October 3rd, 2007 Lumps & Bumps

Well, we had a bit of a scare with the Olena x Crunchie babies. On Monday after lunch Mark and I were messing around with the pups and found a BIG lump in the lymph node region of two of the pups - Twizzler and Skittles.

We called over to the Clinic and after discussing symptoms and the puppy's behaviour (completely normal - nursing, playing, etc, etc) they scheduled us in for an appointment the next day.

Never having experienced anything like this with a litter before, I did some searching on the Internet. All references to swollen lymph nodes in pups pointed to 'Puppy Strangles' - not a nice disease, but they didn't seem to have all the typical symptoms of that either.

So yesterday afternoon Olena, all the pups, Mark and I headed into the vet - at just under 3 weeks, they still travel anywhere as a family.

Collin quickly pronounced the lumps, which were now bigger, as abscesses. Both pups had their little throats shaved (well more like trimmed, rather then a real shave) and a hole put in the accesses for them to drain. They were also put on a week of antibiotics (liquid ones as they are too little for pills).

Why we have two with this is a puzzle. As I said, we have never had anything like this in any puppy before, let alone 2 in one litter. But, it seems to be resolving itself well in both pups after treatment.  I can't find any trace of a lump on Skittles today, and Twizzy's lump is almost completely gone.  Both are still fat and sassy and never missed a meal or a play session because of their issues.

Phew!

Karen

October 2nd, 2007 A Good Sign

I know I owe everyone stories to update on the many things that have happened in the last month - and they are coming - but in the meantime, I had such fun on my run yesterday that I wanted to share.

I got a lot of running in in September, but I did hold the dogs back in mileage, as when I was studying some of my previous years training journals I noticed that my best teams were on years that I was still doing smaller mileage near the end of September - well, smaller for me is about 10 miles.

While Kelly and Tara were here last week, they were really keen to camp with the teams, so last weekend we did a 12 mile run to our campground (the one Mark has been putting a lot of work into this year - and that Colleen and I skidded out bricks and built a firepit for), camped for 2 hours and then ran 4.5 miles home. It worked out great, even if my rookies didn't rest much because of bitches in season on my team. Oh, and Cricket could hear us over at the camping spot and barked pretty much solid for the 2 hours.

Anyway, last week I upped the team to runs in the 12 - 15 mile range and they have been traveling strong and happy.

My neighbor Lisa, who also happens to be my obedience/agility instructor, got a new Aussie puppy and in exchanging emails she made the mistake of inviting me over for coffee and to meet puppy Bruce. She even offered to 'hide' her sheep if I wanted to come over by dog team. Cool idea. So with warning to Lisa I headed out yesterday morning.

The team was Jinx (almost out of season) and Tess (in season), Hilda and Spider (in season) Charge and Flash, Hector and Watt, Loki and Odie, Paxson and Q.

We climbed out of the valley, down the highway ditch to the green trails behind the Perryvale 'Waste Management' (aka the Dump), out by the cemetery and down the old highway. It's deceiving to describe the trails as to their location, because the highway ditch is wide and nice traveling and the trail behind the dump is also next to a Blue Heron Sanctuary and is one of the nicest trails in the valley.

Once on the old highway (which is just a gravel road), I had to swap Jinx out for Spider. It is very important that we stay on the right hand side on these roads, especially early in the season when motorists aren't expecting to see us. Jinx isn't great at 'Gee Over' and Tess doesn't know it at all - roads with traffic are no place to mess with 2 green leaders.

When I got to the spot where the road splits I had a shorter, all along the road route to Lisa's, or the longer trail, which also incorporates part of the old Landing Trail, which is now designated as part of the Trans Canada Trail system. The team wasn't looking tired at all, so I opted for the longer route.

Of course, my memory had failed me a little and it ended up being an additional 8.5 miles to Lisa's from the split in the road. That certainly was a test for the kids, but they did it in fine style. I pulled into Lisa's driveway and due to all the girls in season, tied of the front of my team. Lucky thing, as the boys spend a solid hour and a half barking at Spider, Jinx and Tess. Then they actually rested for about a half hour!

