July 1, 2005 Happy Canada Day

It's funny how we come around in our thinking as we grow older.

I remember my brother, Jim and I cringing each July 1 (Canada Day) when Dad flew his largest Canada flag off the peak of our garage. No one else in the neighbourhood did that, and gosh, Jim and I were just darn embarrassed.  This morning, July 1 2005, I strolled outside with Kara on her morning walk (Have I mentioned that Kara is a full time house dog now?? Not sure how that happened, but regardless, that is a different story), there by our NorthWapiti Kennel sign is a large flag pole with a Canada flag flying from it. I can blame Mark for some of it, after all he build the pole and was the one that actually put up the flag, however the truth of the matter is that it was completely at my urging that it was done. 

Just a few weeks ago I turned 41, so I could make a story for my getting older and more sentimental, but the reality of the matter is that, despite the protests to my father, I've always been very proud to be a Canadian. Maybe it is all the time I spend outside of Canada that makes me more patriotic as the years go by or maybe it is the fact that the more I read, learn and see of the rest of the world, the more I have learned to appreciate what we have here. Don't get me wrong, despite the moose jokes, I love the US and Americans, it is a terrific place, I love visiting and I adore my American friends - but it isn't my home. So to all my fellow Canadian readers, I wish you a Happy Canada Day today - and leave you with this quote from Robertson Davies. It is one I read at my father's funeral and now that I've grown up, can admit speaks for the way I view my country.

“Because I am a Canadian, I couldn’t really live anywhere else. I have had chances to do so and have never given it serious consideration. I belong here. To divorce yourself from you roots is spiritual suicide….I just am a Canadian. It is not a thing which you can escape from - it is like having blue eyes.”

Karen

June 20, 2005 Greetings from Whitehorse

Many of you were not aware, but Kara, Dasher, Sprite and I are on the road dog showing for 12 days or so.

Last week I drove up to Whitehorse for the Yukon Kennel Club set of six shows. It has been 10 years since I have seen the Alaska Highway in the summer and it was just as lovely as I remembered. The dogs and I were treated to sightings of black bear, caribou, moose, bighorn sheep, elk, deer and a GRIZZLY (it crossed so close in front of the van I had to stop for it- AMAZING!).

The dog show itself turned out to be just as enjoyable - and I'm THRILLED to let you guys know that Dasher is now Champion NorthWapiti's Dasher. She even managed a group placing (3rd) from the classes along the way. Kara was somewhat redeemed by getting beaten by her daughter when she took a Group 4th yesterday. She (Kara) also recieved 3 other Best of Breed wins.

Sprite picked up no points (Dasher hogged all the points for Siberians over the weekend) but did a super job for her first  weekend out as a show dog.

My Iditarod traveling buddy, Doug G. even flew down from Willow to  help out and visit. He was great company and a tremendous help. It  was a blast watching an Alaskan Husky musher try to come to grips  with the ins and out of the dog showing game.

It's been a weekend filled with great friends, great food and great times.

I'm kicking around Whitehorse with the dogs today and having dinner  with friends that just moved up from Alberta tonight before heading down to Grande Prairie for another show this coming weekend! If I don't post again, I will be filling you all in on the rest of  the trip when I'm home in a week or so.

Karen

June 15, 2005 The Passing of a Good Friend

Bob Ford, who was a friend, a fellow list member, and a big supporter of the NorthWapiti team, died peacefully in his sleep yesterday afternoon.

Many of you didn't know, but Bob was a recipient of multiple organ transplants in the past.

He battled his health constantly, but still managed to foster Siberian Huskies in need and even had a small dog team that he ran on the cart and sled.

He had a quick wit and I'll miss the short emails that I used to get in response to many of my posts - even if he never could figure out spell check.

Please keep his mother, Pat Ford in your thoughts.

I think the nicest thing we could all do today to remember Bob is to sign your organ donor card, if you haven't already, AND tell your family that you wish to be a organ donor. Just that card isn't enough these days.

Godspeed Bob.

Karen

Bob Ford with his mother Pat at the 2005 Iditarod Mushers' Banquet

 

Bob & Karen and the 2005 restart.

 

Finger Lake - 2002

Bob and fellow list member June Price had flown out on impulse and this is likely Devon's team.
According to June, Bob had be so happy that day. He'd come knocking on the hotel door
far earlier than she wanted to be bothered but it only took two seconds to decide that, yes,
 flying out to Finger Lake sounds like a great plan. 

