Priest Lake Sled Dog Race Day 2

After a night of multiple trips outside because Paluk had the runs, I wasn't sure what my team was going to look like today. I felt Kona may have been a little discouraged after yesterday's fast pace and I was going to "play it by ear" to see if she was going out today. I had decided at about 3am that Paluk wasn't running.

Fast forward to the race shute and all six dogs were in line. Okie and Paluk in lead, Tank and Kona in swing and Tensaw and Isis in wheel.

In a last minute decision between my manager (my husband, Cobey ;) and I, we switched Paluk and Tank, as I originally was going to run Tank in lead. Paluk, to our surprise, had completely solid poop in the morning, It was so strange, I was starting to believe I dreamt the whole night up. Kona, looked excited this morning to run but to be sure I took her out of lead to spare her the pressure (she can bare the weight of the world sometimes).



This run was even more excellent than yesterday, a little slower pace but less issues, which ended up leading to a faster time, by 2.5 minutes. The last turn to the straight away was less of a problem today, though the team still wanted to take a tight left. This time I caught the error earlier and was able to lead Okie over to the trail where she held and we continued to the finish smoothly! Great job Puppas.

And as an added bonus, since we were the only purebred 6 dog sprint team, we won our first race ever just by finishing!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4LYf8qgRUY?rel=0&w=420&h=315]

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ33RR8Jj2I?rel=0&w=420&h=315]

Great race, beautiful area, fun weekend traveling ByDog Siberian style!

Priest Lake Sled Dog Race Day 1

The first mandatory meeting wasn't until Saturday morning but we took the day Friday to take our time traveling up to Priest Lake. We rented a cabin at Elkins Resort (one of the generous race sponsors) and were quite pleased when we walked in. The cabin is quite spacious, warm and cozy. The logs in the fireplace lit up quickly and pretty soon after dogs were dropped and back cozy in their boxes, we were cozy in ours.

Saturday morning we arrived with enough time to comfortably unload and walk over to the musher meeting. Though the parking lot was full of Siberian teams, we were the only team in the 6 dog sprint purebred class. I was given bib number 20 (a good solid even number, I prefer even numbers) and soon enough we were headed down the trail Paluk and Kona in lead, Okanogan and Tank in swing and Tenny and Isis on wheel. The first mile was on a flat straight that was just smeared in dog poop already which caused some consternation for Tensaw but we got through it. Soon we were winding through the trees and speeds that impressed me, coming from our team.

The course was narrow, fast, flat and a lot of fun! The team was so focused for the first 4.5 miles and it was beautiful. Paluk was taking her gee/haw commands great and even ran us by a quick little squirrel that I thought would be the end of us.

But at a little more than a mile to go the focus disappeared and our quick trip was all undone. Around the last turn Paluk took it too tight and led the team onto a snowmobile track instead of the groomed trail. I tried multiple times to get her back to the trail as the lack of base where we were at was stressing the team. Finally we got back on the trail but Paluk attempted to turn the team around multiple times, often back off the trail following snowmobile turnouts. The finish was clearly in view. Did she not want to finish?

Finally after we ran the gauntlet of photographers (which was quite startling for Paluk) we finished. I think all in all it was a successful run.

Note: As Day 1 was actually Saturday but were out of internet range until now, Day 2 story will be soon to follow (with pictures and video).

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great run this morning and now we're stepping off the grid for Turkey day. So we're wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving now!

Flathead Sled Dog Days

We are currently driving back from our first flathead Sled Dog Days race. We ran in the 4-dog 4-mile race. The course was a icy but manageable and fun. I ran with Okanogan, Paluk, Kona and Tensaw. Both days went great. We were last by far but had a blast. As Cobey put it to someone after the first day we were 5 minutes behind in a 25 minute race. The dogs ran well and being there with all the other mushers and teams is a great experience. Doug Swingley was competing in the 12 dog 40 mile race and it was exciting to just be at the same race as him.

Annalisa came up on the first day and after all the races had concluded we ran the puppies (including her pups) with an awesome lead dog Aiyana Ferraro loaned to us for the run. We went about 7.5 miles and it was a lot of fun getting to have a long, enjoyable talk with Annalisa while I rode in the sled.

That was likely the last 4-dog race we'll run as our kennel has grown and can run farther distances. The Flathead Sled Dog Days next longest race distance was 25 miles and ort team is not in shape to run that distance this season.

Next weekend, the Darby Dog Derby!