SPRING

It's been busy here. Bonnie had 6 pups: 4m and 2f. We have finalized having a box made by outlaw sled. Harness broke the 5 yearlings and working to afford all these dogs!! Kai and I started agility again and are struggling. Being so close to the Mach I can taste it has back fired and we are not qing much lately. Hopefully I will relax and let it happen. I also took on my bosses Portugese water dog to train for agility. Interesting breed very smart dog and wants to please me all the time. Northome Pip has settled in real nice and looks good with our team. We are thrilled to have him. His power will be notice on the line. We have our dogtruck for sale and two dogs. Ka-Bi's Rhonda and one of our yearling boys. Too many boys to sort through so one can go and we will let Bonnie's pups grow up. Rhonda will be hard to part with as she is one of our best dogs in the yard. Already produced a litter for a friend of mine and has raced for me 09',08' and,07'. With so many up and coming females I doubt we will get to her to breed especially now that I also have her brother. I also started a new job in December working for Wizard of Paws a Physical Rehabilitation Center for animals.

http://www.wizardofpaws.net/pages/wizardofpaws_staff.htm

Debbie Saunders has sponsored our team for a few years now and when I was given the chance to work for her I was thrilled. I condition and rehab dogs in an underwater treadmill most of my days. I basically assist Deb with all duties that need be done. It is also a boarding facility for dogs. Working 3 long days allows me to train the team the other 4 days. I also have some great perks with the job in terms of having Deb evaluate structure of dogs and check on injuries of the team and help to rehab them quicker. It is turning into a new career for me which is welcoming after being in education for so many years. The boat is in the water and waiting for fishing season to begin. Not much caught last year but with me going back to racing full time this year we need to get those freezers filled!



WINTER

I could say it was the winter of discontent but it ended up being a great winter. First snow fall was not that great and three races were cancelled that we would have competed in so we were relieved to realize we didn't miss a complete season. With pups on the ground and more on the way, traveling to California with Kai to compete in AKC Invitationals and giving dogsled rides on the weekends our winter was busier than I expected. The goal this season was to work our yearlings into our season team and put more pups on the ground. Not racing helps to think much more clearer as to what our future goals are. We like the direction our kennel is going and hope we can build upon it. We have a new truck:GMC 3500 diesel with dually wheels and are in the process of having Outlaw build us a new chew proof dogbox. Our truck will be for sale come late June. We now have 5 pups and a new 6wk old pup from a leased female from fellow musher Lev Shvarts named Lone Ranger. Bonnie is due with Only pups any day now.



NOVEMBER

We have just completed our first month of training. By now my miles would be piling up but our focus is different this year. With 6 yearlings training with 7 adults the first month it was important for Bill and I to take our time. I didn't want the yearlings to stress out which I have seen in the past by pushing them too soon. I am constantly juggling who to run with who and I like to match up an adult with a yearling. Slowly the yearlings are progressing great. There are 5 from Coal/Stella litter and one from Northome-Zorro who's dam is Coal's sister. I like their attitude so far. Venus has emerged to want to run lead. I will alternate her at lead at least twice a week. Bonnie has been good with her. Gale also shows signs of being able to run lead and she is also training some foundations work in agility. Finch and Zorro have been working together at wheel. Believe it or not my two smallest built dogs but they pull hard. Wilma who is most like Coal just puts her head down and runs as does Ellsbury.

We have two new litters of pups. Stella/Harvey with NCIS favorites: Jethro,Ziva,Abbey and Lily/Only litter named after two of our closest family members my mom and Bill's brother: LuLu and Leon. Temps are dropping so able to start training in the late afternoon and sleep a bit longer vs 4am runs!

We are excited to give dogsled rides for Northern Moose Lodge this winter. www.greatnorthernmoose.com/ Come stay at the lodge and enjoy a ride with our team!



Males or Females?

This is a subject that I hear so many people stress over. I always wonder what is better for dogsledding. Most tend to want males and will sell off more females from a litter. Obviously easier to manage a kennel full of males and only a few breeding females and of course racing with girls in heat can be a nitemare. I also hear alot about you need big strong males for power on the hills. It's easy for me to say I like females better but that is what nature has given me. (11 females and 5 males makes my race team this year) If I was to breed and sell off my females I wouldn't have a team! I actually sold two males off my race team this year. I was stressing out a few years ago when I began breeding and ended up with a yard full of females. Someone pointed out to me that Ken Anderson came in 5th in the Iditarod one year with an all female team. Well I began the process of training and racing what I had and observed some interesting facts. I really like that females mature much quicker, tend to have more drive and aren't as "needy". They seem to be all business in harness. They seem to have more speed and with less weight to carry don't heat up as quickly as my males. Yes, they lack the muscle mass because of their size so the pulling power is less but it hasn't hurt my team yet. The last two races of the season I had 2 females at lead who definitely were a faster combo then the male and female I had in lead for the first two races.I came in first with Lily and Bonnie at lead in Stratford race and 10th in the Can Am 60 and top finishing siberian team with same combo. I do love the 5 males I have. The power that Only and Harvey give me are awesome,Coal is the most solid male lead dog I own and of course there is Clyde who is the best all around male I have in the yard. The two yearling males are showing lead potential but not as big as my other males(which leads me to another discussion about the size of the siberian being bred today) So with that being said and waiting on the possiblity of 3 litters of pups hoping they are males or females is not a concern as much as just having some healthy pups. I had to chuckle at a person who just contacted me and inquire about wanting 2 small females from my future litters. Gee not sure I can give up my girls!!



Best of Both Worlds

Once the season had ended I felt burnt out from all the traveling to train the dog team this past winter. I felt like maybe it was time to move. Hard time to discuss this with Bill as the end of the dogsledding season is the start of fishing season for him. So I kept it in the back of my mind and started to work and go through the motion of taking care of the yard, kennel and house. It can be alot of upkeep when you are on the road for 5 months training. We travel anywhere from 1 1/2hrs - 5hrs to train on snow. I always have a hard time adjusting to being back in civilization after not following a normal schedule for so many months. We literally eat and sleep running dogs. I am miserable when that comes to an abrupt end and back to work. However, this past August while sitting out on our newly built patio by Bill, I looked around at our yard. We had the kennels in front of us with the dogs sitting close to the fence to see us, we had our pond with frogs croaking, my new fenced agility area and I said I love it here. Relief came across Bill's face as he said me too. I then began to realize we had it good. We had our nice yard, kennnel setup,family and friends in CT that were super supportive of us. From friends who build doghouses and paint our dogtruck for us(Russ and Donna Bedner) to friends who helped me remove dewclaws off all our pups and would come over at all times of the nite when I am watching over a litter being whelped(Steve and Adele Gray) to my agility buddies that I would spend weekends with competiting in agility. We also lived in a town where no one seems to mind our dogs or their howling. Then there are the many mushing friends we have north. First and foremost Christine Richardson from Seal Cove Kennels who opens her house to us to stay with to train and also Adam and Nga Rewa. Of course I think the reason we get invited back is because of the homemade meals we bring:) But we have other friends who we enjoy staying with also-Judy and Al and of course Faith and Bruce to watch sunday afternoon football. So when we try to balance out where to live full time we realize we are fulltime in CT and North each half of the year. I guess that is our life and it suits us just fine. Looks like with all those miles adding up on the dogtruck we will need to consider a new truck and box within the next year. But for now it looks like a new coat of paint will get us through another season.



#5 in the USA Kryska's Kai of the Valley!!

After a long successful racing season I woke up early April to realize that Kai turned 7yrs old. She came to live with Bill and I by chance at 5months of age. I went to visit Maureen Marcoux of Kryska's Sibes and she said here take this girl home I can't keep her in the yard. She was so darn cute and already was in my back seat so how could I say no. Little did I know that Kai had the call of the wild. She would climb our 5ft fence like a cat and then terrorize the neighborhood. If she wasn't climbing over she was digging out. Ok let me take her to obedience class and get a recall on this dog. That would solve the issue. In the mean time Bill had added fencing and filled in holes with concrete blocks. Our yard was starting to look like a prison. So Kai went to class and loved it. One day while leaving class she saw the agility equipment out and her eyes lit up. My instructor said you might want to try that with her. Ok this looks neat. So began our intro to the world of agility. We trained and Kai loved it but in her own way. She liked to run the course the way she wanted to not the way the numbers read to run it. It was a struggle for 2yrs but I was as stubbron as her and this sport was different and wanted to learn it. Finally we were ready to compete but still had a hard time channeling Kai to stay in the ring. She became the crowd entertainer with buzzing around in her own order and then exiting the ring. I knew the potential was there but would I ever have success? My instructor stuck by me and we slowly began to figure out what made her tick. She slowly started to earn her titles and stay in the ring. Two years ago she was ranked 15th. This past winter she had moved up to 10th place. Not bad considering I don't trial that much. This spring I said to Bill its time to commit the season to Kai. She was such a good dog this past winter. Sat in the truck for endless hours while I trained and raced and even harness broke and trained the yearlings that we have now. Bill said go for it. It meant trialing at least 3 weekends of every month this past spring to see if we could get her ranking moved up. They take the top 5 dogs in every AKC breed that does agility and you compete in the AKC Invitationals in December. The deadline was June 30th. So Kai and I went on a rampage. Slowly double q's racked up. Well am proud to say she made the 5th spot by 21 pts. We are both really proud of her. She is an amazing dog. Two weekends ago she double qed both days. Oh no! Those go towards her ranking already for next year. And the adventure continues. Through Kai I have learned how my siberans think and has helped me immensely in training my sled dogs. Every once in awhile you have a dog that comes into your life that teaches you so much. That would be our Kai. Thanks to Maureen for breeding such a dog and to Bill who stayed home most of the spring taking care of all our dogs so Kai and I could compete on weekends. Also to my friend Nancy and her dog Radar who have been our traveling agility buddies.



Where Have We Been???

