Sisco

One of the hard things about owing dogs is that they live so much shorter than we do. Sisco was in the last litter born in my kennel on May 28th 2002. His father was Bass, my all time best leader, and his mother was Kira, my best small girl who is now living with Bonnie. Sisco was part of the team as I transitioned from recreation to Iditarod. He has run every race I've ever run. A strong honest wheel / team dog. He was a good companion, a true friend, and an honest dog.

Just before the 2009 Iditarod he came down with an auto-immune disease in his eyes. We got it under control, thanks to a great vet, and he finished that race with me (his second finish). Today, after a week long bout with increasing nausea and declining health, he was diagnosed with organ failure with no real chance of recovery. I had him put down at 12:30 Friday 10/16/09. I already miss him.

May he rest in God's peace.

Eric

Klinger

Jeff King sold me Klinger last December because he was tired of dealing with his chewing. Klinger was a perfect gentleman last season, even running Iditarod without destroying anything. This season has been a different story. Two harnesses and a dozen necklines later I decided to get serious. I like a product called Bitter Apple – tastes terrible, is non-toxic and doesn’t stain. Spray it on something and most dogs won’t touch it. Most dogs…

Yesterday Klinger started on a neckline. I sprayed the Bitter Apple straight into his mouth to give him a good taste of the stuff and create a strong aversion to it in his head. Then I soaked the lines. Not a minute later he was chewing on the neckline again. Repeat – spray into mouth to create aversion - it works, he really doesn’t like this - then soak the neckline again. Not a minute later he is chewing the neckline again – with just the tips of his front teeth so he doesn’t get the stuff in his mouth.

To heck with “Who’s smarter than a fifth grader”, who is smarter than a sled dog!?!

Keep ‘em Northbound

Eric

Rosemary

Rosemary got loose at the track the other day and ran down the trail. She didn’t even bat an eye when I called her name. I had 15 dogs out of a 19 dog team hooked to the quad. Finish hooking up the team and go after her, right? I grabbed Klinger and he had chewed through his harness. Find another harness; change them out, hook up Klinger. Grab the next dog, yell at Klinger. Hook up the next dog, yell at Klinger. Same process for the last two dogs (No I couldn’t leave them behind – they were my leaders…).

Start off down the two mile trail looking for Rosemary, who now had a 5 minute head start. After ½ hour Rosemary comes running up from behind us (we are doing laps on the 2 mile). She slides into position behind swing and runs with the team. I let them establish that pattern and after a few minutes call “whoa”. Rosemary slows, then runs between the leaders and continues down the trail. Call the team up and chase her, but running loose she easily outdistances us. I use the “gee-haw” trail to turn the team around and start running backwards on the trail. Almost an hour since she ran off, I see Rosemary coming down the trail towards us. Slam on the brakes. Jump off the quad. Grab Rosemary as she runs past. Hold her as she tries to keep going. Finally put her back into the team and finish the run.

Whew! Don’t you just love dogs.

Keep ‘em Northbound

Eric

Some days are just like that.

The runs have gotten longer and it just doesn’t make sense to run two 10 dog teams any more. For the last week I’ve been running a single 20 dog string. The power is awesome! Wednesday dawned cool and damp – it was literally freezing when we got to the track. Everything was wet from the rain the night before. First time it’s been under 40 when we ran and the dogs were pumped, even after running Monday and Tuesday. They started screaming with 14 dogs on the line and by the time I had all 20 hooked up they were foaming at the mouth and throwing clods of dirt into the air. When I released the snub line it felt like I’d been kicked.

About a mile into the run the dogs had almost settled down when we came around a corner and there was a huge cow moose standing across the trail 50 feet in front of my leaders. I slammed on the brakes, locked up all 4 wheels and started to skid on the mud. The moose looked up at me and wondered off into the woods. Whoa. Whoa. I’m trying to stop the team and give the moose time to get away. The dogs pay me no more attention than they do the occasional spider web across the trail. I finally give up, get off the brake, call the team up and get out of there. On the way back I see 30 feet of skid marks. Thank heaven that was a nice moose.

Five miles later there is a branch down across the trail. I stop the team and get off to remove it. Just then they surge and start to pull the 4-wheeler with the brakes locked. They pull the quad part way up the side of the trail and it rolls over. I’m running up making unkind comments and begging for cooperation. Catch them and roll the quad back. Minor damage – the speedometer housing is broken and the throttle level sheared off. The bad news is it isn’t my quad, but one I borrow from a friend on the days she isn’t using it to train my team. Luckily she is a very good friend and very understanding. Now I’m looking for Yamaha parts.

Eric

Basil and the Rabbit

The dogs in the back lot were fussing tonight. Something was out there. I looked, but couldn’t see anything. I grabbed the water bucket and started checking that all the dogs had water for the night. Basil was nervous, pacing around the north side of her circle, looking out towards the woods. Sure enough there was a very bedraggled small grey rabbit stuck in the fence barely within Basil’s reach – inside the dog lot. I couldn’t tell if Basil was curious or concerned. Back in the house to get a heavy coat and gloves (rabbits bite and claw), then back to the rabbit. I reached down and as soon as I touched it, the rabbit screamed and tried to run through the fence. It’s head was firmly trapped in the chicken wire mesh behind the farm wire fence. Basil came over to consult. The rabbit tried to push out with both hind feet. Yep, it’s head was truly caught. With me there to protect her, Basil came up for a closer look – sticking her head under my arm. Back in the house to get wire cutters. Outside, Basil was consulting again, crowding up for a closer look. I found the critical wire behind the rabbit’s head, carefully cut it and not the rabbit, which screamed and bounded off without so much as a thank you. Basil gave it one of those “that will show you” looks and settled down for a long fall nap.

