Second Chance League

Hi Folks! Sorry for not posting, but I mainly post on our kennel blog RogueSummitKennel.blogspot.com so please see this blog to get updates on our training.

Jenny & Munchkin are both still running in the B team...mainly because we have 14 dogs running in the A team, so we have these girls running with the youngters and the oldsters. It's been good though, because Munchkin has become the main leader for that team. We still aren't sure if she can do more than 25 miles though. Munchkin is such a hard pulling dog that she runs herself into the ground at about 25 miles. We've been running her with the slower team to try and teach her to slow down a bit and to learn to trot, which is a very efficient gate.

Jenny has that trot down and can go for miles. She is one of those "invisible dogs" in the team...those are the ones who are such good workers that they're always on their tugs, have no problems, stay consistent and just go. However, Jenny's shyness makes her hard to handle, at least with my husband and if she were to ever get loose, we'd never catch her. She does much better with women. Hence, why she's in the B team, as I usually run the B team and Manny focuses on the A team. Manny has been running the B team off and on...but they only run about twice a week, since we need to keep the A team up and going. However, I'm going to try and focus on getting home right after school so that I can get that B team up to speed. Mainly, I need to have Munchkin, Jenny, Banjo (another rescue dog from the shelter) and Torus up to speed to be able to switch them in and out of the A team if we need to. It's nice to have dogs as "pinch hitters" in case of injuries and such with the main race dogs. I really want to race Munch, Banjo and Jenny, as I believe that even these Second Chance dogs can race and do well at it. So, check in with us at our kennel website and follow our progress and daily life at Rogue Summit Kennel.

Take care!
-Tammi

Sorry that I haven't blogged on here for so long. I have another blog that is my main kennel blog, Running Swift Kennel. Anyway, just thought I should give an update on Jenny. We decided to go ahead and adopt her, as I couldn't see many folks being able to deal with her shyness. Besides that, it is quite obvious that Jenny is very happy here in our kennel, as she actually plays now with her neighbors and though she'll always be shy, when it's hook up time, she has even come up to me on her own! That's a HUGE improvement! Therefore, Jenny is staying here at RSK.

To help with her shyness, we really felt that Jenny should go to Kantishna to do tours all summer. Being around different people everyday, running in harness and being handled daily will really help Jenny with the shyness. My goal is to get Jenny to the point where I can race her without stressing her out too much. I tried to race her in a small local race, and she didn't do too well. However, she runs beautifully; so, is a nice addition to the team. My thinking is that after a summer in Kantishna, she'll feel more comfortable in a race environmnet.

Jenny left for Kantishna on June 1st and will be back in September. I look forward to seeing how she's developed at that point! Have a great summer!

-Tammi

After a pretty crazy run with the B team today (see my Runningswiftkennel blog), Jenny actually let me pet her 2 times out there! After having leader trouble on the lake, I made it a point to walk up the line and pet each and every dog. I do this particularly if we had a difficult section of trail, or crazy directions, etc. The leaders had taken a wrong turn, so when they headed the right way, Jenny got her neckline hooked up on her partner's line. I went to check her, as I was giving pets. Now, Jenny usually shies away when I walk up the line, but this time, she stood there and let me pet her head! I was so happy, that I gave her extra scritches, unhooked her neckline and petted her head a last time. Then, a little later when I stopped again, I went up the line and she accepted her pets with the others. At home, she didn't shy away when it was time to unharness and she let me give her scritches again. Talk about progress!!! :o) So, even though I had a real nutty run, that made the run not quite so bad.

Jenny is running really smooth and it's like she never left. When we pull out harnesses, she is right there, jumping up and she sometimes even comes to me! Manny has been spending time with her too. She's still extremely shy, but it's nice to see more improvement. She'll never be a "friendly" dog, but if we can get her past the extreme fear of being handled, I think that will be a win for us all.

There isn't a whole lot to report, as I've been sick with pneumonia. However, there is some news. Rondy is on trial with Marya Lewanski. I think Rondy will fit in real nice with Marya and prove to be a good addition to Marya's team. Marya is also trying Limo out. I'm hoping that will be a good fit. Limo is a nice, long-legged hound from Taylor's kennel; so, he definitely has nice sprint bloodlines behind him. He is a gee/haw leader, though he didn't want to do much leading this past year. He has been working hard this fall, so we'll see how he does with Marya.

