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.

Rock Stars

We started our run like rock stars in their prime and finished like a rock star ends their career, alone and miserable.

We headed out to the trail head late enough on Sunday evening that I grabbed my headlamp just in case we had a slow run and were still on the trail when the sun went down.

When we arrived, I almost moved on to a different location as the lot was full of vehicles. I noticed that a large group of people snowshoeing were just coming off the trail, so the trail was probably not as busy as it looked.

I parked and let the dogs out. This drew instant attention. The snowshoe group coming off the trail flocked to us. Soon they were all around us offering assistance and asking all kinds of questions. We also had snowmobiles slowing down as they past to see what was up.

We were able to get someone to hold Nemo in line-out position while I hooked the other two up and got on the sled. I put Blizzard in lead with Nemo, but left the neckline off as Nemo would have surely cased a fight in front of this crowed. I didn't think that would go over well with the unsuspecting helper holding him. Nemo is just too impatient.

We took off without incident with lots of thanks from the crowd for entertaining their questions and allowing them to be apart of my taking off down the trail. As well I thanked them for their assistance, as I faded off down the trail.

Not a quarter mile down the trail we came across the group of snowmobiles who had passed us in the parking lot. They apparently stopped to watch us go by after seeing us getting ready. I waved and smiled as we flew past.

The first two-thirds of the run were great. It is always a fun trip when you're skidding sideways around turns cause you're going so fast the the dogs are all pulling. I was smiling the whole time.

The last third wasn't as spectacular. Nemo started veering off the trail to investigate smells in the woods. After I stopped to put the neckline on Blizzard, she didn't help the matter at all with her curiosity.

I eventually tired of the distractions and decided to demote Nemo and move Flurry up. Flurry decided to use her renewed authority to hunt up some horse crap to nibble on while trotting along. Yuck! Then she too lead us off the trail.

Since Nemo was at least pulling more in lead I moved him back up. We started moving along fast for a while until I saw why. There were two dogs ahead (on leash thank you very much responsible owners). There was one on either side of the trail so Blizzard and Nemo stopped to chat with the big one and Flurry greeted the little one. I did not greet them, but ran up to keep my team moving without any incidents.

Not too far from the end of the trail all three suddenly veered off to the left side of the trail and out popped Nemo with the prize they were all after in him mouth. Upon realizing this prize they all wanted was some kind of animal, I jumped from my sled and flew on top of Nemo as a dog fight was a probable next step over such a treasure.

In a blink of an eye, I ended up with Nemo pinned the ground between my legs and had the neckline off of Blizzard with her pushed back behind me out of the way. I then proceeded to pry what I learned was the back half of a old dead rabbit carcass out of Nemo's mouth. Yuck again! I had to get it out twice as the first time I got distracted by Blizzard approaching around my side. The second time I got it lose I flung it towards the woods to prevent anyone from getting it again.

I got everyone untangled and back on the trail moving. Thankfully the end of the trail wasn't far as I was exhausted from all the activity and running hills to keep us moving at a nice quick pace throughout the run. We made it back to the car before dark.

Back in the parking lot, alone and miserable from the last mile or so, I was just getting to the car and getting the back door open when the eminent threat of a loose dog came over us. As I heard the owner calling behind the dog to no avail, I realized I was about to be the sole human among a four dog encounter and all I had was a grip on the neckline of the front two dogs to keep the peace. As the dog ran toward us I quickly clipped two dogs to the car just before the dog made it to us.

The owner of course stopped trying to get his dog and left me to handle all four. The initial greeting was fine until Nemo got a bit overzealous and I had to pull him back. The owner of the dog finally got back to his car and called his dog. Some people!

The dogs had some water while I packed up the sled and we made it safely home that night. Despite the crazy activities of the end of our run, we had a great time and the dogs did a wonderful job.

We had two fun runs this weekend and even saw some other people heading out to sled with their ten dogs. However today, after a whole day of sitting at work my joints are tired and stiff. I really need to stay more active on the Mondays after these busy weekends. At least the dogs are still tired out.

