What an amazing day! Today I loaded up Ame, Haru, and Chise for a CAT event in Marion, Ohio. I was a bit nervous for a couple reasons. It was Ame's potentially last run needed for CAX, assuming nothing weird happened. It was Haru's first official CAT, who was gone to NH for a while last summer and hasn't done fast CAT for almost two years. Lastly, it was Chise's "redemption CAT" as I called it, to see if her NQs last fall were really her being bored of the game or if she was just tired that weekend from all the travel. I got all the answers and am so proud of the dogs. First up, Ame flawlessly passed her two runs. She stayed focused on the lure with her effortless run and got her CAX with ease. It wasn't much of a surprise, but I'm still so excited we finally managed that feat of CAX that has seemed so far away for so long! Second, Haru passed both his runs! He was crazy for the lure but he did "lose it" midway on both runs. I was able to direct him back to the lure both times and he finished with gusto. Lastly, Chise did not pass her runs. She ran out into the field chasing the lure and got a case of the zoomies both times. She recalled beautifully but would not get back on the lure regardless of my attempts. Despite that, I can't help but chuckle at this cute little Chise recalling to me, spinning around to sit on my feet, and looking up at me with a giant satisfied grin on her face. She may be done with CAT but she's still my precious Chise. We walked away with 4 out of 6 Qs and all the dogs had an absolutely wonderful time. Then to top it all off, I got news from my wonderful breeder at Sibersong Sleddogs that her final picks were chosen from the litter I am getting a puppy from, and that Ava is officially ours. We leave next week to bring her home!
0 Comments
This past Tuesday I went to a local emergency vet where Uta, Haru, and Natsu donated blood. How it works is the dogs are first screened for any health concerns in their blood, which my boys tested clear for everything last fall. Then they donate twice a year one pint of blood depending on how they handle it. My boys all did fine. They can donate up until the age of 9. The perks are the free blood screening and also a voucher for the initial check in cost of emergency care for each dog if they ever need it. I am so proud of my boys for being on their best behavior!!
What a trip! On 01/28/21 I started driving from Ohio to New Hampshire to compete in the Mike Tierney Memorial Fun Race. My breeder and mentor Jaye Foucher was letting me stay at her place and was going to let me carpool to the race with her. She also was letting me borrow Tira and Mousse, and I couldn't be more excited about it.
On Friday we got the bad news that Jaye's trailer broke down and she could no longer race, so I was pretty sad about that, but she still came with me on Saturday and helped out by manning the ATV to snub teams to which gave me a sense of comfort having a familiar face there. My facebook friends Dawn, Steve, Ashley, and Brianna were also there so it made it a lot less scary. The dogs were SO cold I had to bust our their jackets, they weren't used to negative temperatures, especially when Ohio was 40s and raining when we left. Everyone got a kick out of the spoiled cold sleddogs. For the race itself, it was a 12.2 mile course, and way hillier than I'm used to. For reference, I don't even hit 200 feet of elevation on my 10 mile training runs, and this race had well over 1,500 feet of elevation. Regardless, we went out and we did it! The initial force of 8 dogs taking off caught me by surprise and whipped my hat off, but I caught it and we kept going. and I didn't lose the team! What I didn't expect was how many snowmobiles we had to pass. Given I had never passed them before and was still unsure of proper etiquette, I stopped, hooked down my team, and held them for every snowmobiler to pass. It added a good 30-40 minutes to our time, but I don't necessarily regret it. Of course we came in last, but we finished at a decent pace and the dogs were in good spirits. That Saturday night, Jaye asked me if I wanted to come run dogs with her to get her team out. OF COURSE! I tied my sled to her sled and followed her and her 12 dog team. Now that was scary. I honestly thought I was going to crash anyyyyy minute. At one point we stopped for a minute, and when Jaye went to take off the force DID throw me off the sled. We couldn't stop laughing about it. Come Sunday I decided to