Neighborhood Musher Watch

We are beginning to draw a bit of attention in the neighborhood.  By now with me and a dog running past 3 times every other day we are being noticed by more and more people.

One trick to being an urban musher is you get to have an audience.  You are being watched. If your dogs are flying, people are saying, "wow".  If they aren't pulling everyone knows.  If your frustrated, they'll know that too.

Most people will never see a dog team in their life time.  I'm leaving an impression about mushing in the minds of everyone who sees us cruising down the streets or rolling around the trails in the parks.

The kids down the street already were told, "no" about getting a scooter for their dog.  Their dad mentioned something about being sure they would end up on the expressway.

My parents laughed the other day when they saw one of their neighborhood kids go by with their dog and a scooter.  It seems I left an impression when I was living there as well.

Audience or no audience today was a good day.  Nemo took me for a 3 mile tour in the park and the BFs pulled together and managed to keep the scooter moving better than they have been. 

We just got new harnesses on Saturday, so they each have a better fitting harness than the last set.  I hope the dogs appreciated this today.

I'm also making the leap from driving a RAV4 to actually getting a truck.  I got tired of always cleaning out the dog fur and Nemo was slowing working on tasting each part of the car.  A truck with a cap will be in my driveway within the next week or two.

Is mushing taking over my life?

Caution: Concrete is not soft

My "each dog runs alone" day started off with a bang.

I hooked up Nemo first.  He's over his skittishness and now just wants to play games with me so I have to keep taking him out front. We final managed to stay lined-out.  I said LET'S GO and we went speeding down the sidewalk, until we came across a squirrel.  Nemo took a quick left leaving me without enough time to stop the scooter.  When it hit the end of the line it came to a quick stop, but I had too much momentum and kept going right onto the sidewalk.

The sidewalk reinforced Mushing Boot Camp lesson one - GO SLOW!

Nemo and I finished off a great run and I moved on to Blizzard.  Blizzard was SLOW.  I was glad to come home to switch to Flurry who was also on the slow side, but compared to Blizzard we were moving along.

Two Shifts for Nemo

I forgot one important thing yesterday.  Never leave Blizzard alone!

I did remember this lesson really this morning and decided to run Blizzard and Nemo together first.  I couldn't get that dumb Blizzard to pull no matter how slow I made Nemo run.  So when I left her alone during Nemo and Flurry's run I pretend that maybe she would be tired out and not cause any damage in the house.  One of my blinds paid the price for my silly thinking.

Blizzard has always been the dog to slack off on a run to later jump a fence and take an adventure of her own.  She is so going to learn to pull her weight! Maybe if she actually pulled she get worn out. I'm going to try not letting her run with anyone else to take up her slack.  Solo runs for Blizzard.

Nemo was a champ he ran 5 miles total today and pulled for all 5.  Flurry pulled some, but wasn't much help particularly near the end of the run when Nemo could have used some help.  Flurry is going to do a little solo work herself on our next run.

So on Tuesday it looks like I am going to be going out for three runs.

Fall Training Continues

I've been running a every other day schedule of training with the weather cooperating nicely with temps at 45 degrees tops in the evenings when I get home. 

Nemo is running great, but after Mushing Boot Camp he seems nervous to line-out.   Was Mushing Boot Camp too tough on my Mr. Sensitive?  I'm not sure how I should handling this nervousness or fear.  I'm guessing like a dog with fears of thunderstorms babying this behavior will not correct it and could make it worse.  I'll admit now that I feel bad to see him with his tail between his legs and his sad puppy dog eyes looking up at me like line-out is actually a punishment for something he did wrong.

However, once I say let's go and we hit the sidewalks heading toward the park, he is happy as a clam and he's tail perks right up.  That's the tail I want to see even at hook up time.  How do I get that back?

