Monday, February 14, 2011

The Beginning of a Dog Sledding Addiction

This weekend the temperatures jumped up into the 50’s and 60’s in the valley and 40’s in the mountains. It was almost too warm to run the dogs but was still cool enough that they could go a few miles. They needed to run, so we packed the dogs up Saturday and went to Nez Perce Road. Isis and Blue got to run a short ways with the team Saturday and they thanked us afterwards with big, tired smiles. Sunday I met up with a wonderful family and longtime Siberian owners to take their daughter, Annalisa, and her Siberian Nora out for a run. Okanogan was in lead, Kona was next to Nora in swing and Paluk and Tensaw were in wheel. Nora was not quite sure about running in a team at first but quickly discovered that it was quite fun. I drove the team up about 1.75 miles and Annalisa rode in the basket. We turned around, switched places, and she drove the team back. We quickly came upon her family skiing up. Nora decided to show them how well she could tangle a team, which is a real shame because she did so well before and after that pass and they didn’t get to see it. She had decided Kona and her needed to play at that moment. Kona did not think it was the best idea hence why I put Nora next to Kona; she won’t play in harness but is tolerant too. After we untangled the team, we continued back to the truck without incident and Annalisa got to feel the thrill of dog sledding. The last stretch home I got off the sled (making a much lighter load) and let Annalisa drive the team the rest of the way to the truck. Everyone did great, especially Nora, who was in the traces for the first time, and Annalisa, who drove a dog team for the first time. I look forward to more outings with Annalisa and her hardworking sidekick, Nora.









Video of Annalisa and the team:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n517eKYj5wo

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