News Flash - Bet

Howdy Ho Everybodies!!!

I've got so many stuffs and things to tell you about, so you better go to the bathroom now, get your beverage of choice, and then settle in for all of the excitement!!

I'll wait for you to return.

You back yet?  Yes, yes, I know, you forgot your beverage, go get it, we'll wait.

Back yet?

HURRY UP!!!

Ok, now that you're all settled, here goes...

First of all, we've officially official-like have posted the 2015 North Wapiti Pretty Curly Tails (and others) Sponsorship page!  WOOT!  I KNOW!

There are plenty of Pretty Curly Tails available this year.  Since this isn't a biggie big race season we've slashed the prices on sponsorship!  You still get FABulous North Wapiti swag for your sponsorship, so never fear, swag is yours when you sponsor!

As usual, we have group sponsorships available at low low prices for the North Wapiti Kennels support group, and we also have made available a super cheap group sponsor opportunity for the Sibes of Anarchy!

Please note: we know this is cute, and you want it on a shirt, but due to copyright and trademark issues, it ain't happening

So get over to the sponsor page (click this link, it's also on the bloggity blog in a tab at the top and on the side of the bloggity blog) and start sponsoring us!

Now, if you aren't on the Facebooks (and you should be at least checking out the Facebooks, you don't need a Facebooks account, you can still see everythings and stuffs) then you are probably saying to yourself "self, who are the Sibes of Anarchy?"  Well, that's the name the Musher and Musher Mark came up with for the Poutine Litter... which I think was a great theme but anyhooooo

Without further ado (because ado is so messy), here they are:

Charm

Chibs

Gem

Jax

Opie

Tig

Awwwww!  Aren't they adorable?

Until they roar into town and start a ruckus

There's oodles more information, but we wanted to give a shout out to Alpine Outfitters (official sponsor of North Wapiti Kennels) for using this FANTABULOUS Jeff Schultz photo for their Gift Certificates campaign

For gifty Alpine Outfitters certificates, click here

Excellent gifty gift idea for the holidays, but don't spend all of your money there... because we have some merchandise to unload at low low regular prices!  Stay tuned for more information!!!

- Bet

Bootie Primer

At this time of year I get asked zillions of questions about booties so I figured it was time for a 'Bootie Primer for Pet Owners' blog - well I guess 'Bootie Primer for Dog Owners'.

Putting booties on cats is awesome for entertainment value, but really not necessary from the cat's point of view.




*A simple test for 'when' to bootie your dog is to run your bare hand along the surface of the snow. If it is sharp and abrasive to your touch, you would want to put on booties.

*Frozen gravel is also hard on a dog's feet and booties will help with that.

*Also if the snow is wet and good 'snowman snow' it will likely create snowballs in between your dog's toes, so booties are a good idea.

(You also can trim the hair on your dogs feet level with the pads to help with this too).

*Booties are generally not a good idea on ice. Dogs have great natural traction and will quickly learn to restrict their activity levels to what the footing can tolerate. In my experience booties on ice just wind up causing more spills than they help.

I am not a fan of the booties with rubber bottoms for traction - more on that later.

*I am a fan of Cordura material for booties. It is light enough to allow the dog's feet to breathe (remember - dogs sweat through their feet), inexpensive, and offers good protection.

*Polar fleece booties look all soft and cushy, but they wear badly, freeze easily and get sloppy/heavy when wet.

*Really heavy weight Cordura, rubber, more expensive/long lasting booties with traction bottoms and the like may wear better, but those booties don't allow a dog to sweat efficiently - and remember while it may feel cold out to you, it likely won't be as cold for your dog - especially a northern or double-coated breed.

*Get booties with Velstretch or some sort of stretchy Velcro closures on them. When you put them on, do that as tightly (within reason - don't strain yourself doing it) as you can. The dog moving around will keep blood flow moving well. They should not, however, be left on the dog for extended periods of downtime, as it they may cause swelling (you will notice that one of the very first tasks a racing musher does when coming into a checkpoint is to take the booties off their dogs).

*When fitting booties, don't make the mistake of putting too large booties on. Yes, they are easier to get on when larger, but imagine running around in socks one or two sizes too big. NOT COMFORTABLE.

