Some men have affairs; some men have a Porsche; some men, my brother for instance, have an affair with their Porsche (would the mushing equivalent of a Porsche be a Sprinter 4x4 do you think?). For my mid life crisis I am giving up a well paid and secure job, throwing my lot in with Canada and hopefully heading off into the distant, cold and desolate north to run dogs. All four of these crises have several things in common; they can be fast, they can be fun, they can be expensive and they can all end in tears. How on earth did it all come to this? A question Louise regularly mutters to herself as she trudges around the kennel, poo pail in hand.
Yukon Bound?
Allowing for a bit of poetic licence it has been three years since I last wrote an article for the SHCGB magazine at which time we had owned, showed (or is that shown, definitely not shawn) and raced Siberian Huskies for about 7 years and had just moved across to Canada from the UK
(temporarily!?!) in pursuit of a dream. We had had some limited success in the ring and on the trail in the UK and had dreams of even more success in the North American show ring and on the snowy mid distance trails. Well, you can dream, can’t you?
Then we had 9 dogs, naïve expectations and some money in the bank. Today we have 29 dogs, a collection of red lanterns, an extremely uncertain future and a whole raft of memories that I wouldn’t trade for the world. We have lost a dog and found him again, watched short-legged fat little things waddle around the show ring, often with an equally short-legged fat little husky in tow. We have driven somewhere in excess of 80,000 miles, taking in shows, races, seeing sites and having fun. We tried to take Charlie’s picture outside the Cheers Bar in Boston early on a Sunday morning but the batteries ran out in the camera; we considered lowering the same Charlie down onto Plymouth Rock so that we could get a picture of him peeing on the spot where modern America was born but decided that Guantanamo Bay was not for us. I have hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and out again just to say I had done it, canoed the Yukon from Whitehorse to Dawson (just checkin’ out the route :) ) surviving close (ish) encounters with bears on the way.
(temporarily!?!) in pursuit of a dream. We had had some limited success in the ring and on the trail in the UK and had dreams of even more success in the North American show ring and on the snowy mid distance trails. Well, you can dream, can’t you?
Then we had 9 dogs, naïve expectations and some money in the bank. Today we have 29 dogs, a collection of red lanterns, an extremely uncertain future and a whole raft of memories that I wouldn’t trade for the world. We have lost a dog and found him again, watched short-legged fat little things waddle around the show ring, often with an equally short-legged fat little husky in tow. We have driven somewhere in excess of 80,000 miles, taking in shows, races, seeing sites and having fun. We tried to take Charlie’s picture outside the Cheers Bar in Boston early on a Sunday morning but the batteries ran out in the camera; we considered lowering the same Charlie down onto Plymouth Rock so that we could get a picture of him peeing on the spot where modern America was born but decided that Guantanamo Bay was not for us. I have hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and out again just to say I had done it, canoed the Yukon from Whitehorse to Dawson (just checkin’ out the route :) ) surviving close (ish) encounters with bears on the way.
Fya is never easy to impress
We have met such notable mushing luminaries as Lance Mackey (yes Louise I know that I didn’t meet him but you and Fya did), Dee Dee Jonrowe, Karen Ramstead, Mike Ellis, Leigh and Susan Gilchrist, Al and Ann Stead, Jamie Nelson, (Ann and Jamie’s mushing boot camp is
just about the best experience ever), Blake and Jen Freking and so many more. I have run a ten dog team through the January night, expecting to meet an angry moose on the trail at any moment and in temperatures down to -25°C and got frostbite in two toes for my pains just to finish a 100 mile race (in last place). We have laughed and cried, smiled and scowled, bred our first litter, lost our first parent; brought new guys onto the team, retired old guys from the team and put somewhere in excess of 2000 miles on the dogs. In short we have had a few experiences. But apart from giving me the opportunity to brag a little (OK a lot) what is the point of this article you may well be asking (if my ramblings haven’t already sent you to sleep that is). Well I thought as this chapter of our lives is about to close, and just before the mid life crisis kicks in fully (i.e. we won’t be able to afford the electricity to run a computer) this would be a good time to share a couple of our North American experiences and to
highlight some of the differences as we see them between owning Siberians in the UK and out here in the Colonies.
