September 5, 2006 NorthWapiti's Robert E Lee - Squeeky

NorthWapiti's Robert E Lee - Squeaky
December 27, 1998 - September 5, 2006 

Life is often bittersweet and ironic. This morning was just that for me. On one hand I had the painful task of saying 'goodbye' to one of my cherished companions, but it was sweet that I was able to be with him at the end as well.  See in the spring of 2005, after traveling thousands of miles of trail with me, Squeaky went to live with Mike and Kathy Carmichael of Carmack's Siberians in Utah. He settled in wonderfully, being a key member of Mike's team - in fact, finishing the Race to the Sky in Montana with him this past winter. In addition, he was a loved family member and a favourite of Mike and Kathy's young daughter Brooke. We were thrilled to see Squeaky thriving in his new home and so obviously loved.

On the 15th of August, Mike, Squeaky and the rest of their team came up to train with us for a few weeks. Squeaky looked fine and fit and slipped right into the start of their training routine. Near the end of last week though, Squeaky went off his food. On Friday Mike took him into our vets in Westlock, who kept him in the Clinic, diagnosing him with an infection in his liver. Carmichael's needed to head home on Sunday and Squeaky seemed to be maintaining, but the decision was made that he would stay at the Westlock vet until he was fully recovered and then come here until Mike could get back up to pick him up. It was best for Squeaky, so none of us had problems with the plan. Carmichael's stopped through Westlock on Sunday to visit with him before they headed home. He was still lethargic, but the vets were pretty optimistic.

Sadly, by this morning things had taken a turn for the worse. The vets said it was now strictly a matter of time and the hard decision was made to end Squeaky's suffering.  I rushed back from the city, where I was running errands, to Westlock.  Squeaky and I were able to spend some quiet time reminiscing about the adventures we'd had together before I called the vet in. I reminded him of all the people that loved him and it was quickly over.

A necropsy found a ruptured tumour in Squeak's intestine. He had had that ticking time bomb in him for awhile.

On another bittersweet note, just over two weeks ago, on August 18th, NorthWapiti's See Spot Run, who is down in Utah with Carmichael's delivered NINE puppies sired by Squeaky. One of them with be coming back here to live. They will be a lovely reminder of Squeak - although none of us would have ever forgotten him anyhow.

Godspeed Squeak - you were loved by many.
Karen

Squeaky x Spot litter
(Click to enlarge)

August 19, 2006 Good Ideas

Sometimes good ideas come from the strangest of places.

The other night Mark and I were watching “America’s Got Talent”. Cheesy, I'll admit but I've been rather sucked in by the finger-snapping stylings of Bobby Bad Fingers, the puzzling Quick Change folks, the entertaining Jugglers, the totally off-the-wall Leonardo and many more of the acts. I will not confess to being glued to the TV for it nor to actually taking the time to vote, but it has been fun, mindless entertainment to enjoy in the evenings before we go feed dogs.

So, the other night was the last performances of the ten finalists. They aired little clips of many of the performers getting the opportunity to meet some of their idols. The finalists raved about what a great opportunity it was to get to meet ‘Rap Master P’ (or whatever his name was) and other such masters of their crafts – and sure enough, the final performances of most of the contestants were the best of the series. Cool, but whatever. . . time to feed dogs.

The next morning I was hooking up a team. On the dog board, where I list what dogs I’m running that day, I had Paxson’s name among the 14 chosen. Now Paxson is a very promising young boy, but of late he has been showing a lot of uncertainly and nervousness at hookup. Most young dogs like this, in my experience, benefit from running next to a dog they know and are comfortable with, and for that reason, I’ve been running Paxson next to his brother, X, or other dogs of equal age that are kennelled near him in the yard. It’s almost a foolproof technique, but for Paxson it just wasn’t doing the trick. As all the other dogs were screaming and pawing at me as I went through the yard, Paxson sat next to his house, hoping I was going to miss his name on the board. I toyed with just not running him that day and some dogs do benefit from some time off, but that just didn’t seem like the answer here. I walked him up to the line, tossing over a number of ideas in my head when suddenly it hit me – Paxson needs to work with a Master! A bit of rearranging on the line and Paxson found himself next to the ‘Master’ in our yard – Grover. Grover about turned himself inside out at the opportunity to help out.