The Not So Crazy Dog Lady

Down here in the city, some might call me the crazy dog lady. However, over the weekend I went up north to dog sled with some mushers. I am sane compared to these people. I had the fewest dogs and the next person up from me has at least six.

Nine musher rented out a house up north this weekend (with one working toilet) and went out running dogs two days in a row. The trails were nice and I must say I liked oh shit hill. On the first day I did two 5 mile loops and on the second day I did another 5 miles.

Nemo ran lead by himself the first run. Then I paired him up with Flurry in the lead, which didn't work out quite as planned. Both Nemo and Flurry want to run on the left edge of the trail. Nemo spent most of the run leaning in on Flurry every time she tried to move him over. She wasn't very successful as every time she tried to get in next to him, she sunk into the deep snow which slowed her down and didn't give her much leverage against the heavier Nemo.

On day two, I started with Nemo in lead again. However in the middle of the run I moved Blizzard up to the front with him. Blizzard loved this. She started running along trying to playfully grab Nemo by the neck, but Nemo the running machine could not be distracted. She enjoyed the speed of running with Nemo and kept up nicely.

On my next run I think I'll run Nemo and Blizzard together again as Blizzard secretly knows her commands she just usually lets Flurry do all the thinking. This might be a good opportunity for Blizzard to show if she could be a better leader or give me some time to teach Nemo the commands.

Over all the weekend up north was fun and I again questioned why I would want to have too many more dogs. I still enjoy the individual time I get with just a few dogs and wonder how exhausting it would be to try to keep up with that if I had six or more dogs. I might some day be convinced to get a fourth, but I don't think I would want to go beyond that. But sled dogs are an addiction; I beat you can't get just one.

New Year Run

For January 1^st we decided to take another run out on the trail we ran the other day. Nemo the command-less lead dog lead us out again.

This run was a bit different than the last run, just two days before. Nemo made every turn without confusion except for one which he had to think about for a minute before he lead us the correct way. Either the little guy memorized the trail after only one run or he could still smell our scent from last time. I think I'll test this by waiting a good while before going back and see how he does.

The trail had a bit of fresh snow, but it was still icy and fast underneath. I nearly ran into trees again. And Nemo kept hearing, seeing or smelling things off in the woods. So I got to stop us from heading into the woods a couple of times and he even came back at me to head back down the trail the opposite way twice. If he hadn't done such a great job pulling and navigating the rest of the time I would demote him to wheel again.

Near the end of the trail we picked up our pace as the dogs could smell and then hear that wonderful lab we came across last time on this trail. This time lab lady had the dog tied to a tree along the trail and she was no where to be found. The dogs all barked or howled with excitement, but I didn't see the lady. I whistled and all the dogs stopped. I heard nothing.

I decided to inch our way over to the edge of the trail where there was enough snow to kind of use the snow hook. I got it in and went up to the dogs and grabbed Nemo's harness. I went back and pulled the snow hook and grabbed Blizzard and Flurry by the neckline. By this time the lady appeared and pulled her dog off to the side. Also with her was a man and two kids who where sledding down the hill on the trail.

I didn't want to tangle with her dog, who was still strapped to the tree just on the edge of the trail. So I walked the dogs past the dog and family and did an interesting maneuver on the hill to let the dogs go, jump on the sled and get my foot on the break quickly because it was a steep and big hill. I pulled it off and we again made it safely back to the parking lot.

Keep your cool!

What an adventure today! We went out west to find some snow to sled on. Driving past snowless hills and bear fields I felt a little silly most of the drive. Then finally I saw enough snow in treed areas, just a bit further north from that point and I called the location perfect.

We hooked up and went flying around on an icy trail with only a few sections of bear ground.

I put Nemo in lead again even though I knew on this trail we would need to make a lot of turns. We managed to make all the turns we needed to although for a couple of turns I need to stop and the girls eventually pulled Nemo over the right direction. You aren't supposed to have your wheel dogs doing the steering, but it worked out.

I had a great time although I need to use the break a lot and didn't get to relax much as I was at risk of hitting trees in a lot of the turns on this curvy, hill trail. It was a great ride and I would love to go back again now that we got a bit of fresh snow last night.

