Thursday, August 18, 2005

Back in the harness again!!!

WOOOO!!! It's pretty cool here today. Time to get the lazy sled dogs off the couch and back in their harnesses. They went nuts when I started the ATV, so I decided a small team would do for our first run! Five dogs--Pingo-Paxil, Hobo, Antare-Pacer. Hobo has to run alone or I could have taken 6. Psycho puppy can't contain his energy well enough to have a partner. He gets so excited that he'll start a fight just to pass the time until he can run!

Sorry about the blurry pic--taken on my old digital and it's really hard to hold a camera and drive the ATV at the same time! This was just barely into the run. Look at those happy husky butts!

Taking a little break where we turned around. The dogs thought this was a bad idea. They would have prefer to keep going and take the long trail. It's a little warm for a long run though. After some discussion, the girls up front decided to "HAW" after all!

Back home after about 5km, happy, tired dogs! They did really well considering they haven't seen a harness or heard a command since late April!

Today's Team Members:

My Pingo girl! I was really impressed with her. She's had some trouble with soft tissue injuries lately, pulling muscles in her hips, but she was raring to go tonight. Her gait looked great, her tail was up and wagging the whole way. I'll give her some Metacam tonight just in case she's a little sore, but I think she's going to be fine. That is a relief--I need my leader girl! Plus she's one of my favorites(don't tell the others!)

My precious Paxil--can you tell she's over 9 years old and had cancer last winter? Me neither. She is as good as sled dogs come! I love that spotted tongue too!

Hobo, running in swing all by himself. We should all approach life with joy and enthusiasm that Hobo does! This world would be a much happier, peaceful place! I suppose if a wolf had tried to make his dinner and I lived to tell the story, I'd be pretty joyful to still be here too!

Pacer ran in wheel with Antare. A year ago, the sound of the ATV motor would have terrified him. Tonight, he didn't even notice. He was so happy to be working again. He does love to pull and what a beautiful gait! (It's easy to analyze their gaits from the quad. You can learn alot about a dog when you watch their butt wiggle for mile after mile!)

And finally, Antare, solid, dependable, little Antare. There's not much too him under all that fur, but he uses every ounce of muscle. He's a strong little guy and he'll pull all day. Antare never lets me down!

WOOOOO!! Now I can't wait for snow!!!

2 comments:

dogsled_stacie said...

Hey, good to see you're blogging too!! And it's nice to see dogs in harness once again... yippeeeee!! It's about that time. Hey, I'll soon have a dog trailer, so I'm hoping to be very nomadic this winter. We should get together for a run out your way.

OMG - Delta and Antare are BEAUTIFUL!!! I remember those two at the shelter.

Take it easy!

Wandering Spirit Kennels said...

Hey Stacie! That would be great if you got out here this winter! I have a half finished dog box in the garage right now. If all goes according to plan, I might be able to be a bit nomadic this winter too! :)