At first, when I put Grover next to Paxson on the ready chain, you could see Paxson grow more nervous: he dropped his head and seemed to be trying to vanish into his own fur. I could just see him thinking ‘it was bad enough when I had my brother next to me, now I have this strange lunatic barking beside me’. Maybe this wasn’t my greatest idea, but I was going to see it through – and sure enough, as I worked my way through the team putting harnesses on everyone, you could see the confidence and assuredness of Grover begin to have some effect on his little ‘grasshopper’ – his head lifted a bit and he started looking around. As I hooked them onto the gangline next to each other, I was so pleased to see Paxson standing up tall next to Grover and even barking to get me moving a time or two. His tail even waved a bit.

I’m far from done working with this boy, but at least I found the trick we needed to get us headed in the right direction – with thanks to the Rappin’ Grannie, Rap Master P and Simon Cowell.

Karen

August 14, 2006 Dance Steps

Before last year's Iditarod I got hooked on the website www.Thinkexist.com.It has a great database for all sorts of quotes. As I've mentioned previously, they have a 'Quote of the Day' feature that I signed up for; however, my spam blocker must block most of their emails, as it is more like a 'Quote of the Month' or 'Quote of the every 35 days'. It does seem though; that all the ones that get through are ones I love!

Yesterday, I had this quote in my Inbox:

"When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It's to enjoy each step along the way." - Wayne Dyer is given credit.

What a great quote. Certainly brought a smile to my face, as I make my way through the days, which are the 'steps' in the dance of my life.

Anyway, off of philosophical stuff and onto stories!

As always, things are busy out at the kennel. The puppies are growing like weeds -  well, the Firecrackers are growing up; the Soda Pups (II) are growing out! Definitely the chubbiest puppies we have had. Gator is also the happiest puppy I've ever met. She has that little Siberian 'laugh' down to an art form. She really thinks everything in life is amusing - even when her silly sister managed to get her head stuck through the chain link. Please, don't ask me how; I wouldn't have thought it possible until Dew proved it was. With a lot of help from Mark and me, she managed to get her head back out.

Powder

After much debating, a lot of watching, and a lot of listening to my gut, the decision was made to hang onto Rocket, Powder, Nate and Comet. Razzle is going to be moving to Montana and Flare to Connecticut. Everyone always asks how we decide which pups to sell. Well, in this case, the decision was not made as to who we wanted to sell, but who we couldn't bring ourselves to part with. They really are all lovely pups.

Flare, Powder and Rocket

Both Gator and Dew will be staying for the time being.

Bait continues to survive - definitely a surprise to me. The other day Kara was lounging in the garage in a crate with an open door while I put in time on the treadmill, while watching reruns of Northern Exposure. Bait poked at Kara through the bars a few times before moving around to the door and then launching himself onto her head. Lucky I was only a step away and pulled him out.

Bait

This morning when I let Kara outside, Bait was waiting and pounced, batting at her head and attacking her tail. She stared at me with a look that said, "Please, can't I kill him??".

©Penny Blankenship
More cartoons by Penny

I saw the same look in Mark's eyes last week when Bait was helping him work on his new 'indoor/outdoor' kennel project. Apparently having a cat batting at your tools and attacking you out of the blue slows down projects.

Mark works...Bait watches

Mark TRIES to work...Bait attacks

Truth be known, Mark and Bait are crazy about each other. It is really rather pitiful. Both Mark and I have always agreed that we don't want a cat living in the house; however, every evening I find the kitten curled up on Mark's chest, purring away while Mark watches TV. So much for the 'No Cats in the House' rule.

Photo by Marlene Daniels

Kara demonstrates an amazing amount of patience...

Kara - a big, tough Iditarod dog...

Lord knows why Kara puts up with this monster...

Further proof that Kara is the PERFECT Siberian!

