tell him "truck" and the dog is on fire. When I cross the line, I never have to give a command; that dog is on a quest the minute we step off the trail. Of course, sometimes it's ridiculously infuriating when we're training and he refuses to leave the truck after a run....even the one time we took a wrong turn and were back at the truck in less than two minutes. But anyway, I owe Kuz a lot. He was an incredible leader in his day, he never fights and never really gets into trouble at all(unless he's being stubborn on a turn!).

Oh, Brother

2010-01-28T16:55:00.001-08:00

I thought I might make an entry on each dog. I'll do it randomly. I've got a lot of good pictures, so I think I'll put them to good use. THIS IS BROTHER.
He's 10 months old as of Saturday. He's a goofy sweetheart. His mommy is Oakley and his daddy is the infamous Kuzin (more to come on each). Brother is the biggest baby. Ever. I have him in a kennel with Klonnie, and I had no idea she could be so dominant. That's the funny part, Klonnie is the most submissive, neutral dog in the world...but Brother is terrified of her. He's very attentive, but not quite as fast or driven as his sisters. He won't ever make a competitive team, but he knows his business and works steadily. He's comfortable at 13-15mph, but only for a very short time. His actual working pace is more like 10mph. This summer, I'm planning to introduce him to agility or at least make sure he'll walk on a loose leash. He has such an easy-going personality that I plan to use him as a jogging/rollerblading partner this summer. Next on his list of big plans is getting neutered! Haha he may not be that excited about it, but I am!

12 above

2010-01-28T12:10:00.000-08:00

We won our race at Atlanta! We didn't put up the best speed, but we made it. The trail was a lot more twisty than I remember, so it proved a definite challenge. Also, here and now I'll congratulate myself on not flipping multiple times! Don't get me wrong, I've be driving a sled for quite some time, but my friend waxed my runners, and it just about killed me. I honestly thought something was wrong with my sled for a few miles until I remembered. Whew...I've got to work on getting used to the feeling of wax!
For 5dog I had Tune in single lead with Brew and Desna in the middle and Guniess and Nakoma in wheel. This team was mish-mash of dogs who were left over from our big teams. Tune and Brew are mine of course, but the other three are Lynzie's. I've tried Nakoma before and had to turn him loose because the boy refused to run for me, but that was with my fast team. I figured that because he'd be running next to his buddy and because I didn't plan on setting any land speed records, that he would decide not to hate me. Just for a day. Wrong-o. We weren't even a mile out and he put on the brakes. The poor guy is SUCH a momma's boy! He realized the sled was being driven by, what looked to be a maniac, and immediately decided to jump ship. I was highly considering bagging him (and I'm glad I decided against that....I would have flipped!), but I figured I could just call him up and keep them slow. Luckily, just then Kim passed me (well, okay, it wasn't awesome in the competitive sense) and I told her what was going on. I explained that I wanted to stick close so that Nakoma could chase something. Away we went. We hung in behind her for another mile I'd say and then the trail opened up into an awesome straight away. I was dying to let them go, but Nakoma kept refusing. Finally, I decided to set the hook and wait for Lynzie like the stubborn sun-of-a-gun I am. She was 4 places behind me. Not even a minute later, I see her team dump out onto the straight away and head our direction. She pulled up next to me, called to Koma, and swung in front. I just let them chase. Shortly after, we both caught and passed Kim. Tune was content (a little TOO content...like always) to follow one step behind, so we finished the race like that. When we got near the finish, Lynzie and were going to put on a show and act like we were actually racing, but the trail emptied out about 100yrds short of the finish chute and everyone went a different direction. It was a little crazy for a minute because we were talking and each team dove off the trial so fast, we were caught off guard. Tune wrapped herself around one of the campground grills, but it was all right...no hotdogs were harmed.
The 7dog was a much better run. I had Keytone and Fred in front, Heini and Fox in the middle with Tannick and Fern in back. Once again, my teams are a little messed up, so I had to grab two of Lynzie's dogs to fill out my team. We left the chute number 8 and passed all 7 teams. Like I said, we didn't set a blistering pace, not nearly, but they gave me a solid run considering all the sharp corners a few other little problems.

'cause gypsies never get tied down

2010-01-18T19:36:00.000-08:00

This weekend was Kalkaska. The trail was the best I have ever seen! Saturday got unbelievably hot, but the trail wasn't ruined at all. I tried to lead Heini on Saturday, but I couldn't get her to focus enough. I had to make a last minute (literally LAST MINUTE) swap in the chute and put Keytone up next to Freddie. They were both perfect in front. I was worried that Fred was going to overheat, but she had no problem. Sunday I was able to have a friend of mine hold Heini in the chute. She was still a little spooked, but Kim dealt with her very well and I left with no problems. The dogs were absolutely perfect. We were a solid 2 or 3 minutes off winning times, but I simply cannot complain about how they ran. I have TONS of pictures and video to add, so I'll get to work on that. Jockey, May, Star and Oak were just as impressive in the 4dog. Those little babies held 13mph, which really shocked me. Beyond that, Kuz, June, and Roary also got to race. They are out of shape and very slow, but they know their business, behaved beautifully and finished strong.
Because everything warmed up so much this weekend and then froze overnight, the ground is completely iced over. I doubt I'll be able to run at all this week. It's just not worth the risk to run on the ice. This coming weekend is Atlanta, but the weather isn't looking good and the chairman doubts the snow will hold. So, if we're out of another race, we'll go to Baldwin or maybe Lost Lake for a fun run...hopefully still on sleds.

start your engines....

2009-12-30T18:45:00.000-08:00

The babies are 9 months old today!! They are shaping up to be awesome dogs. Brother is begging to be neutered by acting like an idiot, but other than that, he's looking great. He isn't as fast as his sisters and prefers to run with the old geezers. Jockey is comfortable in lead and will pass other people and dogs. She is one heck of a force. I ran her with Tune the other day and she kicked butt. She's such a great dog. May is solid with an easy going personality. in front, she is just like her daddy and always runs on the left. If she's in the middle or back, she's unstoppable. Little Star face is so sweet and proving to be a hard worker.

Running, running, running. Nothing has been super exciting lately, so I've let the updates slip a little. Last week, the weather went to hell and so did the trails, so we had to take a almost a whole week off. The only giant update is that I will begin to make payments on Heini! There's no way I can give that little girl back. She has been leading perfectly, except for that one turn that EVERYONE misses EVERYDAY (ugh!). I took all 6 hounds today and we did 8 miles. I had only had to fight them around one corner...it was a right turn that we usually take, but I wanted to pass it. Man, Fox simply wouldn't hear of it. Took forever to convince them to stop so that I could turn them around, but we managed 8 miles in the end.

I'm running a few more days this week and then race season begins! If it snows just a little more, Ft Custer will actually GO!

