Todays race.

We woke up today on race day with the weather hot and way above freezing. It was raining out side and the day looked pretty bleak for sled doggin. Looked after the dogs and watered heavy this morning. Dogs were ready and rachel ran the five dog class 6 miles it was very hot. She won it by a couple of minutes I think. she was happy about that. Now Leanne has volunteered to race again tomorrow and on Sunday. This will give Rachel's dogs some better training then we take off again on Sunday after the races. Will keep you informed.

fun fun under the sun here in alaska

Hi. Well it is the eve of the weekend races. This year Rachel will get to run one more Junior race tomorrow. Then Leanne has to race Rachel's dogs again in the adult class. But this is all part of winning the Junior worlds or even the Junior North American championships. You have to race them to win with them. SOme of the dogs still have problems with tunnels and bridges. Hopefully when we get done the week-end they will be okay with it all.
Took the family to Aleaska ski resort outside of Anchorage so the kids could ski. We have good friends here so their kids went who are also mushers. Did some skiing and no one got hurt thank god for that. Rachel and ben did the skiing and Leanne and I looked after dogs on the truck. Tomorrow Rachel leaves the starting chute tomorrow in second place. I Will work on sled runners tonight and then they should be ready for the race in the morning. I will keep you posted as to how things go. Talk to you soon.

First race and First place.

We survived our first race. We were not organized but that is why we do this. The more you race the better you get at it. The fist time off the truck can be pretty hectic. We did it once and now the second time will be much better. Leanne ran a six dog team and a four dog team. We were not expecting to leave on her four dog race so quickly so we were not prepared at all. We made a mistake in putting her four dog team together and gave her some 11 and 10 year olds that have not been trained much this year. We did not realize that she could have raced some younger leaders in her team until she left. Her six dog team was better but had trouble under the bridge and through the tunnels and got tangled up. This is okay too. The only way to get them used to it is to run through the tunnels. This is good training. That is the only reason that Leanne runs them is to make sure that they get the exposure they need to be better racers.
The Junior races went well with Rachel winning her first of the year. Congrates to her. Ben ran in the six dog as well and was third with dogs he has not even trained since last year so good for him. All the dogs on the truck got to run. That is the idea. It will get better as the races continue. The dog teams get better and so do the dog drives. SO no problem with Rachel and her team. She did what she wanted to do. she had fun doing it too.
Our next races are the 31st for Rachel and the first and second for Leanne to take out Rachels team again in the adult classes. THis is just to expose them to as much racing as possible. We are lucky that Leanne volunteers to run these dogs for Rachel otherwise they would not get a chance to run at all.
Will keep you posted after the next Junior race. Until next time. !! Talk to you later.

ONe more sleep.l

Wow it is the eve of the big day. Once a year it comes and goes. We went to the track today in Anchorage and trained 16 dogs. Rachel and Leanne went around the six mile loop. Leanne went to make sure that if the new dogs had troubles with the tunnels and bridges She could help.
Things are changing. The kids are getting older I noticed at the race track. They are not so interested in the dogs anymore. They have so many other interests. The 17 yr olds are getting out of school and dogs. IT is getting close for us as well. Really sad. I find myself wondering what I will do in the winter with out these trips to run dogs. This has been such a big part of our lives. It isn't like other sports. Your friends are running and participating with you. Those friends are your dogs. They are part of the faimiy. We have done this and have had dogs as part of our family for 20 plus years. feeding and caring for dogs. WOW it has been a huge undertaking but seemed like such a easy normal part of our lives. It is the center of all we do and plan. It can't be done unless the whole family participates.
None of this could have been done without all our sponsors. Lots and lots of them. They helped to keep us going and still are. We have made lots of good friends along the way. These people have helped us more than what I can express. They have supplied labour, parts and money to the effort of our racing. When the season turns to fall, then winter, the financial responsibility for us has been quite extensive. As parents we keep it all together all year with the responsibility of keeping a kennel and all that goes with that. Sleds, truck, snowmobile, gear etc etc. When it is time to hit the road and start filling the tank and staying in hotels there isn't a whole lot left. So by having sponsors it makes it possible to actually get a competitive team to the starting line. Of course it also gets the Junior musher (*Rachel) there as well. This is another job in itself. So once again thanks to the sponsors.
We do race on the 26th of Dec. and the 31st Then again on the 1st and 2nd. I wanted to stay until the 7th and 8th for another race. It looks like that won't happen because the kids have to get back to school and Leanne has some shifts to do at work. . We will keep in touch and keep you informed.

Merry Christmas.

traveling to Anchorage Alaska

We made it to our good friends house yesterday. We are so happy to be here. The weather coming this way was very cold. Now we are here the weather is much better. Rachel ran her team last on Sun. It was 25 below at home in the Yukon too. Rachel ran the dogs very slow in the cold and the dogs looked good. We left home on Tuesday morning a little later than first planned. Dog are ready to race on Boxing day at Rachel's first race. We stopped in Tok on our way and picked up a female that had been there raising puppies for a friend of mine. Now they have some great dogs to start with.
We are all wrapping the gifts and getting ready for christmas here at the Summer's house in Anchorage Alaska. Lots of fun. for us here and will get to race later on. Merry Christmas.

We are looking forward to it.