I spend a lovely 2 hours chatting dogs, drinking coffee, munching on cookies and snuggling an adorable Aussie pup! Sweet!

The run from Lisa's home was 5.5 miles and because of the dogs fussing rather then resting, I wasn't sure how they would travel home. They did great. Especially when we hit the old railway allowance on the east edge of our property and they knew where we were.

As I traveled the old railway bed, I was looking at the river as it travels through our land. I thought it looked rather high, but figured it was just my imagination. A little ways past that I could hear the river rushing on the other side of the trees - I knew that was something new. This could be a bad thing! All this year the river has been very low. In fact, up till now I could walk across in shoes and if I watched my step, not get my feet wet - but it is not like it was spring, or there had been a lot of rain in the area lately, so how bad could it be??

Imagine the surprise that the dogs and I had when we dropped down onto the river, which was up over the bellies of everyone and rushing hard! The dogs were thirsty, so just dove in along the edge, but I didn't know if I could get the girls to turn into the current and go across without leading them. I figured, being the smallest on the team, they might actually have to do some swimming to get over. Like the stars they are turning into though, they swung into the river on one command when asked. I actually had to lift my feet off the floorboard of the 4-wheeler so they didn't get wet as I crossed - quite different from last week. All I can figure is that a big beaver dam let loose upstream or something!

I gave the dogs a minute to shake and roll before we did the hard, sandy climb up out of the valley. Once on flatter terrain, they loped most of the last mile home.

Back in the yard, they ate like wolves before being tucked back onto their chains.

I will say, that afternoon as I was shoveling, the 14 that ran were a pretty quiet bunch - well, 13 of them anyway, Charge was pacing his chain like always!

So, those of you doing the math might have noticed that that was a 24-mile run with a 2-hour break in it. They did it with ease and style - that bodes well for the upcoming season.

That group of 14 is back down to 15 mile runs for the rest of the week, but Lisa invited us back anytime, so I'm sure a different 14 and I will be heading back that way sometime soon.

Happy Trails!

Karen

September 24th, 2007 Introducing... The Candies!

As I'm sure some of you have noticed I haven't been posting much lately. No fear - all 'good busy' stuff and I should have some stories in the next few days. :)

In the meantime, YES we have come up with a theme for the Crunchie x Olena babies. In honour of their 'chocolate bar' Daddy - they are all named after candies!!

So, introducing -

Jelly Bean (male) - who will be known as Mr. Bean
Turtle (male)
Chiclet (female)
Skittles (female)
Twizzler (female)
Smartie (female)
and
Peeps (female)

Pictures (courtesy of Tara Lemieux) can been seen at -

http://picasaweb.google.com/northwapiti/OlenaSCandies

Eyes are just starting to open and all are growing like little weeds! :)

Karen

September 10th, 2007 Fall Warm-Up Weekend

http://tinyurl.com/282qbd (photos)

First off I have to thank Karen and Mark for putting together such an amazing weekend.  We had such a great time!  Zach is actually chomping at the bit to go back to school to tell his classmates all his stories from this weekend.  Everyone was so nice and made this such a memorable time for us we will definitely come up for the next one (although I will not be trying out any short cuts so to speak).   Since many know that I hit a bull on the way up in Montana, we did make it thanks to a rental truck.  And Mark was totally right about my truck not getting touched till after we got back, but today (Saturday) we made it home driving through 6 states in 24 hours and my truck being held together with some good ol' fashioned duct tape for the headlight, bailing wire for the bumper and some chain to keep the hood down, as for the internal parts staying in place I'm too afraid to undo the chain to see.

