Hey everyone!
Winter snaps in temps have delayed our training. The dogs just get to cold to fast to train them, it is like minus 10 out, and even colder with the wind chill. We have post-poned training until the temps warm up a bit. Our races have been post-poned because of lack of snow. We are hoping the the re-set dates we may have snow by then. Check out the Races tab to see the updated dates for races. Lastly, I am looking to run the Jr. John Beargrease. Now, I know that may be a push with my 6 dogs that we have, but I feel like I can do it. I need to get the dogs in training, find the right equipment (sprint sleds and things like that just don't work), and find the money for it. This would be my last year to run the Jr. part of the race for I am 17 already and the age limit is 14-17, just like the Jr. Iditarod. I would LOVE to run just one Jr. mid-distance race before I have to start entering in all adu
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Chipmunk and Racer running together The winter break has come to an end. I returned back to school on January 2nd, and that means I have to get my butt back into the regular routine again. There was lots of training the dogs on the sled again, but the unfortunates just had to happen. We have 1 broken sled, and one injuried dog. Chipmunk is the injuried dog, it just seems like she can never stay injuried free. My 3 cousins all ran the 4 dog team, and my younger cousin who is only 4 years old ran in the basket of the sled! They all had fun, and it was quite an adventure for them. My cousin was recently a winner of 10 brand new harnesses from Howling Dog Alaska! She entered a contest for Junior mushers 16 years and younger to win these new harnesses. She accuried 2 H-back harnesses, 4 X-back, and 4 distance harnesses. These will come in handy because so of the dogs keep chewing up the harnesses. Here is her winning entry. This is what Howling Dog has to say. Congratulations to Katie, the winning junior musher from our Harness Hi, I am Katie and I am a 12-year-old junior musher from Wisconsin. I have been mushing for 1 year now. The interest I have for mushing first started when I was 8 years old, when my cousin spent the whole summer at my house with her sled dog. That is what changed my whole way of thinking about life. I fell in love with the power of the dog as my cousin ran her sled dog and
I knew that I wanted to see that every day. So then, the long time of studying to convince my dad that I was ready for a new responsibility of owning my own sled dog kennel was on! I studied for almost a whole year reading any book I could find, asking Carlleen, my cousin, questions and surfing the web for any information. There was so much I needed to know. Finally, on December 1st I knew that I was ready but then things took a turn for the worse. That morning my mother died, and that threw my entire life off track. It was like being torn in two. Then that winter a new fire was lit in my dream of being a musher when Carlleen took me to her uncles and let me run a two-dog team. I knew then that that would be my life passion. That summer my family looked for another dog because the two that we had passed away during the winter. Therefore, we went to the pound and came home with this German shepherd mix named Cinnamon. Now even if my family did not know it yet, I was thinking ahead when I first saw her. I knew she would be a good lead dog. Then as soon as she was fixed, I started her training. Cinnamon loved to run, she was coming along very nicely but if I wanted to sled race I would need at least two if not a three dog team. So, I started looking on sled dog central for free or inexpensive sprint dogs. One day I came across this one ad were a man was selling out his entire kennel. I convinced my dad to give him a call and he said that most of the dogs were gone but he had six dogs left. Never the less we drove to Michigan and some how I talked my dad into getting 3 of the dogs. We came home with Racer and Rocket who are brothers, and then there was Pilot the old leader. Now that I had the dogs, it was time to get them into shape. This went well enough after I figured out that I should put Pilot in lead with Rocket with Racer and Cinnamon in wheel. Training went well that year and over the summer, I worked on furthering my bond with my four sled dogs. My sister and I did agility and obedience training over the summer. Then come August, it was fair for 4-H so Cinnamon and Rocket went to compete in agility and obedience. They had lots of fun, but then school started and that meant less time with the dogs. I still manage at least 2 hours with them after school even though my schedule is busy. We have started training for this year and they dogs are doing great! I hope to race this year but if not I still have the time of my life with them whatever we are doing. However, there are always things to improve on and then there is always the fun in the misadventures, like the time my team altogether stopped and then turned and headed for home trying to leave me behind. I did manage to catch them but by the time I got to them, they were all tangled up so that was a 30 minutes stop we had to make and then finally head for home. You know how sometimes you have to make the mistake 2 or 3 times before you get it right? Well this was the time, I only needed to make the mistake once and I do not think I will do it again. I was going to run the dogs. I did not have a rig but I wanted to see if the 3 dogs would work together so I hooked them all up to a bike (do not do this ever) and we started on our way. Along the way, I slipped and went flying and the dogs took off with my bike dragging it along the trail. It took a long time and a lot of running before I finally caught up and the funny thing was they were all just sitting there as if they were saying: “What took you that long to get here? Come on let’s go!” Yes, I have good memories with them, but we are still improving. To keep myself organized, it helps to have goals. Here are the ones I would like to accomplish: To run in a 3-dog sprint race, to continue training in agility, to get a job and completely support my team, to have a kennel of six dogs, have a litter of puppies, and to continue my dream wherever it takes me. |
AuthorA young women attempting to navigate the world. She is guided by her love and passion for dogs. Archives
April 2020
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