Can we talk about the first few fall hook ups? In fact, let’s just talk about the first fifteen.

Take a moment and picture dogs that are bred to run and have endless amounts of energy and endurance. Then picture them sitting all summer until it gets cool enough to run again. Of course, if you read my last blog post, you know that they don’t actually just sit, and that I’m using it as an expression.

Now imagine these dogs finally being hooked up for the first time that fall when the temperature drops low enough.
They are usually a bit stunned, (at least my dogs), and they don’t quite know what they should be thinking. Hook up goes fairly smooth, and the run generally goes well enough, and you pull back into the yard amazed at how well they did. But deep down you know it won’t stay that way. But you can still hope.

By the second run they are usually quite a bit more crazy. By the third, they’re NUTS.
It’s absolute insanity, which I… fondly, refer to as Hellhound month, (or months, depending on how long it takes them to figure it out.). Last season, I switched my old mainline out for cable covered with rope so that it isn’t chewed through quite as easily. This decision was made after one of my yearlings chewed through my mainline and almost sent the rest of my team down the trail without me.

Even my wisest most experienced dog, Freckles, who is also one of my leaders, starts attempting to go through Necklines at the beginning of the season.

I can only assume that they are so excited to finally run again that anything that holds them back must be destroyed. They become, in the best sense of the word, Hellhounds.

This involves chewing lines, screaming like banshees, and just general chaos.

I remember one morning this fall having the most circus like hook up. It was the morning after I wiped out running two dogs with the scooter, and I had almost all eight dogs hooked to the front of the quad. The dogs were screaming per their usual Fall Hellhound attitude, and hookup seemed to be going normal for how Fall hook ups usually go. Until the brakes on the quad failed. Luckily it took eight insane in the brain Sled Dogs a few seconds to figure out that they were indeed moving forward, and my mother, who was at the back of the crew hooking Sunny into the team, was able to leap and grab the brake.

Sunny, who is sometimes pretty much scared of life, saw the quad rolling and my mom jump, decided that might be the scariest thing that could happen and, with no neckline on, backed out of her harness. She proceeded to run the front of the team to say hello to the other dogs, and then ran out into the gravel road. Sunny is very pack and ‘Christina’ oriented, so I wasn’t worried about her running off. I walked to the front of the team and called her, at which she promptly turned around, ran towards me, and took a flying leap into my arms. Of course, she didn’t think that would impress me enough, so she really truly tried to make it onto my head.

Thankfully I caught her and set her down, walking her by the collar towards the quad, (where her harness is still hooked up to the gangline post escape. Of course, in that moment, Sunny decided that the quad with its glowing orange eyes was most definitely a demon and she better get away as fast as she possibly can, and proceeded to attempt to back out of her collar.
Having previous experience with Sunny and her irrational fears, I immediately stopped fighting her and slacked tension, preventing her from backing out.

Meanwhile the rest of the dogs are still screaming to go, so this is all happening under a roar of noise in which neither me nor my mother can talk to each other, while she is clutching the brake for dear life as seven fully charged sled dogs attempt to pull her down the trail.
I made a snap decision to let Sunny go knowing she wouldn’t leave, and walked back to get her harness, walked back to where she had been, called her, put her harness on, picked her up, carried her back to her spot, and hooked her to the line.

Exactly three cars drove by while this whole fiasco was going on. I can only pray they weren’t paying to close attention, but I think that might be false hope, as they all slowed down quite a bit.

Eventually, after some time, hard work, and about fifty gallons of patience, the team starts to even out and training becomes more rhythmic.

Happy Trails,

Christina

During the summer months, the most common question that I get asked is ‘What do you do with them in the summer?’

First off, I typically don’t train the team unless it’s below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, with a few exceptions concerning the weather (i.e. Wind, humidity, clouds, rain, etc.), which means the dogs typically don’t run from late April to the beginning of September. So what on earth do we do with them?

Sled Dogs are still dogs and just like any other dog, they (mainly) need 3 things (other than, food, water, and sleep) to stay happy.

• Exercise
• Mental Stimulation
• and Attention

And if you’re Steampunk, you also need hugs.

Now count in the fact that these are dogs specifically born, bred and trained to run and love it.

Luckily, these hooligans are mellowed out by the fact that the sun in eastern Washington shines from 9-5 and they don’t like the heat, so they mostly sleep during the day. If that were not the case, I can assure you they would be getting into all kinds of trouble. Which they do anyways.

One common assumption is that Sled Dogs, being working dogs, don’t like toys. Well, I can tell you right off the bat that some of my guys would adamantly disagree. The reality is, or seems to be from my perspective, that sled dogs are not bred to ‘fetch’. They are not Labrador Retrievers, or Golden Retrievers, so it is not intentionally in their genetic nature.

