We're Expecting!

It's been a hot summer, and the dogs have been enjoying their time off with lots of free runs, play time and romps in the kitty pool at the Ranch. We are counting down the days until fall training starts (only about six weeks now!) but before training starts, we are counting the days for something even more exciting: puppies!

It has been three years since Diamond Dogs have had babies, and I decided it was time to expand the kennel once again. I am super excited about the gene pool chosen! 

Cinder, who is 4 years old, came to Diamond Dogs late in the 2012 season but quickly proved herself an amazing athlete. Though she had been off training for about six weeks when I acquired her, she jumped right in with the team, started running and never looked back. She ran lead with my gee/haw leader, Yeti and ran the Midnight Run that season. Last season she ran in the Tahquamenon Sled Dog Race and The Midnight Run. She is a beauty to watch run: smooth, straight gait, and light on her feet, she makes loping look effortless. What's more, she always has a smile on her face and gives everything she has on the line.

Cinder this past spring

Cinder's bloodlines are pretty sweet. Her dad, Hobo, is out of Iditarod and Yukon Quest champ, Lance Mackey's kennel. And her mom, Bruny, is out of Beargrease Marathon veteran, John Stetson's kennel. 

I put a lot of thought into choosing a stud. Despite Cinder's bloodlines, which are primarily distance dogs, she is fast. But I wanted a male who could contribute an added element of speed, preferably one who was a lead dog. After talking with a few mushers, I decided to add the speed of Swingley into Cinder's solid endurance lines. The natural choice was Pete and Sharon Curtice's Elrond. 

Elrond has been a natural leader for the Curtice's kennel since he was a yearling. He was on their winning Midnight Run team in 2006 as a yearling, and ran lead on their 2nd place Beargrease 150 race. And his genetics are impressive. Elrond's mom is leader, Hurricane; his dad is  Ceasar who was also a leader (both Swingley origins). It is interesting to note Elrond is also the grandfather to my last litter, the Reggae Litter. 

I made a quick trip up to visit the Curtice's over Memorial Day weekend where Cinder had a date with Elrond. She should be due around July 26th. She is starting to show, and Elise is super excited to help with puppy socialization. 

Elise helping pose Cinder for a photo

We will be at the Green Branch Library tomorrow, July 9, at 1 and 3 p.m. for a presentation of Backyard Iditarod. If you're in the area, stop by! Hopefully my next post will be about tiny little toes!

Shuffling

This summer has brought a lot of changes to the kennel. I had to look hard at my goals for what I wanted to accomplish this season as well as make some tough decisions about some great dogs. Some of my dogs were better suited to recreational mushing homes, and others better suited to distance mushing homes.

What's the difference?

Well, first of all, recreational mushing dogs can be any dog breed. Some people mush with Golden Retrievers, Labs, or any kind of dog who has a propensity for pulling and loves to run. 

When it comes to competitive races, however, there are several types of races that mushers compete in. Sprint races, which are the shortest distances, are run with super fast dogs who are often crossed with hounds, like greyhounds. These dogs sometimes reach incredible speeds of 20 miles an hour or more, and run full-throttle for distances that are usually a mile per dog. For example, a four dog sprint team would run four miles. Open class unlimited sprint racers can run any number of dogs, however. The dogs that run these types of races tend to be shorter coated and sleek, leggy, fast machines. A popular sprint race in Alaska is the Fur Rondy.

The super endurance, distance races, like the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest, go over 1,000 miles. The dogs that tend to run these marathons typically have a dense coat and are heartier and muscled-up compared to the sprint dogs.

The kinds of races I ran last season and plan to run this season (and into the foreseeable future) are called mid-distance races. Like the name suggests, these races are in between sprints and distance races. The races I compete in are between 90 and 150 miles, and the dogs, like the race, are a blend of the best of both the sleek, fast sprint dogs and the woolly, muscled-up distance dogs. They tend to have finer bones than those who run ultra marathons, but are still beefy enough to break trail.

It might be worth noting that in mid-distance and distance races, mushers camp out with their dogs at certain mileages. A fourth type of race is the Stage race.  In these races, dogs and mushers rest at certain mileage points, just like in mid-distance and distance races, but mushers aren't required to "camp out" with their teams; they can check into their favorite hotel and snooze in a cozy bed. A well-known stage race is the International Pedigree Stage Stop.

Part of my paring down this summer was out of necessity due to life changes. But these changes gave me an opportunity to really study all of the dogs to discern who was the best fit for my race goals.

In the end, I was left with what I think will give me the best shot at stepping up my goals this season and being competitive.

I parted with seven beloved pack members since the end of July. But they all went to awesome homes - and several are now full-time house dogs, which makes me happy.