"she just laughs/ the boulevard is not that bad"

2009-12-06T15:31:00.000-08:00

A very productive day. We've been making new doghouses so that they all match. And let me tell you, it looks flippin' spectacular. Everyone is kenneled with a partner, except for Roary- because she's prone to eating other dogs. Sosa and Brew are alone, but they're in smaller kennels, so they have to be. Brew loves his new spot right up next to the house. Brother is, of course, acting like a baby and begging me to put him back with his sisters. He's trying to get me to believe that Klonnie is the most. horrible. dog. ever. but, for some reason, I just don't buy into it. (probably because Klonnie is the most submissive, easy-going fur ball ever.) Reb and Yukon have made out like bandits. They have the whole barn section, or "down below" as we call it, to their bachelor selves. In fact, Yukon has yet to realize he is inside a fence.
Today's run was the fun part. I couldn't do the full 5.4 with the main team because the giant hill is covered in ice, so I went 4. Fox and Freddie lead, Keytone and Heini behind- no pun intended. They were pretty solid, but I think they're just getting sick of the road. Fox seems to be nervous about running over the icy spots, with good reason, and wasn't comfortable with any speed. I kept them at around 15/16mph because I didn't want any slipping and shoulder injuries. The second team was 100% perfect. Tune and Oak were in lead with May and Joppie in the middle and Brew with Star in back. Brew gave his best run in a while. I should have added length to Star's neckline, but she tried.
The absolute best part was when we ran by the neighbor's house and they came outside to take pictures and cheer. It was pretty much a parade- an awesome parade that consisted of 6 dogs, a 4wheeler and a Ford F150. I mean, I can see why they were in awe...we DID just wash the truck. Next time, I should definitely take tootsie rolls and remember to watch the Princess Diaries for lessons on a flawless, delicate wave. And, you never know, someday maybe I can get Santa himself to round out the procession. Eat your heart out Macy's.

131 run, run, run

2009-12-01T17:50:00.000-08:00

I know, I love the title also. I'm rather proud of my rhyming abilities being that I've begun studying for exams and have almost no brain power to speak of at the moment. Ah well, the dogs are always more important.
As of November 30th, the main team had 131 miles, give or take a run or two. Fred is 9 miles off because she missed two 4.5 mile runs when her leg was sore. Fox is 2.5 miles off because I used her with the B team to give her a break, so she ran 3 miles instead of 5.4. Keytone is the golden girl....she holds the highest mileage so far! That dog is nothing but driven. The main 4 and Tune went 5.4 tonight. Tomorrow will be the third run in a row and it was really warm today (50), making them sluggish as hell, so tomorrow I'll only do a quick 2 or 3 mile for spirits and such. I'd like to only go 2, but that last mile is SO tempting when they're FLYING from a short run. Also, I ran May and Joppie on the road behind Tune and they were trucking. I held them at 12mph, but on a rig they would have easily hit 15mph. My big decision? The big, giant, exciting news? I've decided (barring any big changes) to run the pups at the Ft. Custer RACE. Ahhh so thrilled! I ran the idea by Lynzie, and we decided that since they know the trail and since I HAVE run them alone in training with no pressure, one big weekend could only be a good thing....and we'd be on our home trails, so it would be a walk in the park. I've got to decide on dog number 3...final decisions on the matter will come later.
More good news: Trotter is loving his new home. Originally, I had thought he'd make my main (or at least B) team. When he displayed a lack of confidence, I made the choice to re-home him instead of having him sit around all winter without much exercise. He's the star of his new group and I can't wait to see him kicking butt this season (even if it's mine!).
Lori's monsters are growing like weeds. I think I'll hide Tillie in my pocket when I return the rest of the pups....she would be a little cramped, but I would feed her bread and birds to keep her quiet! Haha I'd love to keep that little sweetie (but I'd still let Lori break her!).
Oakley still has a nasty obsession with squirrels. If Petunia wasn't a bull, Oakley would have re-routed us many times on Friday's run. She tells me that the pesky things call her "Paco" and ask her to dance....an offer that she some day vows to accept...
I'm itching to get back on the rig. I've done more atv training this season than ever. It's excellent for speed, but I feel more relaxed on the trusty rig of death...ironic. Now that it's muzzleloader season, we'll be going to Ft. Custer again. I'll keep using the 4wheeler on and off, but that rig is calling my name.

Okay, one last parting shot: last season, we were on sleds by DECEMBER 12TH and stayed on sleds until late February. Keep your eyes crossed!

good news, I saw a dog today

2009-11-27T14:04:00.000-08:00

TILLIE

TAZZIE, TARA

HONEY

First of all, I'm ready to watch Elf! I'm a stickler about watching Christmas movies too soon or listening to Christmas music too soon, but tonight is the night! Beyond that, I wanted to add some pictures the little monsters I'm babysitting. They're so fun and sweet.

"and if they send a whirlwind"

2009-11-24T16:44:00.000-08:00

I haven't run since Friday's fiasco. Taking a 3rd day off always kills me (I could explain the science of it, but I wont...yet), but I wasn't able to run Sunday like I wanted, so Monday was our third day off. Anyway, long story short, I ran tonight (Tuesday). Like I said, I wont be running at Ft Custer until after firearms season, so tonight was on the road. If I do the whole block,it's 3 miles. We're up to more than that, but I didn't want to do TWO full blocks because 6 miles is a little much. What we ended up doing was cutting a trail through the woods near the middle of the block to the other side. The driveway is the access on one side of the square, and we cut a trail straight back from the driveway, over the river and through the woods. It cuts off a little more than half a mile. So, tonight it ended up being 5.3 miles. It's a perfect in between. It's great to have options. I'll continue this route for a few weeks, throwing in short runs sporadically, and my next jump will be 6.2.
Alright, so on to the interesting stuff: the dogs. I had all the hounds and left Oakley at home. Keytone and Freddie lead first. Fox and Heini were behind and Brew and Tune were in back. I kept them pretty slow because we hadn't previously been over 4.5 yet this season. They kept steady at 15pmh. I'll up the speed slightly in the future. For the second lap (we have to pass through the yard to hit the trail through woods that connects to the road on the other side) I switched leaders. Thank you, Alaska Heli-Mush for ingraining that into me! Ha my switch was mechanical and fast. Funny how old habits die hard. Heini and Fox were now in lead and they took off just fine. I thought they would have a problem leaving the yard, but they were great. We took the shortcut and hit the road. They were tired and in retrospect, I should have stopped for way longer! I'll take a bigger break from now on. Despite that, they just kept driving. Heini was getting a little "flighty." She was bouncing around, running wide (which is bad news when we're on the road), and VERY curious about all the horse farms we were passing. Petunia to the rescue! Leave it to Petunia. She's not the fastest dog in the world, or even in my kennel, but the fat little girl DOES NOT QUIT. She was working her butt off to keep up as is, but gladly stepped up to help lead. Everyone was really tired at this point, except for crazy Heini, but they kept pushing. Tune never backed off once and ran her heart out up there. Fox is more comfortable at higher speeds, and I think that slow speed just messes with her gate. She was a little off by the time we finished- she's SUCH a fast dog. It was just a great run. Awesome mileage, awesome drive, awesome finish. I'm running that same length tomorrow and then either taking Friday off or, more likely, just doing a quick 2 or 3 miles. Kalkaska is less than 2 months away!!