We've been able to get out running a fair bit. I'm very pleased with how everyone is doing.
This morning I put the first of the 2-year-olds in lead. Tess, out of Surge and Olena, had been overshadowed by the performances of her brothers Charge and Watt as yearlings. She was a nice dog, but no one I was jumping up and down about. The last couple runs I'd had her in swing (right behind the leaders) and she kept 'overrunning' my leaders. Every time they would slack off even a touch, she was getting tangled in the lines because she was driving so hard. So this morning I decided to put her in lead with Snickers and see what she could do. WOW!! Of course, she didn't know her commands, but she drove like a machine - and she had been paying attention on our previous runs - she knew every corner in the trail. I LOVE it when dogs back in the team are paying attention to what is going on around them and not just 'going along for the ride'. To me that is a sign of a very promising leader! I 'caught' her when we turned up the driveway to tackle 'The Hill' for the first time this year, but she scrambled back up with Snickers in a heartbeat.

Tess and Snickers

Tess

I was just tickled by the promise I saw in her. Certainly a good way to step out from behind the shadows of her 'big brothers'.

Eeek looking pleased with himself after a training run

Lingo

Wolvie

Irving and Wolvie

As previously mentioned, Mark's latest summer project is an indoor/outdoor dog run off the mud room of the house. I'll admit I had a fair amount of trepidation when I realized he was about to punch a hole through an exterior wall of our house, but he did a great job. He's laid sidewalk blocks for the outside portion of the kennel, so I can use it for dogs that have been bathed for shows, Moms in the house with babies, dogs recovering from surgery, etc. He's calling it the M*A*S*H kennel - "Mommies And Sick Huskies". We are just now waiting on delivery of the chain link panels he ordered.
Very cool!!

Just waiting on the panels to arrive...

I should also talk about Grover. Over the past few weeks I've had a fair number of inquiries wondering how he was doing. I'll admit for most of the winter and spring, I've been avoiding talking about him, because honestly, I was scared. We just couldn't seem to manage his thyroid condition and I was worried it was more than the vets initially thought. At the beginning of July, he started to shed and I had hopes that this was a good sign - but in reality, it was a horrible one, as he shed down to skin in a few spots. Another battery of tests was done, his medication was changed and dosage tweaked, and I am MORE than happy to report that the change in him in the last month has been nothing short of miraculous.

Grover

It seems, for some weird reason, Grover was unable to utilize the thyroid medicine in the one brand name he was given. It turns out it is a rare, but not unheard of thing.
Anyway, his bald spots have already filled in, he has new growth all over his body and the spark is back in him.

And just to make things even sweeter, Dr. Jackson confirmed that testing for certain antibodies in his bloodstream has proven that this is definitely not a genetic thyroid condition - something we were very fearful of with all the Grover kids around!

To say I'm thrilled is an understatement. I promised him I'd let him run with some of our puppy teams in the next few weeks too.

At the end of July I was out in southern British Columbia, working on some of my requirements for my judging license. For three days I worked as a ring steward at the All Breed show and then judged Puppy Sweepstakes for the Sagebrush Working/Herding Specialty. I had some very lovely puppies, but I gave Best in Sweeps to a handsome young Doberman, Kotaba's Holly Roller, from Washington. Runner Up was a lovely, super sound little Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Lillemor Curig Nisse.
Also going on that weekend was the National Specialty Show for Mastiffs. My goodness they are massive dogs! We figured out that there was over 10,000 lbs of Mastiffs at the show on Sunday! The dog that won weighed 240 lbs!! Unbelievable! His owner weighed 209!!
All and all, a really nice weekend. Many, many thanks to Leona and Len for making it all possible for me and being such great hosts!

We've also had a little bit of company up this way. My Mom, along with her hairball, Arnie, were up last week for a visit. Also stopping over for one night was our friend, Marlene from Montana. Nice to have some help with the chores - and to have some great company!

I did manage to talk Mom into coming along with me on a training run. She was VERY hesitant, but it was actually hard to get her off at the end of the run, she had such a good time!!
Well, I've rambled on for pages now. I think that brings everyone pretty much to date on the happenings around here.