Flurry and Blizzard (the BFs) are in slow motion.  I'm keeping the speeds down at all times so they have to pull and since they aren't moving (cause they aren't pulling) they keep stopping and sniffing.  I'm getting off the scooter over and over to pull them away from a tree and back on to the trail.  It is frustrating to repeat this action over and over.  I've caught myself getting angry with the frustration and have to fight it off to stay positive and reinforce the good moments when they have tension on the line and we are actually moving.

I watched some videos from last year and a few from a few years back.  When we first started all the BFs wanted to do was run fast.  That worked for a while.  Even last year there were times when all lines were tight and I was enjoying the ride.  I also remember times last year when the BFs weren't pulling much at all.  It didn't happen over night - it happened over 4 years.  This last year having Nemo, the mad puller, on the team may have even made it easier from the BFs to let their lines go slack.

Today was a tough day of feeling like we have made no progress since Mushing Boot Camp.  I don't put any of this on the dogs and much of my frustration might not even be related to mushing, but instead to a tough week at work.

Tomorrow is another day.  I'm going to try something a bit different.  Flurry seems like she's been pulling more than Blizzard, so I'd like to get her away from Blizzard for a run so she can go a bit faster.  I plan to run two short trips one with Nemo and Flurry and the other with Nemo and Blizzard. 

Nemo might do better with line-out with Flurry who has been great at this by his side.  I can run them at Flurry's pace - Nemo shouldn't mind the slower trip and it will keep him focused on pulling (don't want him to turn into the BFs in a few years).

The second run with Nemo should mean he's a bit more tired and should run fine with my slowpoke Blizzard.  Perhaps with Nemo to compete with Blizzard won't spend so much time with her nose in bushes.

New Year New Strategy

This year we've taken a new approach. We started the season with a trip to Baldwin, MI for Mushing Boot Camp. Our two biggest lessons learned included:

1. Rushing to hook all the dogs up only makes them more excited...Therefore, Nemo would have always turned around to chew the lines or started fights with the girls if I didn't change my behaviors at hook up time. Nemo is working on "line-out", but has become a bit skittish of standing out there by himself. However, Flurry really seems to be getting the idea on "line-out".

2. Rushing and pushing to go faster doesn't teach dogs to pull harder. In fact it has done a fine job of teaching Blizzard and Flurry to avoid too much resistance on the line. So I'm working on slowing things down with the girls and laying down the expectations that they need to pull even when the going gets tough, because I'm not going to bail them out all the time.

So now we are working on practicing the things we have learned. My runs with the girls maybe slow for a while, but it will be worth it later out on the trails. I'm going to enjoy a winter of hooking the dogs up without fights or problems and great runs with all three dogs pulling.

Sweetwater

Day 1

We hit the trail 11th out of 19 teams. We added Kenton to our team, who is up for adoption from Adopt a Husky. He ran in wheel with Flurry the whole weekend. In front of us were a few of our friends and their teams, so we had something to chase. There were two loops to the trail we were running on. The first we referred to as the “little loop” it was 5 miles of the 12.5 we had to complete. The “little loop” as it turned out was also the hilliest part.

On the way to the little loop there was a spot where we had to do head-on passing. Lucky us, we got to pass two teams on the way out. Both didn't go smoothly, but there were no tangles or fights so we were lucky.

We got passed by two faster teams, but that was ok because it gave us something to chase until we caught up to our friend Karen. Karen liked that, because she got to chase us for a while. We then came across our other friend Rainer who had gotten dragged and ended up pulling a muscle (so he was going to be heading back).

We got stuck at a turn where Nemo wanted to go straight instead of go “gee”. Karen passed us, so we followed her. We caught up to another team at which time I passed Karen and the other team. I was expecting Karen to be right behind us, but she needed up needing to help the other team and was delayed in catching up to us.

We made most of the rest of the 12.5 mile trek alone. We passed one more team when we got to a section that ran on an unplowed road. Then we were again alone.

We got to a turn near the end where Nemo again want to go the wrong way. I had to get off and point him in the right direction multiple times. Finally I had decided to pull the snow hook and lead the team the right direction. This backfired when they pulled me over and I luckily got a hold of the handle bar in time to get dragged through the deep snow. I finally got Nemo going the right way and we were off down the trail again.