the most magnificent show on earth

2009-11-20T17:40:00.000-08:00

Angry, high-strung city folk should not wield guns.
A public park is just that; a PUBLIC park. Everyone should work to share it.
If I can put so much effort into timing my runs so that I'm hitting the middle of the day (NOT prime deer hunting hours), cutting by my number of runs per week and making them as fast as possible so as to allow deer hunters their piece and quiet, the least they could do is NOT shoot near my team! I'm pretty close to irate right now. Yes, it's deer season. I get it. My entire family hunts. But guess what? We hunt on our own land, not in a public park. If we did hunt in a public park, we would not assume ownership. Good lord. I was hooking up today, just ready to leave the chute and a gun fired. It was 10:30 am. All of my dogs were wearing a orange reflective collars, one of the leaders was wearing an orange cape/vest. I was wearing a legal, orange vest. I had yellow rain gear on. I have an orange caution sign wired to the front of my rig. Don't panic- no one shot a dog. But seriously? Shooting that close to the camp ground? My grandpa walked up to the people, who had fired FROM ON THE TRAIL. They were pissed that we were running (in not so many words). Dumbass #1 remarked, "I thought I saw a deer." My grandpa responded with a sharp, "You didn't see a deer, you saw a dog. Six of them. With a person." My entire run, from the time we drove in until the time we loaded and left, took 45 minutes. Can we not share for less than an hour? Once again, it's a blanker blanking PUBLIC park. And once again, YES, it's deer season, I get it. Do the hunters really think they OWN the place? There were at least 10 bikers at trail head and, the previous night, another dog team. The crazy gun idiots just don't care. What really makes me mad? When I run dogs, I always strive to be courteous to other trail users. Ideally, I'd let my house dogs loose to chase my team, but I don't do that at a PUBLIC park. There are horse people out there. I respect THEIR RIGHT TO A PEACEFUL TRAIL by leashing all dogs. With the bikers, I announce when I'm passing and try to allow them to move off the trail so I don't clip them. This is because I RESPECT THE FACT THAT WE ARE ALL SHARING THE SAME TRAIL SYSTEM AND HAVE TO LEARN TO DEAL WITH IT. Being stubborn and shooting your gun towards people, even if you think they shouldn't be there, is not a fucking smart idea. I would put "public" in capitol letters again, but what's the use? If the rest of us have to share the trail system EVERY DAY, then why do the hunters think they can OWN it the minute they buy a doe tag?
But, I'll use my own advice and refuse to be stubborn about it. It's not worth the risk running among those crazies who prefer to hunt along a PUBLIC trail system. My dogs are more important than defending a principle. I pity the fool who mistakes Keytone for a deer and must answer to me in response....
I'll do my running at home for a while, thank you.

On a lighter note, despite the happenings, the hounds were awesome. Freddie and Heini lead. They took every single turn, and it felt like they added a lot of speed. I will be leading them more often! Man, they were phenomenal. I ran the sibes and Brew at home. Each dog ran two laps. It was a nice break for Brew. Oakley lead a lap around the field and then pretty much quit working. May and Joppie were the best. They held the line out during hook up. Where in the world did they learn THAT?! Haha I was so unbelievably impressed! Props to me, I guess. Oh, and Star actually lead too. With Oak- before she quit. Star ran without a neckline and worked out great. These babies are something else. Well, okay...Brother might end up being my pet...but he'll be my pretty pet. Their daddy wasn't half bad today either. Kuz only ran one lap- he has always been a one time kinda guy. He lead fine, but was slooooow. I'm glad I let him go a little this season, because he really doesn't pull anymore..which is a huge sign that he's done. Kuzin ALWAYS pulls. But he doesn't anymore. The retired Kuzin doesn't need to, so I guess that all works out just fine.

I've been trying to find the perfect meat/dog food ratio. I'm getting closer, but it's still not perfect. I'm not running until Monday...and THAT run (and the rest of the week) will be at home...not at Ft. Custer. I don't need anymore "thought I saw a deer" heart attacks.

Thank you, Keytone, for that lovely detour

2009-11-19T18:50:00.001-08:00

She's at it again. Well, okay, it's the first time, but arhghggrr! Lovely little Keytone makes a mockery of the "on-by" command. She literally laughed in my face. Laughed. In. My. Face. The good stuff? It was an excellent run! We were on a roll. The entire trail is 4.5. Today's temp was perfect for a good, fast, longer run. I've been keeping them at 3's because, in my opinion (and I'm a wuss about such things), it's been too hot to up them lately, even though we should have been at 4.5/5 miles by early this month. Ah well. Sooo it was great. I wanted to lead Freddie, but she has been having pain in her foot, so I decided to give her the whole week off. I need to lead Heini, but I didn't want to throw her up front for a long, fast run. Plus, it was wet, so I had no stopping control (and Keytone KNEW it!), so I didn't want Heini up there taking wrong turns that I couldn't prevent. I went with the reliable duo because they're umm DUH- reliable! Hmmmmm. Funny joke.
Oakley was in over her head from the get go. She simply has no chance at that speed, but I took her for the exercise. Brew still messes with my mind. He'll be fucking phenominal and then just putter off and get all nervous and tired. He doesn't seem to be handling the extra speed brought on by the cold very well. Like I was saying, Foxer and Keytone were taking EVERY thing I called. It was going to be the best run of the season....
Okay, okay, it wasn't even that bad. We came flying up on the trail head parking lot which is about a half mile from the campground where the truck was staged. I know better, wayyy better, than to do it, but at the beginning of the season, I ran out of trail head a few times. What happens in that case is the dogs ALWAYS try to turn into trailhead. It happened with all of my original teams. We'd train from trailhead until the snow fell and then we'd jump down to the campground. The result? The dogs would quit running a half mile before their new end point. It took me literally YEARS to train Kuzin out of it. After not using the trailhead for multiple seasons, he finally made his mind let it go. And if you know Kuz, he's a stubborn cuss, so that's an incredible feat. Alright, so far we have established that I'm an idiot- a floundering moron. I trained from trail head because we started running early, so there were still tons of campers in the campground (why the fuck? right?) and my desire was to avoid their dismemberment when they, inevitably, got in my way. I ran from trail head three times. Three times in September. I've put on 100 miles since then, all from the campground. It matters not. If the dogs are tired when that parking lot appears, I'm a gonner.
Today, the dogs were tired. They were stil driving great- I would guess that we had settled to around 16mph. Keytone lifted her head. It had been raining. My rig simply DOES NOT STOP when the ground is wet. The brakes lock and the tires slide smoothly over the moist leaves. Fox tried in vain to ignore Keytone. Afterall, they're best flipping friends. They've run for so many years with a neckline, they actually think they MUST follow their partner. I was running without a neckline (hate 'em), but Fox happily followed Keytone. We were about two team lengths from the parking lot. I did not want to end up in the parking lot and clip a shiney SUV. I was afraid we'd hit the parking lot and dent every car in sight. A biker flew by, oblivious to my tense predicament. I was beginning to suceed in slowing them to a crawl. As he passed, he said "awesome." I replied with a weak, "it's not gonna be..."
The dogs pulled on, gaining all of their speed back. They were confused when we were dumped out into the parking lot and the tuck was no where to be seen. Fox shrugged and headed for the far end, where the black top road would lead us a mile out of our way and, eventually, to the truck. I thanked her, but called "haw" instead.
By now, we had crossed the parking lot, about 200 yards, and I really wanted to go left. Keytone didn't. I'm sure she couldn't have known, but the only thing to the right is the lake- in 1.5 miles. Once we hit the blacktop, the tires stopped sliding and I was finally able to stop. They were calm as could be.
The big finally? We dove off into the trees, slithering through (and remember, my rig doesn't exactly "slither") a wooden railing, which just so happened to be blocking the very trail I wanted. No gate can stop us. I lined them out and waited. I lined Keytone out again. And again. And again. And THEN I jumped on the rig and we flew off to finish our last 1/4 mile.
The moral of the story? Keytone will take a break from leading for a run or two, not as punishment, but just to ensure she doesn't form any bad habits by always taking that turn. She will, once more, recieve line-out training. She really needs more line out training. The more important moral of the story? I will never train from trail head. It's a dispicable location- a whore of a parking lot that tempts even the best gee/haw leaders!