Bob during the restart with musher GB Jones dogs

 

3 Fur Faces

 

Bob & Cog -- Cog was the foster that he had until he went into the hospital.	Roshi's1st sled	Bob with Jett & Roshi, on perhaps one of Roshi's first runs ever.

June 12, 2005 Kennel Visitors

I want to give a BIG Thank you to Karen and Mark for letting Corina and I come visit them at their home and to get a chance to visit the kennel! I have always wanted to visit. Karen is a great cook and we ate like Kings!! Thank you Karen. We also got to try lots of new candy bars that the US doesn't have down here, yummy they were good. We had to try some Skor and Crunchie bars. Karen also found it strange at the things Corina and I were interested in like Magpies, colorful herds of cows, tons of farm lands with lots of hay and how flat the roads are and they all look the same to us though Karen disagrees.:) Karen is great at telling stories, we had a great time sharing trail adventures and dog tales, no pun intended.

My trip started off with Karen picking us up at the airport, glad she did because to me all the roads look the same, long and flat! The first thing we did when we got to Karen's cozy little house was visit the dog kennel. It was so cool to finally meet all of my dogs relatives and the rest of the NorthWapiti dogs in person after admiring them for so long in photos and on the internet. Every dog was so friendly and jumped on us to say hi. Draco is a very good kisser and gives great hugs! I was impressed with so many dogs if I listed them it would be almost the whole kennel but some of my very favorites are Odie, Loki, Grover, Runner, Crunchie, Batdog, Q, Moses, Butch, Herman, Hector, Sprite, Dasher, Snickers, Holly and Boom who I offered to buy but that wasn't going to happen. ;) Bummer! lol
The next 3 mornings we ran dogs in the am. Team one was Skor/Olena, Nahanni/Dare, Surge/Chester, Herman/Hector, Newt/Draco, Q/Vortec & Hilda/Crunchie. Skor and Ollie did a great job leading the team! What a bunch of hard working dogs. After seeing Karen's dog in harness I can now picture them on the trail doing Iditarod! I was very impressed with Crunchie, Herman, Skor, Ollie, Q & Vortec though I would want any one of those dogs on my team. It was neat to visit the watering hole half way through the run. All the dogs stood waiting for Karen to give the command "Get in" and they all did. Very cool!

Team 2 was Kara/Snickers, Holly/Jinx, Batdog/Zak, Grover/Jr, Barq/Atigun Moses/Eeek, and Loki/Odie. Snickers is a great leader and I love her personality and build, I would take her home in a heartbeat. The other dogs I was impressed with was Odie, Loki, Moses, Batdog, Holly, Barq and Grover. Made me so HAPPY to have Odie and Grover kids in my kennel! Odie is one handsome guy. Moses sure is one hard worker, would love to have him on my team! Grover is a very sweet and mellow boy and yes he does enjoy his belly rubs! :) Karen's trails are so lovely! Lots of grass, sand and a good amount of mixed terrain. I do have to say though, Karen drives an ATV much faster than I do over certain trails! lol Corina was joking that at least we could go home and say that she tried to kill us. A few times I had to shut off the video camera and hold on! But don't worry, we made it home in one piece and it was well worth the ride! If you ever get a chance, take a ride with the NorthWapiti team, it's GREAT!

Team 3 was Camilla/Crunchie, Sprite/Dasher, Lingo/Runner, Charge/Squeaky, Gus/Watt, Spidey/Roary and Herman/Hector. It's always fun to run pups for the first time. It was Charge and Watt's first day in harness! Both did well after a little ways, they caught on quickly. Runner ran great! I was a proud mom. Camilla is one incredible leader, she's like driving a car.
During my trip Karen gave all kinds of photo albums and pictures to scan so I did! I also took lots of video and photos of the dogs, a lot of them you will see added to the dogs pages in the next few weeks! Karen is a great photographer and she does a great job taking photos of her beautiful dogs. I had so many photos I brought a CD home.

We also had lots of play time with the 2 litters, Spot and Grover's 4 puppies, Minto, Koyuk, Sepp and Fritz. 