Hope you enjoyed!
Karen

PS. I should also mention that Mark and I celebrated our 20th Anniversary on August 2nd. We spent a lovely evening at the historical Hotel Selkirk at Ft. Edmonton Park. Very nice.
Hard to believe it has been 20 years. Where does time go?

You know, when Mark and I started dating 23 years ago, one of my friends bet me $100 I'd marry him. I quickly accepted the bet because Mark and I had so little in common, I figured there was no way. I guess what I didn't understand then was that it isn't about having a shared past, but sharing a future. We still like different music, different TV shows, different food, different dogs, etc., etc., but I can't imagine my life without him. Best bet I ever lost!

Love ya', Babe.

Mark & Karen at the Paxson Lodge Checkpoint during the 2005 Copper Basin

July 22, 2006 Chirp, Quack, Ribbet...Moo

It seems that certain times of the year our yard is descended upon by hordes of unwelcome visitors. We seem to be going through one of those times now.

It started a week or so back when the dog yard, specifically the Bitch Pen and the few dogs around it were carrying on about something one morning. I trudged down in my pyjamas and flip flops to find some weird little bird hopping around on the edge of the dog’s circles eating bugs and generally having a great time – seemingly oblivious to the danger less then a wing’s length away. When I tried to shoo him away, he got flustered and flew closer to the dogs. I tried; he was now on his own.

Throughout the day he was spotted on the edge of yard in a variety of different spots. He’d fly some, so he wasn’t injured, but he seemed to prefer hopping around picking up bugs as he went. For awhile he was up by the puppy pens, then near the middle of the yard, back down by the Bitch Pen, in behind Newt….each section of the yard would get worked up at his appearance. By mid afternoon Mark had had enough and went out to see what was up. Again bird got flustered, but this time the little guy miscalculated and Nahanni snatched him out of the air as he flew out of Mark’s way. Poor little bird – happy little Nahanni.

Next up was another morning commotion in the yard. This time up behind the house, by the puppies and the kennels. I walked out to find a young duck, flapping and quacking. He was obviously working on the whole ‘flying thing’ and having a few problems. He was very stressed, so I, with the help of my ‘not so awesome’ herding dog – aka Fly, chased him out of the yard. We had just turned around when there was a flap of feathers and a barrage of quacking. The duck was back. We spent about 10 minutes playing this game before I waved my arms and pronounced this one also on his own.

For the next hour or so, Daffy flapped and quacked his way around. He made a couple runs up and down the road between the kennel and the house, took off and wound up right back next to the dogs. He had one or two very close encounters when he made low, awkward passes over the main section of the yard before finally getting his act together and heading off into the woods for good. The dogs closed up the Duck a l’orange recipe they had pulled out and settled back for a nap.

Then there was the frog. The first one occurred at about midnight one night. Once I found it, I turned around and just went back to bed. Anything stupid enough to wander into the jaws of a screaming dog at midnight deserves to die.

A confused young coyote was next to come visiting. He attempted to come visit Odie, Draco and Hector, but was sent packing. Same result with Newt, Lingo and Chester. A bit later, I went to the door to tell the girls to quit barking and realized it wasn’t them, but the coyote down in the meadow trying to coax the girls into running away with him. Fly and I went down and suggested he leave. He made one more attempt to visit with the girls up on the hill and then I guess decided Siberians were generally an unsocial lot

.
Fly

Last night was ‘Return of the Frog’ – or maybe it was his cousin – anyway, Piper, Charm and Wolvie all seemed to be vying for frog legs at 1am. I didn’t stick around to see who won – nor to offer them any dipping sauce.

This morning the entire yard was making weird barking noises at 6 am – this time it was the neighbour's cows. They can get down to our west fence line, which runs on the other side of the cabin, but being they weren’t in that area last year, it has been a long while since they have been down. The pups and yearlings especially were utterly (pun intended!!) fascinated with the large, entirely edible looking creatures. I wandered over to the fence line - my big, hairy herding dog was with me, but he’s scared of cows, so he was pretending he didn’t see them (yeah, pitiful, I know). I generally insulted them and launched a few pinecones in their general direction and they finally got the hint.