Our lonely streak ended at the very end when one of the faster teams that was doing a bigger loop caught us from behind. They passed and we chased for a bit, but with only 4 dogs the hills are a bit slower for us than the bigger teams. Plus I lost my balance and ended up with one leg forward and the other under kneeling on the drag break. This gets your heart pumping.

We finish the run and had a good first day.

Day 2

On day two we went out 9th with a few less teams running. We started down the trail toward the “little loop”. Blizzard soon need to stop to poop, which caused Flurry and Kenton to run over the lines.

When we started running again, Kenton had his leg rapped in the line and when he couldn't get it loose he flopped down on his side on the trail. Nemo thinking Kenton was holding him back from his favorite activity of running, got mad and started a fight with him. I broke them up and got Nemo out front and went to make sure Kenton was untangle and unharmed. In the mean time Nemo came back to fight some more and I had to pull him off again. When I finally got the Nemo focused on running, Kenton decided he didn't want to go forward as he would have to get closer to mean little Nemo.

I finally convince all the dogs that we were going to run and like it. As we started moving, all I could think was this was going to be a long day as we weren't even a mile into it.

Blizzard ended up on the left side of Nemo some where along the line, which doesn't work well as Nemo runs right on the left edge of the trail leaving no room for Blizzard. The team behind us had more than enough time to catch us. We let them pass, but had to stop to flip Blizzard and Nemo.

Again we ended up leaving plenty of time for the next team to catch us. This team tried to pass us, but her leaders would not lead by us. We finally lead both teams down the trail. We got to the same turn we missed on day one and Nemo again wanted to go straight.

The team behind us decided to try passing again. It was an unsuccessful attempt. The next team behind us caught up while we were playing around so we let them go ahead thinking the other team could follow them. However, the other team didn't follow, but instead turned around back toward my leaders. We again ended up leading both teams down the trail.

We later caught up to the other two teams that had passed. We passed one on the road and the other when they stopped at a turn on the road. We got great practice passing and pulling away from the other teams. We needed that kind of practice.

We took our time down the road and the one team caught us again and we let them pass. Again we had something to chase. We ended up losing them a bit and finished up the run with nothing to chase up the final hills. A faster team caught us at the very last part of the trail, but they didn't pass as we were so close to the end. We lead into the finish.

We survived two days.

Home at last

After smiling the whole way home, remembering the good times we had, I decided we should go back next month and also enter another distance run this year. Once home, we took a 8.6 mile run on Monday to make our grand total 33.6 miles for the three day stretch.

Waiting for a Response

Last weekend we went to the Pine River Run, put on by the Wisconsin Trailblazers Sled Dog Club. The dogs were slow and Flurry was NOT pulling. We had fun anyway.

A few new mushers showed up to do skijoring with their rottweilers. These are just the kind of people I would be encouraging to go out on the trails with their dogs. However, it appear the race officials spoke with them and at least one other team to suggest they might want to leave the race after the first day, because their were too slow. What a way to make new people feel welcome.

As a whole, I too haven't always felt “welcome” at Trailblazer events, but at least I was never turned way. Plus, I've made friends with a lot of people who attend their races. It's those people who can make you feel a lot more welcome.

I decided to write a letter to the president of Trailblazers about my concerns on behalf of small and new teams. I send it earlier this week and I am still waiting to hear back. I'm kind of unsure how to feel about their races right now, so I'm hopeful to hear back.

* * *

On a happier note, we are off to MI tomorrow to run 12.5 miles on Saturday and Sunday. It will be a fun weekend with a group of people who did an excellent job making my two dog team feel really welcome at a distance race last year. This is not normally the kind of event you would see a two dog team at, but they seem to be open to all kinds of teams, big or small, slow or fast.

I am excited to see some of these new friends again and introduce them to dog number 3.

This event is just for fun and practice, so I can't wait to get there.