This also left me with only seven race dogs.

So...soon three new dogs will join Team Diamond Dogs. I can't wait to introduce them! Stay tuned!

Old dogs

We have an obligation to care for elderly dogs.

Puppies are cute. Young dogs are speedy. They eat good. They generally have no health problems. They're hearty and have a voracious stamina. They run hundreds and hundreds of miles for us - sometimes thousands; take Foxie, our sixteen year old retired Yukon Quest leader.

Foxie's favorite place now is right here, on a blanket in my house. After sixteen years and thousands of miles, she's earned her right to rest peacefully on my blanket.

In Foxie's lifetime, she has literally run thousands of miles, first as a trap line leader for a trapper named Wayne Hall, in Eagle, Alaska, then in the Yukon Quest, the 1,000 mile sled dog marathon between Whitehorse, Yukon and Fairbanks, Alaska, for Hall.

Foxie came to live in Ohio first with fellow Ohio musher, Tom Roig. I purchased Foxie from Roig in 2006. Already nearly 10 years old at that time, Foxie was shortly done with running.

But she quickly found an alternate job in my kennel as the educational ambassador for my dog sledding education program, Backyard Iditarod. She loved her job and excelled at it, eating up all the attention from the people who attended.

Foxie getting some love from an participant at the Ellet library in Akron, Ohio

Elderly dogs still have a place in our lives. Just because they might be done with running doesn't mean they're done working. I get sad when I see older dogs cast aside or not seen as worthwhile in society. 

Given the amazing service and dedication sled dogs - and dogs in general - give to us throughout their lives, we have an obligation to care for them in their later days, when they are no longer speedy, hearty or voracious. An obligation.

Older dogs need special advocates. Sadly, at animal shelters, older dogs are often the last to be adopted. Taking on or adopting an older dog is a lot of responsibility, but it also has its perks. Older dogs are perfect for people who want an easy-going, mellow pet. Older dogs usually don't come with the obnoxious or destructive habits of puppies, like chewing. There are tough decisions that have to be made, however; end of life decisions are particularly important.

I will never be so driven to competition that I turn over perfectly good dogs when they're past their prime. There are always jobs working dogs can do.

The Yukon Quest starts tomorrow, February 4, 2012 in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Backyard Iditarod at the Portage Lakes Library: a photo album

Foxy loves babies!


After running 960 miles of the Yukon Quest in single lead for Wayne Hall in 2002, Foxy becomes a bit reluctant for me use her to demonstrate how to harness a sled dog!


Foxy loves all the attention she gets at our talks. She goes up and down the rows of chairs visiting the patrons for pets and hugs


Next stop for dogs at the library: December 14th at Firestone Park Library, 7 p.m.!

Foxy dawg update

Most who know me also know about Foxy, the matriarch of my little kennel.

Foxy has quite a history. In her glory days, she led 950 miles of the 2002 Yukon Quest for a musher named Wayne Hall out of Eagle, Alaska.

Foxy is really the kind of dog most people come across once in a lifetime. Super intelligent, loyal and strong, Foxy now spends most of her time cleaning up the food bucket after feeding time or trying to chase cats and other small animals. At nearly fourteen years old, Foxy is fully retired and enjoying her retirement. We named our kennel after her four years ago because, even then, she seemed to feel she "did her time" on the trail and wanted only to lounge lazily on our sofa.

Last January, on the coldest night of the season, Chris let her out to go potty before we went to bed. In a real fluke because Foxy never left our yard without us before this, she broke through our kennel fencing in hot pursuit, we think, of some small critter. Just a quarter mile from our house, at 1 a.m., a vehicle hit her, breaking her pelvis and section of her right hip. We were devastated.

Many, including our vet, suggested putting her down. But we could see the will to live in her eyes, and the strength she possessed.


Foxy during her recovery period

It was a rough month or so. Foxy is no small dog. I spent every day carrying her and all her 62 pounds outside to use the bathroom. I fed her painkillers throughout the day and night, and nursed her back to health with pans of water at her "bedside" and good food for her to lap up.

Amazingly, she pulled through incredibly well! Most cannot even tell she was ever injured.

Today, I recorded a short video of her running! When I take the dogs out for runs, she still gets excited when she sees the harnesses come out. And it makes me so happy to see the happiness in her eyes and her tail wagging for meaty bones - Foxy loves to eat!

Her birthday will be this coming December 28 - what Wayne and Scarlett Hall reported was the coldest day of the year in Eagle at negative 50-something. No wonder Foxy felt spry that night she broke out of the fence here: it was negative 18 that night, and the temperatures were perfectly suited to a retired Quest dog! Click on the video below to see Foxy in action, following me around the backyard today.