This seems to be the summer that never began. I was substitute teaching but not getting called much so decided to try something new. My friend owns a grooming shop and needed help so said I'll try it. Loved the job. Heck working with dogs vs kids is a cake walk! However the commute back and forth was rough. Took 2hrs out of my day and left me tired and cranky. So this week will be my last week and will go back to the school setting for the year. Looks like a rebuilding year as none of our girls went into season yet. Plan to have 3 litters whenever they are bred and will just train and do some short races if possible this season. The goal is to train all 16 together and get them ready to run Can Am 250 in 2011. Bought a new atv so will be training differently this season. Yearlings are looking great and even have one who may emerged as our future agility star. Have two new dogs in the yard. Next week will update all pups and new dogs with pictures.



No End in Sight!

I started reading this book which is about Rachel Scordis who is a legally blind musher who races the Iditarod. It is her life story from birth till running her first Iditarod. I was fascinated with her struggle to compete in the mushing world. Little did I realize that I would be working with blind high school students two months later teaching them how to mush. From all the news coverage we received, Bill and I have been busy with school programs. Someone from the State of Connecticut Blind Services contacted us and wanted to know if we could do a program about mushing for high school blind students. I jumped at the opportunity. We met the directors and I found a great place to do the program-Northwest Park in Windsor, CT. It was to be a 4hr adventure. I had everything in place on paper but as we drove to the site that morning of the program I began to panic. Concerns if I really could teach kids to mush that had difficulty seeing. I began to change plans I had written down doubting the kids can bring the dogs to the line or even put the harnesses on. Then I was concern with how the dogs would react to the kids. Would they spook even though they love doing the programs? Finally Bill said let's just see what they can do. So we unloaded and began to setup all our equipment and picket the 11 dogs we brought. We went in to meet all 17 students and begin to explain the day and how to approach the dogs. I was able to meet the students and learn their abilities. My first thought is not to treat them like they are handicap but take the approach that their learning style was different and I was to figure this all out in 4hrs. Bill brought Rhonda in to teach the students how to pet the dog and get them comfortable. I began to explain about Rachel Scordis being legally blind and a musher. That did it. Their body language told me they were excited to learn a legally blind musher existed and now had the attitude that they could do it. We went out to meet the dogs and the dogs were great. They seem to sense something different and were actually more gentle than usual. After some time with the dogs we brought students back in to explain about the sled. Everything was a hands on approach right down to sitting in the sled and flipping the sled over to feel the plastic and how the sled is tied. We then stretched out the lines and they felt the way down learning what the various size lines signified and how to hook up the dogs. They learn how to put the harness on the dog. Again we brought Rhonda in to demonstrate. She was so sweet and patient as the students learn how to harness her and hook her to the line. We brought out various equipment needed for mushing including mittens, hats and boots. They loved to try them on and listen to my stories about racing in sub zero conditions. We broke for lunch and Bill and I took some time to check on the dogs and discuss how things were going so far. Feedback from the directors was great so that was a relief. The afternoon was filled with hooking teams up with the students help and giving everyone a ride on the wheel rig. The dogs were pumped to finally run so was good to let the directors take a ride first to calm dogs down a bit before the students jumped on. Some were screaming as they went around a corner but I realize they were giving the dogs commands following Bill’s command. It was awesome to see. Taking the ride put the whole program into perspective for the students. You can imagine the rush for them to step up on the rig and allow a stranger to take you for a ride with 4 screaming dogs in front of you. The session ended with all the students giving the dogs some water and snacks. They enjoyed that immensely. We brought the group back in for a question and answer period but there was not much more to discuss. The smiles on the student’s faces were enough for me to know they had a great time.

Last week while training my racing team I got on my familiar trail and closed my eyes. Try it some time. It is quite a rush. The bonding trust that Rachel must have with her dogs is amazing.



March 2009 Where do we go from here?

We accomplish the goals we were striving for this season. We wanted to bring a competitive team to the start line of 4 races this year and finish strong. Recovery was as important as how we placed. We only had 12 dogs in our pool but they were healthy and hard working dogs. Bill and I trained this team together most of the time. It was enjoyable for me to have him on the runners with me to give me some feedback. The disappointing dog was Coal. I assume he had a injury that wouldn't heal and he was off the team since Eagle Lake unable to keep up with the team. Even though he tested negative twice for lyme it became apparent he had some tick borne disease. Now on antibiotics he is back to his old self but lost his leadership for the season. The good news was that Lily emerged as a leader and was very willing to work with Bonnie at lead. Bonnie is a good gee/haw leader but won't always set the pace. Lily is not a command leader but sets a good pace and is responsive to me. They worked well as a team. Another amazing dog that I just don't give enough credit to is Only. He is one of the few dogs I have that seems to improve with age. He has not missed a race in the past 3yrs. Since taking him out of wheel he has actually learn to lope and runs in the front end of my team. He puts his head down and runs his heart out. Realize looking at his offsprings Rhonda and Harvey that he needs to be used at stud again. His drive is phenomenal. He is a good eater and tough feet. He snaps that line when we are going up hill. He will be 7 in July and no doubt he will still be racing next season.

Now we are in the process of sorting out the kennel and seeing how we can improve. Unfortunately we had to let go of some good dogs. Issac and Daffodil went to live with the Chapmans in Maine and settled in nicely. Shonto will be going to live with Robin Harrison in Virginia. This then leaves room to add some more Northome blood to the kennel. We will be taking a road trip in April and coming home with a few dogs. Planned breedings are Bonnie/Lev; Rhonda/Clyde and Lily/Only. Have to see when these dogs go into heat and whether they will have pups and recover in time for racing season. The one litter we did have last year is looking great and training. This litter shows alot of lead potential. They are good eaters and show some power in running. I have never had a litter at 9 months that just bangs in their harness when we stop. My eyes are lit training this litter. They seem to have Coal's build but show signs of their mom Stella in their sweet personality.

As for racing we don't feel we are ready for longer races as we want to have a larger pool of dogs to train. With 5 yearlings on the team next year it would be tough to force them into longer than 100 mile races. We are in this game for the long run so no point in rushing to the start line of a race we don't think we are prepared for. It's also mental preparation on the part of the musher. Stay tune for new additions.



Can Am 60 2009

This race seem to come faster this year and we were starting to feel tired from the season. Had some long good training runs the weekend before but as usual was concern that I trained too much for this time of the year. I had two dogs with sore wrists so decided to give them a good 3 days rest. It seemed like the whole season had just caught up to Bill and I and even the dogs. Had pressure sitting on me to do well being the last race of the year. We awoke early friday at 2:30am and were on the road by 3:15 to Fort Kent which is a 9hr drive. Dogs were pretty mellow and uneventful ride. We breezed through vet check and it was then that I realize the awesome shape the team was in. Our host family made dinner for us so we enjoyed a quiet evening home with them. It rained most of the evening which I knew would make the trails hard so I had some concerns. Just hoped it wouldn't be icy. Saturday arrived and we were set to go. The parking lot was a sheet of ice but between Bill,Sandi,Cathi,and Nga Rewa they got my team to the start. I gave Bill a high five and I was off flying down Main St. The trail was definitely fast and hard. Crossed the road and on to the rail bed. I rode the drag hard. No point in blowing out wrists on the first 7 miles. Team moved along well and we breezed into the checkpt in 2:37. I stopped briefly to snack and check wrists. Team didn't want to stop so after picking up everything we moved along. I saw Claude Baril lope by me to win last year and Rene Marchildon the year before. I wonder how they got their dogs to lope so easily to the finish line. I finally got to experience that with my team. With Lily and Bonnie at lead the team just loped through the woods with ease. The miles of trails seem to go by and before we knew it we were on the potatoe fields. I had passed a few teams so I started to think I was in placing order. I gave Lily the command to pick it up and she responded. We did have one wrong turn that had my sled flip over in soft snow and get dragged for a bit. Finally back on the trail and on to the finish line. The team came screaming down the ski hill with me dragging on the mat. I have to admit I was beaming with pride at my team's performance. I know Bill was thrilled also. 6:18 finish time was a major improvement!

MVD: The Team

This was a total team effort. First time all season I was running just 8 dogs. Not one could slack off or it put more pressure on the other dogs. Lily kept a great pace for us with Bonnie taking command of directions. Clyde and Stella at swing were keeping the speed up. Only and Violet provided the power we needed on the hills and Rhondy and Harvey also kept us moving on the hills.



Stratford Nighthawks Sleddog Race 40 miler 2009

This is a local race which I enjoy running each year. I have won the race twice running the 30 mile class. I finally had enough dogs to enter the open 40 mile class. Trail on rail bed seem hard so opted to just run 10. We had a house full of people at the cabin for the weekend all racing. It was buzzing with excitement and a little bit of trash talking:) The team took off on saturday and I held them back on the rail bed as to not wear them down so quickly. I held on and rode the drag mat hard. Once we cross bog rd which is always a nitemare I let them fly up the hill. Christine Richardson was who I was looking for and knew she was the favorite to win. We kept running hard but no sign of her. Finally I caught her on west side trail as she was snacking her team. She is training to do longer distances than me so important that she keeps her habits the same. We flew along but my team couldn't come close to keeping up with her on hills. She has an extremely powerful team of huskies. She was gone and didn't see her again. I went to cross bog rd and was dragged on the way back. Thank goodness for Jim Lalla who grabbed my sled to stop me. My team doesn't seem to care if I am being dragged it's all about just running. I thank Jim and as I swung my pole around not realizing Jim was still there, I bonked him on the head with my pole. Sorry Jim! Once we hit the rail bed I realize Christine was not too far ahead. We went back and forth passing until my team seem to put it into a different gear. I ducked down on my sled for wind resistance and said lets go to the truck! The team flew along. We finish in fist place with a 5 min lead. Christine was surprised at my team's performance. I was concern I might have ran them too hard when it's a two day race. I had the team back up to the cabin stretching and sleeping in the sun for the rest of the afternoon. They seem good and ate well. Day two started off ok but didn't have to hold them back too much on the rail bed. Not a good sign. I hit bog rd and was dragged really bad down the road which was pavement now. I finally manage to get the team to turn and then was dragged bad on the other trail. Finally righted the sled and shook myself off. I was hurting pretty good and tore up my ski pants. I was mad and proceeded to pout about my pants and just being dragged in general. I fixed the dog's lines and regroup. Must have blown a good 4min. I finally got my head back in the game and continue on my way. Never saw Christine. We worked hard on the hills and passed alot of 30 milers but never saw Christine. I kept asking mushers but they said she is well ahead. The stubbron Irish that I am wouldn't allow me give up. So we kept moving. Made it across bog rd without crashing and hit the rail bed. The dogs flew and we coasted to the finish line. Bill and Christine were there and we all smiled and thought it's going to be real close. Wouldn't have matter either way to me. Christine has been a good friend and mentor to me for the past two seasons. I knew her dogteam pretty well and knew how hard she works with them. When it was announce that I edged out 1st by 16secs I was shocked. I guess that extra effort had paid off.

