Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Blue Mountain Sled Dog Race!

Its Official. I have gone off the deep end.

So last year I started thinking while running dogs.... sometimes its a wonderful thing. Since my role in the dog sledding community has changed over the years to just recreational instead of competitive racer, I wanted to give back to my racing friends. I started attending the local snowmobile club monthly meetings. It was way more interesting then I thought it would. So of course by the end of the season I was elected as a board member. So I am now the secretary of Blue Mountatin Snowdusters! It was a shaky first few months since there have been a lot of board member changes but I did work up the courage to proposed a sled dog race on the club trails. Well. They liked the idea, a lot. SO we are in the planning stages of the Blue Mountain Sled Dog Race! It will be held February 18, 2018 at the Grantham Recreational Fields. We have to formalize a few things but it town approved and we have permission from the neighboring club, Blow Me Down Snowriders, and of course the landowners Bardo Farm. It will be a mid distance race and within the next few weeks I will putting together an entry form so Stay Tuned! 

Friends are wonderful!


A little gift from my friend!




Yesterday I went on a playdate and my friend gifted us with BAGS of treats! She bought a house from a past dog food distributor and they keep getting awesome things delivered to the house! So YEA for us! Ill attempt to review some of them.

Image result for pro plan focus daily health with duck
So far I have added Pro Plan Focus Daily Health to the sled dog's food and they Like it! The first ingredient is duck and it clearly taste food. Im always looking to get add yummy things to their kibble and this was well received! It is advertised as a treat and not a supplement so a small handful put in the food bucket was just the right amount to spice things up.

Image result for Zuke's hip action chickenThe other product we tried is Zuke's Hip Action. Since both my house dogs are now officially Seniors... Ellie turned 10 on Sunday! YIKES! I think this will be our morning treat for a while. Deklyn pretty much will eat anything so the true test is Ellie. These are super moist treats and very smelly ( in a good way) so very palatable for my girl. There is no corn, wheat or soy  so it is made with rice, oats and barley. I was a little said to see Maple Flavored Syrup since these guys are from New England they are used to the real thing. Looking forward to see if there is any change in the house dogs!


Thank you again Heather for your support! These dogs are SO spoiled. I also want to mention that The BARDO Project from Croydon donated a FREEZER load of bones and organ meat this summer too! The dog's teeth have never looked so clean and their coats are wicked nice right now. I only had to bath them once this summer. They blew their coats with no issues this year meaning the guard hairs were not damaged and allowed the fluff just to release, a huge benefit when you have 5 dogs to groom.

Saturday, March 18, 2017

March Storm Stella brought us just over 2 feet of snow so we got out and have been enjoying it everyday since Wednesday! Today William wanted to get some time on the runners. We started by riding out to the main trail, then he rode tandem for a few miles. We attached Ellie for a while and then did tandem up some BIG hills and then Down some Big Hills Will was super brave and did a great job learning when to use the brake! On the last mile we hooked up Ellie and he ran her the rest of the way home including the super tight and narrow trail back to our house! Super Proud mom right here. The little one hasn't been feeling so great and just enjoyed the nice weather and a little nap in the sled. 








Monday, January 2, 2017

Mom Life!

I know I am a terrible blogger. Its been so long since I updated. Last winter was a bust. We only got out twice on sleds due to terrible snow conditions and nothing on our trails at home. This summer my husband worked on creating a trail out of our yard to the snowmobile trail!! Its amazing. My oldest son and I have been working all fall on building his skills to become a musher. W is about to turn 4 in February and over the holidays I got him on his own sled with his dog twice. the first day was a 2 miles and then the second time out was almost 3 miles. He did great going though some really tough terrain. He did get a ride home on the snowmobile and I put his dog back in my team, I mean he is still 3 and did some work driving his little sled ( which was graciously given to him by Christine Richardson of Seal Cove , a truly inspiring woman and amazing dog musher).  We also have started helping out with our local club the Blue Mountain Snow Dusters. Lee has been out a few times building/ maintaining trails and I have done some work with their facebook page.


Below are a few clips from our adventures!





We also have been doing a lot of kennel updating including a run in for two of the dogs! We removed a TON of trees too. Always a work in progress but they are super happy about the changes!


Here is a clip from us leaving from our yard!


I also started jogging with the dogs 2 to 3 miles 3 days a week over the non snow months to keep them in shape


William running with Ellie. I am not sure who has more energy a 3 year old or a husky!


The Team fall training. We put up signs this year on the BMSD Trails!!