More cold days

Hi to everyone. Rachel went out with friends for sleep over night on a friday night. This is relevant because she has to get home in the morning to train dogs. As a parent you are always concerned what your kids are doing when they are out. The best part of Rachel needing to be home to train is she is likely thinking of the early morning and may just change what she is doing during the night. She made it home and was very cooperative and willing to train the dogs on Saturday morning. This was great.
Saturdays training. Was cold and the trail was pretty hard. The condition were perfect for snow balls to form on the dogs feet. It takes a combination of conditions and various types of dog feet to make this happen. I believe it has to do with different foot temperatures and various insulting qualities of the dog's foot itself. The snow temperature and air temp is a factor as well. Some dogs never develop snow balls on their feet others will. When this happens the little snow balls start to grow on the hair inside the foot. The balls get bigger. When the dogs step down the balls get stepped on and it hurts their feet deep inside . You end up with cracks on the webs inside the feet. This takes time to heal up because of the location of the wounds. Dogs have a tendency to lick at their sore feet as well. This takes off any ointment you apply and makes their feet worse with all the licking. The cuts have to heal from the inside of the body out so it does take quite some time to heal. Dogs that have these cracks need to have booties on to keep training. Booties are not good because it slows the dog down and can cause slipping. A dog that slips at high speeds can injure themselves. It takes the dog time to get used to the booties and they soon learn how to run on them.
Sunday's training run started late in the day. It was hard for everyone to get going. The trail was perfect. Hard fast and better for the feet. Rachel ran one of her fastest average of the year so the average is coming up. good sign as this is the purpose of the training to make the average speed to climb. Once the average speed is up near 19-20 they are ready to race. We do not train the dogs at these speeds ever. We do have training runs where the dogs do bursts of top speed but that is all. The training is going good. Almost time to leave.

It warmed up again.

Hi things got warm again. IT really tightened the trail up because it got warm and then cooled off again. making the trail really hard. The dogs ran their first set of six miles in the warm weather. They looked really good after the runs in the heat and recovered fast. This is because of the way Rachel looked after them last year. Nice to see them look this good this time of year. What a difference from last year. They look really really good already.
We R hoping to get a run in sometime this week before it gets really really cold. I hope that Ben really really helps his sister train her dogs. Got some more work to do to the truck before we leave on the 20th. Then we will be ready to roll. Then we stay in Anchorage from the 20th of Dec. Till the first week of Jan. Talk to you later.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllfe

Well the weather warmed up again. We ran our first six mile runs on our trail system. Finally. It was soft but not too bad. The weather was four below and the dogs were hot. They could handle it really good this season. Due to the very warm year last year our young dogs got conditioned to the warmer weather. The trick is to get them used to the weather but not over do it the first year. IF you do they become worse and have less heat resistance. Their first year is very important in a dogs life. You can really really see the difference in dogs that trained in their first year and ones that never did as much training. We really looked after them and they are really looking good this year because of it. The dogs can handle the increase in miles really easy and bump up in mileage fast. It shows that all the work done during their younger years was worth while.
For now it looks like we are heading to Alaska on the 20th of Dec. or so. Staying in Anchorage the whole time and racing where ever they will have us. LOL. There should be ample time to go ski and other things during this time. We will also do a second trip to Alaska in Feb. We will run the Junior worlds then. We also want to bring very nice young man from Rankin Inlet if he is able to make it. He will stay with us and run dogs. Long enough for the dogs to get used to him and then he will come with us to race the Junior world championships In Anchorage. Alaska.

SPONSORS

THANK YOU SUPREME DIESEL FOR SPONSORING RACHEL THIS YEAR! We were so fortunate to meet Ernie and Kim from Supreme Diesel last March after the Arctic Winter Games! Our truck was in need of major motor repairs and Supreme Diesel worked long hours and after closing to get us back on the road. This was no easy task as the sled dogs were on the truck and the mechanics had to work with the doors open so the dogs would not over heat. They even acomodated our feeding schedule for the dogs.

Supreme Diesel did a superb job, very professional, and friendly! Our truck has never run better. We would highly recommend Supreme Diesel to everyone. They are located in Sexsmith Alberta, just outside of Grande Prairie Alberta.

Thank you also to Masterfeeds for providing YUKON GOLD DOG FOOD to our dogs over the years! We have seen excellent results with this food with many Gold Medals!!

Thank you Hans Gatt and Suzie Rogan for Sponsoring Rachel and supporting her team! You are very knowledgeable and your financial support will help her get to the races!

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Kinvig for helping Rachel out financially so she can get to the start line!!

Hello everyone.

Hi. Training has been going great. Dogs are looking good ! Now that they are in their second year of life and training it isn't hard to see the difference in the dog. I think I took that for granted in my own racing years. They are just twice the dog in the second year of training. I told Rachel and Ben that last year and they were very careful with the dogs and how hard they pushed the dogs. Now this year they are jumping the mileage we add to the runs very fast. Last year it just seemed really hard to put miles on the dogs. It is true that when you add miles to young dogs it takes time to do. You really have to add slowly. The dogs could jump up to eight miles easy and look really good doing so.
Never have we had teams of dogs like we have this year. So nice to work with, such happy dogs, really really good temperament and fast like we never ever had. Rachel ran her team of eight males yesterday and slowing them down to under 18 mph was a challenge for Rachel. That is what we want in our dog teams.
We have more sponsors to mention in this blog Grandma and Grandpa Kinvig have helped Rachel again this year. Also Susie Rogan and Hans Gatt have helped Rachel again. So thanks to them and remember this is directly helping Rachel getting to races this season. After all this is what the whole point is. To get her to the races. Thanks so much.
Back out to train. today.

SNOW

Hi everyone. Okay so Now I will say what is expected. It can quit snowing now. LOL. Isn't always the same. We have had snow since the 20th. Has not really stopped. I will guess that it is most likely around 4-6 inches now. That is lots.
The day after Rachel's first run on snow She went out with a 8 dog team of all males. 8 dog team of all females. I am sure she struggled to keep them below 19 mph. The dogs were flying. with the trail in better shape she could run them fast and it didn't hurt anyone. She averaged 18.5-19 mph for a distance of 5 miles. The dogs. look great all smiling, teeth showing and tongues hanging out just loving the speed. So nice to have the snow but the ski-doo has been going none stop to keep the trail in and ready to run on. it doesn't take much snow and it has to be groomed again to keep it packed and runnable. the trail which is a mess in the summer time with all the ruts and dips is now flat. So it is nice and Rachel trains again tonight. It will be a awesome trail again. SHe has to slow down because she is going way to fast this time of year. although her speeds will reach well over twenty mph and average of 16 -18 is fast enough this time of year.
The dog box is just about done and on the truck again. There will be some bolting down and reconnecting wires and hot water lines to do. then it is all ready to roll. I think Rachel was happy to see the box go back on the truck. We are looking forward to another season on the road going to our races. I would have to say it is a very nice group of dogs that are all the same real hard drivers, with good attitudes. Just love hanging out with them, you can tell they just want to go run hard and please Rachel every time they go train. This is the right way to do it. you do not want young dogs that do not want to go run because you gave them a bad experience during their training runs. we are looking forward to the next training run after school today. Until next post. Later.

