The snow never stops here this year. Moose also are looking for a nice packed trail to use. the wolves are back on another tour behind our place around the trails. when this happens the caribou and Moose scatter. When they scatter like this eventually they find the trail. When they do they bee line it straight down the trail to get some speed to put some distance between them and the wolves. Then it won't be long and we will be grooming the trail and big long wolf turds full of moose or caribou hair will be dropped along the trail. Then everything settles again until their next trip through the area hunting.
I spent some time over at the race trail for the arctic winter games. Pretty well have all the trails marked out now. It will be a matter of keeping up with the snow and hoping people in the area respect the trail and leave it as they find it. It makes it very difficult to have your sport venue in a public place where anyone can be on the race trail.
The eight mile loop is a old trappers trail. It winds it way through the bush and will be a very exciting trail for the Mushers to speed through. There is still lots of work to do on this trail but it will get done.
The six mile loop is mostly on a lake surface. Easy to put in but hard to maintain. Wind new snow and snow mobilers can wipe it out in a hurry. We have the new groomer on the way. I hope It will make a good trail in most conditions.
The four mile stays on the bush trails and has many turns on it as well.
Rachel/s teams are awesome and they are fit and ready to race. Problem is no where to race yet. So will keep you informed when we go.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
Cold again today.
Hi everyone. Well the groomer was approved by the AWG's for us to use on the trail. We have many groomers here that I have used and improved upon over the last 25 yrs but we did not have anything that will do what we need to do for the games. The AWG has the trail open to public. Unfortunately that includes TRUCKS, HORSES and big snow machines with paddle tracks ripping up the trail. My objective is to have an awesome trail here for the Juniors to race on. So in order to do that we had to purchase a drag that is made in Wisconsin U.S.A. If it wasn't approved I would have to build one. With my back the way it is I am glad we could go purchase one. It will help if we need to repair the trail at anytime. SO thanks to the AWG committee for the approval. Now I will get it made and sent to us.
Training continues. Some injuries on key dogs. Rachel remains busy training some young dogs that were bred for an open class driver friend of ours. This fell through so a friend in Tok has them. She is swamped with young dogs so we took three of them home with us and Rachel and I are working with these young dogs in our training now. We have one other AWG team member who needs dogs as well. Kat has lots of our dogs in her kennel but they have gotten old. Some of these dogs were from Ben's dog team when he finished running dogs she got some and some of those dogs went to Rankin Inlet. She now is looking for dogs and we will be doing our best to provide some that will help her out with her races. We have been doing this for years now, we also used to keep more dogs so in the end we will probably split the yard up and spread the dogs around so we can make two decent teams that will be used in the AWG.
weather has stayed cold and down south the races continue to get cancelled due to lack of snow and north of us it won't quit snowing. LOL. Oh well that is the way this sport is. We have some good training coming up soon and then there will be some more colder stuff coming. We continue to plan our next race. Difficult to decide when the weather and cancellations continue. FT Saint James will be one we would like to go to race but not sure on the dates and if that will work for the AWG. Time will tell. Winter goes so fast that if you don't hit every race you can the season is over before you know it. It won't be long and we will be back in the dog truck travelling to the next race.
Training continues. Some injuries on key dogs. Rachel remains busy training some young dogs that were bred for an open class driver friend of ours. This fell through so a friend in Tok has them. She is swamped with young dogs so we took three of them home with us and Rachel and I are working with these young dogs in our training now. We have one other AWG team member who needs dogs as well. Kat has lots of our dogs in her kennel but they have gotten old. Some of these dogs were from Ben's dog team when he finished running dogs she got some and some of those dogs went to Rankin Inlet. She now is looking for dogs and we will be doing our best to provide some that will help her out with her races. We have been doing this for years now, we also used to keep more dogs so in the end we will probably split the yard up and spread the dogs around so we can make two decent teams that will be used in the AWG.
weather has stayed cold and down south the races continue to get cancelled due to lack of snow and north of us it won't quit snowing. LOL. Oh well that is the way this sport is. We have some good training coming up soon and then there will be some more colder stuff coming. We continue to plan our next race. Difficult to decide when the weather and cancellations continue. FT Saint James will be one we would like to go to race but not sure on the dates and if that will work for the AWG. Time will tell. Winter goes so fast that if you don't hit every race you can the season is over before you know it. It won't be long and we will be back in the dog truck travelling to the next race.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Holed up at home
Well things are not great right now. Weather has us holed up in the house. No training at these temperatures.
