We are Rob and Louise Cooke; originally from the UK we now share our lives with 43 Siberian Huskies and Gus the Karelian Bear Dog just outside the city of Whitehorse, YT. We have owned, raced and shown Siberian Huskies for about 17 years since getting our first boy Flint in 1997. Originally only ever intending to get one husky as a pet, we then decided we needed a second as company for Flint and then before we knew it, we had an ever expanding kennels and dreams of long-distance racing.
The dog that really made the difference to us, and changed the course of our lives, was our fourth dog, Fya. For us Fya was exceptional, he had more strength and drive than we had ever seen in a dog before, in harness he literally transformed our team and ensured that we well and truly caught the mushing bug. In parallel with his drive on the trail Fya also started to do exceptionally well in the show ring and early success in Puppy and Junior classes culminated in him winning Best Siberian Husky Dog at Cruft's under breed specialist, Brunette Greenland (Rajarani). Within just over a year Fya had won his third Challenge Certificate to become the first UK show champion from the truly amazing Huskidoo litter bred by Bette Hawthorn and Mark Theaker. To date this is the only siberian husky litter in the UK where the whole litter have achieved champion status.
Not content with his show success Fya went from strength to strength on the trail and saw him attain second place in the SHCGB Dual Championship, behind Dave and Jill Hemmins' boy Ch.Eekonoos Zefram Cochrane in 2003/04. The Dual Championship award is designed to encourage the dual purpose nature of the Siberian Husky.
In 2004/2005 after another outstanding twelve months in the ring and on the trail Fya went one better, displacing Zef and earning the Dual Championship title. To cap off a remarkable winter for us Fya's co-lead Poppy (a Zef daughter) took the position of the highest placed bitch in the Dual Championship.
Not content with his show success Fya went from strength to strength on the trail and saw him attain second place in the SHCGB Dual Championship, behind Dave and Jill Hemmins' boy Ch.Eekonoos Zefram Cochrane in 2003/04. The Dual Championship award is designed to encourage the dual purpose nature of the Siberian Husky.
In 2004/2005 after another outstanding twelve months in the ring and on the trail Fya went one better, displacing Zef and earning the Dual Championship title. To cap off a remarkable winter for us Fya's co-lead Poppy (a Zef daughter) took the position of the highest placed bitch in the Dual Championship.
Setting our sights on a new challenge, when Rob, an aircraft engineer in the Royal Navy, heard about the possibility of an Exchange Posting working with the Canadian Air Force, we thought this would be the ideal opportunity to try our hand, and test our dogs, at mid distance mushing, and more importantly to run the dogs in snow - something we had precious little opportunity to do in the UK.
So in July of 2005 we put the majority of our possessions into storage (all husky paraphernalia coming with us of course), sold our house just outside Peterborough, England and came across to Nova Scotia, Canada with our (then) nine siberian huskies.
So in July of 2005 we put the majority of our possessions into storage (all husky paraphernalia coming with us of course), sold our house just outside Peterborough, England and came across to Nova Scotia, Canada with our (then) nine siberian huskies.
Coming across the Atlantic with a skeleton racing and training plan, it was our intention to build up the size of the team, and the distances we would race, over the three years that we knew we would be in North America. Unfortunately the weather was not so kind and we had two very poor winters in Nova Scotia in terms of snow coverage. As such we did not progress as far or as fast as we would have liked. We also discovered that training for mid distance on a sled is (from our perspective at least) very different to training for dryland sprint. In essence we had to relearn everything and despite getting excellent help and advice from many quarters (Ann Stead and Jamie Nelson at Boot Camp, Kim and
Kelly Berg, Jaye Foucher, Corina Alexander to name but a few) we still made some fundamental mistakes and errors of judgment that have prevented us from progressing as we had hoped.
Kelly Berg, Jaye Foucher, Corina Alexander to name but a few) we still made some fundamental mistakes and errors of judgment that have prevented us from progressing as we had hoped.