lookie, lookie

2009-11-14T17:22:00.000-08:00

Here's Heini!

Heini and Freddie

Keytone, Fox, Heini, Freddie, Petunia, Brew

"These lines of lightening mean we're never alone"

2009-11-14T15:12:00.000-08:00

Well, on top of Heini there's also Tillie, Tara, Tazzie, and Honey. They're tons of fun. Honey is a BARKER. Tara's coat is a gorgeous red. Tillie is the crown favorite. She loves to snuggle...inside...on the couch. Like I said, they're all "on loan" from the Smithsonian (ha, only kidding about the second part) so I'm just supposed to make them happy, social puppies and then send 'em back. I plan to start working with them on "come," free dropping and the like. Probably by the time the snow flies, I'll be able to let them all loose to free run and chase the 4wheeler. They're just so houndy and cute! Seriously, it kills me. I'm dying.

I ran everyone this morning. First I took Keytone, Fox, Fed, Heini, Tune, and Brew on the road for 3 miles. Brew started to limp, so I put him in the truck and finished with 5 of them. They were great. I was able to get out early enough, while it was still cool, so I could run them a little harder. They can easily do 4.5 miles now, but the easiest route on the road is 3, so I do that when we're at home and 4.5 when we load and run at Ft. Custer. I'd also like to be on the 4wheeler more often, but it's hard because I can't use it at Ft. Custer....ah well, we're doing excellent either way.

The next chunk of teams were all sibes. I ran them in the woods- each dog ran two laps or 3 miles. (each lap is 1.5 miles). Kuzin was a good man and lead very well. He, of course, remembered the loop around the field. I only made him run once because he's a stubborn son of a gun and typically refuses to run again. For the last run, I had all 4 "puppies" and they were perfect! May and Jockey will be leaders no doubt. They are so impressive and confident. Little Brother is pretty much a fluffy pet and Star is a hard worker, but has ideas of her own if she's in front. That being said, I don't lead them often, it was just something I wanted to mess with. Love those babies.

The kennel looks amazing right now. We had tons of extra pannles and gates (I'm an obsessive collector)so we put five new kennels in the row and now all the dogs are kenneled and no one is chained. Typically, no one is chained, but the sudden inflext of muttlies happened before we could put up kennels. But, now we're all set for the winter....and well, forever. (unless, of course......)

For now, I just love the system I have. All of the dogs are used to having free time, so I can open the gates and let them all loose while I water and clean kennels. Usually I let about 10 dogs, give or take a few, out at once. If Brew and Sosa were fixed, I'd be more willing to let them out with everyone....but I get too nervous because EVERYONE else is a female and all of my girls are intact.

Because of deer season, I'm not running on Sunday. I would have taken it off anyway because today was three days in a row. I plan to run Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and next Sunday. Hopefully I'll be able to head to Ft. Custer to do some 4.5 milers for all of those runs but the Friday one.

But other than that, Elsie and I are going to a disc seminar on Sunday! I can't wait and I'm pretty sure she's excited too.

Thanks for the Butt Dog

2009-11-08T16:32:00.000-08:00

Her name is Heini and she is my Heini....at least for a few months. I'll start from the beginning.
We had a great weekend at Ken and Lori's. It was pretty warm on Saturday, so I only took my teams 2 miles each. I ran the main string first and then added Solow and Dessie to Tune, Oak and Sosa for the second team. Solow and Dessie added a lot of speed. Sosa has been quitting, so Tune and Oak were happy to lead a team that actually helped them out. The rest of the afternoon was just spent hanging out. We had lunched, shared techniques and just had a good time. When we packed up to go home, we loaded nine more dogs than we unloaded that morning. In those nine were 8 puppies and one loaner female. All nine dogs go back to Lori in the spring....our job is socialization. The two year old female, the loaner, is from a "Butt" litter. She was on the track for their main team, but has had some confidence problems stemming from an accident. Her name? I know, I know...I laughed for a long time. I've started spelling it "Heini" as in "Heineken" because that sounds halfway legit. She'll be a big help this season, so I'm happy for the chance to use her.

I'm not running again until Tuesday. Last week, we ran hard Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and then the next Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday(yesterday). We did 4.5 miles last Thursday, took Friday off, only did 2 miles on Saturday (yesterday) and wont run again until Tuesday because I want them to have a break. Temp permitting, I'll do 4.5 this Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Friday's run will probably only be 3 miles if we're able to run fours before and after. After having Friday off, only running 2 miles yesterday and not running again until Tuesday will allow them a nice breather.

The new pups will make life exciting for the next few days until they get used to the routine. And of course I'll update on the Butt dog!

I like the way you move

2009-11-03T18:20:00.000-08:00

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…..

Connor and the Kennel

2009-10-26T18:18:00.001-07:00

Connor. Crazy Connor. He's a Labra-dork who pretends to be a Labra-dummy. But, c'mon now...he's my most favorite boy in the world. He knows the difference between a frisbee and a tennis ball, a tennis ball and a soccer ball. Plus, he's a pretty solid leader. He is one pain in the ass, but that boyo can run. He learned how to be a sled doggie way back in the old days. I taught him out of necessity- I simply had to look that good exercising him at the park. We'd run a lap (me on a bike) and then I'd turn him loose for some fetch/swimming. People stared and we both loved it. He's now 5 and has never looked back. I've never raced him, but last year until October, he had more miles than my entire team. And it showed. The first run of the season last year...actually for the majority of that weekend...I used Connor as a leader because he kept the speed better than any other dog in my kennel. He sure is a monster. For right now, I don't train him that hard. He's got some joint problems and my current team would smoke the heck out of him if he ran with us. But, he still gets time in harness. If he didn't, he'd flip. He goes nuts when he sees me with the equipment just like the rest of the kennel. That picture was taken tonight. From my back door, we have a 1.5 mile trail that's good light running or for a semi- day off/leader training, etc. It's got Connor's name written all over it. He can hit 15mph, and could keep that up not too long ago, but I don't like him to pull over 10mph. He's never been the greatest at lining out unless we're in motion, but even some of the best dogs need touch-ups on that (ahem- Keytone!). He'll follow me halfway back to the rig/sled/atv and then spin and hit the line. The boy knows his business.