Jenny is doing nicely. She is staying out of her house during feedings (improvement!) and immediately eats and drinks as soon as Manny puts it in her bowl and moves to the next dog. That is Awesome, as she used to wait until he was out of the yard before eating. Very cool. Plus, he's been petting her everyday and while she won't come up to him, she's getting better about letting him come to her. Still a long way to go, but it's something.

That's about it for now. We haven't been training the past 2 weeks because the atv was being fixed. We'll be back at it on Saturday, though. Check runningswiftkennel.blogspot.com for updates.

We picked Jenny up from Jane last night (thanks for getting her, Jane!) after she was finally caught. She is doing GREAT!!!! We kept her in the shop last night, as we didn't get home until after 8pm. She didn't have any accidents at all, and went potty very nicely each time I took her out. We put her out in the yard today, right next to her buddy, Snuggles and smack dab in the middle of the yard. It was so incredible to watch Jenny greet her buddies. She was PLAYING!!! It was so wonderful to see. Jenny had a meet and greet with all of her neighbors around her, then proceeded to just dig and dig. It was hilarious! It was like she was so excited, that she couldn't contain herself. She has never been much of a digger, so it was funny to see her get down to the grass (the ground is too frozen) and toss tufts of grass around. I gotta say, I was like a kid, giggling at her antics. And it is so great to see her Happy!!! She's still shy, but not as bad as she was. You can really tell that she's happy to be back home. She was even out of her house when Manny went through to feed and water, which is even better than she used to be. We're going to start running her with the B team this week, as she appears to be fit and not too thin. We're going to go ahead and worm her, as well as do vaccinations (it's that time anyway). I'll keep everyone posted on her progress. The way she is responding, while far from being over the shyness, I have high hopes that I'll be able to race her, given more time with us.

Check back for more updates. I will try to post progress as it happens. Also, check out our main Kennel blog at http://www.Runningswiftkennel.blogspot.com and keep up with our race training throughout the winter.

-Tammi

I hope so! Because you never know when they'll be gone.

But, life does move in mysterious ways and when one moves on, another one generally comes along. As such, we are anticipating the arrival of our newest addition to the Running Swift Kennel household...a brand new Dane puppy. Through our heartbreak at losing our beautiful Dane, Brennan...we met some folks who just so happened to have recently had a litter of Great Dane puppies who are looking for homes in the Soldotna area. As a result, we are looking for a ride for our new guy on Nov. 18th or 23rd from Anchorage....or anytime in the next few weeks from Soldotna, to Fairbanks.

So, if you or anyone you know could assist us in allowing our new family member to hitch a ride North with you, please contact us at runswift@alaska.net and we'll work out the details.

In the meantime, Rondy hasn't been running much due to very rough trails and colder temps. She IS available for adoption and would make a GREAT sprint dog as she's fast and hard driving. Give me a call (488-4679) or drop me an email if you are interested.

-Tammi

Aha!! Finally got the white stuff! Manny has been home training dogs full time now and they sure are looking good! We are behind in training, but the dogs sure aren't showing it! They are looking great. We haven't been running Rondy lately, as we thought she was adopted, but that fell through. So, I'll be getting Rondy back into training again, before we get too far in distance.

See my Kennel blog at: http://www.runningswiftkennel.blogspot.com

Munchkin is doing FANTASTIC in lead! She is taking commands better than the old veteran, Dutchess. I just hope she will be able to do the distance, as she is running great! Jenny, once the little wanderer has been sufficiently nabbed (which will hopefully be soon!) will be staying with the Pulsifiers, as Judy has grown attached to the little gray shadow. That will be great, as Jenny is a good sled dog and does run lead. It'll be nice to see her do well.

Gotta go! Have a great day all and check out some of those nice huskies waiting for a home at the shelter. Lots of good potential there!

-Tammi

Not much to report. No word on Jenny...she's still hanging out around Ray's dogyard. I'm really hoping she can be caught soon, as I worry about her. Rondy is doing well in the dogyard. She's filled out nicely and is a spitfire, ready to run. I can't seem to put pictures up on this blog, but I'll add some pics of her up on my main kennel blog: www.runningswiftkennel.blogspot.com . We haven't started training yet, as it's still been a bit warm, but hope to start soon.

Take care!
-Tammi

Not much to report. Jenny is still at large, as Ray waits for a live trap to see if he can catch our wayward wanderer. Jenny is doing fine and staying right there at Ray's place...she's just hiding in the woods when he's up, then coming to eat and visiting all of his dogs when he's sleeping. Rondy is hanging out with us and having fun playing with her buddy, Rocket. It's been a bit too warm to think about running, so my guys are excavating the dogyard, playing with each other, and just taking it easy. Rondy started gaining too much weight, so we had to cut her food back a little bit. She sure is an easy keeper! She's going to be a real nice addition to the team and is a jovial girl.