We have managed to add considerably to our numbers. In order to achieve our goals of running an eight dog team in 2006/2007 we acquired three dogs from the Kelim and Sibersong Kennels in New Hampshire. Determined to maintain the 'look and type' of siberian that we went for in the UK we were extremely fortunate to get three dogs that not only fitted into our vision of what a husky should be but
also added greatly to our team dynamic. All three dogs had a very positive first winter in harness and have a great deal of potential for the future; Paris (Sibersong's Trojan Prince) in particular has the potential to become a very good leader.
As a result of our experiences in 2006/2007 (and despite completing our main goal - the Can Am 60) we revised our race plans for 2007/2008, competing largely at the same distances as we did for 06/07 with the 100 mile Eagle Lake race thrown in for the experience. We continued to build the numbers in the kennel with one eye on the future. We were fortunate to be offered Northome Lewis by Scott and Corina Alexander and NorthWapiti's Eeek by Karen and Mark Ramstead and believing that one of our failings was lack of mid distance experience in the team we jumped at the chance of owning these older and more experienced two dogs. We also bred our first litter, out of Poppy and Fya, and were also exceptionally fortunate to get two more beautiful girls in Cassie (Kelim's Mothers Ruin) and Eclipse (Tumnatki's Eclipse) both of whom are already showing great potential.
also added greatly to our team dynamic. All three dogs had a very positive first winter in harness and have a great deal of potential for the future; Paris (Sibersong's Trojan Prince) in particular has the potential to become a very good leader.
As a result of our experiences in 2006/2007 (and despite completing our main goal - the Can Am 60) we revised our race plans for 2007/2008, competing largely at the same distances as we did for 06/07 with the 100 mile Eagle Lake race thrown in for the experience. We continued to build the numbers in the kennel with one eye on the future. We were fortunate to be offered Northome Lewis by Scott and Corina Alexander and NorthWapiti's Eeek by Karen and Mark Ramstead and believing that one of our failings was lack of mid distance experience in the team we jumped at the chance of owning these older and more experienced two dogs. We also bred our first litter, out of Poppy and Fya, and were also exceptionally fortunate to get two more beautiful girls in Cassie (Kelim's Mothers Ruin) and Eclipse (Tumnatki's Eclipse) both of whom are already showing great potential.
The later additions, Ammo (Barking Brook's Amarillo Slim of Shaytaan), Erebus (Sibersong's Arctic Quest of Shaytaan), Antigone (NorthWapiti's Banjo of Shaytaan), Jim (Chlouts Alley of Velikaya at Shaytaan), Aspen (Mishawum's Rocky Mountain) and Terror (SecondWinds Polar Quest of Shaytaan) were then joined by two imports from the UK, Dawson (Zoox Trebbiano) and Yukon (Zoox Frizzante). We
have been great admirers of the Zoox line since we started out in siberians and were immensely pleased to be allowed to introduce these two lovely boys to our team.
have been great admirers of the Zoox line since we started out in siberians and were immensely pleased to be allowed to introduce these two lovely boys to our team.
Having been great admirers of Krakens Kermit for a very long time, what for us is a perfect pedigree is matched by exceptional looks, confirmation and attitude, in 2009 we were extremely fortune to be offered the opportunity to have Kermit come live with us. Kermit really is out second 'Once in a Lifetime' dog. Although nearly nine years old when he came to us having him around the kennel, and running in harness, made us appreciate what a truly special dog he is. Furthermore he sired what has turned out to be, for us anyway, a very special litter that has had a huge impact on our kennel. The Crazy Litter, Skits, Psycho, Loonie, Nutter and Maddie have transformed our team and have run virtually every mile of every race since 2011 without a hitch. When we realized our goal in 2013, and started the Yukon Quest 1000 Mile Race, all five of the litter were on the team – and all five were there in Fairbanks at the finish. So impressed have we been that we repeated the mating and very much look forward to seeing how the Atheists, Hitch, Dennie and Harris, perform in 2014/15.
Having taken a sabbatical in 2013/14 to recover financially, and do a spot of race judging as part of both the Yukon Quest and the Percy de Wolfe we decided to set ourselves another goal and so we have entered both the thousand mile races – the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod – time will tell if this is a
folly.
Welcome to our website and our dogs and we hope you enjoy the visit.
Rob and Louise
folly.
Welcome to our website and our dogs and we hope you enjoy the visit.
Rob and Louise