Before the temps dropped Rachel was training a 10 dog team. The theory is that she needs to put on eight mile runs. There is a big elevations change on the 8 mile loop. There is lots of short climbs that can really slow an average down. So we added two more dogs to her team and now she also has an increadable amount of power now for climbing up the elevation changes along the trail. Plus this gives Rachel and myself a easier training regime this way.
When we came back from Alaska we brought back the new females. there were three of them and now we have four from a female of ours named Stryker and a male of a friend of ours from Tanacross Alaska. Rachel is harness training the three females and keeping our other dogs trained up. They should be able to race this season as well once there are a few more runs on them.
No snow at our races down south. So we are unable to go there. Too cold here to even train now but got good runs on them before we had to shut down the training. It won't be long and the weather will change and warm up. Then we will be right back to where we left off. Not sure what the next race will be but will be there as soon as we can get there.
I have to work on a new drag. Because we are putting on the AWG dog racing near our place. We will get a new one shipped up to us from Wisconsin. This trail groomer will repair hardened trail to the point that If it rains on top of the snow it will scrape if off and repair any damage to the surface of the trail.
The AWG dog mushing is being held very close to our place so we don't have far to go to fix and work on trail for the Games.
Our plan is to try and get to a race in Ft. St. James. that would be a good one to go to. Then we shall be back home for the games. Then for the remainder of march I am not sure of yet. depends on what Rachel has time for as well.
Talk to you again soon
Before the temps dropped Rachel was training a 10 dog team. The theory is that she needs to put on eight mile runs. There is a big elevations change on the 8 mile loop. There is lots of short climbs that can really slow an average down. So we added two more dogs to her team and now she also has an increadable amount of power now for climbing up the elevation changes along the trail. Plus this gives Rachel and myself a easier training regime this way.
When we came back from Alaska we brought back the new females. there were three of them and now we have four from a female of ours named Stryker and a male of a friend of ours from Tanacross Alaska. Rachel is harness training the three females and keeping our other dogs trained up. They should be able to race this season as well once there are a few more runs on them.
No snow at our races down south. So we are unable to go there. Too cold here to even train now but got good runs on them before we had to shut down the training. It won't be long and the weather will change and warm up. Then we will be right back to where we left off. Not sure what the next race will be but will be there as soon as we can get there.
I have to work on a new drag. Because we are putting on the AWG dog racing near our place. We will get a new one shipped up to us from Wisconsin. This trail groomer will repair hardened trail to the point that If it rains on top of the snow it will scrape if off and repair any damage to the surface of the trail.
The AWG dog mushing is being held very close to our place so we don't have far to go to fix and work on trail for the Games.
Our plan is to try and get to a race in Ft. St. James. that would be a good one to go to. Then we shall be back home for the games. Then for the remainder of march I am not sure of yet. depends on what Rachel has time for as well.
Talk to you again soon
Thursday, January 5, 2012
The plan
Well I don't know what we will do in the Month of Jan. Our plan was to go to Grande Prairie Alberta to an adult race so Rachel could race there. It has been cancelled/postponed until sometime in Feb. Looks like We could see all the races be scheduled for Feb March. It makes it hard to get to the races when they are all in one or two months. Now we will look for other races around our range to travel and see what we can do. Obviously the more the races we go to the better prepared we are for the AWG. This is the goal. It is also the goal for other teams to challenge Rachel to her races. There are some very capable teams just inside the Alaska. lots in Northern NWT. So no cake walk for Rachel this year. We have allot of work ahead of us.
The dogs are ready to run longer runs now. We need to increase their endurance without taking away the teams speed. We also have to increase our speed and bring up our total average speed over the distance. It is dropping slightly due to the extra amounts of loose snow we are running due to the weather. Other than that the team is looking pretty good. Can't wait to see what they will do when drove hard in a race? Should be under 17 minutes in six miles. We must run eight miles in under 24 minutes. Should be interesting.