First run on the sled.

Today Rachel burned up the trail with three runs. She ran two teams of six and then one team of five. The trail has enough snow to just cover the ground that is all. No snow hook used out there. Rachel split up the leaders and did really good with the new pairs. It was a fun day and the dogs absolutely loved the speed today. All dogs had tongues out and had big big smiles as they were running it was awesome to see. They were easily running 17-19 mph. A little fast but what the heck they have been slaving away hooked onto the 6x6 I thought it would be nice to let them have some fun running faster. It was the dogs first five mile. Conditions earlier would not allow to run the five mile loop but now we can. They all looked so much better than last year as yearlings. That one year to have them grow up more makes them work and run so much better. It looks like Rachel has a grown up team of two-three year olds.
It snowed during the day and we will be going out to do the trail tonight. It could snow all night then it will have too much snow to drag at once with the old ski doo. Better to do it more often then it is easier. the trail will look really good tomorrow. More teams to run tomorrow also then mid week as well. We are glad to see the SNOW YA HOO.

schedule conflict

Hi everyone. We have just found our first race conflict of the season. We are not going to be able to make it to Grand Prairie. This sucks as one of our major sponsors are there. Supreme Diesel. Actually they are in Sexsmith about 20 min. outside of Grand Prairie. The conflict is between Alaska and Grand Prairie. The race in Grand Prairie is being held on Jan. 1 and 2. We are already gone to Alaska for races right after Christmas. I think we will leave Christmas Day to get there. Then we have a race there on Jan. 1 and 2. So we cannot do both. This is unfortunate but we cannot control the schedule. I am glad that they are having a race in Grand Prairie and we hope it does good but we need to focus on the Junior races for Rachel and be careful we don't chase the adult races around too much. Grand Prairie is an adult race and Rachel could do very well there. Rachel's race in Alaska is a junior race so this is the area she will race the World Championships in. Best she gets the dogs used to those race trails also.
More news about our schedule as we get the info.

Sponsors.

Hi everyone. We are in the process of getting all our sponsors together for the season. Once we have everyone that will sign up then we can get the sign built here in Whitehorse. The print shop also sponsors Ben and Rachel in the past. They provide the sign and the material to build it.
We will also take the logos and download them onto this site. It is most likely and up load to this site but I am sure we can do it. We can get our pictures loaded?

For the dog lovers out there. I have a older published book but a very good book regardless. It is Called "NO BAD DOGS the woodhouse way" written Barbara Woodhouse. You can find the book at amazon.com. Great book for people just getting into owning and training dogs. Great if you are having trouble of some aspect of training. I think it runs around 12.00 or so. 126 pages.

Trail is in !!!

Well we used the ski doo today for the first time out at Annie lake. To say the trail is in is stretching it a bit.... BUt our first time around we were able to fill in allot of the 6x6 rut. This is very good because the dogs were starting to want to run in the rut side by side. They look terrible when they run this way. It really slows the dogs down as well. If you were to let them go wide open running so close together one of them is bound to get tangled in the web of his neighbors harness. We hope they spread out a bit when they are running.
I am not sure how we are going to train the dogs. I think we have to hook the dogs to the snow machine now. It would be good to have a second snow machine to go ahead so we can make sure there are no collisions with anyone else using the trails. I don't really know if the snowmobile will hold eight dogs or not. I think they should be able to drag this. Not fast but still move it ahead. The 6x6 held them good but there is starting to be too much snow to be using the 6x6. The surface is still very very low on snow. We call this the "Base" A snow hook will not hold a dog team on a trail with not enough snow on it. This makes it hard for Rachel to stop. We want Rachel to stop when ever she feels she should stop. Usually you need 3-5 inches of packed snow to hold 8 dogs safely. When you have a base like this it builds confidence in Rachel. She is going to be a little more nervous out on the trail if she cannot stop and control her dog team.
More snow is needed but I think we can start running them with a ski doo then to the dog sled. End of Dec. Is the start of Rachel's racing season. We need to get some longer runs on her young team to better prepare for the racing in Dec. They won't have much endurance yet this year because of all the short runs they do during the summer months. Playing and short runs keep the dogs in good physical shape and gives them some time to blow off steam but doesn't build endurance. We need to increase the miles and get more snow so we can get on the sled. For now we will do what is safer and gives more control and that is the snowmobile

:0 :)

Good Day

We have more snow!!!!! I don't know if it is enough to set a trail on our training ground. If it is I will find out today when I try with the ski-do. I have explained before, that I use two wood pallets that are fastened together by 2x4's fourteen feet long. I hook it to our ski-do(snow tractor) We pull it very slowly over the snow. IT fills in any low spots in the trail. We pull it after snow falls until the entire trial is level. As level as can be. Sharp dips in the trail are rounded or flat. This also makes the trail set up hard. Once someone wrecks the trail by driving on it I also have a steel drag with a cutting blade this will fill in any gouges out of the trail or tire ruts.
This is one of the biggest difference between sprint and long distance racing and training. Could you imagine only running on a trail like this if you are running a 1000 mile race. No way. Your dogs would not know what to do on a messed up trail like the Quest trail. U should train on trails you will race on. Our kennel will only race on trails that are hard packed and flat! Why? because the people that put on the race make their race trails this way so The kids can race at high speeds. Which is the whole purpose of sprint mushing. IF you trained your sprint dogs on really rough and tough trails they would hurt themselves. The constant training on this type of trail would also slow down their pace. if you asked them to run fast on a perfect hard packed trail after getting use to the rough and slow trail they would also get injured. Their Top speed would be way slower as well, just because they were trained slower on a tougher slower trail. So to race fast you have to train fast. To race long distance you have to train long distance runs.
The beauty of trail making is I can do it because I can only go slow in order to do a good job. This speed make it comfortable enough that it doesn't bother my back. It gets me out and in the bush and really makes a person feel good being out there. We are currently fixing seats. I always am experimenting with seating options so I can be as comfortable as possible.

