Tonight we started quad training with 14 dogs on 4 mile loop. I put one of my recently flown over babies in swing (leader Chrome), and the other; powerhouse Fuego in wheel… as always, it’s extremely pleasing to watch sled dogs in action, that just want to pull hard for the love of it :o)

Sorry! My camera doesn’t take good pictures at dusk…

I will keep Chrome in swing for now… it will give her a chance to get use to our complicated training trails and a chance for her heat/season to pass.

Getting ready for training the night before…

Nice and clean… I don’t think it will look like this anymore after a few days of training with rain…. Oh-well… never mind :o)

Training life at the other side of the world (Alaska); Magali captures a great photo illustrating dogs working hard at there kennel just for the love of it!

9/28/2007 8:02:04 PM UTC    Comments [0] 

Today with much delight, I picked up my babies Chrome and Fuego from the London Gatwick airport…

There journey started on the early morning of the 25th (AK local time) at the Noatak Kennel near Nenana, Alaska, where Jacques and Magali drove them to Continental’s cargo facility in Anchorage, via the state vets USDA office for endorsement of paperwork.

It was just a few days ago, both Magali and I where stressing out with regards to raising the correct paperwork for the state vet to endorse, as Chrome and Fuego where going to travel to the UK under the Pets Passport Scheme… but I had good feeling that all would come good in the end :o)

Magali, I owe you a few roast dinners now!!! All the best to both of you, have a great season…

Chrome (Leader)

Fuego

9/27/2007 8:37:48 AM UTC    Comments [0] 

Over the last couple of months I’ve been designing and re-fitting out the dog van.
Today K9 Cages fitted out the van with cages capable of housing 16 dogs in total (two dogs per a cage), and as a bonus; welded my dropping dog anchor points to the van…
Looking over the completed work, I was most pleased. K9 cages had done a superb job here!!!

Eight way split (rear view)

Eight way split (side door view)

Locking mechanisms, non rattle

One of the anchor points for dropping dogs

I will post more details laters, which will include ventilation and insulation techniques used to help battle against heat build up while dogs are travelling within the van, especially under our UK winter daytime temperatures.

9/17/2007 6:47:07 PM UTC    Comments [0] 

This weekend I spent making and preparing new lines for fall training. These are designed in retrospect with the new 1 and ½ foot necklines.

I use bright colours so we can easily see the lines, as a lot of our training is done under the moonlight so to speak within a dark forest.

9/16/2007 6:43:15 PM UTC    Comments [0] 

Weekend before last, our new environment... (outside run)

A week laters....

8/22/2007 7:58:48 AM UTC    Comments [0] 

As I got rained off today with re-fitting out van, which I will post about laters, I made a start on lines ready for fall training…

The necklines I’m making are 1 ½ foot long, woven together with the technique that Magali taught me over in Alaska.
In AK, Jacquie and Magali use 2 foot necklines, which gives much more freedom for the dog in moment, and you can clearly see this as the necklines are not tight like we see when running on 1 foot necklines over here in the UK.
When I first came back from my visit in AK, I introduced the longer necklines to my friend Malc, and like I first thought over in AK, instantly thought this would increase the likelihood of tangles, not so!!! Why is this; purely because the necklines run angled into the dog from the mainline by about 10-15 degrees. We have far less tangles now then we used to get with the 1 foot necklines, with a great improvement on dogs freedom of moment.
Why are you using 1 ½ foot necklines and not 2 foot? Purely because our training trails are quite narrow with built up woodland on each side. So I wanted to restrict the distance on how wide the dogs could run; so for us, the 1 ½ foot necklines work well in that sense but still give the dogs more freedom of moment over that of the 1 foot necklines...

8/19/2007 7:37:16 AM UTC    Comments [0] 

Over the last week, Storm and Kia have really started to find there legs… Playing, keeping mum on her toes and looking super cute :o)

7/13/2007 2:40:47 PM UTC    Comments [0] 

So cute, Storm today started to open her eyes at 12 days old….

6/28/2007 10:34:18 AM UTC    Comments [0] 

The first one to have there eyes open is Kia, at 10 days old. Storm is preferring to keep hers shut for the time being :o)

6/26/2007 7:48:47 AM UTC    Comments [0] 

Both of Sheenjek's puppies are thriving and growing extremely quickly. A couple of days ago, the female was given a sci-fi name, Storm. Joint decision :o)

Arrr, so so cute...

6/20/2007 8:22:11 AM UTC    Comments [0] 

Yesterday morning I was delightfully woken at 5:20AM by the sweat cry off Sheenjek’s first pup; a black/tan & white girl weighing 15ozs.
9:34AM, a second, a black and white boy weighing 15¼ozs
Both pups where delivered by Sheenjek without any supervision or help; her first litter :o)

Proud mum

Doing a grand job looking after her two wonderful pups :o) it's so endearing to see and a great feeling…

Donna has already chosen a name for the boy, Kia, now it’s up to me to find a name for the girl.

Many thanks to Magali Philip, Neil Marshal & Mark Allaway that supported me with information to put my mind at ease with regards to Sheenjek’s progress and well being; as this was my first breeding leading to the birth of pups.

6/17/2007 10:12:00 AM UTC    Comments [0] 

A few days ago temperatures where hitting around the 25c mark here in the UK, this morning it plummeted to 7c 70%RH :o) ooh – great opportunity to stretch those dogs legs… and for me to try Suen in lead, my new lead dog from Joe Redington Jr… He did very well considering our training trails here consist of turns that are not always that well defined/obvious, along with plenty of wildlife to contend with, rabbits for one; but even with rabbits to the left and right within a few feet from us, he drove on straight pass with a little cue driving the team down the trail, superb :o)

Suen, lead right (black dog). Looks like we are all good & ready...

Malc’s team, ready to go…

They just love those pig ears to chew on after a run…

5/28/2007 12:10:39 PM UTC    Comments [0]