Point of View...

Video: In the dog yard right before loading up into the dog truck.

I wanted this run to be perfect, flawless, a day to remember... well, I guess I got the last part of that wish.

Kathy and I headed out with the dogs split up into two teams. I gave her five to start while I took nine since my sled is longer and much, much heavier with all the gear I carry.

The ratio worked out well until about half way through our run when some of her dogs started to loose steam. I'm still watching Buddy to see if his performance is going to be off but he showed he was much more capable today than on our last run.

We borrowed my moms dogs for this trip and both greatly impressed me at the finish. My moms dogs don't run with us often but they seem to keep themselves conditioned by playing together and running around their circles. The only trouble we had with them was Taku and his recent interest in chewing lines. So frustrating!

Had to keep Mercury at home this time with his pace slowing down a bit more. I wanted the dogs to pick up speed if they wanted to without having to wait for Merk. It was a hard decision but one I had to make. Merk didn't think it was a good idea... I was in the dog truck loading dogs, had Hera's box open waiting for more to load when a big furry body came in and loaded himself. Just as I was closing the door I realized it was Mercury, he had slipped his collar! Little stinker!

Aquila stayed home as well and Gemini too. I hope when it comes to puppy training I can take these guys out for a slow spin. They so desperately want to get out on the trail and its not fair to leave them at home all the time.

The run started off pretty well. I had to quiet everyone down before we started. Things were just getting way too out of hand and I have to have a clear head before we start. After they were calm and Taku finally had a better grasp on keeping his teeth off the lines we took off and they all looked great.

Griffin was keeping up well and he put in honest work about 90% of the time. I have to keep reminding myself that he is eight years old now and that most dogs slack off or slow down at nine, at least thats the experience I have had with the dogs Ive eased into old age.

Some never seem to slow down but Griffin needs my patience for what ever lay ahead as he grows older. It just doesn't seem like its been that long... it seems like we've been friends forever. I know him and his quirks so well but to think that I have to consider him aging now... it doesn't seem as if time has passed at all. Their lives are far too short...

I'm also wondering if Hera's old half harness is helping his pulling. Maybe taking some tension off his back or some other area he may be having trouble with? I know running without a full string of dogs did make a difference in our power and seeing Griffin step up to fill in the void was a very nice gesture on his part.

Juno was up in lead with Ichabod again and did pretty well. She is still bad mouthing who ever is next to her but shes getting the idea of backing off after a while. She took the two straight ahead commands I gave her so we didn't have much trouble there.

We continued down a well packed trail until the dogs were tired enough to stop and safely expect the hooks to hold. All my guys were fine with stopping but Taku was a very weak link in our chain today. I was worried his harness banging would pull our hooks out in a heartbeat.

Everything continued to look good until we had our first road crossing. Juno wasn't sure where to go so we worked through her gee/haw dance she usually does. Its quite comical with a 12 dog gang line, she swings the dogs left, if that isn't right she goes the other way then back again. Shes still in a learning phase and the dogs behind her are very patient.

I had to plant my hooks as best I could, turn the sled on its side and hope it would hold. The snow pack at the side of the road was horrible but it was just enough that I could get to the front and show her where the trail was on the other side.

That was all well and good if she would have followed that trail but instead she decided to go straight and head down the road which was very well plowed and provided NO resistance for the hooks or my carbide breaks. But being the good dogs they are they did listen after a moment and a bit of drag pad resistance to my woah command and stayed still while Juno tried to figure out what I was yelling to her about... the other dogs were excited and barking, she could barely hear me.

Hand signals are great at a time like that but we haven't learned a come-gee sign so I stayed at the back of the sled, jumping and getting all excited like a crazy person trying to communicate my enthusiasm that I wanted her to come to me... she tried a few times to do just that but Ichabod was persistent in wanting to go straight. She tried one more time and nailed it!

The dogs came around in a perfect curve (very impressive s ince the road was a little more than one car length wide), no one getting in tangles and even though Juno wanted to come to me for praise Ichabod kept going and pulled the whole team through a perfect turn around. Juno found the missed trail, we dropped down onto it, gave Kathy a bit of room to get her own team safely in and I was finally able to drop my hooks. I went down the line thanking all the dogs for such a perfect turn and kneeled next to Juno for some extra special thanks... my little miracle worker!