At the outset it would appear that as our dog numbers have increased then our 'spare' time has decreased correspondingly and by 'spare' I don't mean time away from work pursuing hobbies, I mean the time we have when we are not pursuing our hobby. I have discovered that work is now something we both do to not only give us a break from the dogs but also is necessary in order to:
1. Feed the dogs.
2. Buy the necessary equipment to run the dogs.
3. Buy more dogs.
4. Pay for racing the dogs.
5. Finance the vet's new Pontiac.
As a consequence of all this we now wear rags (largely made up of worn out harnesses) and eat the scraps that the dogs turn their noses up
at (as we have several dogs that have an appetite for dog poo then you can guess that the pickings aren't always that good - it's amazing that I have managed to put on so much weight - must be some good protein there).
just about the best experience ever), Blake and Jen Freking and so many more. I have run a ten dog team through the January night, expecting to meet an angry moose on the trail at any moment and in temperatures down to -25°C and got frostbite in two toes for my pains just to finish a 100 mile race (in last place). We have laughed and cried, smiled and scowled, bred our first litter, lost our first parent; brought new guys onto the team, retired old guys from the team and put somewhere in excess of 2000 miles on the dogs. In short we have had a few experiences. But apart from giving me the opportunity to brag a little (OK a lot) what is the point of this article you may well be asking (if my ramblings haven’t already sent you to sleep that is). Well I thought as this chapter of our lives is about to close, and just before the mid life crisis kicks in fully (i.e. we won’t be able to afford the electricity to run a computer) this would be a good time to share a couple of our North American experiences and to
highlight some of the differences as we see them between owning Siberians in the UK and out here in the Colonies.
At the outset it would appear that as our dog numbers have increased then our 'spare' time has decreased correspondingly and by 'spare' I don't mean time away from work pursuing hobbies, I mean the time we have when we are not pursuing our hobby. I have discovered that work is now something we both do to not only give us a break from the dogs but also is necessary in order to:
1. Feed the dogs.
2. Buy the necessary equipment to run the dogs.
3. Buy more dogs.
4. Pay for racing the dogs.
5. Finance the vet's new Pontiac.
As a consequence of all this we now wear rags (largely made up of worn out harnesses) and eat the scraps that the dogs turn their noses up
at (as we have several dogs that have an appetite for dog poo then you can guess that the pickings aren't always that good - it's amazing that I have managed to put on so much weight - must be some good protein there).
An Early Season Training Run
We are fortunate in that Louise has finally come to realise that mushing is all important and that showing is a subservient activity and so we can
wholeheartedly commit to running dogs. Were Louise not in agreement with this statement how else do you think I would have survived getting her, the van and 21 dogs stuck in a very remote forest in Nova Scotia for 4 hours on a slightly chilly Saturday evening last December. This was after a 4 hour run and also after Louise had expressly told me not to take the van along a snow covered trail because we would get stuck. There was also the small matter of me running over Louise's fingers as she tried to get something solid under the wheel; how was I supposed to know her fingers were there as I applied foot to gas? Then there was the matter of getting her trapped between the van and an ATV as we tried to use
the ATV to push the van back onto solid ground and I reversed as opposed to going forward.
Then there is the fact that she still gave me Christmas presents last year despite that her Christmas morning/afternoon had consisted of getting up at 0700, driving to the forest, sitting on an ATV for 5 hours in freezing cold temperatures behind an eight dog team only to return home at 1500 to discover that the thermostat on the oven had packed up and the turkey wasn’t ever going to cook. Oh how we laugh about these
incidents now; well actually we might laugh - one day … I hope!
To illustrate just how our lives have evolved it is probably beneficial to describe a typical training day in the height of winter:
0530: Get out of bed, shower and pull on as many clothes as possible.