scratch the race, Natsu and Ame were both pretty tired still and I couldn't expect them to get up early and run that course again, not with our lack of hill training. I opted to do an afternoon run though for a 10 mile run on some flatter trails near Jaye's with Jaye and Lizzy, and after running behind her and her team, I'd say it was like running on easy or beginner mode. I'm sure it helped that the dogs were still a little tired from Saturday. I had to have Yona ride in the sled for a little bit because she started pulling back on the neckline and she NEVER does that, but after a mile or two I looked her back to the team and she looked fine again. Regardless, I decided to give the team Monday and Tuesday to rest just to make sure no one was injured or would get injured. Monday and Tuesday I just played with puppies the whole time. Jaye had a current litter from Mia and Captain who were 11 weeks old. I was originally on the list to get a puppy, but there was another pregnant female I was waiting to see if she would have enough puppies, so I had decided to unofficially pass until we knew. Still, they were rather tempting and I found myself falling in love with them. I ESPECIALLY loved the three girls Holly, Merry, and Noelle. they were so sweet and cuddly! Come Wednesday we did another run, this time Kelly and Kim came! They are Ame's breeder. I followed Kelly and Kim since they were doing a shorter run, and we did 5.2 miles. I encountered a snowmobiler but when I went to hold my dogs they insisted I pass. They were so nice and cheered my dogs on as we passed, I was grateful for the nice experience!! I also got a lot of nice passes in with Kelly, Kim, Jaye, and Lizzy. All the dogs did fabulous! When we got back to the truck Kelly, Kim, and I hung out and we chatted about dogs. It was SO awesome to connect with the people who bred my first working dog and see all their dogs again. I went down the row and knew them all by name except Ellie whose name escaped me in the moment (though I knew her background, sorry Ellie!) and Pirate who I accidentally called Night in the moment and went wait, you're not Night (sorry Pirate!). I follow their kennel pretty religiously having a dog from them, and love following the dogs at races and seeing all their goofy personalities. It was just an absolutely fantastic time catching up with them. Then on Friday I woke up to a surprise... PUPPIES! Daffy had her litter of puppies while I was still there, how cool is that! Daffy, the mom, is Uta's half sister as they share the same dad. Mousse, the dad, is Yona's son and Chise's brother. I was SO excited waiting for this litter to happen, and it was super awesome to meet them right as they came into the world. Daffy was such a good mom, I was worried I would make her anxious, but she was totally fine with me and let me handle the puppies. I still handled them for less than a minute at a time of course, I didn't want to stress momma out! She ended up with six beautiful, healthy babies in the end. Two girls, four boys. Since it was snowing the whole day, Jaye named them with snowstorm themed names. "Flurry" Sibersong's Snow Flurry, "Ava" Sibersong's Avalanche, "Blizzard" Sibersong's Blizzard, "Nori" Sibersong's Nor'easter, "Drift" Sibersong's Snow Drift, and "Storm" Sibersong's Snow Storm. I absolutely love the names and can't wait to find out which one will be the future Yukikaze team member! We will find out in 12 weeks come May! Saturday I got one final run in breaking trail with Jaye and Lizzy, and then Saturday afternoon I headed back to Ohio. No road trip of mine is complete without transporting a dog though! On my way home I transported the former Kringle, one of the Mia puppies, to his new home in New York, and I arrived back home on Sunday. All in all it was an amazing experience. Racing, training with my inspirations, running on the most beautiful snow and trails, seeing my future puppy be born, it was all just incredible. Thank you for the experiences New Hampshire, I'll be back in May! This past weekend I took my team to compete at a dryland race here in Ohio! We were extremely careful with covid, everyone was wearing masks and teams were distancing across the lot. We were so happy to get out and have fun with our dogs. I entered the 6 dog rig purebred class with Ame, Yona, Uta, Haru, Natsu and Chise, the 4 dog rig purebred class with Ame, Uta, Natsu, and Chise, and the 2 dog bike purebred class with a friend biking Yona and Haru.