"Oh Captain, My Captain"

2009-10-22T17:45:00.000-07:00

This might sound like a bit of rambling, but I'm interested in discussing what people look for in a leader. I have no idea how many people read this (if it's more than one, you all get a new car!), but I'll pose a few questions regardless. Responses or no respones, it's a topic worth pondering.

The main desire is for a dog that does it all. I often talk to people who expect their dog(s) in front to run the show. It's not wrong to want a solid, honest dog who will hold the line out, pick his way through the parking area, find the trail, take off, whiz past other teams, take every turn including "overs" and be able to find the truck upon crossing the finish line. There are a slew of other things that different drivers would find paramount (distance people have their own crazy ideas! haha), but I'm from the world of sprint racing and so I'll stay in my own front yard and mention what has always worked for me.

Line out, line up, out tight: whatever you call it, I find it to be the most basic and important thing for ANY dog, leader included. The best way to save yourself a hassle is to make sure the dog understands that his job starts the minute he is placed in position, and I'm essentially teaching that during hook up, even if I'm telling him that his job is to stand still. I personally don't care if they sniff the ground immediately around them or sit down, just as long as that line is tight, they're paying attention and not pulling the dogs around them all over. That goes for any dog. No idiots allowed. When you're waiting to go, chill the heck out until we actually GO. Barking, jumping, lunging- I'm all for it, as long as they're not getting tangled, trying to turn around, etc. And goes for stops on the trail also. Take a break, eat some grass, but mind your own business. Your direction is forward. I've used dogs that are beyond excellent with commands, are fast and stronger than most, but they would start milling around when I stopped. It's easy to train them out of it, and they should be trained out of it because it makes life a lot less stressful.

Sociabilty: I like a dog that I trust. (I guess any of these can go for the whole kennel, but I'll just talk about them in terms of a leader.) I want my leader to be a dog who can keep his head straight if we do tangle or if another team has poor manners. I wont allow my leader to hold a grudge. It doesn't matter who is behind him, rubbing shoulders with him or headed down the trail towards him at 18mph, his business is forward. Period. I've actually had the pleasure of running behind a dog that stopped on a dime for me only to be jumped by the male behind him. The male in swing was VERY MUCH in the WRONG, but the leader spun away and lined-out, knowing he didn't belong in the middle of the team. He wasn't a fighter anyway and knew to put his job first. It's dogs like that who make running joyful. Fighters (like the dog in swing) can ruin a good weekend or an entire season.

Intelligence: this is obvious, but I think of it in an unconventional way. Yes, I'd like a smart dog who could learn my every command, but I'd easily settle for (and sometimes prefer depending on the situation) a dog who can fix things for himself every now and then. Examples that I've encountered include: being able to pass unruly teams. Kuz can pick a safe route around a tangled mess. He swings wide and never looks back. If a dog team is spread across the entire trail, I don't say a word. He'll figure it out. Same goes for passing. I greatly appreciate a thinker who notices which side has more room and will pass on the bigger side. It takes a dog who can actually THINK and understand PASSING the team is what is desired, regardless of the side, and looks for the fastest way around. In all of my years racing behind Kuz, I would come up behind people and they'd ask which side I wanted. I'd say "he'll pick one in a second." I've also used dogs who have always passed in optimal conditions and always on the right side. When they come up behind a trail-hogging team, they are at a loss, allowing the team in front to block the way indeffinately. Fortunately these same dogs are great with gee/haw, so I can call them around, but still. A dog can also show intelligence by memorizing a trail. It's often the first outward sign of a leader. A dog who shows you that she's been paying attention the whole time. Deffinately not required, but it's nice to know if you lose the team, they'll end up where they need to be! I've seen this also in the form of navigating around downed trees or other obstacles like buildings, and still maintaing the same direction of travel (aka having a good sense of direction).

Understanding: I don't mean this as literal comprehension, but as some form of communication between myself and the dog. My main leader of 8 years has NEVER been a crack gee/haw dog. Never. He's a straight-line leader through and through. However, I still trust him at any intersection. Yes, he's stubborn as hell and might refuse to turn if I am suggesting we turn AWAY from the truck, but in a normal situation, we make do just fine without gee/haw. It sounds likea cop-out, and maybe it is, but if I stop at an intersection, he'll do what I call "guess and check." Sounds ridiculous, but I don't mind it. He'll head down a trail (obviously he picks the straight ahead trail first). If I stop, I'm telling him he's wrong. I wait. He inevitablly swings either left or right. Whichever way is correct recieves a whistle and slack on the line, an easy reward. He'll take off in that direction. Obviously I call to him during this time or swing my arm if he looks at me, and occasionally a simple command DOES work, but we've used to aformentioned system for a looooong time now. That being said, dogs who know gee/haw and don't second-guess it are proof that there is a god and he wants us to be happy.

Adaptability: behind line out, it's perhaps the most important to me. I suppose this relates to liking a dog that can think and judge the trail for himself, but it's nice to have a dog in front (or entire team)that doesn't mind changing things up. Maybe you want to try weightpull, or skijoring, or just a different method of training- maybe one with more frequent stops, etc. I like being confident that my dog(s) wont get too stressed or pissed off when I throw them a curve ball. It makes training so much fun knowing that I can modify my system a little or a lot and the dogs would still be game.

Drive: maybe I could have mentioned it earlier. I see drive in the dog who wants to go faster, wants to stay out of trouble, wants to make the logical move, and who mainly just WANTS to WORK because anything else merely gets in the way. This dog will simply shine. She'll be a dog who tackles the job in her own unique way. This is the dog that I want. A dog that, once he starts working, will not be satisfied unless he goes just one more step. For Kuz, he works so hard because he knows the faster he runs, the sooner he'll be back at the truck. Keytone runs herself into the ground out of pure desire to stretch her legs and GO. Noppers ran out of wild obession. He literally slept all day, up to the second I harnessed him. He's a nine year old Iditarod vetran who seems like a nine year old...until he takes his spot in front- and then he's a yearling who screams like a banchee and leaps four feet in the air trying to break the sled free. Oakley runs in front because she likes to SEE everything. I swear Doty ran lead because she knew she'd get twice as much attention.

If I thought about it, I could think of a thousand more, but these are the broad ones that I really like in a dog. Some of my characteristics wouldn't even show up on the radar of other drivers. Some people want only speed or strength or just a single dog who will run in a straight line, allowing them a semi-peaceful run.
The term 'leader' is relative and everyone has a leader, but how many people actually have a LEADER? Any dog is better than nothing. If you're able to be on the trail with your team by the grace of one dog willing to lead the way, that's great. These are simply the characteristics that make, or have made, my life easier.

"Boys ain't they somethin'......"