*When getting your dog used to booties, put them on and then IMMEDIATELY go do something fun outside with your dog. If you put them on in the house and give them time to figure out how to take them off, you will have a lifelong problem. Plus, booties on a linoleum floor are slippery and a bad experience with them may make your dog nervous of wearing them.

*Make sure the dog's foot is clean of snow and debris before putting the bootie on. We all know what walking with a pebble in your shoe feels like!

*When you come back in the house or yard, immediately take the booties off your dog, check for any holes from wear and hang them to fully dry before using again.

*If there are ANY holes in them, pitch them. Snow getting in through the holes is a worse experience for the dog than being barefoot. Booties are relatively inexpensive and should be considered 'disposable' after 40 - 70 miles of wear (depending on conditions).

*If your dog has dewclaws make sure to check under the dewclaw for wear or blisters. Booties tend to press on the dewclaw and can cause issues. A bit of Gold Bond medicated powder on that spot can help heal any abrasions.


And if you are wondering who we recommend for dog booties - the answer is SIMPLE www.dogbooties.com

Proud sponsor of North Wapiti Kennels

Now get outside and enjoy the winter with your dog!!!

The Clouch - Bet

Howdy Ho Everybodies!!!

As you may have seen on the Facebooks, the Musher finally went back to the big boxy store and retrieved my new living room cloud that she forgot last week or so.

How she could have forgotten it is a bit of a mystery to me...

I mean... come on... it's a bit large... kinda hard to miss...

Anyhooooooo... she brought it home and I have to say, it's certainly not what I had expected.  I was expecting a CLOUD, but this is more of a couch!  It's a cloud, it's a couch, it's a CLOUCH!!!

It's also very comfity comfy!

I feel very safe in my new clouch.  It has arms for laying your head to the left and to the right.  It has a security back part so stuffs and things can't sneaky sneak up on you from behind, and it supports your lower lumbar parts.

It's perfect for curling up in and being all snuggity snuggy.

With a bit of mood lighting, it also looks very regal, almost like a throne!  I may have to invest in a nice tiara.  It's like being hugged!

Of course, the other household creatures just HAD to give it a try.  I'm charging them a fee to test it out.

For 2 mice Bait gave it a test drive.

KD chipped in half a bird and got a spot on the clouch

I told them not to get too comfy, it's MY clouch!

Then Kelly found out about it and made an attempt to move the whole Poutine clan onto it.  The Musher wisely threw a blanket over it before she got too comfy, but I still wasn't too happy about this... after all, she's the reason I needed new clouds.

I don't think the Poutines liked it a whole lot, they kept sliding off of it, which is fine with me, they have their own swimming pool of comfort.

The last straw..... Bear

He just comes traipsing in because he heard about my wonderful clouch and just ploops his big ol' guard dog booty right on it.

After that... it's off limits to everyone but me.  Seriously!

- Bet

Harness 'Breaking'

We are in the midst of a true winter storm. Not a 6 feet of snow kinda thing, but a few feet, cold and lots of wind. ATV training on roads in those kind of conditions is not the 'wisest', so I decided to stick down in our sheltered valley and harness break the puppies, Ditto and Carbon!

Let me take a quick 'sideline' - I use the term 'harness breaking' as it is easily understood by people; however I have never had a puppy that had to be 'broken' to harness. All we are doing is honouring the drive and instincts that are deeply ingrained in the puppies.
It NEVER gets old to watch how quickly and easily one of our puppies takes to the whole process.

Puppies on the ready chain.....

Harnesses on....

Into the gangline (last, of course)....

and we are off.....

A bit of praise and loving along the way ....

and by the end of our 3-mile run they were looking like absolute PROS!!!!

And yes, for the record, Ditto was running with her Momma, Molly ...

and Carbon with his Daddy, Todd.

It doesn't 'normally' work that way, but both of these puppies' parents are nice, steady running mates, so it worked very well - and was fun to see!!!

After the pups were taken out of the team, I took the remaining 14 dogs out for another hour, mostly staying down in the valley and breaking a lot of trail!!

Good experiences for all!!!!!

