Perfect Run

Felt so good to be back on the runners, heck... when does it not feel good?

We took the whole team out and plugged in Lucy as well. Lucy is my mothers dog who boards here. I don't run her often because of her 'extra attention' needs. She is a harness banger and a serious line chewer. Lessons like leaving the gear alone are VERY tough to teach her. She has a very thick head.

Today though she really surprised me. I made sure to have cable in everything that she could reach with her teeth... gangline, neckline, the gangline and tug lines ahead of her... they were all polyrope covered cable just in case. Maybe she figured it wasn't worth chewing, I only caught her doing it once while we were getting ready to leave.

The only reason why I felt comfortable taking her was because Kathy was with me. One of us could keep an eye on her at all times if needed and it was a nice excuse to get her out. She is a great puller and really needs to be out more often but shes a risk I cant run when I'm working the team out alone.

Today was perfect, well, except for the minor scuffle we had before we left. When I drop dogs everyone, except a handful of dogs I cant trust off lead, get to run around the truck and kick up their heals until its time for harnesses. Normally this goes without a hitch and even when it doesn't a stern word from me breaks it up.

I have no idea what happened this time, I wasn't looking in the proper direction when it started but what I can imagine took place is that Buddy (our mushing labrador) was kicking up his heels and being a pain to everyone he passes by, as usual. He likes to piss off the other boys, maybe cause he knows I will stop a fight, and perform mock aggression displays around those he doesn't like.

Remi, being the new kid and growing fast into his maturity decided that being bumped into was not cool and he called Buddy out on it. I don't know who struck first but Remi appeared to get a bite to the face and Buddy nothing more than a scratch. Griffin wanted to get in on it too and Mercury as well but by the time I noticed the fight and said something all the dogs were starting to calm down before those two boys could get closer.

I am constantly reminding Remi that he is LOWER than the other males but he wants to push the the limit. He does this in the smartest way by coming right to me as soon as the heat he puts on gets too much for him. I'm learning his ways and most times I call him on it and shoo him away from the safe place by my side. If he starts it he has to pay the consequences, in the yard that means loosing free time.

Its hard for Remi to fit in when he came here at about eight months of age. Having already attained most of his height he was thrown into a 'pack' where his size could easily be used as an advantage. His puppy years were spent somewhere else and I will never know what kind of socialization happened there. So its been tough for him to learn his place. I suspect we will have a few more fights and grumbles throughout the years before he settles in solidly with the other boys.

But that minor fight was the worst of our trip, the rest was heavenly!

We got off well and since I didn't trust anyone to be in the basket with the starting speed of the team I had both Kathy and I take a runner until the dogs cooled off. With 11 on the line it took a while for them to ease into it and I was amazed at how unfazed they were with the added weight of two mushers on the back.

We took the new trail discovered on our last trip out and broke out trail in the middle of that loop hoping to intersect our other old training run. Its always weird trying to find a trail going the opposite direction and weirder still when the musher and team have to break out most of the trail trying to remember where it was!

I'm not sure if we were 'spot on' but we got the job done! I broke trail for a short bit, then Kathy but the dogs did most of the work.

I was soooo proud of Ichabod, so proud... Juno led in single again but when it came to breaking trail she didn't have solid trail sense and tried taking the road less traveled, mostly towards the trees and headed for trouble instead of staying comfortably on the slough we were following.

We put Ichabod up with Juno for a while and he gave her the confidence to break a way through. He was fantastic! He didn't balk for an instant. Just looked ahead and went for it, over and over and over. There was so much snow, we were the only ones breaking that trail in that area so far this year so there was nothing for the dogs to follow. But Ichabod handled it like a pro! Not bad for a shelter dog, not bad at all!!

The dogs made short work of the trail breaking, good thing too cause I forgot my snowshoes at the house! Before long we came to a familiar clearing but the trail was still snowed in. I reached back in my memory hoping the trail we took was the right one. We mushed on for what seemed like forever until we popped out onto a much clearer track with the all to familiar 'hill' right in front of us... success!!! We broke through!!

We stopped for celebratory snacks and lots of pets and love to the dogs. Kathy and Mercury had a one in a million moment. Merk doesn't open up to just anyone. In all the years Ive known him he has only trusted myself and my husband James. Thats it, only two people in the 9 or so years hes been alive. Kathy has mushed with us for about four years off and on and Merk was always with us. Why he decided to reach out today is anyones guess but he did and in a BIG way. Hugs, kisses, rubs... he was open for anything. Just amazing...

We didn't stay at our rest stop for long, the chill was coming and some of our lighter coated dogs were getting cold. Griffin, Hera and Merk did what hardened trail dogs do and bedded down a nice circle in the snow. Their coats kept them toasty warm and calm. After all the moose snacks were gone we hooked dogs back in and off they flew!

They all looked so fine! Once we hit the main trail they kicked it up an extra notch and we rode through on their adrenaline. I let Kathy drive most of the trip content to spend some rare time sitting tight in the sled basket. I told her to watch for moose as they have been coming into the area a lot lately and sure enough, a short ways down the trail a HUGE moose stepped out, or maybe it looked larger than usual cause I was so low in the basket. How ever it looked from my vantage point it was big, as most moose in Alaska tend to be.

It watched us speed down the trail for a moment then slooooowly lumbered back into the woods. Way too slow for my tastes...

Spock gave chase, encouraging the moose to move on, while Kathy rode the break and gain a wee bit more control over the team. Most them had no idea where the moose had gone but Hera did... my smart, smart girl. Nothing passes her by!

As we passed I saw her glance, then lunge a bit off the trail where she must have smelled the moose but being in wheel she didn't have much leverage and was forced to continue with the team.

Spock stayed in sight almost the whole time a ways ahead of us. When the moose was out of range and out of danger of the team he lay down in the trail and waited for the team to catch up... it was too comical! His job was done, he was going to catch a quick break!

He didn't have long to wait, all the guys were high on 'moose juice' and quickly caught up to him. We literally flew back to the truck, the team, Kathy and I all in incredibly high spirits.

What a wild ride!! : )

Not sure what the mileage was today. My GPS wasn't picking us up. I think it might have been ten miles, twelve max... next time we will take the extra long way around and see if we can build even more miles on. This new loop will open up many more options for us... very exciting!!