I wonder what tonight will bring??
Karen

July 19, 2006 Sibersong Visits NorthWapiti

With Kelim's Sibersong McKinley due to come into season this spring/summer, I started thinking about possibly breeding her to one of her NorthWapiti relatives (McKinley is a Grover daughter). I was losing hope that she would come in early enough so that I wouldn't lose her for next racing season when she finally started her cycle. Since it turned out to be only slightly more expensive for me to fly there with McKinley and as Karen and Mark were gracious enough to invite me to visit them, I decided to take an unplanned vacation and go along. So within days our trip was booked, and a little over a week later McKinley and I set off for Perryvale, Alberta.

McKinley
NorthWapiti's Super Grover x Tsuga's HollyWood of Kelim

The trip to Alberta was pretty uneventful. We drove up to Montreal in the middle of the night to catch a 6:30 am flight to Edmonton. McKinley's "What are you doing to me?" expression as she rode off down the conveyor belt after I checked her in was enough to make me want to cry.
As we approached the Edmonton airport all you could see for miles and miles was flat, square parcels of farmland. Farms as far as the eye could see. And a large majority were bright yellow, which I later found out was canola crops (yes, where your canola oil comes from). It was even more beautiful from the ground!

Where Karen and Mark live is about 2 hours north of Edmonton and not nearly as flat. Still a whole lot of farmland however. All the parcels of land up there are huge - land is much much cheaper than around here obviously. And all roads except the main routes seem to be dirt. Which of course is like heaven for us mushers - the unlimited amount of miles of training you can get on those dirt roads on top of the trails they connect to is almost enough to make me want to move there!

Have to say the weather's much nicer too. It generally hit 70's-80's during the days while I was there, but nights cooled off considerably and there were 2 mornings that it was cool enough to run dogs. So it seems to be similar to our New Hampshire weather in September. Very little humidity too - in fact, I don't believe I've ever before had an entire week of great hair days as I did up there, LOL! 

Other awesome things about the area: no ticks! How cool is that? McKinley and I went for long walks in the woods during the week and I didn't have to worry about avoiding tall grasses or checking us out for ticks afterwards. And sandy base under the soil. Forget about having to pay for truckloads of sand for your dogyard each summer - once you remove the topsoil up there, it seems to be nothing but sand underneath! Although this is probably only appreciated by us dog mushers....

I had the opportunity to see 28 of Karen's dogs run while I was there (2 teams of 14). Karen has miles and miles of trail right out of her yard.... I'm so envious! I actually had the opportunity to see Sibersong's Charmed I'm Sure (the Charmed Litter) run while I was there, and according to Karen that was the best she's run so far. I thought she was fairly good in harness, and ran similar to her sisters Decal and Piper. I haven't seen Charm since she left here as an 8 week old puppy and was thrilled to get to see her all grown up. She looks like a cross between Decal and Piper. Maybe she'll get more of an opportunity to run with the "big dogs" this coming season now that she's finally figured out what to do in harness!

The dogs in the front were Holly (grey) & Jr (leg)
Hector (black) & Lingo (saddleback)
Charm (red pie) & Piper (grey pie).

 
Sibersong's Charmed I'm Sure

I was extremely impressed with Herman, as well as Crunchie, Odie, Loki...to name just a few! Also got to see Olena, Lingo, Batdog, Snickers, Holly, Junior, Watt, Runner, Moses, Boom, Charge, Hector, Draco, Dasher, Q, X, Paxson, Newt, Piper, Barq, Dasher, Nahanni, Jinx & Eeek run.
Two of my faves in the yard (tho' I didn't get to see them run) were Bingo and Bongo. Those two yearlings just totally grabbed me from the start.

Bingo

Bongo

The first morning (not counting the day I landed) that I was there we ran Odie and Crunchie so I could see both prospective fathers run. I hadn't made my decision yet as to which boy I wanted to use with McKinley. After the run and after spending some time with both boys I chose Crunchie as my first choice for various reasons. It was a difficult decision because I really liked both dogs equally. In the end I chose more because I thought Crunchie's serious and quiet personality would meld well with McKinley's sometimes goofy personality...i.e., maybe I'd get some serious pups in the litter. I also really liked the idea of line-breeding on Grover.