Cloud Update - Bet

Sigh...

Howdy Ho Everybodies....

heaving sigh.

We're almost a week into cloudless North Wapiti.

There's been some updates on the new cloud front.  Not good.

The Musher thoughtfully volunteered to go to the big box store and pick me up a temporary cloud to make do until I could raise enough monies to get a new real cloud.

I thought that was very nice of her, and I waited and waited for her to get home from the big city with it...

and waited... and waited...

and then she came home, smelling all like coffee shops and retail merchandise at bulk prices and she unloaded the truck and...

SHE FORGOT THE REPLACEMENT CLOUD AT THE STORE!!!!!!

Seriously!  She got to gabbing with peoples about stuffs and things and totally left the temporary replacement cloud on the shopping cart.

How does this happen?  It's a cloud in a shopping cart?

The ONE thing she went to the big city for????

sigh.

I really do appreciate your help in securing the monies for my new clouds and all.  Just a reminder that I've got a hat auction going on here

You can also buy the "Waiting" poster here  (just a note, if you buy the poster from 30 November through 9 December, the posters won't be shipped until after 9 December because Karen E Minion has a previous engagement thingy), but I hope to have my new clouds by then and all other monies will go toward my trips to race events (and paying for the garage damage when a mechanical issue caused it to... well, it's a long story)

anyhooooooooooooo... until then my only alternative is to seek the most cushy spot in the house... the clothes hamper.

please bid and buy... it's stinky in here.

- Bet

Today

This morning dawned cold, clear and sparkling over the kennel. A cloudless night dropped the temperatures and blanketed everything with a layer of frost. Old jet trails, probably from military jets out of Cold Lake, were the only things marring the blue of the sky as dawn broke. 

I love these mornings when the frost latches onto anything it can and the snow, even spare and old snow like we have now, squeaks under your boots.

The dogs dance and dig into their meals.

It makes you appreciate the simple things like warmth, food, sunshine...

It's been a complicated week at the kennel - death, frustration, joy, confusion, birth.......

I don't pretend to understand or make sense of any of it.




I don't know that we are even supposed to.

But I do know that every morning I wake up and turn my face to the rising sun, I am happy for it.

Life is beautiful ...love it....live it.

Hat Auction to Benefit New Clouds

This Auction has ended

Howdy Ho Everybodies!

During the looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong wait for the Poutine litter, the Musher crocheted 6 hats (yes, the same number as the Poutine Litter), and since she only has one head, and since Kelly destroyed BOTH of my beloved clouds, I think it's only fair that I auction off these hats, and all proceeds will go toward purchasing my replacement clouds.

This auction will close on Saturday 22 November 2014 at 5pm Eastern Time!

Rules:

Bids will be by e-mail.

To bid, send an e-mail with your bid to: Musher Minions (help4northwapiti@gmail.com)

In the Subject Line put: Hat Auction.


In the body of the message include your full name and your bid amount in Canadian Dollars (whole dollar amounts, no change, and Canadian dollars are about the same as US dollars, it's just easier for the Musher). 

Highest 6 bid amounts will be posted on the main blog page on the upper right hand side with the initials of the highest bidders. 


Bid amounts will be updated as soon as possible until 21 November 2014 and then until the end of the auction, highest bidder will be updated as bids are received. Any bids received after 5pm EST on 22 November 2014 will not be eligible. Bids are timestamped as they are received. 

The highest 6 bidders at 5pm EST on 22 November 2014 will win a hat  The highest bidder will get 1st choice of hat, then the 2nd bidder will get second choice for hat, etc until the 6th bidder gets stuck with whatever is left. 

If for any reason the any of the bidders withdraws, the next highest bidders will get to pick first, second, third, etc  Winners will be announced once payments are received. 

Payment will be through Paypal unless other payment is agreed upon. Shipping is included in the whole bidding thing.

So... start the bidding because Border Collie needs new clouds!!!!

*Hat colors may be a bit off from the pictures


Hat 1

Hat 2

Hat 3

Hat 4

Hat 5

Hat 6

Oh, for those of you who are wondering if there will be a puppycam... well... um... we've had some "technical difficulties" with the puppycam this time...