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 :)