We also took some puppies from a friend of ours in Tok Alaska. they are ready to run and be harness broke. So we also have puppies to train. Four of them need to be trained so we need to split up some of the adult dogs to help train puppies. One dog turned out to be too much of a fighter and they stopped running her. The other dog started to quit on Roni's team and just didn't want to run anymore. Would quit in the same place every time she ran. the third puppy I am not too sure about but they just didn't want to harness break them. We are excited to get them started. We are looking forward to some of these dogs contributing to our kennel. '
We will keep you all posted to what happens next.
Thanks again to all our sponsors. It has been a great help so far and are excited to go on our next trip.
The dogs are ready to run longer runs now. We need to increase their endurance without taking away the teams speed. We also have to increase our speed and bring up our total average speed over the distance. It is dropping slightly due to the extra amounts of loose snow we are running due to the weather. Other than that the team is looking pretty good. Can't wait to see what they will do when drove hard in a race? Should be under 17 minutes in six miles. We must run eight miles in under 24 minutes. Should be interesting.
We also took some puppies from a friend of ours in Tok Alaska. they are ready to run and be harness broke. So we also have puppies to train. Four of them need to be trained so we need to split up some of the adult dogs to help train puppies. One dog turned out to be too much of a fighter and they stopped running her. The other dog started to quit on Roni's team and just didn't want to run anymore. Would quit in the same place every time she ran. the third puppy I am not too sure about but they just didn't want to harness break them. We are excited to get them started. We are looking forward to some of these dogs contributing to our kennel. '
We will keep you all posted to what happens next.
Thanks again to all our sponsors. It has been a great help so far and are excited to go on our next trip.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
our Races in Alaska.
Well we are back from Alaska. The trip proved to be a productive one. At first I was wondering why we were even there. Our first race wasn't until the 31st of Dec. There were always races there on the 26th 28th then the of course the last week-end of Dec into the first week of Jan. The races early in Dec were cancelled. We had dogs on the truck and were training on different trails. The trails in Anchorage are very difficult to run dogs on so being there training dogs is well worth the time there.
When Rachel trained there she had a leader quit in her team. Spartan. Very unexpected. We have always looked at Spartan as our best leader. One of the best we had for a very long time. We just never expected this from him. It is difficult to know why it happened. In at this track in Anchorage nothing surprises me. There could be anything out there. Rachel said he just stopped and the dogs would run over him. She would straighten it all out and it happened again. She thought it was water that was under the bridges this time. when other times it was not there. Rachel said it was a problem on the six mile trail.
Leanne ended being the first one to race Rachel's dog team. It was a four mile four dog race and a six dog six mile race. The first of the races was a four dog. on the four mile trail. When the four dog and the six dog teams were made Rachel thought the best leaders in the four dog team would be Spartan as one. Rachel though that the problem spot on the six mile would not be encountered on the four dog trail.
LEanne left and took off no problem. The teams left the starting chute in one minute intervals and Leanne left number three. Just to add, to those who do not know, Leanne does not really race dogs. She has not raced for a number of years. Mainly to always having a crash or just a general bad experience. However when we are in areas that only have adult races, ones that will not let Rachel race at, then Leanne is more than happy to jump on the runners and give the dog teams a good experience and a good training run while in a race environment. Leanne does not train them Rachel does all of that. So basically Leanne is getting on the runners and hoping the dogs run fast and where they are suppose too without any problems. We all hope the same thing when she leaves the starting chute.
We waited and waited for leanne to return. So we knew something was going wrong. When she came into the finish line she looked pretty disappointed at her run. When asked what happened she said that Spartan was quitting on her. over bridges and on any trail that had steep drop offs on the sides. IT put the team into last place. This is odd. It raises some concerns in regards to his vision although he is just a young dog? We just do not know why this happened or what caused it, yet. Dogs are so full of surprises. You never know all you think you know about dogs, there is alway something to learn.