MVD: Lily

I had a done some fall training with Lily at lead but then kept her at team for the first two races. I decided few days before the race to run her with Bonnie in a training run and see how she did. She did well so gave her the go for the race. Clyde was to be the backup guy if she fell apart. She was awesome running with Bonnie. Her speed matched her confidence and was exciting to see her run as well as she did. Finally another lead dog emerges for our team.



Greenville 100 February 2009

This race was quite a contrast from the first one. First of all is was 60 degrees warmer! I ran all 12 dogs for the first time in a race. The start was on a lake. I was hesitant about Coal running lead. He seem a bit sore but he was improving. First mistake. Two miles out he slowed down and knew he wasn't going to set the pace I was hoping for. Instead of stressing him out I decided to move him towards the back and bring Clyde up. Clyde ran well. It was a beautiful trail and views were awesome. I was content to move along passing back and forth with one other musher. Few Canadians passsed but for the most part I was traveling with middle 2/3rds of the pack. Distance mushing I find very enjoyable as mushers will chat back and forth with you on the trail. So we coasted along and dogs were moving better than I expected. Afternoon sun was starting to get warm but dogs dealt well with it. Mile from the checkpoint two deer crossed our path and that picked up the speed of the team and we flew into the checkpoint in good position. That's when it fell apart. Isaac didn't eat so I knew he had to be dropped. Coal also for his injury. With three girls in standing heat and being parked very tightly next to all the teams it caused some stress for my team. They could not handle the excitement of spectators and so much action going around. They ate well and then stood the entire time. I told Bill this was not good they would tire themselves out before the second half of the race. We had a 2:20 layover. They continued to scream. Very embarassing for me. Obviously I will need more camping trips next season so they understand that straw means to lie down and nap! We finally departed at 3:21 and it was warm. At least 35 degrees. The dogs were not moving well partly because the sun was really beating on them but more so because now they realize they should have napped! So we moved along and I worked hard pedaling and poling to keep the speed up. I never was so happy to see the sun go down. I usually don't enjoy running in the dark but I was hoping that would cool things off and make the speed pick up. Well climbing mountains on the way home and sleet coming down was not as fun as flying down them going out. Then I knew it was getting warmer as it started to rain. No one passed us but I wasn't catching anyone either. I finally saw a light of a team ahead. That perked up the dogs and we moved along trying to catch them. Finally did with 8 miles to go. It was our good friend Adam who we had been training with alot this season. The dog teams both pick up the pace and we had a good time racing across the lake to the finish line. Adam beat me by 4 seconds to capture 8th place! Dogs recovery was great as they all dove into their food.

MVD: Bonnie Bonnie continues to be the solid rock in front of our team. She is not the pace setter but is driving force. At one point in the race Clyde decide he needed a snow bath and dove into the bank to roll around. Bonnie whipped him around and dragged him back on to the trail. She never seems to get injured and just screaming to go all the time. We would be no where without her this season.



Eagle Lake 100 January 2009

Back with a 6th place finish and some money in my pocket! Overall it was a good race. Tough on me not feeling 100% and tough trail on the dogs in the first leg. Extremely cold weather conditions. We took off under sunny skies and flew along till we hit some soft punch snow that dogs just sunk down into. There I began to have problems. The entire team slowed down except for lead dog Coal who insisted on loping. I saw him fully extended and his back end drop down into the soft snow. He had wrenched his back. The tough dog he was he continued but my gut told me it was not good. Hard to get off and help the team as I kept sinking through. I lost my ski pole and could not put a snow hook down. Coal stopped. Obviously something was wrong. Bonnie was amazing trying to drag him. I decided to take him out of lead and put him at swing. Clyde got the call who never raced lead but has trained alot. We moved along better for awhile and then Coal stopped again. The team ran him over and I struggled to untangle the mess with no hooks to hold. I did this at least 3 times and then moved him to wheel. I knew it would be impossible to put him in the sled bag but he seem more comfortable at wheel tagging along. We moved at a slow pace and thought we would never get there. A few other dogs were off their tug and I was considering scratching at the checkpoint. I wasn't looking forward to coming home in even colder temps with only 7 dogs. Once I got to the checkpoint I realized everyone had a rough time with the trail. I felt better. I was only 2min out of 5th placeand figured I had blown a go od 15 min on the trail with fixing the team. I had vets look over Coal and he was dropped. I set about with my checkpoint procedure. Dogs ate well. I settled them down and they went to sleep right away. Had to move a few dogs around because of the heat business. Stella was backing up to an alaskan team looking for an opportunity. She was moved to lay by the sled. I was happy with my checkpoint procedure. Much improved over last year. Went in to eat and chat with fellow mushers. It is a great atmosphere. Blazing fire going in this huge fireplace and woodstove in the dining area. Ate well and had some good long talks about what else? Training and dogs! Finally time to go back out and get ready to go. Put booties on all the dogs and took their jackets off. All 9 were on their feet ready to go. I was thrilled to see that. Took off at 8:41 and flew along the trail. Clyde was real happy leading and was proud of him. I began to feel nauseous and was cold with winds whipping. I didn't quite have the energy to push the team hard. I was afraid of getting sick. So allowed them to go at their own pace and we came in 6th. I was thrilled with our team. Bill was there at the finish line and immediately began to unclip the dogs and hook them to the truck. He took off harnesses and booties while I just stood there in a daze. I went and sat with Clyde for awhile to tell him he did a great job and then Bonnie. Those are two real special dogs to me. The entire team ran hard and no slack tugs coming home. We improved out times and recovery looked good. We fed them and packed them up back to hotel room. I slept soundly for 4hrs and back to awards program. It was a good start to our season. It is such a team effort this year as Bill and I have trained them on the atv all fall and alot on the sled. His being able to take over the team at the finish line was key. The team was a veterans:Bonnie/Clyde,Lily,Only/Stella,Harvey/Violet, Daffadil/Rhonda

MVD: Clyde I wasn't sure Clyde would step it up like he did. He seem to know I needed him to take charge and he was up to the task. He ran awesome on the way home charging the hills and happy to be leading. He may have not done as well in the agility ring this past summer but him and I have a special bond.



January 2009

Training hard and miles adding up. Eating habits continue to be very good which was a goal of ours this year. Our interview with NY Times came out: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/nyregion/connecticut/11musherct.html?_r=1 Check it out! From the article we received a phone call from local tv station who wants to do an interview with us in February. Very exciting. We now have 3 girls in heat besides the pups which makes training a bit difficult. We are running them through it as we don't have a choice. Hoping it will be ok for Eagle Lake. Did another camping trip to settle dogs on gangline. Friend of ours hopes his team doesn't have to park next to ours at the race as my team continues to not settle well after their run. They just love to sing!! Few short runs this week and off to the first race of the season.

Race Plans for 2009

Eagle Lake 100 Jan. 24

Greenville Wilderness 100 Feb. 7

Stratford Nighthawks 40 Feb. 14-15

Can-Am 60 Feb. 28

Bartlett Fun Run March 14



December 2008

Well December started off icy. It was ironic that in the beginning of December we were traveling south to find dirt to run on instead of being off training because of icey conditions. Dogs are training well. Bonnie and Coal continue to look solid at lead. Clyde is next in line and has been handling leading to take pressure off of Coal. Bonnie seems to be insulted if she is not leading every run. Clyde has matured remarkably this year and am thrilled at his progress. He eats well and is never injured. He is definitely going to be bred to Rhonda in the spring. Rhonda has finally matured and eating well also. Her new spot is wheel and she seems to be quite happy there. I still think she has potential to run lead but this isn't the year to force that issue. Amazing that her 35lb sister-Pearl is leading Stead's Open Team this year. Stella has trained well which was a concern after her having pups. She seems to be faster this season and eating well also. It was an issue last year the eating habits of some of my dogs. I think a year of maturity and keeping stress levels down has made all the difference. Shonto is holding his own as a yearling on the team. He won't see any racing time till mid February. The miles are adding up for the team and we had our first camping trip with two other mushers late december. Teaching the dogs how to settle on the gangline is a must this year with two 100 mile races planned. They ran well but settling down is still an issue. Plenty of time to work on it. As for our 5 pups we are thrilled with them. We almost lost one on hookup. One of the pups had chewed Gale's tug loop which Bill didn't realize till he grabbed it to hook her up. He was left with the line in his hand and Gale put her head down and headed for the trail. I ran after her and then stopped and watched her run. Wow was all I could say. Then screamed to hook up the rest of the puppy team and see if we could catch her. It was an extremely busy snowmobile trail and chances were she would either get hit or duck off the trail into town on a busy road. Sure enough after we hit the trail here came Gale running hard back towards the team. She wasn't stopping for anything and I had one chance to leap off the sled and tackle her. I manage and in one motion hooked her back into the gangline and off we went again. I figured she did an extra 3 miles that day! These pups are the beginning if what I see to be my next distance team. Coal will be bred to Bonnie in the spring as what he has produced is what we are looking for. An interview with the New York Times is in the works which we are very excited about. We could use more snow!!