Lots of snow is not necessary a good thing either. Then you are never finished grooming the trail. Last year we used over 100 gallons of fuel. Not just for grooming purposes but someone also goes ahead of the team when we train the team to make sure there is no trail obstacles for Rachels dog team when she is flying down the trial. We also use a GPS at this time in training. This way I know how fast she has run. Her average speed. Her Top speed. Also I can see where the team slowed down and where it ran the fastest and alter training to suit. It is a very good tool and I enjoy using it to help Rachel with her training.

Here's to getting the tral set and get the sleds out. Ya hooo !!!!!

still no snow

Yesterday (Sun.) trained two teams of eight. Our new 6x6 is a fantastic tool for me. I was not able to ride the four wheeler any more. With this unit you sit side by side while you drive. It has seat belts and a steering wheel to hang onto. I have the ability to ride for short rides in this with out too much punishment to my body.
It makes it easy to talk to Rachel while the dogs are pulling the Ranger (6x6) . I might have gone over this before but I will say it again. This is control. There are two things we do when we are out running dogs. We are conditioning and Training . The training is to teach dogs the proper behavior when they are working. It is pretty simple to teach them but you must have control to stop and go talk to the dog. The simple action of stopping makes it almost embarrassing for the dog that needs a talking to. I have seen in some cases that other dogs will actually get snappy towards the dog that is causing us to stop all the time because of the bad behavior.
When we get out on the sleds later there is always very little snow to start with. It makes it hard for Rachel to stop. She is scared of losing the team which is the worst thing you can do but it does happen. If you are worried about stopping then if a dog is slacking and biting at the dog beside it how can you stop and go up the line and fix a tangle or let a dog know you are not happy. This doesn't mean beating a dog it just means making an example of that dog. Then when you take off again you just say that dogs name as you leave. Like Gee-whiz get up. When the Ranger starts to move forward and that dog naturally starts to pull hard because it has had a good rest then you reward the proper behavior by saying good dog or you can stop and go up the line of dogs and pat the dog and make a big deal out of how good she has done. they learn quick this way. If you have a good relationship with your dogs. look after them well, with bedding, food and love, then these dogs want to please you. It is hard for them to please you if they don't understand what you want so by stopping and either showing your disappointment or pleasure with the dog makes it easy for them to know the difference. With control you soon have a team of dogs that work hard and have consistent behavior in the team.]
The opposite can happen when you cannot stop. If a dog is not pulling hard and decides that it would be fun to bother the dog beside it and you cannot stop this behavior with your voice command then this will continue until U can stop and move up the line and tell the dog no. You are probably untangling the dogs as well. In a sprint race this is absolutely unacceptable. You cannot have one dog fool around this way. If you continue to run the dogs like this with them fooling around they soon think this is what you want them to do? So it is important to stop and let them know you are not happy with them climbing all over the dog beside it and biting at it. Playful or not this cannot be allowed to happen in a team of sprint dogs.
Our runs have proven there are some dogs that enjoy this type of behavior and have learnt that this is a fun thing to do and they do not have to work while in the team. Slowly we have corrected them and now they are working well again in the team.
We have two young dog teams but most of the main training has been done so for the most part they know what to do. We discovered a really good Leader yesterday. He showed signs of it last year. This year he really wants to be in front of the dog team. If you place him in the team right behind the leaders He will grab the line pull the leaders backward and let them go forward and hit the the end of the line. This is a sign of a leader to me. So we put him in lead and he ran awesome, like he was suppose to be there. His name is Rafiki. Now he is a really good leader and that is what we are looking for. We are going to need good leaders that can be in lead to train others beside them. The leaders that are going to train others need to be very strong physically and mentally. We sold allot of our leaders to other young mushers so they could have a good start to building a successful team. This has left us shorter than we calculated. Oh well we will train some new leaders to get by this season.
I hope that this has not been a repeat post in terms of content I felt that it would be worth explaining how some of it works to people that do not know. Since this type of training is relevant to our daily life it also becomes relevant to our blog.

Thanks for visiting talk to you soon.

Nov full speed ahead

What the heck is happening to Nov. Jeez too fast. Way too fast. Our training feels behind but I imagine it has to do with the weather. Dog sled racing takes time to keep the ducks in a row sort of speak. It starts yesterday. It means many many things have to be kept in order to get the results you want down the road or should I say down the trail. This is why when a Month of the year is speeding by you feel like you are behind.
I was away from the kennel for a week or so. I was out for medical reasons. Things were in good order when I returned as Rachel and Leanne are forever busy keeping up with the daily chores. Still not enough snow to be on the sled yet. I think this is the reason we feel behind. the dogs have not run pulling the sled yet. This is really late in the year for not being on sleds. I have heard dog teams racing their first race for the first time pulling the sled. The first races are in December. This has never been the case for us out where we live. We are usually the first team on snow and the last on snow in the area. This was another consideration before we even bought the property was snow and trails.
The dogs are looking really good. They are excited to get in the routing of training and they need more running. The boys are growling and fighting with each other because their energy level is too high. Way to high. They are just too exuberant this early in the season. The behavior can set up some pretty bad habits so we watch it doesn't happen too much.
Rachel just happens to have one team of 8 males and one team of 8 females to train this. Lots of dogs for her but we hope to be able to get other junior musher to participate using some of our dogs. You can almost double the amount of dogs you have to keep to get one super dog team out of it. Racing an 8 dog team keep 16 dogs. 6 dog team keep 12 dogs. you could probably keep smaller amounts of dogs than what I am quoting but this seems to be what is working for us right now.
We are still looking for some more sponsorships and we are sending out letters to prospects. the more we get the more races we can attend. I will be putting the dog box onto the dog truck this week-end. It is time to get ready to haul the dogs from one race to the other or even to take them to a different training trail just for something different.
It was a good training day today with lots of stops so Rachel could discipline/teach young dogs on what is expected of them while they have their work cloths on.(Harness). it is all business and they need to know that. It does not take much time for them to learn it. The harder you pull the faster you get to go !. That is a pretty good reward for a sled dog that love to run. We have some dogs that are grabbing snow and that is a no-n0 in a sprint team. This time of year the speed is slower these dogs love to go fast so when it is slower and they get bored they may start to bite at the snow on the ground. This just breaks up the rhythm of the team so you want to let them know that they need to quit doing that.
Both dog teams did very well today and they pulled hard and went quit fast. Having the 6x6 polaris ranger to have them pull is very nice and very comfortable. The ranger has no problem holding back 8 dogs with the brake applied. It is too heavy for the to take off with. This means if there is a problem there is no problem stopping and holding the dog team. Early in the yr. it can be difficult because there is not enough snow for the snow hooks to hold. SO one advantage to the lack of snow is good leader training and ability to control the team better.
I am glad to be back here and around the family, dogs included.