But the fun wasn't over yet! We had a bridge to negotiate and normally its not a problem for dogs who know the trail. We have to go up the bank, onto the road, take the bridge then find the trail on the other side to get back to safety. The trail on the other side is hard to find since it drops down so sharply but if a leader has run it I have had no problems taking that path. Juno has never done this run before...

Up the bank we went when suddenly Nyx starts screaming. I knew something was wrong so I tipped my sled, through my snow hooks down for good measure and went up to see that the gang line had made a loop around her back leg. Got that fixed but as I was walking back to the sled Juno lost her confidence on where we were going and turned back with me. I didn't realize this until I was already halfway down the bank knee deep in powder.

I corrected her, pulled the whole team back up on the road and discovered the worst tangle I had ever had in my team. What a pain! Half of the dogs on the road and half on the trail. On top of that Taku was acting up and causing me to deal with even m ore potential error in a compromising situation.

The other veterans were so well behaved. Hera and Griffin settled in for a break while I worked through the trouble, Ichabod and Salmon remained calm and Juno was very quiet, at times just sitting on the road side waiting for her cue to lead the team again.

I was able to fix all the tangles, discovered a real knot in the main gang line (how the heck did that happen?) and eventually got it all worked out. Took a while but they were straight once again and we were ready.

I went back to the sled, tried to pick it up out of the snow but it was so heavy and I had absolutely no footing that it would be a miracle if I could get them ba ck onto the road without loosing my grip. I left the sled, struggled up the bank again, took off tugs to reduce power then went back to wrestle with my sled. Tough, tough work but I managed to get it up and the limited dog power was just enough to get us over the edge and onto the road.

After that the team went on in a beautiful line following the rules of the road perfectly (running on the right side) but the trail was on the other side of the road and hard to see. I gave Juno the haw command and to my surprise she took it! She crossed the road and jumped out of sight having miss judged where the packed trail was. She must have been swimming in powder! I couldn't see exactly what happened since I was still up on the road but when her little head popped up I wondered if she would keep the faith and try again... she dived back in again, found the trail and we were finally safely off the road.

Again we stopped, assessed the team and gave praise for a job well done. The dogs showed me how well they could behave. Most settled in for a quick break and even Remus showed signs that he was willing to lay down and relax. But again that wasn't the last of our troubles. We had one more road crossing to tackle.

The trail curved right and made a clear path for the dogs to cross but since our connecting trail was a bit further back from us Juno decided the best way to go would be straight. Again with the wide gee/haw turns... I thought this is never going to work and I'm going to have to risk getting off the sled again... then it dawned on me... at home our mailbox is across the street. Our driveway is boarded by many trees so the rules for the loose dogs who go to the box with me is wait until I check that the way is clear then I give the command "Cross the Street". Would it work here? Worth a shot... "Juno, cross the street... cross, cross..." and off she went like a pro. I couldn't believe it had been that easy!

The rest of the way back was very nice, the trail was beautiful, flat and packed in some areas, a bit fluffier in others. The dogs pulled well and looked great coming home especially considering that we were not running with the full string. We saw quite a few snowshoe bunnies that helped liven things up a bit and fortunately the only moose we saw was way up the trail and had disappeared before it could become an issue.

I would not consider this to be a perfect run but I realized that day that a perfect run is how I perceive it. Sure we had our problems and mishaps but we came through clean, the dogs stayed calm, showed the results of their continuous training and any run we can squeeze in between work and bad weather has got to be a good one.

A few times during our travels I had to help them keep their pace and peddle the sled. It was like old times when we had fewer dogs, traveled farther and over more complicated terrain. I still miss those times but enjoy the ones we are in now as well.

It seems every year is a balancing act, dogs get old, younger ones come in, foster dogs are added, then adopted out, less dogs, more dogs... the team always changes and through those changes I have learned so much. I can only imagine what our next year will bring when the babies are old enough to take their place at the line. What will come then? What new adventures lay ahead for us all?