Wednesday, November 23, 2005
We are still training on the 4 wheeler but praying for just a bit more snow so that we can transfer to sleds. The first skijor race of the season was cancelled and the sprint trails aren't ready to be run on.
Kiche (SCL) continues to be shy. I like to sit at her house when I let all of the dogs loose and she will come and put her feet up on me for scratches under the chin. Or if I sit in her circle and a bunch of other dogs come up she is happy to be sniffing me and being petted under the chin. She lives in the dog barn each night with all the other dogs. She likes that!! Nice and warm.
We have been running her a little bit but with what I perceive as an eyesight problem, she still is shy of us when we approach her. She seems a bit nervous with dogs behind her, but she also doesn't like to be close to the 4 wheeler. I'm really looking forward to putting her in a team once I get on the sleds.
Misty (SCL adoptee) continues to be a driven sled dog. More of a maniac, although she has toned down her jumping and wildness that she had last year. She is always hard on the line.
I weighed her tonight and she weighs 41 pounds. I looked back to when I got her in April of 2004 and she weighed 28 pounds!! Yikes!!!
Blackberry (SCL adoptee) is also doing great. She runs fast and hard all of the time.
Both her and Misty are constant indoor dogs now. Don and I have 10 indoor dogs but it is amazing how quiet they are and they all get along great.
Kiche (SCL) continues to be shy. I like to sit at her house when I let all of the dogs loose and she will come and put her feet up on me for scratches under the chin. Or if I sit in her circle and a bunch of other dogs come up she is happy to be sniffing me and being petted under the chin. She lives in the dog barn each night with all the other dogs. She likes that!! Nice and warm.
We have been running her a little bit but with what I perceive as an eyesight problem, she still is shy of us when we approach her. She seems a bit nervous with dogs behind her, but she also doesn't like to be close to the 4 wheeler. I'm really looking forward to putting her in a team once I get on the sleds.
Misty (SCL adoptee) continues to be a driven sled dog. More of a maniac, although she has toned down her jumping and wildness that she had last year. She is always hard on the line.
I weighed her tonight and she weighs 41 pounds. I looked back to when I got her in April of 2004 and she weighed 28 pounds!! Yikes!!!
Blackberry (SCL adoptee) is also doing great. She runs fast and hard all of the time.
Both her and Misty are constant indoor dogs now. Don and I have 10 indoor dogs but it is amazing how quiet they are and they all get along great.
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Another couple of days of training under our belt.
Today (Sunday) Lisa Baraff came over with her dog Hope. We ran 3 teams. The first team had Kiche (SCL) in it.
Beans Loon
Millie Hope (Lisa's dog)
Izzi Kiche (SCL)
Kiche started out not pulling at all. We were thinking maybe she was afraid of a new person around. But about 3/4 way up the hill before we turned around she pooped AND peed!! Then she was fine. Our turn around was "interesting." Loon swung under the main line and we had quite a tangle before I could jump off. But we got everyone straightened out and the dogs handled it nicely. Even Kiche who is uncomfortable being handled all over her body!!
Coming back down the hill Kiche pulled hard and all the dogs were having a great time leaning into their harnesses and enjoying the cold day.
I was impressed with Hope, Lisa's dog. She came from a shelter in Kodiak. She hasn't been in harness but maybe once this season, but she was crazy to go and worked very hard. Then didn't even seem tired after the run.
Our 2nd team had Blackberry (SCL adoptee) in it with 4 powerful males. She can certainly hold her own as she is very driven and speedy. She is pretty much a full time house dog with her short short coat and missing ear pieces from frostbite that she had when she came into the shelter a year and a half ago.
The 3rd team was a 6 dog team with Misty (SCL adoptee) in it. Lisa made a wonderful observation. She mentioned how happy that Misty looked. Bounding around and being in a team and saying hello to Lisa with that mischievous look that she has. She pulled like a demon and was certainly able to keep up with the faster team that I put her in today.
She has been a truly delightful addition to my family of dogs.
Thanks Lisa!!!
Today (Sunday) Lisa Baraff came over with her dog Hope. We ran 3 teams. The first team had Kiche (SCL) in it.
Beans Loon
Millie Hope (Lisa's dog)
Izzi Kiche (SCL)
Kiche started out not pulling at all. We were thinking maybe she was afraid of a new person around. But about 3/4 way up the hill before we turned around she pooped AND peed!! Then she was fine. Our turn around was "interesting." Loon swung under the main line and we had quite a tangle before I could jump off. But we got everyone straightened out and the dogs handled it nicely. Even Kiche who is uncomfortable being handled all over her body!!
Coming back down the hill Kiche pulled hard and all the dogs were having a great time leaning into their harnesses and enjoying the cold day.
I was impressed with Hope, Lisa's dog. She came from a shelter in Kodiak. She hasn't been in harness but maybe once this season, but she was crazy to go and worked very hard. Then didn't even seem tired after the run.
Our 2nd team had Blackberry (SCL adoptee) in it with 4 powerful males. She can certainly hold her own as she is very driven and speedy. She is pretty much a full time house dog with her short short coat and missing ear pieces from frostbite that she had when she came into the shelter a year and a half ago.