Today and yesterday has brought warmer weather. I do not remember being this warm in Nov. IT feels different to be this far into the winter and not have that really bone chilling weather. The dogs don't mind and we think it is okay too. Except the snow part of the weather we enjoy it being warmer than other years. We need some snow. I saw the neighbor out with his snow mobile today but I think there still isn't enough snow.
Still isn't enough to control the teams. What I mean by that is you cannot hold them when stopped. It is also harder to slow the team down by using the brakes. This is all control when you are attached to 6-14 dogs that act like your house dog on a leash when they want to chase after a cat. It is important that Rachel feels secure when running the dogs. There is a way to hold the dog team and that is by putting a snow hook around a tree. The snow hook has two hook shapes turning off like a sheep's horns. Three inch diameter or larger tree would be good size to hook to. When you put the snow hook around a tree one curl of the snow hook itself sits on the ground at the base of the tree or as low as possible. The other curl of the snow hook goes around the tree itself..one side of the hood sits around the tree and the other on the top of the ground this way it holds itself up right. IF you put both curls from the hook around the tree it would just roll off if the line did not stay tight. The line is attached directly to the team of dogs. So it is your snow hook attached to how ever many dogs you are hooked up to. Sometime when the teams are really large we use double snow hooks to hold the team of dogs. When the snow is deep enough and packed well you can stick the hook right into the snow. That is what they are meant for. if you do not have the snow yet but are still tempted to train with the sled you have to find a tree when you need to stop. This can be a problem. When you commit to a tree you have the snow hook in one hand ready to set on a tree. You also have the brake on the sled which does not work well on low snow conditions either. When you make the move to set the hook around the tree you have 4-14 dogs tied to the snow hook you are holding in your hand. That is like taking 4-14 dogs for a walk. the only difference is these dogs want to and are trained to run like hell and not to stop . stopping the team then becomes a bit of a chore for Rachel. This makes it bad if Rachel has to stop the team for a tangle or whatever reason. For now we will stick to having the dogs pull us in the six wheel ranger. Then we will still have some control.

The dogs themselves look really good and are conditioning easy. Rachel spent allot of time with them letting them loose to run during the summer this has kept them in very good shape. It is nice to see the dogs in such good shape early on in the season. The plan is to run two team s of eight dogs tomorrow. Talk to you later.

still no snow

Well we are still waiting for snow. It looked good for a while but then the warm weather came again and we are losing what we had. I think this is the latest we ever waited for snow. Usually we are on sleds on snow by the end of October. This season has started out totally different. Makes one wonder about the rest of the season? Most people are in the same situation as us.
We are still dealing with some local sponsors and getting our letters out to the appropriate people. Once we know who is on board we can make a race plan for the year. So far we plan to be in Alaska for the kids Christmas holidays. We usually stay home for Christmas day and leave on boxing day for Alaska. This gives us a chance to race the dogs in the junior events there. Also Leanne will race the dogs where ever possible in any adult events while we are there. This way we can get as much experience for the dog teams as possible. When we return home to the Yukon there will be some racing south of us. We would like to race Grande Prairie. Then back to Alaska for spring break and more racing. We would like to go to the Junior North American Championships in Fairbanks. then off to the Junior World Championships in Anchorage. We will come back home again to the Yukon and then back to Alaska for the Tok race of Championships. If we can get to 6-8 races or more this season it should be enough to make the season worth while and have the dogs more prepared for the 2012 Arctic Winter Games here in Whitehorse.
It is a busy season of driving and staying with friends and in hotels. We should not take it for granted though because a time will come when this lifestyle of ours comes to a close. It has been good for the kids and I think they have benefited from this sport in many ways. Who knows maybe they may start up again them selves later in life. Some grand children racing someday?????

It got colder

Hi from the Yukon. Our temp finally dropped to 10 below C in the morning and 0 in the afternoon. . This is good for training. Problem is it had rained really hard before the temp dropped. Now our trail system is pure ice. This is bad for dog's feet. When you train them on this ice there is a chance to cut their feet. This is a bad is time to cut up feet so early in the yr. I guess any time is a bad time to cut feet. LOL . Also they can slip on the ice causing injury this early in the yr. It is not a good idea either. so the dogs are back to running loose in their fenced area. This area is quite big and provides exercise and social activity that is important to the dogs well being. Although I would rather have them run five miles in training this is better than nothing. It isn't worth the risk out on the training trail at the moment. Patients is a big part of this type of sport.
We now have one of our main sponsors. SUPREME DIESEL PERFORMANCE . They are located in Sexsmith Alberta. Big thanks to them their contribution will go a long way to races this season. Thanks supreme diesel performance !
We are hoping for some snow now and we will go right away to running with the sleds. When this happens we will reduce our team sizes to six dogs in a team. This will be a good time to train leaders to lead small teams. We need to train three pairs of leaders to be able to lead the four six and eight dog teams that Rachel will be racing this year. There is lots of training left this year. So we are really in need to get them out as much as possible. The dogs are young this year and need lots of hours to figure it all out.

