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!
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Yukikaze Adventure BlogThis blog is to post the pup's adventures, primarily being sport or racing results. Archives
April 2021
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