November 2008

This has been a busy month so far. First to report Kai had a first place finish at the Siberian National Speciality Show in jumpers. She looked awesome running and someone mention that she runs more like a border collie. The disappointment was the morning run with 2 jumps to the finish line I took off running faster which confused her and she skipped the jump to catch up to me. She missed qualifing and would have placed first being the highest scoring dog at the trial. Her morning run was 15 seconds faster than the other siberian. Hard lesson learned. Clyde had some nice runs but no q's. It was great to meet fellow agility enthusiasts and compare our siberians. Kai has one more big trial for the year on the 21st of this month and then she will switch hats and be a sled dog for the rest of the winter. We packed up the kennel of 20 dogs and headed up to our winter cabin the first weekend in November. Wasn't sure how the pups who just turned 5 months would handle it. They were great. We setup our picket lines in a triangle so they were facing the other dogs. They fuss a bit at first but a bone with peanut butter inside seemed to amuse them. Sunday after training with some friends we decided to give the pups a hookup with Kai in lead and Mandy at wheel. We put Gale up in lead and Ellsbury at wheel and Finch and Wilma together in team and Venus by herself. Bill took off on the rig and Kai instantly try to take the team down an embankment. Once they were straighten out and running down the rail bed they were fine. I was amazed how easily they took to running. No fussing and just heads down. We only ran a mile and they came back to the truck quite pleased with themselves. We stayed for two nites and came home. The following week went up for 4 nites. Again they handle the picket line well and Bill and I manage to hook up the team with Mandy in lead this time by ourselves. I have never seen a group of pups so natural about running. No fussing and tangles. I purposely buzz them with the atv and they are not affected at all. They remind us alot of our first ever litter. Their traits are similar. This group of pups is a good start to our future. As for our racing team they are getting into shape steadily. Trying some new technique this year and everything is working well. Clyde and Daffodil are training in lead and looking solid which is a plus to have some backup leaders. Lastly our Taiga harness business is booming. We have outfitted 6 different kennels with harnesses and have numerous orders. This has allowed us to order some custom harnesses for our race team. The nice part about being a distributor is that we are now providing harness to New England area at a quicker rate. Hopefully we will have a large stock at hand for the following season.

Friends in Mushing Places

Well friends and cool weather have been kind to us as we have taken our dog team on the road the first three weekends in October. Kicked things off seeing mushing buddies at the Trade Show in New Hampshire the first weekend. Heard Mitch Seavey speak which was interesting. We spent the rest of the weekend training at Kiana's Kennel with Corrina and Scott before heading home on sunday. The following weekend we had some nice crisp runs with our friends Judy and Al in Maine. Good to see them and actually take a hike with some more mushing buddies. The past weekend we went up to Vermont to train with the Cummings. The dogs responded well to being on new terrain which was tough going. We had a mishap finding Adam and Ngawera's house on friday nite and ended up on an unmaintained town rd. As we try to back down we lost the gears with a bolt that corroded off the cable. Of course at the time we had no clue what had happen but we knew the truck shut off and the emergency brake was not holding as we stood trying to figure out what to do the truck started to roll down the hill. I quickly hopped in and held the brake. It turned into a long nite but all ended well and no damage done to the truck. Thankful for Adam and his tractor! It has been good to get some longer runs in on the weekends. Dogteam is maturing nicely and happy with what we see right now. Their conditioning is good and their eating habits are improved over last year. As of now we are signed up to run Eagle Lake 100, Wilderness 100 and Can Am 60. Not sure what else we will be running. We have 12 dogs in our pool to train and seems to be a comfortable number for Bill and I to work with this fall. Soon Stella's pups will be ready to train in harness. We are looking forward to that as we are pleased so far with their build and personalities.

Early Fall 2008

So far I can't even call this fall. The temps have been very warm and humidity is high with tropical storms affecting our climate. We are doing the best we can but are behind in our training runs. The good news is with such a season team I think we will be ok as long as temps start to drop. Team looks solid this year so as long as we can condition them right and watch for stress we should be ready to race late January. There are two new additions to the team this year. Northome Isaac has joined our team at 4 years of age and yearling Blue Peaks Shonto. They should round out a solid 12 dog team for racing. Stella's pups are growing quickly and we are very pleased with what Coal has produced. They seem to have his build and Stella's temperment which is a perfect combination for our future. We are keeping 5 out of 6. Danica leaves in October for her new home with the Feder's. The Feder's adopted one of our siberians 3yrs ago and unfortunately they lost Dakota late this summer. So Danica will be joining their family where I am sure she will be spoiled immensely! I entered Kai in 5 trials this fall and was disappointed that she became injured. First one was from zooming around the yard with the pups and she fell in a hole. Once she was better she then sprained her wrist jumping in practice. It was disappointing to say the least to not be able to enter some of the trials. She is back now and had another double q this weekend. She has 3 more trials for the fall. We are excited to travel to Pennsylvania late October to enter both her and Clyde in the Siberian Speciality. We are looking forward to seeing how they compete against other siberians and meet more agilty enthusiasts as there are only 2 others that I know of in the New England area that I have met. We are looking for sponsors for our race team so check out our Sponsor the Race Team page and send in a donation. Coming soon our race schedule.

Summer 2008

Mid July already and still working on projects in the dogyard. Stella's pups are developing nicely and we are thrilled with the litter. They run everywhere they go and hate to be confined. We have been taking them free running at various places and they love it. Not a shy one among them and they respond well to Bill and I. We will keep the litter through the winter and harness break them to see how they run. We already know now that Coal will be used with Bonnie next spring. Fishing is slow right now. Has been a hot summer. We went to an indoor agility show early July in Derry,NH and had some great runs. First time ever I double Q'ed both days with Kai. She loved the surface and just was ready to run. We have finally become a team and it is such a great feeling. Clyde surprised me with a 1st and 4th place and also earned his AXJ. He is coming into his own and enjoy running him. Only one trial in August that I will take Kai to and look to get the team ready for training come late august. I am learning to relax and enjoy the summer. Fall will come soon enough and will be one of the busiest ever.

Spring 2008

It has been a busy spring. Between going back to work full time, spring training and breeding a few girls no time to relax. We attempted two breedings this spring. One took which was Stella/Coal and the other Bonnie/Lev did not. We are happy to have 6 new pups with 5 being females and one male. Goes with our record of whelping more females than males for some reason. Can't complain as they are all healthy looking and Stella had an easy delivery in the middle of a heatwave. We sold 4 dogs this spring to make room for these pups. Klondike,Clumsen and Sapphire went to the same person- Denise from Connecticut who was interested in starting her own recreation team. It was a good fit and happy they have a good home where they will get to run still and receive plenty of attention. Willow went to Angie Carter from Anniscar kennel where she hopefully will have a great career as a sprint dog for their team. We have a newcomer to the yard from Northome kennel. Issac will just turn 4 this month and should help us have a solid 12 dog team next year. He has adjusted to the new yard easily which I was happy to see. I have had a great spring with Kai doing agility. Her and I are coming together as a team nicely. It has been long overdue and now is becoming fun. She has 3 double Q's towards her MACH which is the highest title you can receive in agility. Not sure if we will ever achieve it but as long as she stays healthy it will be our goal. Clyde and I are taking classes and he is competing on a limited basis. This is a learning year for him. I don't want to push him this year but get him comfortable in the ring. I have also taken on the positon as distributor of Taiga harnesses and collars for the New England area. Excited to attempt this project and have quicker access to acquiring harnesses. Our boat is in the water and we are waiting for the bluefish to appear!

Race Re-cap 2008

Overall we are quite happy with our team's performance this season. There was a bit of a learning curve as we figured out how to train for longer distance racing. Trying to keep the team happy including eating and drinking was a challenge at times. As the season progressed we figured alot of things out that should make training next season easier. There is plenty of room for improvement with this team. We have a better understanding of maintenance miles for the team also. Spring training for more leaders has begun. Although I was extremely happy with Bonnie and Coal at lead, I began to realize I only have two solid lead dogs for racing and would like more. I worked off season on my strength training which was quite helpful this winter but need to increase my cardio fitness and drop some weight for next season which I have already started to do.

There are plenty of people to thank for helping our team have such a successful season. Number one is my sponsor Wizard of Paws and Debbie Gross Saunders. Deb checked on my dogs once a week for any that may have an off gait or soreness. Before each of my races she would look over my entire race team and give each a tuneup if need be. With Deb working with my team it helped to keep everyone healthy and we mananged to get through our season with no major injuries. I would like to thank all that have donated and sponsor a dog. Financially it helped us get through our season. Special thanks to friends like: Donna and Russ, Nora,Steve and Adele and Karen who have supported us emotionally during the entire season. A big thank you to Christine Richardson from Seal Cove kennels for opening her home to Bill and I and are dogs as another training site. Christine's advice and encouragement kept my confidence high when things weren't always going well. Lastly the biggest thanks goes to my mom who would leave home-cooked meals in our empty fridge for us when we came home from long weekends of racing.