sponsors

Hi again. I forgot to mention that we are collecting sponsors for the season. Right now we have a sponsor that is interested in helping us out in Grand Prairie. Called supreme Diesel. We had engine problems there at the Arctic Winter Games last spring. This shop helped us get out of a bind and treated us better than most shops have ever treated us. We had 26 dogs with us on the truck. while we were in the shop getting the work done. the mechanics agreed to open the shop doors to let in some cooler air for the dogs. It made it more uncomfortable for the mechanics while they were working but did it anyway. Then we had to let the dogs out to feed them and let them do their business. They have a small area that is fenced beside the shop. We let all the dogs go in the fenced area to run and play and to feed them. This shop went the extra mile to make it good for our dogs. This is something we would do for them and it isn't very often you find a shop that would do the same. very good service. fair prices and great people to boot. Check them out if you are doing any work on your truck or car. Supreme diesel in Sexsmith Alberta. If you are in the area no need to go anywhere else.

Some snow for us

we started the skidoo today. yahey. Rachel went around the three mile and four mile loop to pack it down just with the sled. It isn't cold yet though and we might lose it that is why we pack it down. I am looking at buying a new trail groomer for this season then it would be used for the Arctic winter Games here in Whitehorse 2012. We have various ways to groom our trail now. We use a wooden drag now to float over the trail and drop any snow that is needed into the low spots. We don't want it to dig into the ground that is way it is made out of 2x6 boards and is about 16 feet long. The longer it is the flatter the trail will be. Then later in the year when we have 4 inches of base for trail we use a steel drag that can push snow off or bring it onto the trial depending on the condition. For now we just want to keep what is on the trail by packing it down. PRetty soon we will be on the sleds which is much better than using four wheelers and such. Soon enough we will be wishing the snow was gone and it was warmer out. Dogs are getting excited because of the snow. Talk to you later.

It isn't gettin as cold as usual

This fall is acting a little weird. Not as cold as usual for this time of year. The dogs have totally switched over to red meat. Beef. No more fish except for snacks. I picked up half a pallet of beef today in town. Shipped all the way from Quebec. This is the cheapest deal we can get. All the way from the east if you can believe it. You would think Alberta would have some beef around too? We are still feeding last years beef that was left over. We don't have much of that left so I am glad that the beef got here as quick as it did.
Still no real snow. Nor real cold temperatures. It has been raining today and thawing again. We have a dog that filled it's mouth up with fox tail last time we hooked the dogs up. She just went for the fox tail like it was dog food. Gulped it up like crazy. I never saw a dog do this before. I tried to get it all out of her mouth but was not successful. I had looked into her mouth the other day and what a mess. Fox tail is the worse thing ever I hate the stuff. I had a horse that got into fox tail when I was young and It really made a mess of her mouth. Same as this dogs mouth. It is full of sores and fox tail burrowing into her mouth in a bunch of spots. I put her on atibiotics and held her mouth open to get out as many as possible. All you see are the tails. I think while she was tied in her spot she reached out and ate a bunch of them. The when we hooked her up to run she reached out to eat a bunch more thinking this was going to clear them from her mouth but only made it worse. It is the worse stuff. It is like a quill it will just work it's way through the dog if you don't pull it out. We have had dogs get abscesses where they exited the body after starting in the mouth. IF she doesn't improve we will have to take her in to the vet. Never a dull moment.
This morning the blue healers got out of the "feed shack" and made a rung cuss outside. Mother running up and down the dog fence defending here puppies and all the sled dogs barking at her while all the puppies cried to get back in. We moved them outside to the whelping pen where our sled dogs have their puppies. Lots of room and safe inside of there. one of the heelers have blue eyes. really nice blue eyes. I might want to keep her. She is also the runt of the litter. she is very cute. Hopefully it is cold enough to train in the morning. Rachel and I will put a run on them. We are only running them three miles and once in a while a four mile. So it isn't very far at all yet. No hurry because they have lots of time to get ready. It is faster for them to run in the snow as well. They really do not like the slow pulling of the four wheeler. It is just too slow for them. They like to go fast. That is some of the news out here. I will keep you informed as time goes on.

frozen trail and cold weather.

Hi. We are very busy raising heelers. We have a litter every year. The kids raise them up and then they sell them. This is one way in which they try and support themselves during the winter months while traveling to races and purchasing gear,sleds, lines, harnesses etc. They sell for 450.00 each. So it is a little drop in the bucket but better than none.
We are hooking dog up now in front of a six wheeler. It even has a cab and heat. HA HA. In the twenty yrs I have trained dogs I never had this. It used to be the 10 speed bike in the fall. It is nice to have. Dogs are all a little heavy right now so they are looking pretty sluggish on the trail. It is pretty slow for them too. They like to go fast all the time but you have to slow them down this time of year. It looks like we will be racing in Alaska again during the Christmas holidays. Will be in Anchorage at the world championships as well. The races in December are local races that we go to. It helps to prepare the dogs for the championships later on in the year. We also have some races in Fairbanks alaska. There are some aldult races as well and if Rachel and leanne agree Leanne will race Rachels team in these races so they can gain experience while racing. Leanne did a great job last year and acually enjoyed it. It was fun to see her race some dogs again.
The diet has also switched back to the red meat. We fed allot of dish during the summer it was all salmon. It kept them muscled up better on the off season. They run in the summer and still need a good meat diet but not as good as beef or something like that. When the temps drop and the training gets further and further runs with colder weather means more energy better fat and protein. That is where horse and beef come in as a better meat for the dogs. We are adding some oil now. corn oil and some fat when it gets colder. They eat really well during the summer now they get a awesome diet to help them be the best athlete they can.

I will do my best to blog on a regular basis now that the season is getting underway. Such a short summer. ............

The hills are alive with SNOW !!!!!