2009-10-21T15:47:00.000-07:00

Training has never been better. These hounds are something else! My dogs never fail to amaze me. Whether it be the pups showing off their confidence or the pointers hitting 18.5mph, they all continue to shock me. We ran at Belding last Saturday and didn't run Sunday or Monday because we've been running pretty hard.
The best run of the season was on Tuesday October 20th. They were flawless. I ran Freddie, Fox, Keytone and Brewer. We did 3.2 miles. I stopped once for Brewer and once because there was a car in our way (!) but they were truckin' the whole way. However, once we reached the truck, I realized they were hot, hot, hot. Too hot. It was a bad judgment call on my part, not realizing how warm it really was. I began unhooking and my attention was drawn to Freddie. She was beginning to overheat. I poured water on her stomach and wiped some on her tongue. I did the same to Keytone and Fox. Fox had absolutely no problem; was warm, but not at unsafe levels. Keytone was on the verge, but was stilling milling about. Brewer wasn't even hot enough to relax...he continued to bark. Freddie was the main problem. I concentrated on her. After about 6 minutes, Freddie was walking around and responding, though weak. After an hour, she was totally normal, bouncing and barking. Whew! I didn't run the second team after that. Never thought the best run so far this season would end like that! I'm just glad that Fred was fine in the end and I'm kicking myself for not checking the temp.
On that same note, it's a point of interest to understand that I've run that exact same trail for 10 years with sibes (and tons of other trails) and have never even had a dog come close to overheating. Though the temp was warm, it wasn't HOT by any means. The difference? It's purely the drive of the dog. These pointers are so incredibly honest and intense. The sibes are hardworking, but they know their limits and lose a lot of motivation in the heat whereas the hounds are comfortable to hangout in warmer temps without LOOKING uncomfortable, so it's easy, as I did, to assume they could handle RUNNING in it. Once I stopped to think about it, it really shocked me: the hounds are physically more comfortable in warmer temps, but they work 4times as harder, so they almost need even cooler temps than the sibes do to preform at their best.
Currently, I have 52 miles on the main team and I wont be running again until Friday. I want Freddie to have plenty of time off, and it's supposed to be hot anyway. I've had Petunia for a week now and haven't been able to use her! Everyone is going a little nuts because they haven't been out since Saturday, but we're off to such a good start that I don't feel any need to rush it.
In other news, the second Lost Lake rig session is coming up. I vow NOT to run at night and I'm looking for a Halloween costume for Elsie or someone. Maybe I'll dress my team up as bird dogs....oh, wait....

We Rode in Trucks

2009-10-15T18:53:00.000-07:00

We're going to have a bit of sibling rivalry going on. No, not between Kuz, June, Roary and Reb or between Star, May, Brother and Joppie, or between Brew, Sosa, and Trotter, but between Keytone and...drumroll please...her SISTER! Ahhh it sounds like a terrible soap operah, "the tiny clusters!" But yes, read it and weep- Keytone's sister will be joining us here at Answering Call as of Saturday. And I couldn't be more excited! Petunia is going to be a great asset. I've started to see that I need to separate teams a little more than I had anticipated. I figured Sosa would be with the hounds and Oak would be with the sibes. Wrong-o was my guess-o. Sosa needs a team slightly slower than the monsters from hell and Oak needs a team drastically fast than yours truely, the sibes. I've decided to meet them in the middle, pairing them together and adding a speedy, but not too speedy, extra leader to help even things out a bit. Hello, Petunia you funny lookin' little doggie. I so anxious to get them on the trail together regularly. I'll have more on that as of next week. By the way, I didn't name her....so don't blame me! And, a second btw, she's on loan (from the Smithsonian! Only kidding- I just wanted to say that) so she'll only be with us until the end of race season.

As mentioned in the previous post, we went to Lost Lake last weekend and it was a great time. We had a few technical difficulites on the way, but everyone survived. Our box is to die for and it makes our lives so much easier. It's aggrivating to use my old beat up piece o'crap during the week, but I know that I'll be livin' the good life come Friday night! It's possible to travel comfortable with 37 dogs...we're proof. (unless two of those 36 attempt to JUMP OUT OF THE TRUCK while driving down the road....) Next on my truck agenda is to buy a duel-y. I have no idea how to spell the cloqiual term, but I want a pick-up with 4 back tires. Oh man, oh man...I wan' it.

On to better things: all 3 girls are in heat. Fox is the biggest flirt I've ever seen! Brewer screams bloody murder all day and every time we stop on the trail, but I just have to tell myself how much I'll enjoy getting him fixed. Oh, I will love that day. I'll bake a cake. A very big cake.

LOST Lake....

2009-10-12T19:51:00.000-07:00

Will I ever learn? I've run that trail a million times. A few years ago we showed up for the training session and it was already dark, but I took the team out anyway. I got lost. I was on the trail for 2 hours, covering 12 miles and didn't get back into camp until 11pm. Like I said, that was a few years ago and I'm older and wiser now. At least I'd like to think so.....
We pulled up in the day light, but between Lynzie and I, we had 5 teams to run. It was dark by the time I was able to get out. For some reason, I still wanted to run. I ran the hounds first and realized I was in over my head. We were doing the trail backwards and couldn't see any of the trail markers, so I only ran them a mile- point 5 down and point 5 back. I couldn't see so we were only going 12pmh. Long story short, they were pissed. Anyway, the sibes were next. I figured I'd take them further because it wouldn't be as hectic and I honestly thought I'd have no problem recognizing the trail. I asked Lynzie what trail she used for her teams. She told me she found an unmarked loop out there that was around 2 miles. "Unmarked" should have been my first clue....
I took off with Oakley, Roary, June, and Brother. Roary was up there with Oak, but I was mainly relying on Oakley.
The first few turns made sense and jived with what Lynzie told me she had done. We were on the main trail, simply ignoring the little turn-off. But, after a few more swerves, all bets were off. We were going 9pmh...a respectable speed for the mixture of talent in the team, but a speed that I knew should have put us further into the two miles that we were. We came to a building where a definitive turn was needed. Lynzie had said to go Haw at "a building." We did. Just after that left, the trail emptied out, at least seemingly, into an opening. I couldn't see where we were supposed to be headed. It looked to me that we were in a parking area or turn around of some type, but Oakley was hitting her line diagonally forward to the right. I decided to trust her. I simply gave the machine some gas and watched as she put her nose to the ground and swung to the right. I let her.
We wound up on a very clear trail- things were looking up. We took a few more loopy turns and swerved with the trail. At this point, I knew I could never remember the trail if I tried to turn us around, so our only option was forward. I reasoned that at least someone would know if we went missing (aka if we took more than 20 minutes or so to run 2 damn miles) and that I had all night and capable dogs, so I had nothing to lose. We ran for a few more minutes. I'm not going to lie....I almost started to panic.
I mean, c'mon....it was dark. It was very dark. It's a HUGE park...we could have run all night without recognizing a thing. Plus, I've done it before! We continued to run. The main trail turn left, if only slightly, twice. There were TONS of trails that branched off, but She ingnored them all. I honestly thought at one point we had gone in a circle. I stopped the team to turn them around, thinking for SURE that I'd missed something. I ended up shrugging and telling myself to knock it off. I openly asked aloud if I would be this worried in the daylight and decided I wouldn't be....and so I kept trusting Oakley.
You know what happened? I noticed a twinkling of lights off to my right. I knew that if they came from camp, then I could get my barrings. The trail kept swerving and I gave Oakley no direction. I was still really, very nervous. I reasoned that Oak could surely smell the trail a thousand times better than I could see it. I just kept the machine going.
I saw more twinkling lights, still to my right. The surface of the trail changed. I wanted to believe that I recognized a few things, but I refused to allow myself to get my hopes up....in case we really did have to spend a few more hours out there. I had actually considered yelling for help or unhooking the line from the 4wheeler and cutting through the woods with the dogs directly towards the lights.
The dogs sped up. That meant only one thing. THEY COULD HEAR CAMP. Oakley put her nose to the ground around the last corner and we climbed a hill. I heard dogs and generators. We were back. She cut through the camp ground and found the truck.
Lynzie asked what took so long and wondered if we had gotten lost. She said she was going to wait a few more minutes before she really started to worry. I replied, "Yeah, I felt pretty lost. I have no idea what trail we took, but I do know that Oakley's definitely a leader."

