Time to go (the Handler)

Well I guess it’s time to say good bye. As anyone who has had the pleasure and honour of spending any time here at NorthWapiti will agree, that is not an easy thing to do.
There are no words that can be said or put down on paper (or typed onto a keyboard) that can even begin to come close to describing the shear joy, pleasure and satisfaction of living with Karen, Mark and all the ‘family’. Sharing in their lives and adventures has been an awesome experience to treasure for the rest of my life.
Looking forward to keeping in touch and following the daily comings and goings via the Blog, now I have such an intimate knowledge of all the star characters it makes it so much more enjoyable.
Thank you Karen for all the great food, days out, and of course allowing me to indulge myself with your fantastic dogs, all of them a little star in the own special way, will miss them all. Of course thank you for trusting me to look after your home and treasured belongings for all those weeks on my own too. That would include caring for X and getting him back on all 4 paws and back into action. Boy how I’ve come to love that dog in a really special way.
Also for all the great quality time and knowledge we’ve shared together.

All the curly tails - keep up the great work, all the juniors and up and coming pups, you’re going to have a great life. The rest of the 'house' dogs , keep Karen safe, happy and entertained !

Looking forward to 'working' with you all again soon.

I think that ends one of the greatest chapters in the great big book that is life.

To be continued !

Bye for now

Richard.

Let Havoc Reign!

This morning - I was creating havoc in my life - intentionally!

See for the last few years I've watched alot of mushers, many who I greatly respect, switch over to running dogs without necklines. Now I've always run without necklines on my leaders, but I'm talking about taking necklines off the WHOLE team.
I've talked at length to other mushers about this and even played with taking a few dogs off their necklines here and there, but always seem to retreat to the 'security' of having their collars hooked into the gangline. It's neat, it's orderly - and I like that in a dog team.

BUT many of the mushers that regularly run without necklines claim their dogs are happier and don't get injured as easily. If that is true, how can I deny my dogs that?

So this morning, as I was hooking up my 16 dogs I thought WTH (Remember - family friendly blog!!) and pair after pair was hooked up without necklines. I did keep necklines on the wheel dogs as a safety precaution (don't want them run over by the ATV if they happen to stop suddenly).

I will say, hook up was alittle disorganized, but not as bad as I feared!



We shot past Richard's team on out of the yard and things looked....well...just like they normally do!!




I'm not sure whether or not they did so well because they didn't realize the necklines weren't on or because they just didn't care - but they did great.

Whenever we stopped things would get alittle 'hairy'...



...but as soon as I called them up, everything straightened out without complication! Sweet!!!



At the end of the run things got alittle crazy back in the yard, but I'm certain that is a problem I can solve.
I think there is some merit in this concept and I'm pretty committed to seeing if I can make it work.

I have ordered a bunch of the 'saddle back' harnesses from wonderful Louise at Dogbooties.com. These harnesses work really well with this 'neckline-less' system, as being shorter they allow you to use a shorter overall gangline and shorter tuglines giving the dogs all the benefits but a bit less 'room to roam' on breaks.

Of course, it seems like I may have to give up the concept of perfectly lined out teams - least for a while!




If it makes for healthier, happier dogs - I'm okay with that!

Karen

Weathering The Storm

It's been storming here the last few days. A honest to gosh blowing snow, rattle the windows, make you want to stay inside storm.
We were doing just that yesterday morning when I noticed Wolvie standing on a tree branch staring at the house.
"How the heck is he standing on a tree branch?", I asked myself. This is how -

Hector was pretty happy to see us and we all set to work chainsawing and hauling branches out of his area.

Wolvie, who lives next to Hector, lost his good vantage point, but them's the breaks!!!

The winds have thankfully died down a bit now!

I also thought that you might be interested to see what has become of the original 'Cloud' now that the Family has a new one.

This is on an old couch that lives in our back porch. Cricket figured out the screen door latch isn't working properly and how to open it so she can sneak inside for a good nap.

Go Cricket!!

Future Stars - Part 1

Great team I had out yesterday!!



There are some dogs in this group whose names I expect you will be hearing alot of in the months to come. First and foremost - one of the leaders of this team is 2 1/2 year old Turtle aka The Turd (I know, bad nickname, but it really does suit him!!). Awesome!!!! Turtle is out of Crunchie and Olena. You might remember seeing him in lead on Richard's B-string video from late last year. He is young, driven and FAST!!

Two other young superstars are the wheel dogs - sisters Boo and Sobe. They are out of Watt and Sprite. Neither are huge dogs, but they are lovely smooth moving girls who just put their ears and tails down and GO! Really, really nice gals!

Snert and his sister Tramp are also coming along very well. Tramp is the pretty white dog fourth up on the right. Big, keen Snert is one pair up on the left!

I just can't help but grin watching these young dogs come into their own!

More 'Future Stars' posts in the days to come!!!
Karen

“Sing like no one's listening..."

Confessions of a Cloud Wrecker

Okay, I confess - way back in December, before we left for Alaska, I had a Martha Stewart moment that ended really badly. I mean, I should know better, I'm about as far from Martha Stewart as a girl can get, so any 'Martha Stewart Moments' I have are bound to end badly.

I was on a cleaning rampage and decided The Cloud needed some serious attention. I took off the cover and tossed it in the washing machine. Then put the 'rest' out on the deck to air out. When time came to put everything back together I decided that the Cloud was still a little 'gamey' so I decided to toss it in the dryer on the 'Fluff' cycle to knock out some of the dirt and dust lodged in it. Well, great idea IF I had remembered to turn the dryer onto a 'no heat' cycle.

This is what the Cloud came out looking like.



Oh, was I in the Dog House with Kara!! I apologized, I groveled, I tried to mollify her with Denta Stix. She was having NONE of it. In the end, since it was such a busy time of year, I stuffed the 'guts' back into cover, fluffed things up and hoped for the best.

This appeared to work, but Richard wasn't brave enough to take apart the Cloud (and why should he be - it really was my mess up and my problem) and wash it this winter and a few months of heavy Cloud use meant that it was BADLY in need of a wash when I got home. So last week I sucked it up and pulled it apart. Bits of green fluff flew. I stuffed it back together best I could but it was obvious the Cloud was done.

Thursday Richard and I headed into Edmonton for a 'city day'. On the shopping list in big letters was "A CLOUD". Richard can vouch that more time, thought and attention went into the purchase of a new Cloud then any other purchase for the day.
The model I settled on was not quite the same as the old Cloud, but I hoped it would do.

Bet was sent in to check it out first. She did a good job testing it out in a number of positions!






It passed the Bet Test!

Next up, shockingly, was Tic!



He was 'tickled' with the new bed!!!

And then it was time for the real test. She noted the new color, the rather gaudy edging and the fact that it was a bit smaller then the old Cloud, but eventually she tried it out!
She has grudgingly given it the "Kara Stamp of Approval".



Now X, being a 'big, rough, tough sled dog' (yes, that's my story and I'm sticking to it) wasn't going to risk the Cloud until Kara had given it her approval. No way was he taking the opinion of a neurotic little border collie or a stupid cat. So he held out until this morning!




A think I might be officially off the hook! PHEW!

A Little Of This, A Little Of That

This morning's run had a bit of something for everyone...

Tight trails...


and wide open trails.


Snow...


and dirt.


Ice...


and water...


Alot of water...ice cold water (I know that 'cause I was wading around in it for about 5 to 10 messing with leaders!! Good Training!).


Flats..


...and hills.


Really big hills!!


It was a GREAT training run!!

Karen