It is getting closer to another season start up. The mountains in front of our place got a dusting of snow and the trees are turning color fast.
Rachel kept really busy with the sled dogs this summer. She ran the three mile with the dogs running loose. It made it easier for her because the dogs always want to race the quad. If you run or walk with them they soon realize to stay with you and stay by your side. This builds incredible relationships with your dogs. In doing so it makes for a better racing team. One that knows you and you know them so good you can get them to respond so much better. Rachel has them in her pocket. It will be interesting to see her this season.
Rachel is the only one that will train this yr. Ben has moved on to other sports for now. He sometimes thinks that he will get to race a team in the odd race. I just don't think that this will happen. Rachel will not give up all her hard work to have ben run her team for her. However we will be getting ready for another fun filled season of racing. We will be going to Alaska at least twice this racing season. Rachel has some decision to make about who who will stay as her main dogs. This will happen after fall training. We are all looking forward to this racing season.

SO sorry for so many late entries.

Hi I will catch up for anyone who has followed in the past. There has been allot of snow gone by between the runners. Or water under the bridge sort of speak. I just could not get back on again. After some effort well alot of effort I got back on to start to blog again.
We did have a great winter. Rachel and Ben had the best teams we have seen. They are all yearlings so with that in mind the winter was spent taking care of these young dogs. It was the warmest winter in memory for us. SOme of the races were hot. It was ridiculous. The first time that we ran into problems was at he world championships in Anchorage. We did learn allot about the heat and the difference between young dogs and older dogs. The younger dogs have very little tolerance to heat. There are two reasons for this. One reason they cannot take the heat is they do not know to slow down and take it easy because of the heat. They run and run hard despite the situation. Before they even realize it is hot out they are already in danger. Older dogs on the other hand do not work as hard going out. They then do not have such a over heating problem. They also have many many miles of running in the heat this makes them more tolerant to it. When dogs do over heat It can be very hard on them and some times they never ever recover. They seem to have endless trouble to try and control their body temperature. Rachel had a really hard driving dog in her team and he over heated. when he returned to the dog truck we used snow and water to bring his body temp. down. This works but you have to be careful not to bring the temperature down too fast or this can hurt the dog as well.

The dogs did well but not as good as they could have if the weather was colder. We actually were very lucky to have a dog race at all. It was a good time there and we went to the aleska ski hill as well. Very much fun.

SO sorry for so many late entries.

Catching up

I had to leave the kennel for more medical treatment down south. When I was away it snowed around 8-12 inches of snow. Yikes. This makes it hard for everyone here.
The tractor would not even turn over for Leanne. Ben went out to put trail in with the Yamaha snow machine. It quit. Ben walked home. The other Yamaha which is a bravo single cylinder engine. Pretty simple always runs. It would not start.
When I got home the dogs had sat for about a week. Not good. Plus we had no way to put in trail. I needed to get a new snow machine and fast. I do not like the fast part of the equation. Fast when purchasing something always leads to trouble. I found the snowmachine that would work for us. I picked it up and brought it home to rescue the Yamaha sitting on the trail. We now have a 2003 arctic cat panther two seater. It has a 570cc twin engine that produces 70 h.p. It works nice except someone removed the electric start. Which is now on the way. I bought a new one to put in. I made it out to the Yamaha on the trail. Ben said it would not run and it made some awful noises and quit. I told him he has to close all the doors that are on the front of the snowmobile or all the snow from the fresh powder will come in and freeze up the skidoo. He said ya ya he did it. guess what the doors were open and it was froze up with snow under the hood. Rachel and I got it running and got the track moving again. No problem it ran perfect. We pulled the drag around the trail with out breaking ahead with another snow machine. That is because of the power and traction of the new Actic Cat.
The trail was put in and we had to put on our training runs. Problem with this is that the trail was just put in and the surface will be soft and hard on dogs feet and muscle. Great time to hurt someone. I worked the trail as hard as I could and the teams ran on Sat. No injuries. Sunday was different. Leanne ran Ben's dogs and one got injured. SO far that is all you can see is one dog injured. Lucky. He is in the dog box being brought back to health.
After all this I found out that our snowmachine works fine. So I will sell the Arctic Cat again. This time I will sell it for more with an electric start as it should have come in the first place.

This is just a typical time here. Things go bad and when they do the trail is still priority. The trail has to be in and dogs have to keep moving all the time no matter what happens around them. It is costly time wise and in monetary ways. It is the only way to insure a fit team at the end of the day. So we pay. Hopefully we catch up and things go better for the rest of the season. We have plenty of snow now. It will take quite a while to pack the trail down since the snow fall. Then we can speed the dogs up again and get ready for the Junior world championships in Anchorage in Feb.

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Kinvig for their generous sponsorship again this year. It will go to travel cost to get to the Worlds or to the Arctic Winter Games. Thanks from Ben and Rachel.