The "Oh, Shiiiiit!" Moment(s)

2009-10-05T18:59:00.000-07:00

......"When the dogs lunged forward, and as the right hand side of the rig made sickening contact with the sturdy, metal post, I said more than a few words under my breath"......

We've been running regularly. I can see the dogs improving already and gaining stamina. Right now, the hound team has 22 miles. It doesn't seem like much and in reality it's not a lot, but no run has been over 3 miles...so we've had quite a few hookups. The puppies are really impressing me. They're little bundles of energy. It's been a while since I've trained a pup (remember, Oakley is FOUR now!) so I've been racking my brain.

The highlight of the week: FLIPPING THE RIG! Put it in the history books. I've boasted that I'm untouchable on that thing...and I thought I was! Apparently my high horse shrinks a little when the maniacs take a corner at 19mph.

I had 6 dogs ready to go: Keytone and Fox in lead, Freddie and Brewer in the middle, and Sosa with Trotter in the back. I knew we were gonna be goin' fast....I had no idea. We were running on the road, so the first turn, technically, is a right out of the driveway. Needless to say, THAT is where I lost it. One hell of a run, eh? We made sure traffic was clear and I pulled the snub. The team took off like bats outta hell (or like sprint dogs out of the chute...clever?) and I called "gee." The instant I saw Keytone's head snap to the right in response, I knew I'd made a huge mistake. And it is here were I explain that my entire yard is fenced, so we have to go through the front gate to reach the road. When they turned too sharply, we were in danger of being hung up on the right hand gate post. Big danger. I've run this route successfully in the past, but I had started with the rig flush with the gate. Damn. My first thought was to keep the boys in back (Sosa and Trotter) from being slammed into the pole. Not a problem. I should have worried about what might happen a few feet south of them.....

I've heard it said and read about it, but nothing truly captures the actual feeling of one's very own OH SHIT moment.

The entire team had swung right while the rig and I had hardly moved an inch. They had taken the corner waaaaay too sharp with espresso for breakfast. When the dogs lunged forward, and as the right hand side of the rig made sickening contact with the sturdy, metal post, I said more than a few words under my breath. I KNEW the whole thing was going to flip. I literally remember concentrating so hard on front tire that, when I think about it now, I actually see in tunnel vision. It's funny, because I also remember thinking, "Oh man...the ground is wet!" WTF, right? I also remember thinking that I had never flipped it before, and so this couldn't really be happening. And then the left, outside tire caught an edge. I was air born.

Then and only then, was my O.S! moment complete. I landed on my left shoulder, still a white-knuckle grip on the handle bar, as the dogs dug in and dragged me for a few feet. Did you hear that? What wimps! After my harrowing crash landing, I didn't even get to display my "I am awesome and will now rite an upside down moving rig" maneuver. They all just stopped and stared back at me. Do not ask me how I managed to avoid landing UNDER the rig or how I swear to god I did not blink. But alas, all good action movies must come to an end. So, I stood and pulled the rig up with me. The dogs needed no ceremony- they took off. I hoped on and rode off into the sunset. Seriously.

You see, until this event, I thought that rig was my tool for world domination. Once atop, I was extremely self-assured and confident in my ability to finish a run in one piece. Now? I see myself as damn near awesome! Sure, I flipped that sucker like a newbie, but I hung on like the pro I am! Self-assured? Oh, it's so much worse. Try cocky. Or grab a thesaurus. They're handy.

Work it, baby!

2009-09-27T18:09:00.000-07:00

Had some great runs this morning at Ft. Custer. And yes, thank you, I did remember to un-jack the truck! It was the second morning in a row that we ran over there....so it's the official start to the 09/10 season! We had a semi-start two weekends ago where I took the teams 2 miles each two days in a row, but we didn't follow it up because of the heat. After that, I took the girls and the puppies in the woods on the short 1 mile trail a few times a week just to calm them down....but now we're talkin' 'bout the real thang! I don't know what I just said.
Trotter is still out of commission with a split pad that he limps on like a baby. Yesterday I took only his two brothers and the girls. We just ran that one 5dog team 3 miles. They were cookin' right along. Today, I took both teams and two of the cutest babies ever. I ran the sibes first because I didn't want it to get any hotter. I had Roary and Oak in lead, June and Brother in the middle, and Kuz with May in wheel. Mr. Daddy isn't feeling too well as of late and is running like a punk. Maybe he's just upset that his brother beat him to retirement. Oh poor Rebbie....livin' the life of a yard dog. Annnyway, the sibe team was incredible. I've never had a "pre season" run as great as this morning. I even had a passenger. Even though Kuz was setting a terrible example, his babies didn't follow his direction; they were running like pros. Oak was killing it in lead. Roary was solid, but not taking directions very well. Man, did I mention the babies? They were unstoppable. Well, okay, we stopped twice, but you get the picture. We did end up taking a shortcut, so we probably went somewhere around 2 miles and not the full 3. I've been running that team for 8 seasons and they still impress me! (and don't forget about the babies..)
The hounds were pretty near uncontrollable on Saturday. We had to navigate a downed tree within the first 100yards of our run, so there were a few tense minutes in the beginning! Once we got moving, they were all power. Fox is the brains, Keytone is the idiot speed, Freddie is steady, but excitable, Brewer is a retarded powerhouse, and Sosa is a cute black dog with little white feet. He's actually quite an asset! Like I said, Saturday was a little hectic, and we stopped quite a few times, but they behaved so well once they calmed down. They boys are already a thousand times better than they were last season. Today was a little more calm...I made them do the trail backwards so that we wouldn't hit the tree until the very end. We stopped 4 times and I bet two of them were overkill. Oh, Freddie showed her remarkable skill in Useless Shit 101 when, while leading with Fox, she jumped and caught a falling leaf in mid air without missing a step. And yes, I'm pretty sure she ate it. If Fox could have said anything to her at that moment, I'm sure she would have ruthlessly mocked Freddie's family tree. (and THAT, my friends, is a joke! you see, Fox is Freddie's aunt...) Beyond being a little rusty on commands today, the hound team was on fire. Oh, and I demoted Keytone (putting Freddie in lead), so she couldn't be a big idiot. She was a small, cute idiot instead. Once I teach her to line out, there will be world peace, all armies will commence a cease fire, and the hungry will be no more. Seriously, she CAN be THAT obnoxious....as she turns around for the tenth time.
Ahhhh and what else? Hmmmmm I think I'll be putting new straw in everyone's houses tomorrow. They're all lovin' the National Xtra Performance. I'm worried about Kuzin because he seems sick, but I think I've mentioned that already. Oh! I let Brew loose today out of the truck and he ran straight to the kennel. Props to me. I took Trotter for a walk around the field tonight. He we naked- that's right- no leash. Props to my daddy for that. May was in the house for the majority of the day (after her Big Sled Dog Adventure) chewing on her stuffed gorilla.
My next plan to run is Tuesday. Please, dear Mother Nature, please let the weather be crisp and 40....or less.