The trail map said it was 8 miles and my GPS read 6, so I either did the 8 miles or I missed a turn. I can't really tell as it was kind of cloudy and with all the trees over the trail I may not have gotten a good signal for the whole ride.

In the last stretch I came around a corner to find a lady and her dog. We stopped as the dog was off leash. The lady then took at least a minute or two to frantically try to put on some sort of harness so the dog could be leashed. Nice lady! No collar; mistake number one. The dog was an excited lab who must have put on a few pounds since the harness was adjusted. All the while my three are waiting and watching with excitement.

I was very impressed with the woman's dog handling skills when she lost control of her emotions, because it was taking her too long to put the small harness on the big dog, who was excited to see three more dogs. She yelled and slapped the dog saying “knock it off”. Great pet owner mistake number two.

She finally got him leashed and move just off the edge of the trail. It was my turn to move. Now my dogs have been staring at these two yahoos for a few minutes and I have to remain confident that the three of them will pass without stopping to check out the dog. We didn't make it passed without starting to veer toward the dog, so I jumped off and grabbed the line to pull them back on course as I said, “on by”. “On by” is Nemo's best command after “let's go”. So despite being nose to nose with the other dog and ready to get ourselves all tangled up, we started pulling away, as the woman yelled out in a panicked voice “get your dog” (mistake number three).

The panic in her voice was enough to make even me what to bite someone. The four dogs were all fine and not a single growl was made that I could hear and the woman panics. Luckily we were already pulling away when her response came out and I only had enough time to turn to look back. I admit we didn't act perfectly when we pasted her, but had her dog been on a leash to start the whole interaction could have gone differently.

That's when my car came into sight and we were safely off the trail. The dogs had water and treats while I packed everything back up. We stopped off to spend the afternoon at my parents' house where I watched a few movies on their new big screen TV. When I left it was snowing.

We made our way home safely despite the crazy drivers flying around slower traffic, the cars at the side of the road who must have been in some sort of accident, and the guy who was out of his car and thought it was would be ok to walk across the freeway to a car parked on the inside shoulder. Even after passing all that excitement cars still flew around other traffic driving way to fast for conditions.

What a busy day.

Dumped on Christmas Eve

Yesterday I drove through the snow storm, to got out sledding in the Kettle Moraine.

I put Nemo in the lead again (still doesn't know Gee or Haw). When I had everyone hooked up and the snowhook out Nemo was facing the wrong way playing tug of war with the gangline.

Our first turn was a haw, however Nemo was confident we should go straight. The next turn was a gee. Nemo want straight, so I stopped the sled, put the snow hook in and grabbed Nemo and pointed him in the right direction. We then proceeded down the trail I wanted us to take.

The trail was great. There where lots of hills and bends to keep me busy. On one downhill section I tipped the sled and the dogs dragged me down the hill a little ways.

Note that I hung on to the sled again. I was once told I wasn't a real musher because I hadn't lost my team yet. Which is confusing cause your not supposed to let go of the sled. Basically, I don't plan on becoming a real musher.

We made it back to the parking lot alive and meet the Trail Coordinator for the park. He is interested in dog sledding and commented on the number of teams that come out to use these particular trails. Hopefully some day we won't be the only team out and we can meet some more teams. It is always nice to have some other teams to practice passing with or to just have some fresh dog scent on the trails to follow.

We finished packing up the sled and headed home. That afternoon I went off to Christmas with one of my brothers. When I left I left three happy dogs loose in my house. For Christmas I got a house that wasn't torn-up, nothing peed on, and no dog fights. I was hopeful that, after seeing that Nemo didn't cause any problems after breaking out of his crate 4 times in the last few weeks, he was learning all the house rules.

Really I just wanted to get that crate out of my kitchen (there just isn't enough room), but I have noticed that everyone is getting along. They have started to learn how much to much with each other and have seemed to have found some sort of pack order that suits them all well. It will still be a while before I don't worry about them all, because they could always suprize me with something I never expected. That's why I just aways expect the unexpected when dealing with huskies.