The new sled

Hi. Ben and Rachel were able to use the new sled while training since we have been home. Rachel likes it allot and Ben says it is okay. That is a good thing. It really is a different sled. I was talking to the makers of the sled via e-mail. I was voicing my opinion in that sled being popular in the north. Danler is a widely popular sled maker. These sleds are on everyone's truck. They are nice sleds. The sled bags are formed from the front of the sled to the back. It makes the sled very aerodynamic. Or should I say it looks very aerodynamic. I bet that this in part is a reason that Danler does so well selling sleds. The sled bag comes around in front of the driver and you can crouch down and hide from the wind behind the sled bag. Other sled bags are held on with velcro and are pretty much a bag added to the sled where as the Danler has the bag and sled integrated together nicely. The sled looks fast standing still. You also pay premium for this sled. The k-2 has a semi integrated sled bag. It hangs down from the handle bars and slops to the front. the rear of the bag does not hold a shape at the back in a way in which you could get out of the wind behind it. It is a pretty good bag, not looking near as aerodynamic as the Danler Sled.
I do think that there would be a aerodynamic factor in longer races. Or races that have many miles of strong head winds. It has to make a difference on how hard the musher is to pull on the sled. SO is it a factor in time. Yes. How much is the thing that I cannot say for sure.
Handling has a huge factor on times in a dog race as well. The k-2 has a ski made by sled dog systems. The skis lean/tips very good when the sled handle bars are racked/bent into a corner. This is good to a certain point. when they tip on edge the ski will hold the sled from sliding out in a corner.sliding in corners bleeds alot of speed off of the dog team. SO don't slide right. The down side is when the runners/skis on the sled tip too much your feet are actually on top of the edge of the ski so there is a limit to the angle of attack you can use while turning. Also when you tip a ski you have less surface area of slider on the snow. Theory is this can reduce glide and speed from your runners. It puts more weight onto less surface area of sliding surface thus reducing glide. YOu need a happy medium.
The weight of the sled is also a factor. Two ways to look at this as well. Being young and very light like Ben and Rachel can pose it's difficulties with driving a sled with a fast team in and out of corners. IF the sled is too light it will skip over the snow on the corner. The edge will not hold on the corner because there is no weight on top of the edge. Too much weight and you are giving your competition a huge advantage.
There is also a very waxable surface on the ski. This is a different surface than on other sleds and I think It may be a better medium to wax. I hope it will hold the wax better as well. TIme will tell with this.
The k-2 is a happy medium with some fine tuning available to us in way of ski differences in spring tension. Another factor to fast sleds. This sled is not heavey . IT steers well with skis that tip well and are very controlable.
I like what I see in the sled but the times will tell as well. We will be going back to Anchorage for the Junior World Championships. This the same race trail that they races earlier. IT will be interesting what the times say. Although there are too many factors to say one way or another about the speed of the sled I bet it won't be slower.
Rachel and Ben trained four teams of six dogs. The dogs looked super and are really happy!! They are very happy and fit. This is the main thing. We really enjoy it when the dogs are this happy. You cannot hold back a team that is this happy. I guess the trick is to keep them like this right up until race days.

Training

Back home

Well we are home again. Leanne is recovering from her accident on the eight dog race trail. Bad fall and a bad hit on the head. We got home early this morning from Anchorage. The dogs all rode well home and were happy to be back in their dog yard. We left two dogs and a sled behind for sale and for lease. We had an excellent trip to Anchorage and did well at the races. Things were perfect for training and that was the idea in going down there to race. It was too bad that leanne got hurt.
We plan on traveling to whatever race fits into our schedule and will be Traveling back to Anchorage for the Junior Worlds. Ben will be the defending champion. Rachel will be working to gain her first championship. I will have lots of smoked fish to sell to help pay for the bills.
We took delivery of our new sled today. It looks good and is made by sleddog systems. The sled is a K-2 has a great waxable ski base and has great turning flexability. The runners or skis really tip at usable angles to the snow. It has not been test drove by Ben and Rachel yet but I think that they are going to like it. Time will tell what they think.
We all miss our american friends and look forward to staying with them again. Thanks again to the Summers for letting us stay there again. We just love it in anchorage !!!!!
We will be training again tomorrow. I have to get the new belt onto the snow machine so I can go out and groom the trail. We fried the belt last trip. Once we do a couple of easy runs on the dogs we will do some intravels and speed work. We did zero fast runs this year and did some of the fastest work so far at the races. I would feel better if we can get some fast runs in at home before our next race. the weather is nice so better get some training in before it gets cold after all it is January.

todays racing

Hi everyone. Today Leanne raced again. She ran the four dog race. Did really good and held onto her second place finish. The six dog was good also and she held onto fourth place. The eight dog on the other hand was not good. She had dogs that would not go through the bridges again and she lost the team grabbed her sled as it was going by. The team was dragging her down the trail and she hit her head on a tree and into a snow fence. The trail helpers asked if she wanted to turn around and go back. She said no and finished the race with her eight dogs and got paid for her position which was seventh. I think she is okay but has some really bad swelling on her upper jaw down along her ear. It was not good and I was disappointed that she did not make it through her effort of dog racing with out mishap. This is common for Leanne and she retired long ago because of it. Thanks to her the young dogs got to run and she did excellent among the fasted teams in the world. We take tomorrow off and then leave for home on tuesday.

Results

Hi again sorry but I cannot down load the results. Please go google asdra for the results. Alaska sled dog racing association. When you are there you will see the results for Ben and Rachel's new years race. Also look for the adult races there you will find the results for Leanne. good luck hunting and I hope to have links up asap.

WOW the racing is good

Jan. first found us all at the track in Anchorage getting ready for Ben and Rachel to race. We were right at home here at the Summer's home. I cannot thank them enough for making this trip possible.
Ben ran in the seven dog class and Rachel ran in the five dog class. Same as they will race at the Arctic Winter Games. Ben was first and Rachel also won her five dog race. There was a total of 52 dog teams signed up that means 52 junior racers wow. That was in the one,two. three, five and seven dog classes combined. In the Yukon we cannot even get kids to fill free spots on our arctic winter games team. Here it is a different story. The dogs looked good through out the race and were not pushed too hard during the race. Really young dogs.
Today was Leanne's turn. She was told that these were simply training runs for all the yearlings on the truck. We are here in Anchorage racing the fastest limited class dog teams in the world. These dogs are fast. The drivers train hard and are great dog drivers.
Leanne ran the four dog team first consisting of new leaders and young dogs. She was second with a great time. I do not have the times in front of me but you can go to asdra site to see the times. Leanne then ran the six dog team and was fourth which is awesome because the four team dogs were yearlings again. she was 17 minutes 48 seconds so was under 18 minutes and that is great as well. Leanne ran the eight dog race but had lots of trouble with bridges and tunnels. After fighting with them and almost losing her team she managed to come back in thirty three minutes. Normally this would have been 24 minutes. SO Great SUCCESS. TODAY and Yesterday. Great way to bring in the new year.

Ben and Rachel were handlers today and were excellent at it. They were very easy to work with and very professional about helping their mom. I was very impressed by what they did to help their mom. THey were both in very good spirits today and were happy to see how well their dogs did racing with their mother instead of with them. GOOD JOB Ben and Rachel. I don't think it would be easy to share their dogs when they put so much work into training them.
I will catch up again tomorrow after the race sometime.