National and Johnny Trotter

2009-09-25T18:19:00.000-07:00

It'll be a busy day. First, I'll be getting up at 6:45 so that I can load dogs and be to Ft. Custer by 8am. The hardest part of that sequence? I have to un-jack the truck. I do seriously hope that I remember to take the jack out BEFORE I drive away. Here's to a good memory.

So anyway, if you want me to be a little soft, I can tell you about Trotter/Carson/Clyde. He's a full brother to Brew and Sosa. I got the 3 of them last January. They were all a little thin and confused, but Trotter was afraid of everything. He was frightened almost to the point of aggression. If you let him out in the yard, there was no way to catch him again unless you could literally corner him.....he acted completely feral. He barked AT people if they walked towards him and he paced constantly. He was hardly tolerant of other males and was just a general mess. He went directly to my dad's house for socialization. SIX MONTHS LATER- Trotter is a free drop-able, hug-able, sociable, fun lovin' guy! I was SO impressed today! We ran a mile and he has never looked so good. Before and after the run, he was running loose around the yard like a wild man (the best kind of wild man) and then I let Brewer loose and they got along great. The jury is still out on his official name...he came to me as Noah, and I originally switched it to Carson, but decided against it, so that was changed to Clyde, but then semi switched to Johnny Trotter (get it? like johnny walker?). Annnnway- check back for more updates on Trotter and his brothers.

Speaking of the boys...Brewer broke his chain tonight :-/ I had no where near the amount of patience needed to go down there in the dark and use pliers to unfasten the quicklink, so I put him a kennel. Okay, so it's a really smallll kennel...the smallest one we have...but it was vacant and, like I said, I was feeling none to patient at 8pm when he came winging up through the yard, grinnin' like a fool. He's barking his head off as we speak (because he hates kennels, no matter the size), but I'm pretty sure he'll live until tomorrow morning. Crazy mutt.

The National part is the best. I'm finally switching dog food. I'll be picking up a few bags tomorrow afternoon to see how the hounds do on it. I can officially say that I feed GOOD food. I FEED NATIONAL.

Hollywood, Part Two

2009-09-23T19:11:00.000-07:00

....and now the hound/alaskan team.

Friendly Freddie is the resident brainless wonder.
Keytone is a hard-driving half pointer who can run 17mph and loves every stride. She was once a struggling model who couldn't turn left.
Fox is more educated than the news channel and also agrees that Kayne West is a "jackass."
Sosa is a black athlete. Need I say more? You're right, I should elaborate. He's a REALLY black athlete. Oh c'mon it's a joke.
Brewer works at Seaworld in his off time. However, last summer he refused to free a whale named William, so he may be out of a job.

And the babies are who you've been waiting for.
Brother has a great personality and a gorgeous coat. He's currently working on a wildlife management program. It simply involves sending memos to all forest creatures and asking them "did you get the memo?"
May's idea of a perfect date really IS April 25th. She's a sweatheart and a leader prospect.
Jockey has a perfect build and gate. She's calm and honest. Currently, she wonders why people are shocked to hear that she's afraid of horses.
Star is a pushy little girl who loves to play tug of war. She's not confident in harness yet, but she seems alright with speed. She understands that there's no crying in baseball.

There's also a pesky Labrador running around the place. He's a star athlete and is working on a book deal. His book is simply titled "Pretty," and is filled with pictures of himself. The Bluetick is mainly interested in frisbee and scaring small children. During Halloween, she wonders why she can SMELL children, but not SEE children.

Soooo that's the kennel as I know it. It can get pretty hectic around here, but a good game of Mafia usually keeps everyone's egos in check.

"a rose by any other name...."

2009-09-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

Well, that's it. The beginning is cliché. You're probably annoyed and miffed as to why I would choose such a mundane quote. The truth? You can't handle the truth! See? It happened again. But for real this time....the reason? I've got to keep it easy for a while. I'm an avid movie-quoter; I should definitely be paid for making certain obscure quotes famous, and with that being said, I currently doubt your ability to keep up with my tidbits. Time Will Tell. (and that? not just a RANDOM quote, but an episode title of Alias)

Now, I'll start with a brief introduction. No, I'm not a boring idiot, I don't want to introduce my damn self; I want to tell you all about my dogs, naturally. And this is where the title comes in...because I'll be telling you their names. Get it now?
Reb has always been a brute. He’s a thick, solid guy with a sweet personality and ravishing good looks. He leads a little bit, but he’s retired due to asthma. Guess what, ladies? He’s single. He’d love it if you took him for long walks on the beach and he’s told me he’s all about cuddling.

Kuz is a lot smaller than Rebbie. He’s also a lot smarter. Kuz works harder, too. Not that Reb’s a bad guy, but Kuzin is the best of the best. If you can get past his obsession with trucks, he turns out to be the best leader boy on the planet. Seriously. He’s a daddy now, so he’s given up drinking on Friday nights and most of his dreams. Only kidding. The only thing he has given up is the custody of his children. Fine, fine—I’ll stop.

Juneau has a very unique name. Give her a break; she was named by an 11 year old. She has always been a tireless worker. June is the first one to hit her harness. She’s been leading since last season and maintains that she’ll keep leading until she can actually CATCH AND DEVOUR one of the many small animals that runs out in front of her on the trail. Shy of that, she said she’d settle for a pet buffalo.

Roary is a looker. She leads also, which makes this litter 4 for 4 in the brains department. She participates often in wet t-shirt contests….meaning that she jumps in the pool and runs at me, trying to get my shirt as wet as possible. If that interests you, stay tuned. That was a joke, a very bad joke.

Then we have little Klondike: the princess of the realm. Oh? You think that’s a joke? She auditioned for the roll of Princess Leia, and won, but backed out because she decided that kissing her brother would have been NASTY.

Last of the grown Siber-dummies is Smokin’ Oakley. I almost feel bad making fun of her because she just had the cutest puppies ever. Oakley can be a knot head. She’s very driven, but not always in the right direction. Her dad invented toaster strudels and her tail is so fluffy because it’s full of secrets.

I’ll stop with the grown sibes for now. I’ll save the babies and the hounds for later. Just so you’re sure to check in again I’ll let you in on a little secret…I have a dog named May and her idea of the perfect date is April 25th……