However, they most certainly do have prey drive, and most, (though not all) of my dogs love to chase a toy.
I find that Kong brand toys stand up fairly well against sled dog jaws, so they partake in various keep-away games with each other, as well as chasing it and bringing it back, which I do in short intervals so they don’t get too hot.

The crew is also trained to do something called free running, where they all run loose and socialize with each other while exploring the world around them.
All my dogs have recall training, which means they know how to come when called. Some are better at listening than others, I’ll admit, but I trust them all reasonably well depending on the situation.

Swimming is another great exercise, but not all the dogs like the water. However the few that do, have great fun wading in their horse trough in hot weather, and I’ve even taken a few dogs up to Black Pine Lake to see how they handled actually swimming. My lead dog promptly panicked and leapt off the dock to ‘save me’ because she thought I couldn’t swim.

We try to get the dogs away from the kennel as much as possible by taking a dog for a car ride, wether it’s to go socialize in town, or get out on a hike.
Socialization is really important for Sled Dogs, and that’s one of the main things on our mind during the summer months.

In the grand scale of things, with the amount of time they spend sleeping, and the amount of time they spend playing, we try to minimize the time they are bored to as little as we can, but by the end of Summer, we all start to get antsy for what we know is around the corner.

Happy Trails,

Christina

The team and I ran in the Conconully Snow Dog Super Mush as our final snow race of the season. We finished 7th with a day one time of 1:35:44 and a day two time of 1:36:11. In a field of mostly sprint style teams I’m very happy with how we did. I decide to not go to the American Dog Derby or the Flathead Classic, and instead focused more on the training of the team.

We also have a new teammate!
Nellie comes from Night Runner Kennel, and is my lead dog Freckles’ niece. She is going to be a wonderful addition to the team and you’re sure to see her at the front of the team with her aunt very soon.

I’m excited to say that yesterday I made the official decision to run in the 2018 Jr. Iditarod! A 150 mile race for mushers 14-17 in Alaska. Next year is going to be a tough season both mentally and physically, and I’m not shy about saying that I am most definitely nervous, but I know that we can do it.

It’s time to turn our heads toward next season,

Happy Trails!
Christina.

We had an amazing weekend at the ECX. It was an incredibly well run race. The staff were incredible, the trails gorgeous, and the vet team was no less than outstanding. I’m so proud of how the team handled the course, and the yearlings have officially tackled their first race.When you leave the chute you almost immediately climb a set of hills before you get up onto the road most of the juniors race course is on.

Once we reached it, it was pretty much easy sailing up to Salt Creek Summit. The team (and myself) was definitely prepared for the rest of the course, and handled the hills with ease since most of our training trails include steeper terrain than seen the rest of the way. There were a few places on the trail that were a little icy, but I didn’t have any trouble.

I worked to keep them slow most of the time sense it was the yearlings first race and I wanted them to feel confident and happy finishing, and I didn’t want to push them at all.

I stopped the team briefly on the juniors loop to give them all hot dogs; a pre race plan to make sure they were still in high spirits.

I stopped the team again just after going through the turn around, and we hung out for fifteen minutes before continuing back down toward the ski area.

Coming down from Salt Creek was absolutely stunning. There was one section of the trail that looks out over the mountains and some farms down below, and I happened to be going through it when the sun was setting and the sky was gorgeous.

Heading through the iciest part of the trail I moved Robin over onto the left side of the Center line, sense I knew he would pull hard to whatever side I moved him too. The volunteers by the edge were awesome and everything went fine.

Coming into the finish they all looked awesome, and ready for more. Very proud of my team and how well they did. Very happy to have finished in exactly the amount of time I wanted to.

The Team

• Lead: Freckles and Tatum
• Swing/Team: Rubicon
• Wheel: Sunny and Robin Hood
• Place: 2nd
• Time: 3hr 35min

We have officially kicked off the 2016-17 Sleddog season! Our first run was a little wacky- the dogs didn’t quite have the rhythm of running down yet. We’ve run three times so far and the dogs are slipping right back into routine. Freckles, the newest dog in the kennel, is doing very well and is going to have settled in very nicely by the time snow starts to fall. She’s going to be an amazing asset to the race team.The puppies are growing up so fast. At eleven months it’s hard to believe their almost a year old. Robin Hood is getting to be very big. He’s a great mover and I’m very excited to have him on my team this year.

My main focus right now is refreshing the dogs on their old training, and teaching the new ones how I operate with the rest of the team. sometimes it takes them a little bit into the run to get on the same wave length.

Each run they keep getting better at behaving well and cooperating.

Definitely excited for the snow to fall!

Happy Trails!

Fall training is just around the corner! Come back soon for the start of our blog! In the meantime, take a moment to check out the WRK Facebook Page for more insider info this coming season!