Enjoy the summer, folks!

Jenny is certainly showing us promise now! We put her on a smaller, square house when she returned to our kennel from a tryout with a friend (her shyness was ever present) and moved her a bit in the dogyard. Wow! What a difference! While far from being "over" her shyness, she's doing much better. Now, instead of hiding in her house at feeding time, she's outside, waiting to eat. Which she does as we keep moving through the yard (she used to wait until we were gone). She also drinks now, too. And, she's outside staring at the house, if she thinks we're coming out with the food/water buckets. She's NEVER done this before and it's GREAT to see! This is fantastic and is great progress for Jenny. I have high hopes for her in Kantishna.

Rondy is doing great. She's a happy-go-lucky girl and fun to be with. We're waiting for all of the slush/muck to go away so that we can get the dogs out for some runs with the atv. In the meantime, we'll be getting some bones for them all to help relieve some of the boredom that breakup tends to cause with the warm sun and melting dogyard. Bleck!

Jenny is going to Kantishna! Our little shy girl did real well with the other foster dogs during the tryouts yesterday. And, it was nice to see that she has gotten better being around strange people. While she did freak if she thought anyone was going to touch her, she was doing better just being on a leash. We're all hoping that by doing tours at Kantishna, she'll gain more confidence and realize that we arent all dog-eating monsters! :o)

I tried to upload the wonderful picture that Robert took, but for some reason, it won't post. However, if you want to see some great pics of all of the dogs, go to http://www.staff.uaf.edu/fnrmd1/mushing/SCL/index.htm#4. Jenny is the gray/sable girl in the red harness, or the one hugging the ground in another picture (My but that photographer was close and she thought he might bite her!).

On another note, Rondy is already fitting in and playing with her neighbors. She surprised us though, as she was trash talking with our matriarch/Queen of the dogyard! That's the first time we've seen that happen. When I went out to discover what was going on, I found that Rondy was "guarding" the piece of ice that I'd dump out of water cans. What a goofball! Dutchess wasn't even interested, but obviously Rondy wanted to make sure that Dutchess knew that ice was Rondy's!! Goofy dogs! Rondy has been really sweet with the other dogs (other than the ice thing!) and does really well no matter who we pair her with. Plus, she's been great with our son. I'll get some pics of her up once I've downloaded the digital camera.

-Tammi

I wanted to run so badly, that I hooked up 6 dogs and ran around Sweren a few times. I put Just (from Daisy Acres) in wheel, along with Angel (yearling), Rondy (SCL yearling) and Skuuga (yearling) in swing, and Feather and Thelma (yearling) in lead. The only dogs I had run before were Skuuga and Feather, so I had no idea how the others would do. Angel wasn't too sure and didn't pull at all, but the others did GREAT! Just is an amazing dog...he was so hard on that tug and his back leg muscles were just bulging! What an awesome dog. :o) Now, as long as he can do the distance, he's going to totally rock! He's fitting in quite well. :o)

Rondy is another little dynamo. She was hard on the tug the whole time. I ran 3 loops (1 mile each loop). Angel ran one and then I took her out. We tried Ashley, Angel's sister, but she was too scared, so we took her out and put Minerva in there. Wow, did that team rock! I had a SPRINT team! Ha ha ha! Thelma wasn't too sure about leading a second time out of the yard, so I stopped and put Skuuga up front. She led ok if she was on the right, but not so well on the left and she kept trying to dive down driveways. So, I stopped and put Minerva in lead....whew, did we take off! We were going so fast, that I was riding the drag...you sprinters can keep that kind of speed! Yikes! Ha ha ha! We did so well, that I took them around a third time. Then we came in and all of the dogs looked good, were still excited and probably could have gone around again. I like ending on a good note like that. Devlyn rode in the sled with me the whole time and would stand on the brake while I switched dogs, untangled, whatever. He had a blast too. Then he came in and ate 3 helpings of dinner!

I did forget to take the camera out to get pictures, so I'll have to do that tomorrow to put updated pics of the dogs online. If Rondy keeps doing as well as she did today, she'll be staying right here at RSK. :o) Man, but I love good runs!