Day one my 6 dog my team was fairly perfect. They never went off on the trail once nor did they try despite many other 6 dog teams going off the course and some not finishing. I was very proud of my dogs having good trail sense. The only issue I had is at one point there was a giant puddle and Uta went "Yay! Puddle!!!" and dived into it and laid down, stopping the team completely. I lost a couple minutes there trying to get the team going again, and had to fix a couple tangles subsequently after. The tangles were easy to fix though, I was racing my fritz for control so I just locked the brakes and hopped off, so the tangles didn't cost me much time at all. Unsurprisingly we are 2nd to last in 6 dog for all the teams that finished, given I'm racing on a training cart I expected that, and then the dogs were pretty tired and trotting for most of 4 dog and 2 dog so we were last in both those classes. In 4 dog I had Natsu lead, but as expected he was a terrible lefty the whole time, going as far as running beside the trail. We did however get past the puddle without issue since Uta was in wheel, so I had to choose my poison I suppose! In 2 dog Yona and Haru took off perfectly with Hannah, but Yona eventually wanted to turn around and come back to me when she realized I wasn't running with them. They finished though! Regardless of the hiccups, I entered this race primarily as training opportunity, and with the puddle, seeing them slow way down in their 2nd class, and affirming Natsu's stubborn lefty issues are as bad as ever in lead it has definitely given me some things to work on. Day two went a little better! For 6 dog I had Chise and Haru lead. They stayed to the trail perfectly aside from a small mishap for Haru stopping to poop (oy, Haru). The dogs passed by the puddle without issues and we had a strong finish with zero tangles this time. In 4 dog I had Uta and Chise leading (good job leading Chise!). I was a little worried about the puddle since Uta was the main issue on day one, but it was better than having Natsu or Ame in lead who aren't strong leaders. Uta saw another team winding around the field and kept leaning off to the side wanting to follow them, but Chise shoulder bumped him and kept him on track. What a good girl, such a natural! Then to my surprise Uta passed by the puddle without a glance so we finished strong without any issues or tangles in 4 dog as well! 2 dog bike was the same as yesterday, Haru and Yona took off strong but Yona didn't want to leave me once they got a little further down the trail. Just like day one they got back on track and came trotting into the finish line with Hannah. Haru had such a big smile on his face, I was so proud of them! Our weekend ended with a 3rd out of 5 competing teams in 6 dog rig, 5th out of 5 competing teams in 4 dog rig, and 3rd out of 3 competing teams in 2 dog bike. Not to mention all the fun we had being with our friends and running a new trail. A huge thanks goes out to the club for putting on the race, we loved the technical trail and the fun awards. Lastly, we finished our virtual Sibersong's Trail To Iditarod challenge with our miles this weekend! We virtually tracked our miles for 4 weeks in support of Sibersong's 2022 Iditarod! This weekend Chise and I went to a local fast CAT event with a group of friends of mine. Chise doesn't find fast CAT terribly exciting, but she still chases the lure for fun. Her second run she got to the end, realized the game was over, and sprinted back to me with a giant grin on her face. She is an absolute dork! I do love her. However with those runs she did earn her BCAT title! I am so proud of her for handling these new environments with ease.
Today we had our first full team run of the season! The team sans Haru has had a couple runs together this month, but now that Haru was back from his stay in New Hampshire and recovered from his neuter he was finally ready to rejoin the team. I had a few kinks to work out during hook up. Natsu was in lead since I like to rotate leaders, but being the goober he is he kept spinning around and tangling his neckline with Ame. Chise wasn't used to having a partner and still rather new to mushing being a yearling, and kept pushing into Uta and moving to his side of the gangline. Haru being the crazy boy he is kept throwing his paws up and out to tangle his legs into the harness several times in a row. Yes, it felt as chaotic as it sounds. I kept my pace steady and consistent. Fixing Natsu, hooking up another dog. Fixing Chise, hooking up another dog. I finally got Haru harnessed, Chise on her side of the gangline, and Natsu facing forward. The hookup chaos aside, it was a wonderful run. The dogs were fast and so excited to be out. I kept it at a short 2.1 mile run as the sun was out and it was starting to feel a bit warm, but despite the run being short I still had some happy dogs. This past weekend my good friend Melissa and I went to the Medina Kennel Club for their CAT event. Ame and Chise were both entered, Ame ran all four of her runs beautifully. She always cuts off the lure, but stays focused on it to make it clear she is just trying to get ahead. Chise only finished her morning runs, she got too distracted in the afternoon runs but seeing as she is a yearling it may be a maturity thing. We won't give up on CAT for her just yet, and her first run Saturday did earn her her CA title. Ame is also closer to her CAX thanks to her four Qs. Overall we had a TON of fun and the dogs and I can't wait to do it again! Yesterday I packed up the whole crew and took a day trip to Wisconsin! My goal was to get a couple CAT legs for Ame so we can get closer to her CAX, but it was also Chise's debut in CAT as well. The other dogs came along for moral support. All of the dogs were very well behaved for the road trip, we got there in one piece and my girls ran their runs. I am thrilled to say that Ame qualified her two runs, though that wasn't much surprise, and Chise also qualified her two runs! It turns out Chise is a lot like her aunt Ame, she loves the lure. They run a bit differently I had noticed. Ame is a cheater, she immediately runs at an angle to cut the lure off. Chise follows directly behind it, though if she is anything like Ame she will memorize the game and also start cutting it off in runs to come. I am so proud of my girls, they had a lot of fun! |
Yukikaze Adventure BlogThis blog is to post the pup's adventures, primarily being sport or racing results. Archives
April 2021
Categories |