The 3rd team was a 6 dog team with Misty (SCL adoptee) in it. Lisa made a wonderful observation. She mentioned how happy that Misty looked. Bounding around and being in a team and saying hello to Lisa with that mischievous look that she has. She pulled like a demon and was certainly able to keep up with the faster team that I put her in today.
She has been a truly delightful addition to my family of dogs.
Thanks Lisa!!!
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Another training day on the 4 wheeler. I won't be blogging every day that we do train, but this day was a lot of fun.
First though, I think I have realized some sad news about Kiche.
I had her in the house last night and I have always thought that something wasn't quite right with her eyesight......She is finally trusting me enough to pet her under the chin and on the top of the head...so I was looking very closely at her eyes and I'm thinking she may either be blind or have really bad eyesight in her right eye. She has no blink reflex in that eye that I can uncover. Sometimes I don't know if it is frozen fear or that she really can't see. I'll take her to the eye doctor next time there is an expert in town. That might explain a lot of her fear and timidity.
But she loves to go and she loves to run.
Today we loaded 20 dogs in the truck (plus Ivy in the cab) and Don and I drove up to Standard Creek Road. It is a logging road but has pretty good sight distance. After running 3 teams we had only seen one truck on the road the whole time, and that was a regular pick- up truck.
First team:
Chanel Loon
Casper Jewel (SCL adoptee)
Izzi Misty (SCL adoptee)
Mille Kiche (SCL)
Kiche started out great. Still looking behind her a bit, but pulling hard. After a couple of miles she got very tired. She is not in the shape that the other dogs are since she doesn't get to run around madly every day when I let everyone loose. I still can't catch her...so she has to be on a leash while the other dogs get to run around. And she is also a bit overweight.
We did 4.5 miles and went fairly slow. Jewel had her coat on and is getting used to that. She did good too.
I ran 2 other teams of 6. One for 6 miles and the last one for 5 miles. All the dogs loved going to a new place. Blackberry (SCL adoptee) was in the 6 mile team. She is a very driven little dog. It was pretty cold up there. around 0 degrees with a light wind.
I cleaned out the dog barn today and loaded all the boxes with straw. I will put all the outside dogs in the barn tonight. They love to sleep stretched out in the large boxes in a warm barn.
First though, I think I have realized some sad news about Kiche.
I had her in the house last night and I have always thought that something wasn't quite right with her eyesight......She is finally trusting me enough to pet her under the chin and on the top of the head...so I was looking very closely at her eyes and I'm thinking she may either be blind or have really bad eyesight in her right eye. She has no blink reflex in that eye that I can uncover. Sometimes I don't know if it is frozen fear or that she really can't see. I'll take her to the eye doctor next time there is an expert in town. That might explain a lot of her fear and timidity.
But she loves to go and she loves to run.
Today we loaded 20 dogs in the truck (plus Ivy in the cab) and Don and I drove up to Standard Creek Road. It is a logging road but has pretty good sight distance. After running 3 teams we had only seen one truck on the road the whole time, and that was a regular pick- up truck.
First team:
Chanel Loon
Casper Jewel (SCL adoptee)
Izzi Misty (SCL adoptee)
Mille Kiche (SCL)
Kiche started out great. Still looking behind her a bit, but pulling hard. After a couple of miles she got very tired. She is not in the shape that the other dogs are since she doesn't get to run around madly every day when I let everyone loose. I still can't catch her...so she has to be on a leash while the other dogs get to run around. And she is also a bit overweight.
We did 4.5 miles and went fairly slow. Jewel had her coat on and is getting used to that. She did good too.
I ran 2 other teams of 6. One for 6 miles and the last one for 5 miles. All the dogs loved going to a new place. Blackberry (SCL adoptee) was in the 6 mile team. She is a very driven little dog. It was pretty cold up there. around 0 degrees with a light wind.
I cleaned out the dog barn today and loaded all the boxes with straw. I will put all the outside dogs in the barn tonight. They love to sleep stretched out in the large boxes in a warm barn.
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Another day of training. Kiche (SCL) was put in the first 6 dog team (we ran 3 teams).
Chanel Loon
Kiche (SCL) Misty (SCL adoptee)
Izzi Millie
This is a nice little team. No dog wants to go super fast (except Chanel, but she will do what the others want). Kiche took right off this time straight up the hill. We went a little further than last time and she did fine. She has a really nice gait. She lopes all the time. I haven't seen her trot. She is still a bit afraid of the 4 wheeler but with more confidence she will get used to it. She loves to go and has good drive. She should turn out to be a real asset to a team. I let her in the house later on. She likes that and will actually follow me around. She enjoys the pets under the chin, but still very spooky about being petted down her back. So I don't go there right now. Little baby steps of progress!
Chanel Loon
Kiche (SCL) Misty (SCL adoptee)
Izzi Millie
This is a nice little team. No dog wants to go super fast (except Chanel, but she will do what the others want). Kiche took right off this time straight up the hill. We went a little further than last time and she did fine. She has a really nice gait. She lopes all the time. I haven't seen her trot. She is still a bit afraid of the 4 wheeler but with more confidence she will get used to it. She loves to go and has good drive. She should turn out to be a real asset to a team. I let her in the house later on. She likes that and will actually follow me around. She enjoys the pets under the chin, but still very spooky about being petted down her back. So I don't go there right now. Little baby steps of progress!