Bartlett Fun Run March 2008

Last race of the season which was a 25 mile race up bearnotch and back down,although my gps only said 23. We had taken the team earlier in the week up to Pittsburg to get some short runs on them. They had a week off after the Can Am race. Two girls were in heat so trying to work the lineup around how to race that saturday. Team was looking good and ready to roll. Took a few people to hold them back at the chute as we hooked up way too early. Second out of the chute and caught the first team within 2 miles. All up hill a good 7 miles. Team was loping most of the way. At one point Bonnie decided that was far enough and turn the team around. Not sure what she saw so had to stop and hook down to turn the team around. After that we hit some twisty windy trail through the woods that the team just loved. I rode the dragmat most of the way till we hit the turnaround. We turned and started heading back. But the team was slow at that point and hesistated for a few seconds. I gave the command let's go back to the truck and they shot back up the hills just as strong as they had come down. We had a great run back. They had to head-on pass 20 teams and was quite happy with how they responded to that. I was concern that they would slow down speed wise but Bonnie and Coal were just solid at lead. Coal set a blazing speed and the team followed him. I never had to call the team up for the last 5 miles down hill. When I arrived at the finish line Bill was not even there as he underestimated our finish. Of course he was giving good amount of fussing by me for not being there:) We finished in 1:48 with the next best time being 2:03 by a 8 dog alaskan team. The team ate well and then started singing which was a sign they were ready to roll again. It was great way to end our season. The team that day was Bonnie/Coal lead followed by: Clyde/Stella,Only/Violet,Harvey/Rhonda and Lily/Daffodil at wheel.

Can Am 60 March 2008

I have to admit that this is not one of my favorite races of the season. It is the hardest terrain and stiffest competition in New England. No doubt that you would want to enter the race so you would know how your team compares to the best teams from Canada and across the United States. I again took our seasoned team of Bonnie/Coal,Stella/Clyde, Only/Violet and Harvey/Rhonda at wheel. I had a goal to break our miserable time from last year of 9:20. I knew we had a much stronger,conditioned team this year. However the conditions were cloudy, 20 degrees and snowing. It snowed the entire race sometimes quite heavy with some wind. The team moved along fairly well. Booties flew off so had to stop to put them back on several times as some dogs were developing snowballs on their pads. I lost alot of time doing that and also dropping my ski pole a few times. We worked hard as a team and manange to finish 13th place with a time of 7:42. Only the second musher from US out of the top 14 teams. Much improved from last year. Bill and I are thrilled with the progress of this team. Taking it slow with them early on as yearlings has paid off. They have a great work ethic,drive and speed and endurance is improving also.

Stratford Race February 2008

We struggled to get the team back together after Eagle Lake race. Still not sure how to maintain the team once we are into full swing of the racing season. Everyone was fine but seem quite flat and stiff after the race. Lily and Daffodil had sore wrists which they had on and off since before the race. I had pushed them to run the race which they handle great but could tell they would need more time off and less pressure on them for the rest of the season. So it was decided to enter Stratford race 30 mile 8 dog class with my seasoned team. Coal/Bonnie at lead followed by Stella/Clyde,Only/Violet and Rhonda/Harvey at wheel. It was a crisp -4 degrees at the start so decided to let the team run hard early on. I really was not sure how they would respond but as soon as I hit the trail I knew it was going to be a good run. Team was happy to be on a new trail and ran hard. We caught the first two teams and never looked back. Finish in first place on day one with a time of 2:46. No other team manage to finish under 3hrs. Day 2, I was a bit concern as it was warming up fast. However the groomer had been out early morning and the trail set up nice and fast. Had to work a bit on the hills to offset how warm it turned but team still ran hard with Bonnie and Coal at lead. We hit the rail bed and dogs took off knowing they were 5miles from the truck. Finish with a time of 2:45. I was quite please with the consistency of the time for both days. Team came in first over all with a total of 32:00 min lead over the rest of the pack.

Eagle Lake Race January 2008

After putting quite a few miles on our team this fall we were finally ready for the race season to begin. Stratford race was postpone so Eagle Lake became our first race. I was beyond nervous and did not sleep for two days before the race. I was so worried about the unknown. Bill and I arrived in Maine friday afternoon to temps hovering around minus 5. The hotel manager said it warmed up from minus 31 that morning. The cold really gets me worried so now more to add to my concerns. Being from CT my body is in a constant state of trying to acclimate to cold temps and then back to warm temps of 40 degrees. Dogs were not that happy with temps either as they prefer to stay in their box. We went to the meeting which was ok and then back to worry most of the nite. I tossed and turned and slept maybe 2hrs total. In the morning temps were minus 14. Finally race day. I was not nervous as I had so much to do to prepare my sled for the race. I had my drop bag filled to the top. Bill could not believe all the stuff I had. It was all just in case stuff. I packed fearing the worse. I was 4th out of the chute. Leaders were Bonnie/Coal followed by Clyde/Lily,Only/Stella,Violet/Daffadil and wheel dogs Rhonda/Harvey. I had a few dogs with sore wrists so was concern with running them hard. I was off and running. Team was happy to be on a new trail. I flipped the sled on the first turn forgetting about the new plastic I had just put on for the first time all season. The miles added up and the team move along extremely well. The trail was well groomed and mark and I actually began to enjoy the scenery. I wanted to be at the checkpoint before sundown so I allowed dogs to move at a comfortable pace. Finally I was into the checkpoint. My team had never really practice this. We just ran out of time with everything we were training for. Bonnie was screaming because she was still hooked to the sled and figure we were just stopping for a snack. I took off booties and finally figured out how to hook leaders down as they were visiting all the teams in the area. Fed team and bed them down with straw. Check wrists and wrapped a few but none look to be a concern. Straighten out my sled bag and drop bag and finally made my way to the cabin. Oh what a wonderful checkpoint. Walked into a roaring fire and was quickly asked if I was ok and served some hot chicken stew and homemade bread. I mingled a bit with mushers and looked at my departure time of 8:48. Then zipped back up to check on team. I was relieved to find everyone curled up sleeping except Harvey. He seemed a bit moody and refused to lay down. Went back out in another hour and he finally had settle down. He is just like his old man(Only). Takes awhile to adjust. I tried to doze off in a chair but couldn't really. I popped a few advil for my crash earlier on the plow road. I was on a bit of a high with how good my team had run. 5:18 for 50 miles although my gps said 52:) I hydrated with quite a bit of water. Temps were dropping fast. I finally could not sit any longer and at 8pm went out to bootie team and look at wrists. The dogs stayed snuggle and fought me a bit to put booties on. I manipulated some dogs that I had concerns with but everyone looked good. But were they going to get up? Had to use the bathroom so went back in again. Finally packed my stuff up and the they came to help me bring the team to the start line. In one motion they shot up and we had a dual start with Kim Darst. She said you want to lead or me? I said go ahead. I still was concern that they would move slow. Half mile down the stretch I took the lead and the team looked happy to be back running again. It was a beautiful nite as I watched the moon rise. Minus 20 but did not feel it as much. Natural high. Clear nite with plenty of stars. Forgot about the time and anything else except running the team and making sure they all were ok. I peddaled and poled every hill to help them conserve energy. Tough part was hungry again and everything was frozen solid in my bag. Have to work on that for next time. Finally came up over a hill and saw lights. In my excitement I screamed go to the truck to the team. They shot down the hill heading to the right where we started. Oh no wait finish is to the left. Haw Haw!! Nope said Coal. I told him to the truck and that was where he was going. Bonnie fought him to go left. I had to throw my hook down and pull the team on the right trail. In that moment two teams passed me and I finish 11th out of the money by one minute! Such a let down but really my own fault could not blame the dogs. Was thrilled to see Bill at the finish line. Team looked good and did that second leg in 6:03. Not bad for a rookie. Unhooking the team and feeding them was a nitemare. I now realized how tired and cold I was. We managed together and were happy to finally get back to motel and into a warm shower and bed for a few hours. I could not have been more pleased with my teams performance in this race. Bonnie and Coal were solid at lead.The experience was great and learned alot about my team and training. Look forward to next years race without the unnecessary nervousness!

Race Plans for 2008

Currently we are planning 4 races.

Stratford Nitehawks race 1/19&1/20/08 (30 miles each day)

Eagle Lake 1/26/08 (100miles)

Can Am 60 3/1/08

Bartlett Race 3/15 (25 miles)

Late Fall Training 2007

Right now we are looking at 13 dogs in our training pool. The three yearlings Willow,Daffodil,and Lily are keeping up nicely and Mandy our 10yr old has come out of retirement to help out. She has not run in 2 yrs as she has been pregnant both winters. I thought she would be too old but I hooked her up with the team this fall and she has been keeping up great. She screams like she is still 5yrs. old whenever we stop for a break. Bonnie and Coal are developing into solid leaders who work well together. Clyde and Rhonda are alternating as lead dogs and coming around also. We don't have the big mileage we would like to have on the team right now but it seems to be a slow process this year that in the long run will be benefical to our team. We have rented a cabin in NH with two other mushers which helps reduce our cost for training and gives us our home away from home site. The team has come out strong and hard for each training run. More rest this year seems to be working. So far no stress and team is eating well. Can't ask for anything more except some snow!

Fall Training

We have finally started hooking up dogs. It has been a slow process because of the warm humid conditions. I was anxious to start training dogs this fall concerned with developing some solid lead dogs with Nina gone. I had depended on Nina for every training run last season and every race. Bonnie,Coal and Rhonda each ran with her but it was Nina that brought leadership to our team. I was thinking that the three left were still very young to pickup where she left off but so far they are looking sharp. I have started hooking up Clyde with Rhonda at lead every other run and he is remarkable. I am sure it was his agility training. Friday's run was something special with Rhonda and Clyde at lead on a foggy 48 degree morning at 4:30am running a 12 dog team. We were at the training grounds of Nina's last spring run. It is a good gee haw leader training area with alot of options. I expected with each intersection for the team to start to go one way and then have to slow them down and tell them wrong way. But something magical happen that morning as we came upon intersections I shouted the command just once and the team took them without hestitation or slowing down. After a few turns I jumped off to praise Rhonda and Clyde. I swear I saw another set of eyes up front with those two. It had to be the spirit of Nina guiding these two young dogs through each intersection. My confidence has risen knowing that Nina will be running along side our team this season. Racing plans and new addition coming soon.