I don't know where to begin describing the amount of fun we had this weekend which by far is one of the
best weekends I have ever had.  I think Zach puts it best with a very exuberant "AWESOME".   We met so many great people that we definitely hope to see again.  Thank you Karen for letting us to scooter with your dogs, I must admit that was a truly amazing experience.  Zach is still in awe of Nik and I know that isn't going to change.  Down here in So. Cal. my guys are fast but compared to Batdog and Hector it's like comparing turtles to rabbits (obviously my guys are the turtles).  Thanks Colleen and Martin for letting me tag along Monday morning when you ran your team.   I am still getting used to not seeing Rocket, Dew and Trigger, I could never walk past them without saying hi to each one of them.  Also thanks Karen, Colleen and Martin for loaning us your quads to run our team.  Zach also has a big thank you for Mark, he loved driving the quads.  This weekend was so worth the drive from California.  The weather was great the scenery couldn't be beat and everyone just made this weekend fantastic.  I truly don't know how to thank you enough!
 

Kecia

September 9th, 2007 Isis's Story

Isis is one of Kara and Grover's superhero kids.

In the spring of 2006 I sold Isis, along with Dare (Smiley x Oreo) to a nice woman in Yellowknife, who came to me with some very good references.

Icey was still young and hadn't been harness broke, but given her pedigree, I had nothing but confidence that she would be a good addition to Jo's team down the road.

Imagine my surprise when many months later Jo contacted me and said they were having problems harness breaking her. The problem had begun when running down some pavement that Jo had to travel on to get to their training area and then got magnified from there. I offered some suggestions and told her to keep in touch with me.

After a number of months and trying everything they could think of, Jo, very sadly, contacted me wishing to return Ice. As I always do, I refunded back Jo's purchase price in full and Jo shipped her back down to Edmonton.

Ice settled back into our kennel routine quite easily and we began a calculated long-term approach to re-schooling her attitudes about running in harness. I knew that we realistically only had one shot to change her mind about being a sled dog.  My goal was to make her reliable enough that I could find her a home on a recreational team. Despite being a Grover/Kara kid, I was convinced she just wasn't a 'special' dog.

So, over the course of last fall, Ice got accustom to being on a leash, a drop chain and eventually living on a stake out chain. This spring I finally felt the time was right and hooked her up with a carefully selected team. She balked a bit, but never really showed any indication that she was going to through a 'feet in the air' temper tantrum like she did in Yellowknife.

I ran her a few times with good results before giving her a few months off. Through out the summer Mark and I both started to become rather enchanted with this little piebald gal. Jo had always maintained that she was an absolute sweetheart in their kennel and we were really seeing that here, but I did begin to look for a new home for her.

I offered her to a few folks, but no one was really taken with her, despite her great pedigree and the fact that I was now insisting that was 'something' about her.

When we started running again in July, Ice was right in there with the rest of the crew. She still balked a bit when we crossed or traveled down our gravel road, but otherwise was doing just great on our runs.

Then in the last few weeks she really began to 'find her feet'. Last week she was roaring down the trail, out performing even her star brother, Wolvie. I decided it was time to up the pressure on her and 4 days ago took her on a run up our driveway, which is all gravel. She didn't miss a beat.

This morning I decided to listen to my gut and put the young lady in lead. She was a STAR.

When we hit the driveway I was curious to see what she would do when she had no other dogs pulling her forward. She balked for a second then looked for ways to run off the gravel on the side of the road, but Dasher was blocking that option for her on the right. She tried to swing to the left but because the rest of the team was on the right side of the road, couldn't reach the side of the road. She hesitated for a half second and then hit her harness hard and got back to work.

Watching her traveling hard and fast down the road, driving solidly into her harness was wonderful. I was so proud of her.

She lead a big, fast 14-dog team for over 5 miles before I hit some trail that was above her leader skills and swapped her out for Tess.

Just in case anyone was wondering - she is no longer for sale.

Karen

September 8th, 2007 Fall Warm-Up Weekend

(By Colleen Hovind)

On Friday, September 1, 2007, people, dogs, dog trucks, tents and trailers started arriving at North Wapiti for Karen and Mark's Annual Fall Warm Up Weekend.  A few had already arrived when we pulled in around 5:00 p.m.  With us came 7 of our 11 dogs - all North Wapiti kids.  This year was our third time attending the Fall Warm Up Weekend -  a weekend that we start looking forward to during those hot July/August days.