Leanne also ran the six dog. Rachel put a nice six dog team together. Leanne had a clean run. And was in second position. This is what we would think, and hope for if we are there. Somewhere in the top three.
On day two we needed to make some changes in the four dog team. I suggested using a dog named Rafiki. in lead. Rachel said no because that dog also has issue with some tunnels and bridges. So why not use Mac. I looked at Rachel and I asked if she was serious. She said yes mac can do it. So here is this silly big houndy dog. he is just a goof and never portraits any kind of intelligent behaviour. but how smart does he have to be to run like hell. As if he had no idea where he was. Perfect I thought if he has no distractions behind him he may just make it around the four mile trail as a leader. Leanne left last I think 7th in the four dog. In the starting chute Mac acted as if he may not go and may just leave and wonder why he doesn't see any team mates in front of him. He noticed the teams ahead go so maybe he may think of catching them. Remember there is only on minute between teams. Away Leanne went and Mac looked like he was actually running good in lead. So We left the chute waiting for LEanne to come back. I do believe she was in first place on day two time but because of day on it kept her in the back of the field. During the run Spartan was now in wheel. the position just before the sled. Mac ran by all the obstacles and even passed other teams. He also kept on pulling when Spartan would quit at the same spots that bothered him in the training runs and in the first day of the four dog race. After a couple of stops while in the wheel position Spartan started to run by these spots again without stopping which means it was good training.
When Leanne was out on the racing trail it was very busy at the truck. her six team had to be ready. when she gets back there will be very little time to have her team ready before she leaves number two in the six dog race. We usually get all the dogs walked or for sure the leaders. You want them to move around and have a good crap. This some do right away and some need more waking and coaxing. We forgot about one particular dog that has this problem we discovered last year but of course forgot about it or this year.
Leanne came back from the four dog and we rushed to get her six dog team ready. She was in second position and could move up to win or of course the opposite could happen. She came back from her run and said she had some troubles. I asked what and she said bullet had to crap while running. This interrupts the teams flow. If you do not know it is going to happen you can get tangled. this is what happened to Leanne. She got tangled up more than once and had to untangle dogs to continue. This moved her into third in the six dog. So she would have been 1st and 2nd or maybe won them both. This could have happened easily. It only takes a second to move from 1st to third. That is what happens in the sprint races. You cannot have a shut down. Once you do you just lost.
Rachels race was on the third. She raced one junior that is going to the AWG in the six dog and he was her closest competition. She won her five dog race six miles. This was a very good race for Rachel and the time was pretty good. Rachel's six dog team also had a bad experience when she was training. She tried to pass in the trail coming home. the last stretch of the race trail is called no mans land. Passing is allowed there without even asking for trail. Rachel had tried to pass there in a training run but was tangled up with another team. This made it a rather negative experience for her two leaders. The best way to correct this is to have a successful pass as soon as possible after the bad pass.
In Rachels race she passed a couple times and in the same chute coming in the finish line she passed a team at the exact same spot as the place she stopped in while attempting to pass in training. Perfect training. this is exactly what we wanted to happen. She also was first. with a pretty slow time of 18:14 Rachel will run this distance in 17:15 may-be under 17:00 this year. When they are ready for it.
Sorry for the slow reply. We will keep you updated
When Rachel trained there she had a leader quit in her team. Spartan. Very unexpected. We have always looked at Spartan as our best leader. One of the best we had for a very long time. We just never expected this from him. It is difficult to know why it happened. In at this track in Anchorage nothing surprises me. There could be anything out there. Rachel said he just stopped and the dogs would run over him. She would straighten it all out and it happened again. She thought it was water that was under the bridges this time. when other times it was not there. Rachel said it was a problem on the six mile trail.
Leanne ended being the first one to race Rachel's dog team. It was a four mile four dog race and a six dog six mile race. The first of the races was a four dog. on the four mile trail. When the four dog and the six dog teams were made Rachel thought the best leaders in the four dog team would be Spartan as one. Rachel though that the problem spot on the six mile would not be encountered on the four dog trail.