Summer

It is July already and my mind is already thinking 8 more weeks before we start fall training. Right now we are working on yard projects and trying to fill the freezer with bluefish for the winter. Fishing has been slow but I am sure it will pick up shortly. Planning a few litters next spring so trying to get some kennels roof for the litters and hope they go into heat at the right time! Kai has had a successful agility season so far. Her and I have finally worked out our kinks and seem to be looking like a team out there. I have had judges come over and compliment me on her ability to run and stay in the ring. She has decided if the reward is desirable she will stay with me and do what I ask. Right now Dunkin Donuts bagels toasted with butter seem to keep her extremely focused. She has made the top 25 AKC Agility Siberians as #17. I am really proud of that. She is starting to earn some Mach points. Long way to go as she needs 20 double Q's and 750 pts for her Mach which is the highest achievement in agility. We have a few years to go to see if we may achieve that. Clyde is struggling a bit right now. Because he likes me to run right by his side he is reluctant to run ahead of me which makes his times slower. He is still placing but am working on some basics with him right now to see if we can get him on track. His agility is making him more confident and I hope to see him running lead this year. Right now we have 17 dogs in the yard with 5 of them retired. Bill and I will be working together with 12 dogs for our race pool this year. We have found a cabin to rent with two other mushers so should make training this season easier without the stress of traveling so much.

Northomes Nina 11/12/99-5/11/07

We lost our racing leader this week. Nina had a brain tumor that took her life. I often heard people talk about great leaders they have had; well she was mine. I can't take credit for her training as Ann and Al Stead trained her and raced her a few years before I had the opportunity to purchase her. She produced a litter of 4 in which three of them run lead. She ran lead in all 4 of her races this past winter for me. She trained 3 other dogs at lead for my team. She past away before her time and went as fast as she did racing. Nina taught me how a leader should be. She would keep the entire team gee over and out of trouble and would turn on command whether there was a trail there or not. She was a quiet dog who would go unnoticed in the yard and was all business in harness. She took her job in stride and help us maintain a good speed. She had a great racing career. She will be sadly missed by Bill and I and her 3 kennelmates-Harvey, Clyde and Coal.

Springtime

Spring has sprung here in Connecticut. We have started some spring training focusing on developing 4 solid lead dogs for next season and seeing if our yearlings are ready to run with the main team. Lily,Daffodil and Willow had a good training base this winter of 400 miles. They had worked up to comfortable pace of 10 mile runs by late february. I was quite surprise how easily they adjusted to running with the main team. They show great drive and are very focus group. Harvey and Rhonda are developing nicely and will make the race team for next season also. I have spent some time reflecting on this past season and am quite pleased with our dogs performance. They did everything I asked of them. Our training for races next year has to change a bit. The traveling to train took the biggest toll on ourselves and the dogs. I will have much higher expectations of this team next season. Agility news: Kai is running great and had two 3rd places the last weekend in april running Excellent courses. Clyde is struggling in the Open courses. He is a green dog and I need to work more with him. He will eventually get it. They will be enter in two agility shows per month through June and will do one indoor show in Vermont in July. Time to put the boat in the water and start thinking about fishing!

Can Am 60

The last race of the season still running the same team. We had a good training run the weekend before so were ready for this race. I was much more relaxed although have to admit was extremely tired of the traveling to train and race. The 9+ hr drive to Fort Kent was relaxing as we stopped at rest stops and chatted with fellow mushers as we cruised the highway. We had a host family right in the center of Fort Kent to stay with. Etta and Chuck Closser who open up their homes to us and the dogs. Look forward to staying with them next year. The vet check went well and the meeting was uneventful. I love the start of Can Am. They close down Main St and throw snow down for the 1/4 mile length and the towns people come out to cheer you on. There was 8 inches of fresh snow the nite before which I was not exactly thrilled about. It made the going slow. I took off with Bonnie and Nina in lead and as soon as we hit the rail bed I knew I was in for a long day. The trail was just tough going and slow. I could not keep booties on the dogs with the conditions. I helped the dogs as much as I could with peddaling and poling but the sun came out and turn into a warm first half of the race. I stopped and snack the dogs at the checkpoint and decided it was time to make this more of a training run. So took Nina out of lead who had done an awesome job all season and let Coal run with Bonnie so they could start to work together. He finally was starting to take commands which I was pleased to see. It took us 9hrs but the team never quit on me. They just moved slower than I care for. Only had some bad spilits that reopen with booties being off that made running hard for him. I felt the team was tired and maybe not quite recovered from Midnite run. This was their first longest run of the season. I had a lot of time to reflect on our season while out there and was pleased that we accomplish our goals. Bill and I both agreed that we needed to show this young team races without putting pressure on them. Just finish. I can see most of this team running for me the next 4-5yrs. Will have to change some of the way we train for next season also. But the 8 dogs who raced all 4 races finish each race without injuries except for a few sore wrists when conditions were not that good. Most of their good health I attribute to Annamaet dogfood, Ocean Omeaga fishoil and My sponsor Debbie Saunders of Wizard of Paws. Debbie would check anyone on my team once a week that I was concern with and evaluate their soreness and work with her laser to reduce any inflammation. Having a small kennel and only 10 dogs in training this season it is remarkable that the team held together. A big thank you to Debbie for keeping this team in such great shape. I am sure she prevented many injuries by recognizing soreness and off gaits on some of the team and working them through it. The 2007 team was Bonnie,Nina,Violet,Stella,Clyde,Clumsen,Only and Coal, Harvey and Rhonda also trained with this team and completed the Stratford race. They should be ready next year season.

UP Midnight Run

On tuesday Feb. 13,2007 we started our journey to Michigan for the midnite run. I was extremely anxious to get there and settle dogs in and get ready for the race. We drove through New York uneventful but when we hit the Canadian border it began to snow and snow on and off all the way to Marquette,MI. There was a windchill making it at least -20 several times during the trip. Stopping to drop and feed dogs was not a fun experience. I notice Kai not looking good and question why I had brought her along for the ride when she was not going to race. We finally arrived at our host family on wednesday evening. Linda and Delbert Storms. We were quite appreciative to have a house to sleep in and nice yard for dogs to relax in. Unfortunatley one by one they seemed to come down with a bug. Some even stop eating. By the time we went to vet check on friday 4 were given medication from the vets. The next four became sick at the start of the race. The atmosphere in Marquette was great for the races. People were friendly and was neat to meet new mushers from another part of the states. My race start was 7pm and the team was ready to roll despite not feeling well. I took off with my head lamp on my head and went around the first corner too fast and was immediately face plant dragged down the trail. I manage to right myself just in time to miss the first turn. My heart was cranking from the whole start that I just did not have enough time to adjust to it just being dusk and running along the highway with cars headlights facing me. When I tried to get nina to turn she got confused and turn the entire team around so we were now facing other mushers coming down the trail. There was not alot of snow so was hard to hook down and turn the team around. I must have lost a good 6 minutes trying to turn the team around and catch the sled as it went by me with the snowhook tangling behind it. Once on the trail dark settle over and the trails was flat. Teams passed me and I then began to realize how alone I was in this race. I would try to catch a team just to see it fade away. I became more relax and team was moving fine. After 15 miles we hit some hills and treacherous conditions for another 10 miles. Hardly any snow and alot of rocks showing with narrow twisty windy trails. Sometimes I would come crashing down unable to brake with rocks exposed. I missed turns with the markers not being placed right. I later found out most mushers had terrible time through this section but at the time I question why I had even thought I could do this. Only was running wheel and his neckline had snapped off and without realizing it he was now running by my sled slipping out of his harness. He really was not feeling good and I was starting to think I would have to bag him. I manage to stop the team in time to grab his collar as he came completely out of his harness. Hook him back up and put a new neckline on him. He was ok after that. Once we hit Marquette we were back on rail bed running along Lake Superior. It was fairly warm about 10 degrees. I was hoping it would be cooler. People were all along the trail with bonfires going cheering you on. If it weren't for those towns people not sure I would have made it to the checkpoint. The dogs perked up everytime we went by people. I finally made it to the checkpoint after midnite. Bill greeted me thrilled to see me in one piece. I was exhausted at this time and hungry. He said he was proud of me. Oh why did he have to say that. I was ready to call it a nite and not finish the race. I called for the vets to check the dogs and they said everyone was ok despite still being sick. I fed them and was happy to see everyone ate. Bonnie had a sore wrists but vets felt it was not that bad. I went in to eat something and sit with Bill for awhile. Dogs bedded down on straw while tied to the truck quickly. I talked to Bill about the trail. He said he was worry when he heard how the front runners were coming in and how Mary Gilbertson had missed a turn and gone off a cliff and several other mushers had lost their team. He encouraged me to laydown and sleep. I argued for a second but peeled off a few layers of clothes and did fall asleep. I woke up hour and half early worry about Christine Richarson and her team. She had helped a runaway team and had some sore dogs and needed to scratch. It was heartbreaking to see her have to do that after traveling by herself from NH to the race. She had a great team and knew her goals was to run the can am 250 so it made sense not to push her young team. At 5:30 we were ready to go off for 43 miles to the finish. Team looked good and I was surprise how they got up and ran. I took Bonnie out of lead with a sore wrist and put her at team. I did not want to put alot of pressure on her and ran Coal at lead. Coal was coming along much quicker at lead. Still was not sure of gee/haw commands or passing but he would run hard up there and enjoyed running next to Nina. Nina was solid at this race and was pleased with her. Only looked much better after some rest and ran well the second leg. The trail now had plenty of snow and easier traveling for the dogs. The first two hours seem worse then the nite before because I had a hard time staying awake. I wanted coffee in the worse way but was afraid to drink and have to stop on the trail to relieve myself. So I went off not having wanted to eat anything. Big mistake. The sun does not rise till 8am in the Upper Penisula so it was dark. I dug around in my bag and found the box of chocolate cover peanuts/raisins my mom had packed. I am sure she would have never thought I would be eating the entire pound for breakfast! Just chewing helped me stay awake. I talked to the dogs a few times but they seem to be doing well and not really interested in conversing with me. Finally the sun came up and was beautiful. My spirits perked up despite the fact that it was snowing. We came across the finish line at noon time. My host family came to greet us and I was thrilled to be done. There was a family of snowmobilers who came to see the dogs and once they were fed proceeded to pet them. The dogs just loved the attention and seem to forget how tired or sore they were. We ended up placing 29 out of 36 teams and were happy to have finish because that was our goal. Would love to go back two years from now and see if we can improve our time. It was a great experience for my team and myself. I learned quite a bit about myself and dogs on the trail. Had plenty of time to reflect and know now that I am happy with what I have bred so far. Having been behind all season with our training it was true indication of what my my team was made of finishing the race as strong as they did. The biggest hero of this race was Bill. He drove 85% of the trip and literally was up all nite waiting for me to come into the checkpoint and then staying with the dogs while I slept. He encouraged me the entire time and took good care of the dogs. He endured my stress levels going up and down like a nut and manage to safely drive us through white out conditons in Michigan. I can't thank him enough for this adventure.