0545: Remind Louise that we share the enjoyment of running dogs and so it is time for her to get up too. Go downstairs to start baiting water.
0600: Point out to Louise that it is getting late and we should both be outside embracing the experience of a -15ºC morning and so it is time to get up.
0601: Be reminded by Louise that she 'signed up' for the showing element of our dual purpose dogs - showing always starts at a much more civilised hour of the day and rarely, if ever, involves temperatures below freezing.
0602: Place a steak over my left eye to reduce the swelling that coincided with my third call for Louise to arise.
0615 - 0630: Louise loads between 14 and 21 dogs into the van whilst I load up ATVs and/or sleds and equipment depending on the weather and conditions.
0630 - 0700: Water, harness and where required boot the dogs. Feed any dogs that are remaining behind.
0700 - 0745: Drive to the training area (we tend to use an area about 40 miles up the valley from home as it gives unlimited access to in excess of 200 miles of wilderness trails).
0745 - 0800: Arrive at the site, set up the sleds/ATVs. Hook up two teams.
0800 -1400: Run both teams together. Approximately three weeks before a race we are aiming to cover either the distance of that race or replicate the time the dogs are likely to spend in harness over the course of the race. At other times we vary distance depending on training and conditioning requirements. Single training runs rarely last less than 4 hours and as we often have 2 teams and puppies that require training you can imagine how long a session can last.
1400 - 1430: Water dogs, deharness, check feet, drop the dogs.
1430 - 1500: Short run out for any puppies. Pack up the equipment.
1500 - 1615: Drive home and unload all the dogs back into the kennels.
1615 - 1645: Feed all the dogs; explain to the older dogs why they didn't get to go out, recheck feet and wrists.
1645 - 1715: Clean up the kennels and check the equipment ready for the next day. Dry out equipment where required.
1715 - 0530: Go inside and eat (its dark, what else should we do?), complete the training log and prepare for the same the next day.
Not that I am suggesting that husky folk the world over don't have similar, obsessive days but for us training has taken on a whole new meaning and entire weekends are now spent doing nothing but training. What is more spending 6-8 hours sat on the back of an ATV or
stood on a sled behind 10+ dogs with temperatures down to -21 ºC plus windchill trudging along at 6-8 mph trying to build muscle and stamina (the dogs not mine) in equal measure gives you a whole new perspective (mine not the dogs).
Of course the reason for putting ourselves through this is to see us, dogs and mushers, become a better team and really the only way to measure improvement realistically is through competition.
wholeheartedly commit to running dogs. Were Louise not in agreement with this statement how else do you think I would have survived getting her, the van and 21 dogs stuck in a very remote forest in Nova Scotia for 4 hours on a slightly chilly Saturday evening last December. This was after a 4 hour run and also after Louise had expressly told me not to take the van along a snow covered trail because we would get stuck. There was also the small matter of me running over Louise's fingers as she tried to get something solid under the wheel; how was I supposed to know her fingers were there as I applied foot to gas? Then there was the matter of getting her trapped between the van and an ATV as we tried to use
the ATV to push the van back onto solid ground and I reversed as opposed to going forward.
Then there is the fact that she still gave me Christmas presents last year despite that her Christmas morning/afternoon had consisted of getting up at 0700, driving to the forest, sitting on an ATV for 5 hours in freezing cold temperatures behind an eight dog team only to return home at 1500 to discover that the thermostat on the oven had packed up and the turkey wasn’t ever going to cook. Oh how we laugh about these
incidents now; well actually we might laugh - one day … I hope!
To illustrate just how our lives have evolved it is probably beneficial to describe a typical training day in the height of winter:
0530: Get out of bed, shower and pull on as many clothes as possible.
0545: Remind Louise that we share the enjoyment of running dogs and so it is time for her to get up too. Go downstairs to start baiting water.
0600: Point out to Louise that it is getting late and we should both be outside embracing the experience of a -15ºC morning and so it is time to get up.
