Let It Snow

What's the saying ? No news is good news. Well it is the truth, things have been busy, busy, busy. November brought us some colder weather and some early snow. These pictures are from a 13 mile run in -19 with a bitterly cold wind that cut through me like a knife.

The Dogs Didn't seem to notice

They just wanted to go, go, go.....

Meanwhile the musher froze. I know it looks like it's 50 below but believe me that wind was not nice.

We got a good dump of snow that made it possible to make three sled runs and they were so nice.

Aimee enjoyed a ride in my sled bag on a 13 mile run

We welcomed 2 new dogs to our group as well. Catapolt (on the left) is 3 years old. She is a sweet natured girl who can trot like crazy. Piper (on the right) is 2 years old and has quite a story. She was the only survivor in a litter of four and when she was just a puppy another mommy dog wanted her and tried to pull her through a wire fence. The side of her face was a mess but Dr. Barth did an excellant job stitching her back up. She has a bit of a funny look to her now with her one eye a little off kilter and her sideways ear but it gives her character and doesn't change the fact that she is cheerleader and a hard pulling loper. These two girls have given my team some umph and we can't wait to really see what they can do on a sled when we finally get some snow.

Unfortunately the snow did not stay and we were soon back on the quad. We haven't seen any amount of real snow since and until this last week, where we had 40 below and wind chill factors to 47 below, we had unseasonably warm weather. Here is Mari teaching Catapolt how to be a leader on a 15 mile road run, or what I like to call the gravel treadmill. Since this run we have only done 5 runs. I always find it difficult to run consitently during December as we seem to be so busy getting ready for the holiday season and the kids have so much going on at school. The weather turned on us and we began to get rain which turned to ice of course and made standing upright outside dangerous let alone trying to hook up a dog team.

I was able to make some time to have an old friend that worked with me at the Adam Ranch come out with her kids and her relative from Australia to show them how it's done. She took some great shots but his one is my very favourite. Me and my gals, Fox Trot and her mom Mari, having a little heart to heart before we leave.

And then in Janaury I got the call I have been waiting for since September. Well I should start at the begginning.....

3 years ago while helping my friend Aaron with his dogs, 2 litters of puppies were born within a day of each other. 10 pups in one litter and 8 in the other, yes your math is correct 18 puppies in two days. Cataplot was one of these puppies and the dog you see above was from the other litter. A few of these pups were sold as pets. As I was flippin through ads on Kijiji one day I saw this dog and knew she was one of the puppies that had been sold (her markings were unmistakable) She had been abandoned by her owners and was on her third home and to top it off she had a littler of pups. Her brother was a star athlete for my friend in the Wyoming Stage Stop Race last winter and so we decided to rescue her and see what she was made of. On Mothers Day my girls and I travelled the 3 hours to Edson to pick her up (That's when you know you are a true musher). The problem arouse when we returned home. She was not having anything to do with us and acted like she would rather eat us than be a sled dog. I was mortified that this seemingly sweet dog that I picked up had turned into an absolute monster that I couldn't even get out of the sky kennel. I enlisted the help of my hubby and we managed to free her of the cage and get her tied in the dog yard. She seemed to calm down a bit but was still baring her teeth at us more often than not. She was extremly skinny as well so with patience and some yummy sled dog stew she began to come around. We soon had all fallen in love with her for her personality and on free runs she would run so fast I was afraid she would hurt herself. I wanted her to live up to her potential and so in September she moved to Aaron's dog yard to train with the Race Team. It looked as if we had lost her forever, she was a fast dog with a natural love to run in harness and was even leading occasionally, the miles were adding up and then the call came that Aaron felt she was better suited for shorter distances and did I have a spot for her here. I did have a spot and even if I didn't I would have made room. We were all so excited to have her back. So with excited anticipation of what she will bring to my team I introduce, Sage. More updates on Sage will be coming when I have a chance to get her out on the trail. I need another leader this winter as Aimee's team consits of four of my best leaders. Catapolt, Piper and Sage will all be learning and we wil see who can handle this very important job.

As you can see our winter is not quite going the way we want it to and because of our no snow issue we had to postpone the race I am helping organize. Hopefully we will have a good amount of snow for the date we have chosen. Check out my You Tube roll at the top of the page for some videos of my sled runs and we will see you down the trail.

September to November In Review

We've had another incredibly busy fall and as such some things have just been pushed off our priority list. We have had some incredible runs and the dogs are looking and feeling great. We are now up to 12 mile training runs and we have a beautiful skiff of snow on the ground that seems as though it is willing to stick around. Not enough to sled on yet but I am hoping to be on the sled runners by the end of this month. Our dogs now have a large free run dog run to play in and I have a new gate that leads us out onto the trails. It's a thing of beauty after fighting with the old one all last winter.

We have had some exciting incidents happen to us during training...like this

Fortunately we were able to get the dogs off the gangline and out of the dog yard safely.

We have also suffered some losses

Jaunary 2002 - November 2011 -Ochocco passed away during the night with me by her side. She was a great leader and at 9 1/2 still loved to play. She will be greatly missed for her energetic spirit and loving nature.

April 2002 - November 2011 - Bircha passed away the next day due to an accident in the yard. She was a cheerleader and was showing real promise during leader training. Gone too soon and I miss her smiling face every day.

The girls have a place of honour in the house for the winter. I have placed their urns next to our patio door. During the fall and winter I use this door to exit and enter the house to and from the dog yard. I pass my girls at least twice a day. They are always in my thoughts and my heart.

I have also been lax on my record keeping this year so I am not sure how many miles we have under the quad tires but I am guessing (and when I say guessing I mean I have looked in my previous years records and have made an educated guess) we are around 100 - 125 miles of training runs give or take a few.

We are gearing up for our Grande Prairie Sled Dog Derby that will take place January 7th & 8th, 2012. I have only 6 race dogs now and will have to make some decisions before the race. Aimee may have the oppurtunity to run a team in the Arctic Winer Games in Whitehorse if this is the case she will run her time trials with her 4 dog team at our race.

It's looks like it will be another great year here at Leaps and Bounds Kennel. Keep Checking in.

See You Down The Trail.

My little gals on a 10 mile training run : Fox Trot and sister Jazz

A beautiful fall run with Mari and daughter Fox Trot in lead.

Fun pics after a run - My girl Lucy and I - Say Cheese Luce

My Boy

Siboon doesn't get seen very often because he is usually running in wheel. He is no less more important than the rest of the team and in fact has a tough job at the back. Wheel dogs work the hardest and he has to keep my sled on the trail. He is good at his job and I think he likes having the girls to himself on the trail.

Love this picture of Mari (far left) and her daughters Jazz and Fox Trot. That's Thunder in the foreground. Thunder is now retired and just hanging out with us and enjoying his work free days.

Heavy Frost on the quad seat prior to a training run

My favourite picture of Bircha (student) and Mari (teacher)

Aimee still loves to run with me and the team.

She will be racing Mari and her daughters Jazz, Jitterbug and Fox Trot this winter.

This was Monday's 12 mile run with fresh snow and a lovely wind that blew little, hard, icy snowflakes into my face. Was glad to have extra clothes along.

Cold Face, Cold Feet, Cold Hands, Warm Heart