Before I start with a rather long recap of the weekend, I want to first send a huge thanks to Karen and Mark for hosting the Fall Warm Up Weekend.  Opening your home, yard and trails to a record crowd takes a huge amount of work and patience.  As usual, the weekend went off without a hitch and I know that everyone who attended is very grateful for all that you do to make it happen.  So THANK YOU.    

For the most part, Friday night is spent settling in.  Humans busy themselves setting up camp and tending to the dogs - the dogs are just as busy making sure they have the best sleeping spot on the picket line, which usually involves much digging.

Saturday morning begins the ritual of everyone gathering for a quick coffee and visit between 6:00 and 6:30.  By 6:45 the yard is full of commotion.  Four larger teams of 10+ dogs head out of the yard with Karen's team in lead.  A few minutes behind them, we head out with our team of seven.  One of my favorite sites of the whole run occurs before we even leave the yard.  We pass by the puppy pens on the way out onto the trails and the morning just wouldn't be complete without saying "good morning babies" to the little fur faces that watch intently as we go by.  Too cute.  Being the first run of the year for us we take a shorter route and do not see any other teams until we're back in the yard.  As usual, the trails are beautiful and the smell of Fall is in the air.  Back in the yard, a few people are hooking up one and two dogs to scooters and venture out as well.

Our Team

Our Team

Everyone arrives back in the yard and then it is time to free run puppies.  OMG!!!  Karen tells us that Kluane's litter of four (the Cree litter) is fast and smart enough to do the trail without chasing the quad.  They have done it enough times with Karen that all she has to do is ride behind them and they do the loop on their own.  The trick is to have four bowls of kibble waiting back at their pen when they return.  Sure enough, within a few minutes of them taking off out of the yard with Karen following on the quad, we see four little puppy bodies booking it down the trail and back into the yard heading straight for their pen where we stand calling and shaking a dish of kibble.  Into the pen hop the puppies and the gate is quickly shut while they devour the kibble.  Anyone who hasn't seen Karen free run puppies is in awe of just how fast these little bodies can travel.  A few more visits in the yard while we pick up harnesses and ganglines, then everyone heads up to the house for breakfast.  While running dogs is the primary purpose of the weekend, a close second is humans consuming copious amounts of food.  Breakfast is a virtual buffet of anything you can imagine and everyone is hungry after a good morning run. 

A few more trucks arrive throughout the morning and into the early afternoon, including Maggie, Keisha (spelling?) and Zak and their six dogs from California.  Precisely at 1:00 p.m. a horn sounds and the annual scavenger hunt begins with Mark and Karen laying out the ground rules.  Teams of two and three spend half an hour searching the North Wapiti grounds for numbered golf balls and collecting numerous bits from nature and elsewhere (live bugs, yellow leaves, an item of clothing with "Iditarod" on it, etc.).  Each item on the list is given a point value.  Teams turn in buckets of items then one team member has several tries to shoot pop cans off a log while the other team member goes in the garage where Karen has a jar filled with sand and upwards of 30 small articles.  The goal is to jiggle around the jar and sand to expose the items and identify what you find to Karen.  Once all is done, Karen heads into the house and does the final tally of scores.  We then all gather in the house for the awarding of prizes.  This year, I must say that the prizes were very generous.  With donations from Eagle, Mountain Ridge, Dogbootie.com and Karen and Mark, every team comes away with a great catch.

Our Team next to Karen's

Sue, her husband and her Malamute

The rest of the afternoon is spent visiting around the campfire while a few people run dogs with scooters and carts.  Supper is a pitch fork fondue which involves a huge vat of oil brought to a dangerously hot temperature.  A few people cook chicken and steak on long stakes but I am one of a few less patient folks and chose to dump several pieces of chicken into a smaller vat that is then submersed into the hot oil.  Everyone brings a potluck side dish or dessert so again we eat very well and there are lots of leftovers that will be around for Sunday supper.

