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.
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.
posted by Janine at
5:45 PM
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