February

The first weekend of the month we entered the Stratford Nighthawks race. Two day event with each day being 27 miles. I wanted to see how the yearlings would handle racing so enter the open class with 10 dogs. Nina/Bonnie,Rhonda/Coal,Stella/Clyde,Harvey/Violet, Only/Clumsen. Most of the girls were in heat so made for an interesting run. Found ourselves in 3rd placed after the first heat with a time of 2:43. With 7 miles to go I decided to switch leaders and put Rhonda at lead for the finish. She was great and has alot of potential. Second day the trail was alot faster and had to drop Harvey with a sore wrist. Used Coal in lead for the first time in a race with Nina and he did awesome.Our time was 2:30. We finish 4th place overall out of 11 teams and were the second siberian team to finish. Spent the next few days training for UP Midnite run.

January

Racing season begins! After several races were cancelled in New England area we decided to pack up the team and head for Canada. I entered the El Dorado Gold Cup race in Ontario. It was a 8 dog 42 mile race. Finally back on the runners after a 2yr hiatus. The team was Bonnie/Nina at lead follow by Violet/Coal,Clyde/Stella,Only/Clumsen. We came in 13 out of 21 teams with a time of 3:37. We were the top siberian team that day. It was the first race for the entire team. I was quite nervous head on passing with the smoking teams of Bruce Langmaid and Rene Marchilldon. The team did fine led by the confident Nina. We had a wonderful host family-Fred and Ethel Stein who we stayed with and fed us great. We stayed an extra day to put in another training run.

December

If I was blind and did not know what month it was I would guess it could be march or april. Still no snow but are dogtruck is back with a rebuilt transmission so happy to have our freedom to train. Team is coming together slowly. Two yearlings training with our main team-Harvey and Rhonda are doing well and will benefit from the training for next season. Hope they will be able to run a shorter race this season but they won't run the bigger race. I made the painful decision to drop out of racing Eagle Lake as we did not have the miles on the team. They seem so young and hate to make that their first race ever and sour them for the season. They are starting to condition better and now know it was the right move. Bonnie has become a strong confident leader through running with Nina. Coal has been also learning to run lead. He needs more confidence but would not hesitate to run him if need be. Rhonda is also training to run lead. Bill is training the puppy team as they are running between 5-6 miles a few times a week. This group has been easy to train. Smart and and all business in harness. Daffodil shows some great signs of running lead as Klondike teaches her. Hoping for snow as we wait for the race season to begin. Merry Christmas!

November

As this month concludes we are still training without our dogtruck. Starting to feel the stress of not being able to get longer miles in without traveling far. Might need to reconsider what races to run in January even though we are signed up for Eagle Lake 100. We are also signed up for the Midnite run in February and Can Am 60 in March have to see how December goes. Temps have been flucuating from cool to warm and balmy. Dogs have been great. Eating well and responding to training. Their enthusiasm is still very high.Kai and Clyde were enter in an agility trial Thanksgiving weekend. Kai earned her AXJ and Clyde his NA. Kai had some great runs. Clyde on the other hand was not crazy about the indoor trial and how crazy it was. He is still very young so need to be patient with him. He seems to be feeling his oats lately. He will stop training for agility and start up again in March. Looking for some cool temps and snow for December.

October

Early this month on the way home from Maine having had some great training runs I turned to Bill and said things are going well and we are on schedule. It has been a 2yr hiatus from racing as we have relocated and built our team but it was worth the wait. An hour later we were standing with 15 dogs on the side of the interstate as we watch our dogtruck smoke with an electrical fire. That quickly everything changed. We have been the entire month without a dogtruck. We were most appreciative that we were ok and so were the dogs but life has been a struggle. Had 8 hole wooden box that we put on a snowmobile trailer to get around but have only manage to train the main team. The pups and some of the older dogs have been sitting as we concentrate on keeping the main team conditioned. Not feeling comfortable traveling more than 2hrs has limited us greatly to where we can train. Training in CT is always a challenge as the majority of the population thinks the only race that exists is the iditarod. As we train in state parks people walk their dogs by letting them out of the car and then have them chase the car as they drive and drink their coffee. Our dogs have had several tests lately as they learn to "on by" loose dogs chasing the team, hunters who shoot a pheasant that flushed up as our team goes by and horseback riders. Their focus has been awesome. Very proud of this team as they progress. Still have a long way to go to get them to the starting line of the our first race in January. Hoping the truck will be back in operation by november so we can get back up north.

September

Fall training has begun and going smoothly. Bill and I are both pleased that we spent so much of the spring training the dogs. The first hookup of the season went well with dogs looking like they never took time off. We have been fortunate to train in Maine every other weekend. Our good friends Judy and Al have open their house to us to stay any time. This has been a great help. Temps are much cooler there so we have been able to put some good miles on the dogs. In between Kai and Clyde have competed in agility trials. Kai is doing well but her handler seems to make just one mistake that cost us qualifying(that would be me!)Clyde has excelled flying through courses. His enthusiasm is unbelievable as he just loves to run with me. He has heads turning on the field with alot of compliments on seeing such a fine working dog that is also handsome! Everything is moving on schedule. We have a team entered in the Can-Am 60 and also Eagle Lake 100. Need the temps to drop so we can get longer runs in.

August

The dogbox is finally set to go and equipment is in order. Geared up to start some fall training with dogs. The freezer is starting to fill up with bluefish for the winter also. Kai and Clyde are training hard for agilty trials this fall. Will do several in september but won't do any in october as training will be going strong by then. Looking forward to my first racing season with this new team. They are really hard driven dogs with that get up and go mentality I so like. Will have to play with the temps for awhile as to when we can train. The nice part is that what I have bred now can withstand training in warmer temps. Mandy's pups are doing well and look forward to harness training them late october.

July

All I can say about this month is HOT! The dogs are settled into thier summer mode of trying to stay cool. Fishing is starting to pick up as we need quite a lot for next winter. Mandy's pups are growing fast and looking good. I can see them ready to be harness trained late october. Working on many small projects around the house because once september hits it is all about training. Kai and Clyde will be enter in quite a few agility trials for the month of september.

June

This was a slow month. Not much happening. We have a new dogbox for the truck which was our big investment for the year. Made by Tom Dimmagio of Yankee Sledworks. The box has 16 holes and of course is forest green which is my racing color. Mandy's pups have been visiting the school I substitute teach and learning their social skills. I was disappointed at first to have such a small litter but have been enjoying this group. They are all maturing nicely and at the same rate because there is plenty of time to give each. I have two girls who are volunteering in our dogyard this summer. Celina and Jessica come three times a week to help with kennel chores and groom dogs. They are greatly appreciated. I have met a new person who is canine animal physical therapist. Debbie Gross has agree to provide sponsorship for our team this year. She has already helped out by diagnoising a few injuries in my dogs and helped to heal them. We are grateful to have her on board to help keep our dogs healthy. You may find her link under my links page. Her practice is called Wizard of Paws. Debbie is also trying to find me some more sponsorship which will help offset our expenses as we hope to travel and race in and outside of the New England area this winter.

May

Pups are growing fast. Beautiful markings on them with each being unique and easy to tell apart compared to Mandy's first litter. Names are Daffodil, Lilly and Pussywillow. Kai has started competition in agility and has her good and bad days. The rain has arrived and depressing. Ready for some sun and fishing on the boat. Kai has earned her Open Agilty title the last weekend in May. She placed 2nd and 4th each day. The only siberian running in this trial. She got a standing ovation after her run on sunday when I announced she just earned her title. The heat has come quickly and the dogs are already settling into their summer mood.

April

On a beautiful spring morning a day before my birthday, Mandy delivered 3 female pups. I spent most of the day waiting for at least one male to come through but Mandy, the most efficient dog in my yard, was done in one shot. At first was quite disappointed but can't argue with Mother Nature. All three girls are healthy and named after spring flowers. Still training this month because temps are staying cool. Kai will start her season of competing in agility soon. Clyde is in training and will compete this fall.

March 2006

Spent the entire month training dogs on a stripped down atv. Team is starting to come together. Had alot of work to do with trail manners. Big jump to go from running 6 dog team to 10. Yearlings are starting to mature nicely and no one is falling behind. They are a tight group in harness and are all business. Bought another Northome dog- Coal from Ann and Al Stead. This 2yr is a nice addition to our team and makes us more solid. It is nice to finally have some numbers to work with. Coal is a good eater and has great feet. Have taken him to do school programs and he loves the kids. School programs this year were quite successful and helped offset vet bills for the year. Our friends from Maine-Judy and Al came down and helped us build a roof over the whelping kennel. Good news not having much snow and dry spring so far the kennel is quite dry and no mud. Starting working again so the days are very busy. Mandy is starting to look pregnant!

