Sunday Run!

All fell into place for us to get out yesterday. We had some ups and downs to start but we quickly shrugged those off and got back to being positive!

Nita's Clyde had trouble loading into her truck that made her delayed coming to the kennel with Miriam but I managed to get all my morning work details out of the way in the extra time they were on the road.

When we hit the trail head with some new dogs Nita's Control was having a hard time on the trail. About half way through the run we figured it was because she was attached to her neck line which wasn't common practice in her old home.

We figured she would be tired since she hadn't been out in a while but her actions were a little more stressed than an out of shape sled dog. It didn't help that Griffin was COMPLETELY in love with her! Even though she has been spayed it didn't stop him from testing her out. Even while she was running he was hot on her heals! Ive never seen him that desperate, I mean she is a cute girl but come on!

Coyote was the other newbie (a foster dog from the Second Chance League) who worked extremely well. We really like this boy and are confident that he will find a perfect forever home whether in a working environment or as a couch pet, he could go either way. You can read more about him here: http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=3993433

Coyote did great and since we had to change the trail route for Control to head back to the truck early we decided to drop both her and him at the truck after about seven miles.

Control runs well loose behind the team so we will keep working on her to see what her issue is though I have a feeling Coyote is going to be our plug in dog and fit in where ever we need him. He is really nice!

After dropping the two dogs at the truck we turned the teams around and headed for the bluff. We haven't done hill training in a while so it was nice to see how they tackled the big beast. I had to pull two dogs from Nita's team on our way up to the top to fill out my line to ten dogs. They handled the extra weight of me and Miriam really well after that. Our decent was also very nice and controlled. The team could have screamed down that hill but they were very conservative and let me help with the drag pad.

Miriam took a few turns to run my team while I had a turn in the basket. I believe it was her first time running ten dogs and will be an experience many of her friends will not be able to relate with. I hope it will remain a fond memory for her since she will be headed back to Switzerland soon. We will miss her but hope Alaska wont leave her soul so she will feel the call to come back very soon. We are already trying to find ways to entice her back, as if the dogs weren't doing a good job of that already! :)

So our total miles for the main team was 16. This was Clyde's first 16 mile trip and he did fantastic for a pup, it was also Bonnie's first as well. We are looking to bump the team up to 20 mile runs very soon but will have to do a few shorter trips to get Control and Coyote up to speed. Both teams are at nine dogs now but we hope to get up to ten very soon. Nita has a few more dogs to try out that she picked up from Eagle this year so we are sure to have a LOT of dog power.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that Hermes and Calypso were running lead again today. They did great and led up the bluff the whole way. I think Hermes liked Calypso's quiet ways compared to Juno's barking commands. The two of them work very well up there and Juno wasn't too bad in swing with Eli. I will have to make more of a point to put our little Calypso up there more often so she can gain more leader experience.

I will try and get more on the trail photos but we are getting mostly kennel shots right now. The sun is fading fast and we only have a few hours of daylight to run without headlamps and in those few hours we are usually holding on tight to the handlebow of our sleds since the dogs are so full of fresh power!!