Then Ollie's babies Paxton, Tazlina, Tolsona, Summitt and the cutest puppy of them all Excelsior or X! He always has something to say and he's the angel of the bunch, the rest are truly pure EVIL! Every morning and after super time the pups got to go for a walk or a free-run with the ATV which is lots of fun! Minto and Koyuk always beat their brothers Fritz and Sepp. Sepp seemed confused and always ran the wrong way, poor Sepp! Our last day there Ollie's pups graduated to the ATV. They are a very uniformed litter and they had a blast! Enjoy the photos!

Summit

 

During my trip we visited Rick and Jackie Austin. Thanks for letting us visit and getting a chance to see your wonderful dogs. Dinner was awesome!! We also got to see those adorable Hugi x Pepsi puppies! I wanted to steal one but they were still too young:( Jackie also did a wonderful obedience demonstration with Hugi, boy is he incredible!!! What a boy!! We also got visit Annette's kennel, Nanook Siberians. Thank you Annette! It was great to see Flurry again and all of your beautiful dogs. Your horses are awesome. 

Our last day at Karen's we got to FINALLY see Mark for more than a few minutes and we went to the Edmonton Mall. Mark's work schedule was work in the afternoons from 5-7 am, then he slept while we ran dogs and visited other kennels. We went to see the movie Sahara, I thought it was great. Edmonton Mall is AMAZING!! They have an incredible movie theatre with a fire breathing Dragon. They also have a water park, a live model of the Santa Maria with seals swimming around, Flamingos, tons of restaurants, rides and rollercoasters and tons of gift shops. It's so big we didn't even get to see the whole thing. Truly a must see if you ever visit Edmonton.

Before I finish up I also have to thank a few of the dogs. Thank you Grover for giving me "My Grovers," Dodge and Togo! Thanks to Odie & Kaylinn for giving me Linc, the fastest dog we own. Thanks again Karen for a wonderful vacation!!! Karen is an amazing person and she is very dedicated to her dogs and training.

Kelly Berg

April 8, 2005 Who's Your Daddy

Thankfully, it continues to be springlike in the yard meaning that Olena and her puppies have moved out of the house.

For the last bit they had been spending their days outside and nights in the backroom - but they were escaping the 'Puppy Pool' and raising a ruckus at all hours of the night. The night before last when Summit stood at the baby gate and screamed at the top of his lungs, causing me to shoot of of bed convinced he was dying, was the final straw - last night they spent outside.

Here are some pictures of the brats taken yesterday.

Tazlina - Although she looks half asleep in this picture,
 in reality she is a clever, brave and troublemaking
 puppy. She is definitely taking after her evil Mom
 with her personality. 

Shoelaces beware - I think this is Paxson munching
on my shoelaces

Pups helping Mom - Tazlina is helping her Mom
dig up an old bone.

 

Puppy yawn - Tazlina

 

Puppy Wars - Round 1

 

Puppy Wars Round 2 - Summit gets his butt kicked
by his sister, Tolsona.

 

Exploring

 

Olena and the "Who's Your Daddy" or CB
(Copper Basin) Pups

 

Paxson killing shoes

 

Paxson

 

Summit

Karen

April 6, 2005 Bucket Day

I was driving into Westlock today and the fields were full of calves and foals. Some were bathing in the sun, which is just finding it’s strength again after the winter; some were chasing each other and kicking up their heels. It gives the bleak, dry and dead landscape a real sense of life. A sure sign that spring is well on the way. 

A spring ritual took place around here today – Bucket Day. After 6 months of thawing meat, baiting water, and watering the dogs, the days and nights have been warm enough that we took a chance and put the dog’s individual water buckets out. I’m sure we will get some more good freezes and I’ll probably spend a few mornings walking around with a hammer knocking ice off the top of the buckets (some of the dogs are pros at sudden freezes and have actually figured a way to get a layer of ice off their bucket – Lord knows how), but even so, it really cuts down the time it takes to feed. 

It also adds a splash of color to the yard, as the blue, red, black and purple buckets now hang from each house – well, except for the houses of the yearlings. They are given metal buckets until they figure that they are not fun and exciting play toys. Runner was a trooper and after sniffing and tasting his bucket, decided it could stay. Boom needed more time to figure it out and when I looked over once was standing with one front foot in the water and trying to chew the handle. Skor never has learned to accept his and promptly lifted it off his house, emptied it and left it for dead in the middle of his run. He maybe turning 4 and have just participated in his first Iditarod, but he wanted us to remember he is still a puppy at heart. I gave Runner a plastic bucket and Skor his metal one. Maybe he will only dump it once a day now. 