Crunchie was a little shy and inexperienced however, and McKinley just didn't want to be bred. Finally we decided to see if Odie, choice #2, had any more luck. From then on we'd put Crunchie in first and if he had no success we'd throw Odie in. It became a contest to see which boy would be the one to finally breed McKinley. I jokingly referred to it as the newest reality show: Who Wants To Be A Daddy?

Crunchie

Odie 

By Friday I was getting a little desperate. Our flight back was scheduled for Saturday afternoon and we still hadn't gotten a breeding. After another unsuccessful series of attempts, Karen suggested we call her vet the next morning and arrange to do artificial insemination. We also decided I should change my flight and extend the trip another few days. So Saturday morning we took Odie and McKinley in for AI and Odie was the winner of Who Wants To Be A Daddy.


Back to other parts of the trip....

On the Fourth of July (which of course, doesn't get celebrated in Canada!) we went to the Edmonton Mall. This mall is AMAZING. The mall actually houses not only a gazillion stores but also a hockey rink, water park, pirate ship, sea lion show, fire-breathing dragon, casino, amusement park with roller coasters, bumper cars, and flamingos (after all, what Canadian mall would be complete without flamingos right?).

I took one look at the roller coaster and announced, "I have to ride that thing." And it was the scariest roller coaster I think I have ever ridden. I've ridden some scary ones out there, but this one definitely is at the top of the list. Perhaps it was simply the fact that you're speeding towards the walls at super high speeds, or could be the fact that Karen told me before riding it that someone had been killed on this coaster a few years back (she also assured me they'd fixed it since then, but it still adds to the thrill). She offered to show me the spot on the wall where the guy actually died, but I declined.


On Thursday, Mark and Karen took me to see the Canadian Rockies (Jasper National Park). It was about a 4 hour ride, but it was soooo worth it! The scenery was just breathtaking.

On the drive there we saw two road signs that really excited me: one said "To Alaska Highway", and the other road sign said, "Scenic Route to Alaska". If I hadn't felt like such a silly tourist I would have asked Karen to stop so I could take a photo of those signs, hehe! Oh well, I know someday in the near future I will see them again, along with a "Welcome To Alaska" road sign.


Anyway, this national park had mountains that made ours over in NH look like tiny hills. There was still snow on top of some of the mountains (ahhh, how nice to see snow in July!), and the wildlife there was different in some ways than what we have here. Big horned sheep, grizzlies (which unfortunately, or maybe it was fortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to see), elk. We did see quite a few of the local animals including a black bear. Some are so tourist-friendly they just walk right down the middle of the road....

After 9 days of relaxation, very little computer work, great food, and nothing but dog-related activities and lots of TV on their giant flatscreen, McKinley and I flew back home. Unfortunately, it was not a smooth return back. All flights that day on Air Canada had been delayed. We were put on a different flight that left a little earlier specifically so we would make the connection in Toronto on time, however once we got to Toronto I found out the connecting flight had been cancelled. After a frantic 45 minutes of trying to locate McKinley (and I'm still not sure why everyone ELSE got their baggage but they couldn't find a large and fairly conspicuous kennel that was on the flight), I finally made my way with McKinley to the departures desk to find out how I was now getting to Montreal. They informed me I'd have to spend the night in the airport waiting for the next flight out at 6:30 am. I'm still annoyed that they refused to put us up in a hotel, especially when I found out later that some other stranded passengers put up such a fuss and stink about it that THEY got a hotel room.

Anyway, we did finally get home the next day. Have to say, pulling an all-nighter in the airport is not my idea of fun! McKinley and I made some new friends there however, which helped pass the time. Really, I think they only wanted to make friends with McKinley and I just came along as part of the package. She sure was popular that night at the airport!

Now we're back in NH - happy and relaxed thanks to a week away, and hopefully pregnant. Big Thanks to Karen and Mark for being such wonderful hosts!!

-Jaye
Sibersong Sleddogs