LEanne left and took off no problem. The teams left the starting chute in one minute intervals and Leanne left number three. Just to add, to those who do not know, Leanne does not really race dogs. She has not raced for a number of years. Mainly to always having a crash or just a general bad experience. However when we are in areas that only have adult races, ones that will not let Rachel race at, then Leanne is more than happy to jump on the runners and give the dog teams a good experience and a good training run while in a race environment. Leanne does not train them Rachel does all of that. So basically Leanne is getting on the runners and hoping the dogs run fast and where they are suppose too without any problems. We all hope the same thing when she leaves the starting chute.
We waited and waited for leanne to return. So we knew something was going wrong. When she came into the finish line she looked pretty disappointed at her run. When asked what happened she said that Spartan was quitting on her. over bridges and on any trail that had steep drop offs on the sides. IT put the team into last place. This is odd. It raises some concerns in regards to his vision although he is just a young dog? We just do not know why this happened or what caused it, yet. Dogs are so full of surprises. You never know all you think you know about dogs, there is alway something to learn.
Leanne also ran the six dog. Rachel put a nice six dog team together. Leanne had a clean run. And was in second position. This is what we would think, and hope for if we are there. Somewhere in the top three.
On day two we needed to make some changes in the four dog team. I suggested using a dog named Rafiki. in lead. Rachel said no because that dog also has issue with some tunnels and bridges. So why not use Mac. I looked at Rachel and I asked if she was serious. She said yes mac can do it. So here is this silly big houndy dog. he is just a goof and never portraits any kind of intelligent behaviour. but how smart does he have to be to run like hell. As if he had no idea where he was. Perfect I thought if he has no distractions behind him he may just make it around the four mile trail as a leader. Leanne left last I think 7th in the four dog. In the starting chute Mac acted as if he may not go and may just leave and wonder why he doesn't see any team mates in front of him. He noticed the teams ahead go so maybe he may think of catching them. Remember there is only on minute between teams. Away Leanne went and Mac looked like he was actually running good in lead. So We left the chute waiting for LEanne to come back. I do believe she was in first place on day two time but because of day on it kept her in the back of the field. During the run Spartan was now in wheel. the position just before the sled. Mac ran by all the obstacles and even passed other teams. He also kept on pulling when Spartan would quit at the same spots that bothered him in the training runs and in the first day of the four dog race. After a couple of stops while in the wheel position Spartan started to run by these spots again without stopping which means it was good training.
When Leanne was out on the racing trail it was very busy at the truck. her six team had to be ready. when she gets back there will be very little time to have her team ready before she leaves number two in the six dog race. We usually get all the dogs walked or for sure the leaders. You want them to move around and have a good crap. This some do right away and some need more waking and coaxing. We forgot about one particular dog that has this problem we discovered last year but of course forgot about it or this year.
Leanne came back from the four dog and we rushed to get her six dog team ready. She was in second position and could move up to win or of course the opposite could happen. She came back from her run and said she had some troubles. I asked what and she said bullet had to crap while running. This interrupts the teams flow. If you do not know it is going to happen you can get tangled. this is what happened to Leanne. She got tangled up more than once and had to untangle dogs to continue. This moved her into third in the six dog. So she would have been 1st and 2nd or maybe won them both. This could have happened easily. It only takes a second to move from 1st to third. That is what happens in the sprint races. You cannot have a shut down. Once you do you just lost.
Rachels race was on the third. She raced one junior that is going to the AWG in the six dog and he was her closest competition. She won her five dog race six miles. This was a very good race for Rachel and the time was pretty good. Rachel's six dog team also had a bad experience when she was training. She tried to pass in the trail coming home. the last stretch of the race trail is called no mans land. Passing is allowed there without even asking for trail. Rachel had tried to pass there in a training run but was tangled up with another team. This made it a rather negative experience for her two leaders. The best way to correct this is to have a successful pass as soon as possible after the bad pass.
In Rachels race she passed a couple times and in the same chute coming in the finish line she passed a team at the exact same spot as the place she stopped in while attempting to pass in training. Perfect training. this is exactly what we wanted to happen. She also was first. with a pretty slow time of 18:14 Rachel will run this distance in 17:15 may-be under 17:00 this year. When they are ready for it.
Sorry for the slow reply. We will keep you updated
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