New Dog Truck Signs

A friend of mine (Louder than Words) made these signs for my dog truck to help promote my kennel and demo his business. Cool, eh?

First day of fall training

I forgot what it was like to move 1,000 lbs of wild, crazy, squirming, frantic dog 4 times in the dark, rain, and mud. Ugh. Finally got to bed at 4 AM. Got to love the first day of fall training.

I’m grateful to even be training. I broke the frame on my quad last January – saved enough money to buy another used one and had to spend it to pay the mortgage (wives are funny about things like that). Bonnie Foster loaned me her machine until she needs it to train her own team – thank you Bonnie. Something will come together, it always does, but until then I’m so broke I can’t afford to pay attention. :-)

I’ve been feeding once a day in the morning, so the dogs didn’t get fed after the run last night because they had already eaten. I didn’t feed them this morning because I’ll feed after we run tonight. Normally they would be objecting telling me how I’m starving them, but at 5 PM they are curled up sleeping off last night’s exercise. One more run tonight and they’ll get two days off.

Stay tuned

Eric

Lost Dog is Found

Keiko is a 7 yr old female, born in my kennel, who has run 3 Iditarods with me. She is a little skittish and can be a little shy with people she doesn’t know, but loves me. I placed her with a girl that wanted a dog and wanted to learn to mush. They are good people, but not really knowledgeable about dogs. The next day she slipped her collar and ran off. Of course they chased her trying to catch her and she just ran harder.

Keiko was seen the following day trying to cross a busy street. She looked frenzied, darting first one way and then the other. She tried to go back to the new house, but one of the younger children saw her, hollered “Keiko” and started after her. Off she went again. Then she wasn’t seen for three days. After that she was spotted several times, but always moving, and gone by the time I got there.

After 7 days on the loose, she was spotted bedded down under some trees, and was still there when I arrived. I gently called her name, clicked my tongue, coaxed and slowly walked up to her. At 10 feet I hit her discomfort zone. She sat up and I froze and dropped to squat on one knee. I gently called her again. She stood and looked around, then started to move away. I called one more and she paused, then walked off into the woods. I left my shirt with some liver treats near her nest hoping she would come back.

Four hours later I came back and she had returned. This time I stopped 20 feet out, dropped to a squat and called her. She stood, started towards me, and then backed away. I called again and tried to coax her in, but she was too nervous. I got the bag of liver treats and shook them. Her ears came up and she focused on the bag. Slowly she walked towards me, crawling the last bit and dropping in submission inches from my knee. I gently reached out to pet her and she almost climbed into my lap. I slipped a new collar on her, tightened it and gave her the liver treats. She was so hungry she almost ate the bag.

Eric

Evil Escapades in Eagle River

Last Tuesday we (my dogs and sled) were invited to be part of an old time melodrama "Evil Escapades in Eagle River". You can check us out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGLaDXB4PM4 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyR4mnjKI_s&NR=1

There is more information on the show at http://www.akfinearts.org/id12.html

Enjoy

Eric

The Dalton Highway

Late May is a good time to drive the Dalton Highway. South of the Brooks Range it is spring, north of the range it is late winter to early spring. That means the bugs haven't are not there yet! The road is good by dirt road standards, and about 25% of it has been paved or chip sealed. There are some sections of road damage, both paved and not. Take it easy and you'll have no problems. Princess and Holland even run tour buses to Deadhorse.

It is 240 miles from Coldfoot to Deadhorse with no services in between. That is the longest run. Gas was $3.70 / gal, about $1 more than Anchorage. Carry your food for the whole trip with you. There is a store in Deadhorse, but it caters to the workers there. They all have access to cafeterias to eat, so there are no staples, only snack items.

Beautiful country, lots of critters (far more north of the Brooks Range than I had ever seen in the state before), and friendly people. We saw Moose, Caribou, Squirrles, Dall Sheep, Red Fox, Musk Ox, Snow Geese, Loons, Ducks (I think some Eiders), Tundra Swans, Trumpter Swans, an owl, a golden Eagle, Bald Eagles, Ptarmigan, and a Crane.

Only one adventure. The Subaru has two switches to turn on the parking lights. I bumped one that I didn't know about and left the parking lights on. With the midnight sun I never knew until we had a dead battery at Galbraith Lake. Luckily there was another camper there who gave us a jump.

I always thought the Arctic was a cool place. With clear skies the midnight sun was relentless, beating down on us 24 hours a day. We slept in the back of the Subaru and it was impossible to stay in bed past 7 AM. The poor car went from plesantly cool to ovcn. Guarenteed to wake even me.

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Eric









Unimproved BLM campground just north of the Yukon River where we spent our first night. There is an outhouse just out of sight, but little else.












There is only one reason for a trash can like this. It is very furry and much larger than we are. I really wanted to see a bear on this trip, but preferred it to be from the car while we were driving :-)















This bridge over the Yukon River carries both the pipeline and the Dalton Highway.



















Early bloom on Finger Mountain




















Finger Rock on Finger Mountain is a famous landmark that points the way to Fairbanks. It was used by early bush pilots as well as nomadic hunters.















The Arctic Circle stop on the Dalton Hwy
















Looking north from the stop on the Arctic Circle













Grayling Lake on the Dalton Hwy.
















The post office at Wiseman Alaska.



















Sukakpak Mountain, a landmark south of the Brooks Range seen from the south.