Adjusting the Aerodynamics

Had a quick run today, just for Bonnie. She is slow to mature and even though she was doing great running previously with the main team putting on the miles her mind was starting to stress under the slight pressure she was running through.

The runs we were doing were pretty short and easy but in her mind it was scary at times and that is what is still playing over and over in her memory. Now its my job to change all that, slow things down, offer more encouragement one on one and get her mentally to a place that we can build on.

This means that not only will we continue our nightly walks, which is helping her train as well, but I will be setting up slower team runs for her once a week. These trips are a little bit of a strain on my schedule since we are only out for about an hour or so, very short miles and lots of stops and starts. It can be tedious to a point but getting out there is always worth it and Bonnie is definitely worth the effort.

She is a special one and its not only her that is getting trained... she is forcing me to slow down, reassess my training tactics and take some time to reflect and focus on being an even better trainer to her and to any other special sled dogs who cross my path.

As with every situation in life things can be seen in a good or bad light... I prefer to see it all good even though some things end up taking more effort in the end, its all good stuff especially if I become a better person working through this adversity. I wish more people felt like that about their dogs instead of being so quick to give up on them. There is so much good to be had if we give the time and patience to see everything through.

The run today was touch and go for her but that is to be expected. Its only our first trip getting her back to the comfortable place she needs to be. Seeing her relax on the front seat of the truck when we were done was priceless. We had a few quiet moments on the way back home and it was really nice to slow down and connect with such a special girl.

I have to say that there is nothing better than having a great front end on my sled dog team. Hermes and Juno have done so much for me and learned so much working last year breaking out trails and toughing out those deep snowy paths. Today we took a detour through a brushy area that I thought someone had already broken through only to find we were the first to make tracks. We really couldn't tell with as little snow as we've gotten this year.

It was so easy to go where ever we wanted and was beautiful to watch my leaders weave through the willows effortlessly. They barely stopped or slowed down, just thread through as if they were swimming in an ocean while I followed up with the Blue Beast and dodged trees as best I could.

It was tough but so fun... once I ducked around one tree I would look up and there was another right in our path. The sled bounced nicely off all the trees and Bonnie handled things pretty well but had a few hangups. I walked her through the first two and after that she handled every pass like a pro. She is a quick learner!

We stumbled across some old moose bones, most likely from a wolf kill, loaded them up in the sled for the dogs to enjoy when we got back home, banged around some more, effectively making our first major scraps and custom tweaks to the sled (aerodynamic adjustments!), found our old trail again and headed for the turn that would take us back to the truck so Bonnie wouldn't have to go too far and stress out.

It was a bit easier than I thought to head back early. With Bonnie in mind the decision was easy and thoughts of running again with the main team on Wednesday for a longer run was a very nice thing to look forward to. Hopefully I will be able to get even more dogs out then (ten dogs headed out today) so Polar, Eli and Coyote can come with us. We also have to start focusing on our training again to get the guys up to speed for our new half day client this weekend.

What was really nice was when I turned Juno loose to run ahead and let Hermes take over lead by himself while I was able to direct both of them individually. I was really pleased to see Hermes taking my commands on cue instead of following Juno blindly. We took a couple of turns that Juno missed and it was a delight to see Hermes turn away from her, take control and show the great leader he has grown up to be!