-Tammi

Munchkin ran in the 2 dog class at this year's Valley Funale at Pleasant Valley store. Boy is that dog strong! She was paired with Herod, Devlyn's main dog and those two made a very powerful, fast pair. Munchkin was beautiful out there, putting everything she had into that 1/4 mile run. Then, once Devlyn finished, Herod and Munchkin took another girl around a few minutes later. As soon as they finished that run, they immediately did another one for the next young girl. Herod and Munchkin gave Devlyn a 7th place finish (he did most of his run on his knees, the poor kid!), gave the next girl the 1st place finish, and the last girl a 4th or 5th place finish. Way to go Munchkin and Herod!!! I told everyone I could that Munchkin was an SCL dog and was encouraging folks to take a look at SCL dogs. Later, I found out that Donna was there with Beau, and he did great for her kids, giving them a 1st and 3rd place finish in the 1 dog class. You gotta love these dogs!!!

Rondy is doing well here at RSK and sure is a sweetheart. Her loving nature fits in perfectly and she looks great. I was planning to run yesterday, but I'm trying to let my back heal a bit more before I beat it up again out on the trails. The warm weather is making the trails a bit punchy, folks are plowing up roads and such, so that makes for some rough runs when we're jumping piles of snow and running down icy streets. I can't wait to get Rondy out there though with a few other new dogs to see how they all do. Rondy is still a pup, so won't be doing too much this spring.

Jenny is coming back to us. Though she ran really well, her shyness is just a bit too much for my friend. That's alright though, as we're putting Jenny up as a Kantishna(sp) candidate. I'd love to see Jenny go to an understanding home where she can work through her shyness and do what she loves, which is run! That is one thing...you see a different girl once you hook her into the gangline. I doubt Jenny will ever get completely out of her shyness, but she sure is one heck of a sled dog. She's a good leader as well, though you have to watch the shyness when passing other mushers.

Well, I'm off. Happy Monday and Happy Spring everyone! :o)

Today, Jenny will be going to her new kennel for a trial run. Manny will be picking Rondy up (she was in isolation at a friend's kennel due to kennel cough), and will be swapping her with Jenny. Jenny has been with us for a year now and though she is getting a bit better, she's still really shy. However, the person interested in Jenny is good with shy dogs and just like me, likes to work with these dogs to help them develop into good working dogs. Jenny does run lead, though I swear she has a governor and doesn't ever break out of her efficient little trot, not even down hills (not that I mind that...I keep my dogs a bit slower on downhills to avoid injuries). I will keep everyone posted on Jenny's progress as things go.

I'll try to get a picture of Rondy up today or tomorrow, time permitting. Grades are due at school in the next few days, which has me quite busy. I look forward to getting out there with Rondy and working with her and the other 2 "sprint" dogs we have in the kennel (Thelma and Skuuga). Additionally, we've added Rocket and Dusk to our kennel. They came from Eric and Melanie Butcher and are truly nice boys. Both ran in my CC 200 team last weekend and did well, though my team came down with a virus that, coupled with my back injury, found us scratching at Pleasant Valley Store, the halfway point on the 200 mile race.

Check back for updates on Jenny and Rondy. You can also check out our kennel blog at http://runningswiftkennel.blogspot.com. Have a great day folks!

-Tammi n the furkidz

Rondy is the newest addition to Running Swift Kennel. She is a nice little 10 month old pup, who has a very sweet demeanor and a wonderful attitude. She was turned over to the shelter from a sprint kennel, who stated that she was too slow for an open team. At only 10 months, and being a hound at that, there's no way to know whether Rondy is too slow or not. That's ok with us. We'll train her and work with her over the next year to see how she starts developing. In our experience, it takes about 2 years for a hound to fully develop. They need to be given the chance to grow and mature into sled dogs. Therefore, we'll wait to see how she does over time.

Currently, Rondy is in isolation due to a bad case of kennel cough. We will not start working with her in harness for about 2 weeks, once she is over the illness. Doc May put her on antibiotics and she'll just be resting and getting well. I'll post pictures a bit later and get Rondy added to our website.

Good news! We have someone who is interested in our shy, little Jenny! In about a week or two, Jenny will go out on a trial run, to see how she'll do with another musher/team. I'll post updates as they occur. :o) In the meanwhile, we're preparing for the Chatanika 200, which starts next Friday, March 17th. Wish us luck! I'm thinking I may need to shop for a wetsuit if the warm weather keeps up! Ha ha ha!

-Tammi n the hounds