Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Living with my dogs

Now that we have only 6 sled dogs and Deklyn the routines and daily life has gotten a little simpler. The dogs are routinely coming upstairs for quiet time before bed and they are spending a lot less time in crates since everyone gets along. Even with Suzie in heat the boys and girls are all behaving themselves. Henry is learning manners quickly, Carmine is starting to settle down ( only slightly), Eli loves sitting for love. The girls are very well behaved, suzie does jump on the couch a lot though... So its going well. Which is good because there hasn't been a lot of snow to train this season, infact there is none at my house! A few of the dogs started coughing again so Soon after this post we will be headed to the VET! They love us!


Sunday, January 22, 2012

Cute Video I found from Fall Training


Deklyn sometimes gets very upset that he is not included in the sled dog activities. Being a sensitive Border Collie Mix he sits and sulks on the couch in the basement. He thinks he is "hiding" his shame of being different.

Hit our Funk.

Today we had a whole lata funk and attitude out on the trail. So we won't talk to much about the fact that all the boys were on edge. It may be due to the fact that Suzie, sweet little Suzie has become a lady today and hormones are raging..... Lee and I did get the chance to video the dogs this weekend and I experimented with a few camera angles today that will be posted to Youtube.com later. One view I will warn you may cause seizures as the camera was attached to Munchkin's back. I will have to figure out a different mounting for the desired view I was going for!

I have been filming almost every run since we hit snow so below is a preview of the longer video I am working on for the end of the season. The video was taken yesterday prior to the funk and Attitude!





Saturday, January 14, 2012

SNOW!

So last weekend we finally got on the sled! The dogs and I met up with friends at Eden Mountain Lodge both Saturday and Sunday. The dogs did fantastic! The conditions were still a little sketchy but I rotated the dogs and we went out in groups of 4 dogs. Then on Wednesday Lee and I went back to Eden and took all 6 out with both of us in/on the sled. It was a blast and I got some great video and photos of the dogs. One is featured on the home page of sleddogcentral.com for a limited time!

Being on the sled is so refreshing. Its like putting on you sandals when summer arrives for the first time or when you get the Christmas tree up in December. You forget how much you love the feel of the runners under your feet, the sound of the dogs panting away with the jingle of their tags. Being on sleds for the first time for the season reminds you why you pick up dog crap and deal with tumble weeds of dog hair all year round. I think I heard the words " NOW I REMEMBER WHY I DO THIS" about 50 times this past weekend from all the mushers who flocked to snowy Eden. We got a healthy amount of snow last night up here in Vermont and I hope to hit my local spots this coming week. Lee is out today scouting the Lincoln trails. Lets cross our fingers that he returns from snowmobiling with good news!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Free Running

Well, at least we got some exercise. We are so far behind in training its getting kinda ridiculous.... we got up to Jay, Vermont Friday night with dogs and equipment in tow. I bedded down with the dogs to experience some outdoor sleeping with the dogs. It took the dogs a long time to settle dog and then around 1am i was woken up by Henry sniffing me and a few of the dogs whining. Henry had twisted his drop chain off and was wondering around. I poked my head out of the sleeping bag to find it was raining.... yea. As comfortable as I was in my warm sleeping bag I knew that the dogs were miserable house pets getting wet. So I put them in the box, grabbed all my stuff and went inside to find the fire roaring and my husband and friend out cold on the couches and settled down on the floor with the house dog, Deklyn. When we got up in the morning the "snow" was almost gone. Needless to say we ended up free running the dogs every day and did not go snowboarding. The dogs seemed to really enjoy the change of scenery and had the opportunity to socialize with some other dogs.


Eli, Henry, Munchkin, Deklyn, Ellie, and Suzie



Power lines, very bare trail!



Munchkin chilling off in a puddle!