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.