The evening is low key and people mull around their campsites, at the main campfire or in the dog yard visiting woofs.  The schedule of feeding the NW dogs is untouched by the bustle of the weekend and 8:00 p.m. sees a lot of dust flying as the dogs do laps on their stakeout chains waiting for their dish to arrive.  With four or five helpers, the yard is fed in record time with Karen filling dishes and giving directions as to which bowl goes where.  Once all the bowls are picked up we head off to the puppy pens to visit with the Kara's litter of four and Hilda's litter of seven.  Hilda's seven babies (more is better) being the youngest litter gives them the edge of being the most popular (sorry Kara), but there are enough cuddles to go around for everyone.  By 9:00 it is pitch dark, so a few more visits with humans around the yard, then it is off to bed to dream about the events of the day.

Karen, Brook & Martin

Kathy & Brook Carmichael

Through the night it begins to rain lightly but by 6:45 it is down to a drizzle and by the time we are on the trails it has stopped.  Marty and I are sure to have our seven dog team hooked up in time to head out with Karen's team and another two larger teams of 10+ dogs.  With other teams arriving yesterday, there are a few more teams than yesterday morning and they head out on other trails after we have left the yard.  As I sit on the back of the quad and watch our seven (Smiley, Sparky, Blaze, Caly, Doc, Thunder and Charm) make their way down the trail, practicing passing, etc., I am so proud of them.  This is the first year we have run an all NW team and it warms my heart to think of how lucky we are to have these quality dogs in our lives and be running along side Karen's team as well as Mike and Kathy Carmichael's.  Not to think for a moment that we are in the same league as Karen or Mike’s team, but it is sweet nonetheless to be out on the trail with them.  We do a 3.5 mile run, stopping to rest the teams and give them a drink before the other teams head off for another mile or so while we head back down the driveway into the yard.

Sunday breakfast is a feast of Karen's wild blueberry pancakes (with berries from Karen and Mark's property).  Everyone gorges themselves then it's outside to get some two dog teams heading out on scooters.  There are enough takers that we spend the better part of a couple of hours matching up dogs that have less experience with some of Karen's dogs.  It's all a bit of a blur, but I recall a variety of breeds including Australian Shepherds, Alaskan Malamutes, a Samoyed and two Chinook Dogs along with the ever popular Siberians.  Karen goes out on the quad ahead of the scooters and someone is on the back of the quad to encourage the dogs and take photos/laugh at near hits and misses as the driver maneuvers the scooter around the trail.  The rain earlier in the morning has damped the sand enough that the trails aren't as dangerous as I recall from last year.

Our ATV Trip

Later in the afternoon, Marty and I along with friends Sandy Cairns and Mark Dakin from Red Deer, Alberta, take two quads and head out on the trails to sight see.  After not finding the spot we are looking for, we head back to the yard and seek out Karen for directions.  She offers to hop on our quad and away we go with Kathy and Baby Brook Carmichael on their quad.  We find the scenic spot we have seen while out on the trails with dogs other years and oooo and aaaaah at the view.  Karen decides to show us some other beautiful spots in the area and she takes over driving our quad - which should have been the first warning sign.  Basically, she tries to kill us all (not really but my mind does go there for a few seconds) and takes us to an area we have not seen before.  We head down (way down) to a spot in the river that can be crossed with quads then back up (way up)  the other side to a spot where we can overlook the property.  The view is breathtaking, however so is a portion of the ride.  We joke with Karen when we stop, just making sure she hasn't forgotten that we are from the Prairies and not used to hills or heights.  She laughs, but seems just a bit too pleased with herself which keeps me on guard for the rest of the trip.  Baby Brook who will be two years old this winter is a little daredevil and is grinning ear to ear as we make our way along the trails.  It could also be that she was laughing at me who was hanging on for dear life.  In any event, we make it safely back to the yard and it's time for supper.  The evening routine of visiting and feeding/playing with the NW dogs is over before we know it and then it's time to relax by the campfire before turning in for the night.

