Alaskan Husky Behavior Forum

It was hard to decide where to post this thread It's a family affair and friends too.

We had an amazing day of fun and excitment here Christams Eve Day.

Another young musher came to train, a neighbor brought his team over and we ran dogs too. It's nice when you can get parents involved in more than just sticking the kids on the back of a sled.

Thanks to our neighbor Terry, he has helped us put in a very nice 1 mile loop for the 2 & 3 doggers to train on. It may not be like the trails at ADMA by any means, but the little kids gain more than just riding on a sled on this trail. There is a hard Haw at the start, and a couple of Gees that require driving and steering. Then again this trail was designed for 2 dogs. I think it is wonderful training.

Our 3 dog trail is put in and very nice at this point. It's only about 3 miles, but runs down our lane and onto a hay field with a fairly sharp loop allowing us plenty of chances for passing and head on passes too. We have run larger teams on this, but it isn't a very long run for them. It is great for early fall training no matter how many one decides to hook up to the ATV.

Anyway, we bought walkie talkies for Christmas and use cell phones while the kids are running the 2 dogs. They go a fair distance thru the thick woods and moose like to use that trail now. We have one person launch the teams and make sure the kids make that hard haw. the kids then run alongside the cemetary, then we have another person at the Gee as the kids navigate into the woods. Then as they come out at the main trail we have yet another person there to insure the teams go gee towards home and not haw to join into the longer 3 mile loop. An adult launches the teams and Logan most times catches them at the finish back home. We found it was much more like a real race set up too when we have multiple teams going. It's a hoot calling the next person down the line telling them that a team made the turn.

Now, for the 3 dog....Well I and Logan went through a Rite of Passage this day. We decided to send him and his team out the trail this time with no other dog team running 1-2 minutes behind. I was a nervous wreck. It was very hard not watching almost every move they made, and not knowing if he had to hook down for anything and fix it all by himself. For this training we only have a person stationed at the loop to be sure they make it around with no wrecks. other than that they are on their own if we dont follow or lead with another team.

I must make an addmition. About 10 minutes into his run, I asked Matt to go ahead and take a 4 dog team out. My race team is a breeze to hook up and my sled is always ready to go. So he obliged, I know he was a little worried too. Off shoots Matt, Brego, Cougar, Mars, and Shadowfax. Matt runs them with a neckline. Matt and Logan had a beautiful head on pass with zero incidents on the main trail. Logan was already well on the home stretch returning.

Terry had put in our longer trail a few days before, and Matt ran it earlier that day with a 7 dog team, it was a bit to punchy for sprinty dogs and a patched up Risdon Rig.( glad he took the laughing husky sled) Had some icey areas as well to navigate thru. But our friend brought over his dog team and hooked up and ran the 4 mile loop anyway.

So we ran, five teams this day and had loads of coffee and chatting. Lots of stories from the kids about what happened to them on the trail and a nice report from matt about my own dogs head on pass, and got a detailed trail report about our 4 mile. Our little cabin was filled to compacity with 5 adults and 3 children.

Christmas Day, Matt and Kiery hooked up eight dogs and ran our infamous Jack London Trail over to our friends house for tea and hot cocoa. Matt's team is doing wonderful on these adventures. we dont have picket lines set up for visiting dog teams at either end yet this year. So Matt sets his snow hooks, tips his sled over, unhooks tug lines, waters and snacks the dogs and they settle down for a short nap while he and his passenger(s) go inside to visit. His team is really coming along in manners.

Happy Holidays Husky Forum and Happy Trails

Sounds like an AWESOME day! It's so great that you have your own space and your own trails, and a neighborhood with kids and friends! What a wonderful blessing. I'm only a little bit jealous

I guess it's time for me to recruit some help. I have more dogs than I can keep exercised!

Does Jethro get to go with Matt on his longer runs? He's still listed on Petfinder, I could take him off if you like. That reminds me, I need to take Sweety off and Minnie too.

Jethro ran in his team until a couple of weeks ago. He just pooped out and couldn't keep up. We let him rest a few days and tried again, but he went even shorter before he started hopping on three legs. This is Mustangs third year in retirement and Jethro is now his room mate in the retirment pen. You can take jethro off Pet Finder LynnO, he is where he belongs and seems rather happy being brushed and given extra straw as an Old Man. He is still on .6 thyroid meds and looks good, his body just cant keep up with his desire to run.

So my grand plan is to see if Mustang would like to go for a trot and hook Jethro in with him and take the old boys for a spin at what ever pace they deem good. Fuzzy Buddy is still going strong and if we have a leader with good eyesight he still enjoys and knows his commands.