February 2006

This month turned out to be a disappointing month. All races were canceled as we struggle to keep the dogs in shape with increase temps and no snow. Finally mid way through the month Mandy went into heat and we made the decision to breed her one last time. Will have a spring litter for the first time which will allow us to have pups training in late fall. We were extremely happy with what Mandy produce the first time so we went back to Jedeye Siberians to use another male-Deuce. The yearlings continue to mature and finally we will have enough dogs in the yard to attempt some longer races next season. Bonnie is developing into strong leader with the training of Nina. Violet is fitting the bill of a hard-driving dog and her sisters are right behind her. Clyde also shows potential to run lead. Harvey and Rhonda have been harness broken and running 4miles. Klondike is working with Rhonda who shows great lead potential as her mom is. They are all working on their trail manners at this point.

January 2006

After returning from a 6 day training trip with the dogs. I packed up to head to Alaska with a friend of mine for a week. My Christmas present from my husband was for me to go and see alaska and he would stay home and care for the entire kennel. It was a great experience. I met the Reddington's,JP Norris and wife Kari,Karen and Mark Ramstead and Bob Chlupach and soon to be wife Shae. We saw alot of moose, bald eagles and dall sheep on the mountainside. We visited three siberian kennels and helped teams to the start of the Knik 200 race. The atmosphere in alaska is a whole different world. Hard to describe unless you visit yourself but I recommend anyone that is a musher to go and visit at least once in their lifetime. The land is vast and beautiful and the people are very friendly and happy to be living where they are. I could pack up my dogs and husband instantly and move to Willow. Back to reality of winter in New England. All races sprint and mid distance have been canceled for month of January(except one). It has been a disappointing month. It snowed then rain than turned to ice. The dogs continue to work through it all and have stayed healthy. Yearlings are starting to fill out and mature nicely. Still have alot of work to do but having fun. As the season moves on I decided to breed Mandy now instead of the middle of the summer. So she has been sent out to Jedeye's kennel to be bred to their lead dog Deuce. Looking forward to more pups in the spring. Starting to combine both teams and run a 10 dog team. Rhonda and Harvey are now starting to run short runs in harness. Rhonda is showing signs of being a natural leader and Harvey is a hard driven dog such as his father -Only. Need more snow for this season to happen!

December 2005

Finally getting some longer miles in on snow. Nina and Klondike are starting to be more comfortable running together at lead. Logan has gone to run with our good friends Russ and Donna Bender. He will run lead with their dog and do some shorter races this year. He has adapted well to thier kennel and is welcome addition to their kennel. Bonnie and Violet are running lead and are all business. The yearlings progress has been great. They will be ready to run Stratford 15 mile race at the end of Jan. I need to get more miles on the adult team before our first race Jan. 21 at Craftsbury. I also have an opportunity to go and visit Alaska for a week with my good friend Stormie. We will meet the Reddingtons who are friends of hers and also go to some siberian kennels along with seeing Karen Ramstead. Real exciting opportunity. Off to for a week to train in NH and then return New Year's Day to head out to Alaska.

November 2005

Dogs are getting stronger as the miles add on. It has been a slow fall to add miles on. With warmer temps and rain it seems to be a battle with mother nature. New dogfood is working well with dogs. Highly recommend Annamaet dogfood. Yearlings continue to have a strong drive which I am please with. Bill has been training hard with them to get their trail manners together so they may race some small races for the experience. Looks like Logan may be going to a new home. He is struggling to keep up with the rest of the team. Nina is looking strong at lead and it is nice to have 3 leaders. Kai finally got her Novice Standard agility title and also 2 legs on her Open Jumpers. Her and I are finally working together as a team and having fun. 4 out of 7 females are in heat right now which makes it a bit of a juggling act in training and the yard. So far everyone seems to be calm about it. Harvey and Rhonda are growing and we try to work with them twice a week on some lead training. Harvey is all business and no doubt will run lead for me in a few years. Rhonda is a bit of a flirt and a social butterfly but loves to run. Need some snow for sled running soon. Tired of the frozen muddy dirt!

October 2005

Getting more miles in with dogs. Has been a struggle with the temps. We load dogs by 4:30 so we can get out on the trail and back before sunrise. Dogs are doing well. Nice to have cool running dogs that can handle the warmer temps. Kai finally received her Novice Jumpers title in agility. She should have had her Standard title but the handler(me) prematurely got excited and she dropped the finish line bar! Her last competition will be in November until the spring. Clyde is also training in agility and loves it. He is a different running dog then Kai with a much longer stride. He loves to learn so makes it easy to teach him. Yearlings look good also as Bill trains them along. Bonnie takes after her mom, Mandy with her screaming in harness. She continues to lead the team. Our two young pups are growing fast and the black girl we named after our good friend Rhonda from Mishawum Kennels. Will start heading up north to train and put some longer miles on the dogs.

September 2005

Started training this month with dogs. Teams look good and happy to get back in harness. The heat and humidity makes it sparodic training waiting for temps to get cooler. We have been training at 4am so there is no sun factor. The yearlings are being trained by Bill and are quite the handful with their screaming enthusiasm. Bonnie and Stella seem to be natural leaders and Sapphire continues to keep the pace down for everyone. The season team is starting to come together. It is a mixture this year. New addition of Clumsen helps to solidfy the wheel position. Brazil and Only are starting to mature and I like their driving power. The Steads picked their two Nina/Only pups and left us with our favorite gray male named Harvey. We also have a female who looks like she made be agouti. She is real sweet girl. Harvey already showing promising lead potential. As the weather cools down hope to put longer more consistent miles on the dogs.

August 2005

Heat continues on but pups are growing much better now. Fishing is good right now so enjoy some away time down at the boat. Later this month we will videotape pups for Steads in MN so they may pick their pups. Spending time working with all dogs in the yard with some basic recall. Nice when a dog does get loose during training season and comes back to you when called vs. taking off down the trail and disappearing for hours. Pups out in public socializing now. Free running a mile on some fields also. Kai is continuing to provide some amusement at trials as she redesigns the course and then leaves. Not happy about this. Working on some new techniques to have her focus more. In the mean time Clyde has started some agility training and is naturally more focus. He seems to enjoy it. He won't train seriously until next spring. Agility training has help me understand how siberians think. Many feel siberians are stubbron but I think this is not the issue as much as realizing they are great thinkers. They will try to out think you if they can!

July 2005

July brought along some extreme hot and humid weather. Luckily our kennel is setup with plenty of shade. Kai has decided she would like to run around the agility course and then exit the ring on her own. Will need to work on this behavior. Nina's pups are growing slowly. I think the heat has made them develop at a slower rate. Nina is very overprotective of them. Despite that they are happy laid back pups.

June 2005

Big changes were made in June to our kennel. I decided I needed one more dog for my 6 dog team this winter and was able to purchase Clumsen av Vargevass from Karsten Gronas of Sweden. Kasten owns one of the top siberian kennels in all of Europe. I am looking forward to running this big handsome dog this winter. With his friendly and playful personality the transition to our kennel was an easy adjustment.

Dawson has gone to live with Doug and Joy Heitz of Howlin' Huskies Kennels in Pennsylvania. He joins two other realitives who are running for Doug and who ran on my team a few years ago-Keelin and Demon. We are happy with the Heitz's kennel and wish them good running this winter with their new addition.

Nina had her litter of 4 pups on June 23. Two males and two females. They are all doing well and looking forward to keeping two of them and two will go back to Northome's kennel. Kai continues to do well in agility competion. She has two legs towards her Novice title in standard and jumpers course. The heat of summer came real fast but she will try another competition in late July and mid august. Dogs are moving into their lazy summer mode. Continue to work them in the yard with some basic obedience to keep them occupy. Looking forward to training the new pups!

May 2005

Nina is looking pregnant and the litter is due in late June. Should be a nice litter to help us build our kennel for longer distance racing. Kai is doing well in agility and the pups are still training in harness. Disappointing that it is so cool and windy and not good for fishing on our boat. By now we have some bluefish caught and stored for next winter. Will be a late spring. Bonnie is proven to be a natural leader and holds the line out now without me there. Pups still howl but not as bad. We have moved Sapphire up to lead also and she is happy to run with the pups. Being part malamute and 5yrs old it is a nice combination with the pups. We have a new addition to our kennel and that is our dogsitter/handler Donnie Swider. Donnnie makes our lifer easier now as he can take care of all dogs while we are away. He has a great personality with the dogs, even Simba likes him! Donnie will help us out this winter when we travel and don't always bring all the dogs. Big changes coming in June. Stay tuned.

April 2005

Puppies are starting to be harness trained and are looking good. They are screamers. Love to get in the truck and howl the entire trip. Bonnie is a natural leader. She has been working with our lead dog Klondike and their mother Mandy. We rotate everyone to run lead to see how they adjust and they are all willing to run. The girls have gone into heat which makes for some chaos in the yard. We are continuing to fix the kennels with some stone and sand to dry up some wet spots. Only and Brazil are starting to mature also in harness. Has been a cool spring allowing us to continue to train all dogs. In between the dogs travel to do some school programs. Kai has started competing in agility and she is quite a challenge. Focus is an issue that we will need to work on. Some days she is great other days she will leave the ring. I guess that is why I don't see any other siberians at these events! She has her first leg towards her novice jumpers. Will have to see what May brings. Nina has been bred to Only and looking forward to a possible litter.

March 2005

It's March in Connecticut and we are getting plenty of snow. Where was it in January?

It has been a long winter here as we did not get to race. In December we relocated ourselves and 17 siberians to our new kennel. We now have two and half acres mostly fenced in and 3 car garage to store all our equipment. The move took longer than expected and we lost out on valuable training time with the dogs. It was well worth it to get dogs situated in new runs and us in a new house. The dogs are now able to stay outside all the time and we have no neighbors so they may sing to their hearts content. We started training again and have added some new dogs to our kennel. We have purchased two dogs from Ann and Al Stead of Northome's in Duluth,MN. We now have a young male-Only and a five yr old female named Nina. They will be bred together to help build our racing kennel. Our puppies are now seven months old. Check out puppy photo page. Kai will start competing towards the end of this month in Agility trials. Looking forward to harness training new pups.