That’s it for today.
Karen

April 3, 2005 Five Miles From Home

In my mind, the best medicine for a ‘not great’ season is to start working towards the next one, so that is exactly what I’ve been doing. We have been home for just over a week now and I have managed to get a number of teams out of the yard, including a bunch of last year’s pups, who are all doing great – but that’s not what today’s diary entry is about.

Studies have said that most accidents happen within 5 miles of home – and I’ve got to say that after my run on Friday, I can’t disagree. I got into more trouble on that run then anywhere in the wilds of Alaska this season! It happened somewhat like this…(let me reassure everyone before they start reading that all the dogs and people involved in this story are well and fine. The 4-wheeler …well...here’s the story..)

Early Friday afternoon Markus, who is on spring break right now, came over to help me run dogs. He’s been joining me on the last few runs and I’m certainly enjoying his help. As we were beginning to hook up, his sister Anna showed up and also joined in. I asked her if she’d like to come along for a ride and she agreed – she has never been out with the team before. So the three of us hooked up 14 dogs, piled onto the 4-wheeler and headed out.

The team consisting of a number of the Iditarod vets – with Kara and Dasher leading – and a bunch of the 2 year olds, was doing great and I decided to head for one of my usual spring watering puddles where we could let them drink and then start working our way towards home.

When we came to the edge of the puddle, I stopped briefly to check things out. The puddle was larger then normal and still frozen over, but heck, it is a puddle – in 2 weeks or 3 weeks it won’t even be there anymore, so I really thought nothing of it. I figured the team and 4 wheeler would break the ice as we went through, everyone would get a drink and off we would go. Things didn’t go quite as planned…

The dogs scooted willing out onto the ice, which held them, but the second the 4-wheeler hit it, we crashed through into water MUCH deeper then I thought possible and the engine died, leaving Markus, Anna and myself scrambling to keep our feet out of the ice cold water. The dogs, still safely on the ice, stopped and looked back to see what the hold up was.

As Anna just had runners on and Markus and I both rubber boots, we both jumped off into the water to survey the situation. Seeing that the water was up to our waists, the rubber boots weren’t much protection. Markus scouted out some other routes through the puddle (we were somewhat restricted in our options there due to willows and trees) while I tried to convince Kara to turn the team around. A few things became very evident – there was no good way through the puddle (I told Markus to just come back when he ended up half way up his torso in water – and those of you that have met Markus know he is not a short young man), Kara was not about to turn the team around (something she is not really trained to do anyway) and the ice would not allow us to get out to the dogs. We debated and even tried a few other ideas before realizing that we were going to have to individually rescue each dog off the ice. Markus started the slow process of working his way up to the dogs, breaking through the ice with each step. He was careful not to break ice too close to the dogs, for they needed the footing while we worked. When he freed them from the gangline, he’d push them towards Anna, (all of us were now up to our waists in water), who lifted them over a hole in the ice (the product of one of our earlier ideas), I’d then call them to me and I’d walk them (well, they would swim, I would wade) to shore. Once there, I tied them off to the trees.

It took about ½ hour of very cold, wet work to get all the dogs off the ice and safely onto shore. At one point, when things got a little dicey for a bit we ended up with 5 or 6 dogs running around loose. I was very grateful that I’ve taken the time to train my dogs to stick around when they are off leash and come when called, as no one ran off and I was easily able to catch and secure them when things settled down.

Markus and Anna did a fantastic job. They stayed calm, followed instructions to the letter, and were more then willing to do whatever had to be done. Very cool kids – I was very lucky to have them along.

The kids took a moment to wring out their socks, empty their shoes (my Arctic Muckboots kept my feet warm despite being filled with water) and warm up before we rescued the 4-wheeler, turned it around and re-hooked up the dogs. The Honda was dead, but we had a lot of dog power and after they had been standing around for over 30 minutes the dogs were more then happy to drag the machine and 3 of us home. Markus tinkered with the 4-wheeler yesterday and figures an oil change is all that it now needs.

Anna pronounced her first dog team ride an exciting adventure. Although I love a good adventure, I think I need to start training 5 or more miles from home – I think it might be safer!

Karen