Monday morning is much like Sunday - overcast and drizzle but it stops just in time to run.  Having run with "the big dogs" yesterday, we watch as the larger teams leave the yard then we head out with our team for a shorter, low key run.  Once we are back, Marty helps Maggie and Keisha from California hook up their six dogs to our quad and the three of them head off onto the trails.  Back at the house for breakfast, everyone enjoys Karen's famous Feta cheese scrambled eggs along with a multitude of muffins, toast, bacon, etc.  Then it’s time to do up the breakfast dishes, pack and load the dogs for the trip home.  As usual, it takes a bit longer than planned to say good bye to everyone - some new acquaintances that we've gotten to know from previous Fall Warm Ups, others we have just met this weekend but feel like we've known each other forever.  A few more laughs, hand shakes and hugs and we are back on our way home to the Prairies.  The dogs and both of us are tired but in the best way.  I spend a lot of the 10 hour ride home, going over the events of the weekend and thanking my lucky stars to have had the opportunity to spend a few days with great people and great dogs on some of the most beautiful trails I know I will ever see.  How could it get any better?

Colleen Hovind

September 7th, 2007 Fall Training Run

http://picasaweb.google.com/northwapiti/RunSeptember7 (Photos)

I love fall!! It is such a wonderful time of year!!!

Last night we changed the sheets on the bed back to flannel – well, upgraded flannel – microfibre sheets. They are so cozy!! The temperature was dropping quickly – down to 5 C as we went to bed - and crawling into those sheets was wonderful. I slept so soundly!!

Mark’s alarm goes off at 4:30 and I don’t even remember him getting up. I did manage to drag myself out of my cocoon around 5:30, when my alarm goes off.

I made coffee, caught up on a few emails, figured out a team for the day and started a load of laundry before Mike stumbled up to the house (yup, he is still here!) at about 6:30. We chatted and generally stalled for a bit before rolling out of the house at 7.

Once out the door there is no more dragging. The dogs know the routine and their excited anticipation of the upcoming run is contagious.

It rained hard overnight and I had to take time to dry off the seat of the quad before moving it up to the dog yard, running out lines and starting to select dogs from the yard.

First Q and Charge – today’s leaders; then Batdog and Hector; super enthusiastic Jinx and Sprite; Xena and chubby little Roary (I swear that dog could live on 4 kibbles per week); followed by handsome Wolvie and most Xcellent X; Herman and obnoxious Nitro; and last but never least, Irving and Boom.

I laid out harnesses and got everyone ‘dressed’.

Q held the line out like a pro while I corrected Charge 400 times for not staying ‘up front’ – leader training can be very tedious. Finally the big nerd got the idea and kept his feet planted while I hooked up the rest of the lot.

Nitro got reprimanded for grabbing X by the tail as I walked him over to the gangline. This is a new hobby of Nitro’s and one that MUST end quickly.

Just as I was hooking up Boom, the last critter for the day, Mike’s team rounded the corner coming up from the bottom of the yard – or Carmichael Meadow, as it is called at this time of year.

The previous night’s rain and the cold temperature (1C) had highlighted all the spider webs in the woods. It was gorgeous, but rather bothersome to think of the all the spiders that represented!

When we finally climbed the hill on the driveway out of the valley a glance over my shoulder revealed nothing. The heavy fog completely enveloped our section of the valley. 

A few neighbors honked as Mike and my teams worked their way along the freshly mowed highway ditch.

The dogs roared down the hill back into the valley. Charge checked out the girls back in the middle of the team while I was unlocking the gate to get us into the grazing lease next door. When I sharply called his name he remembered what he was supposed to be doing.

We whipped along the Riverbank Trail and then over to Beaver’s Gully, where I discovered that the darn beavers dropped a big tree over the trail.

It was not completely detached from the stump, so I couldn’t move it. It was too big to get the quad over and the trail was too tight to turn everyone around unless I REALLY had to. Mike had taken a shorter route home and that meant no backup so I scouted out a path through the trees that would allow me to bump over the fallen tree where it was smaller.

Charge was really not ready to lead us on a bushwhacking expedition, but Q seemed to figure out what I was up to without too much trouble. A few small saplings were sacrificed in the process, but otherwise our detour worked well.

I handed out fish to all, including Kara and Fly, who always show up as soon I start snacking

We did our ‘long’ ‘go around’ loop, scaring a beautiful pilated woodpecker out of the woods, before calling it a morning.

I love fall!

Karen