Monday, October 25, 2010

Bikejor Clinic

We ( Barb Stacy and I ) are going to be leading a Bikejor Clinic for the Stowe Mountain Bike Club and anyone else who wants to come!

It will be at 10am on 10-31-10 at Cotton Brook Park in Stowe Vermont. There will be dogs and bikes and equipment that can be borrowed. The clinic is very informal. Anyone wishing to bring their own dogs we will work with them on how to get the most out of the experience!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

ATV and Porcupines

So we are now moving on to longer slower runs on the ATV. We are blessed to have friends come and train with us. Barb and Andrew have come over several times to run their dogs. Sunday was an amazing 8 mile run with her 4 alaskans and my 6 misfits. All the dogs where in their harnesses digging in the whole time. Helen is their newest dog and she has been doing a great job in lead, excellent with gee over and other commands, all business that one! Stacy also brought over her girls Casey and Trapper. Both got a chance at lead and of course Trapper and Ellie were a great pair up front! Trapper is probably the most loved dog to come to the kennel. She is like a celebrity flocked by all members of Ta Dog!

Ellie is getting back into the swing of things and doing really well in lead once again. We have also been running Dubs, the dog I thought would always remain in wheel, up front! He can be moody and has lashed out at Eli when anything is exciting though so I have been keeping a close eye on that bad behavior. I am pretty pleased at how well they are getting into shape this year. They are recovering quickly from runs and are pacing themselves well. Eli is my only super problem child as he go crazy before the run, I have to crate him and then put him on last ( to reduce noise outside as well). He went so nuts before our last run he got his feet all tangled up in his blanket and I had to cut it up to get his feet free! I am hoping to get a few more 8 mile runs in this week and possibly a 10 miler by the end of next. We are all signed up for the 30 mile Mad Bomber in January and want to be ready for it! Maybe I will take a few of Barb and Andrew's dogs and run a 45 miler this year too.....

The puppies are growing super quick, Henry is a BEAST! He is almost as tall as Ellie and is just 5 pounds shy of weighing the same. Suzie is a riot and loves to run in and out of all the crates at dinner time. She is fiesty and likes to gang up on Henry with Ellie and Deklyn She also gets the group howl going almost every night and is dealing well with having her very own crate ( thanks mom!). Henry has been quite fearless will take on any dog for a good play session. He even tried his luck as sniffing a porcupine last friday. Thankfully both puppies have a great call back and I was able to call him away before the porcupine decided to throw it's tail around. Henry had 6 quills in his nose which came out easily. Suzie had better sense then to get that close. They are just over 4 months now and I am looking forward to when they are big enough to start running them. They both go ballistic when I am hooking up the team and have to be crated to control their barking and screaming. Lee reports that they cry for 20 minutes after we take off, they just want to be apart of everything the big dogs do. Both really love to run and I take them several times a week to a big field to stretch their legs. Not as fast as Ellie but Suzie is catching up very quickly and Henry is only a step behind. I love these puppies and cannot wait for them to be big enough to start running them!!!!