0601: Be reminded by Louise that she 'signed up' for the showing element of our dual purpose dogs - showing always starts at a much more civilised hour of the day and rarely, if ever, involves temperatures below freezing.
0602: Place a steak over my left eye to reduce the swelling that coincided with my third call for Louise to arise.
0615 - 0630: Louise loads between 14 and 21 dogs into the van whilst I load up ATVs and/or sleds and equipment depending on the weather and conditions.
0630 - 0700: Water, harness and where required boot the dogs. Feed any dogs that are remaining behind.
0700 - 0745: Drive to the training area (we tend to use an area about 40 miles up the valley from home as it gives unlimited access to in excess of 200 miles of wilderness trails).
0745 - 0800: Arrive at the site, set up the sleds/ATVs. Hook up two teams.
0800 -1400: Run both teams together. Approximately three weeks before a race we are aiming to cover either the distance of that race or replicate the time the dogs are likely to spend in harness over the course of the race. At other times we vary distance depending on training and conditioning requirements. Single training runs rarely last less than 4 hours and as we often have 2 teams and puppies that require training you can imagine how long a session can last.
1400 - 1430: Water dogs, deharness, check feet, drop the dogs.
1430 - 1500: Short run out for any puppies. Pack up the equipment.
1500 - 1615: Drive home and unload all the dogs back into the kennels.
1615 - 1645: Feed all the dogs; explain to the older dogs why they didn't get to go out, recheck feet and wrists.
1645 - 1715: Clean up the kennels and check the equipment ready for the next day. Dry out equipment where required.
1715 - 0530: Go inside and eat (its dark, what else should we do?), complete the training log and prepare for the same the next day.
Not that I am suggesting that husky folk the world over don't have similar, obsessive days but for us training has taken on a whole new meaning and entire weekends are now spent doing nothing but training. What is more spending 6-8 hours sat on the back of an ATV or
stood on a sled behind 10+ dogs with temperatures down to -21 ºC plus windchill trudging along at 6-8 mph trying to build muscle and stamina (the dogs not mine) in equal measure gives you a whole new perspective (mine not the dogs).
Of course the reason for putting ourselves through this is to see us, dogs and mushers, become a better team and really the only way to measure improvement realistically is through competition.
Competing with the Colonies
Just after the start of the 2008 Can Am 30
It is worth noting first that there are some subtle differences between racing in the UK and racing in North America. The most obvious is the composition of the teams. Whereas 99% of UK sled dog teams are made up from the purebred northern breeds, and predominantly the Siberian Husky, the percentages are probably close to being reversed in North America. Despite the fact that New England, where we do most of our racing, has a very healthy mid distance Siberian community (possibly having origins from the later Seppala/earlier Lombard days), in the majority of races it is the alaskan and the hound that are masters; as a consequence it is both challenging and rare for a pure bred team to be competitive. Having said that kennels such as Kelim, Kiana and Mishawum do put out very fast, competitive mid distance Siberian teams. At this stage, 3 years into our mid-distance lifestyle, we do not. Beginning from a position where I thought I knew what I was doing training and running dogs, our learning curve has in fact been massively steep; everything we do with the dogs, everything we read, every new dog, every time we go out for a run or a race we learn something new. It has made me realise that I wasn't quite the experienced musher I thought I was when we left the UK (not that I think I am experienced now but as Jung may or may not have said, it is all relative – or maybe that was Freud:)). In fact observing, talking to and most importantly listening to some of the more experienced racers, and their handlers, over here has made
me realise just how little I do know. As a consequence it should be no surprise that from the outset we were, and thus far continue to be, ultra
uncompetitive.
Anyway back to the thread - other notable race differences include:
1. Distance of and to the race - because we have so far to travel to race (our closest race is about 9 hours drive away) we have focused entirely on mid distance races of 30+ miles. It would not only be senseless to drive 9 hours to race for about 4 miles (didn't we used to do that in the UK though - Doh) but the whole point of coming to Canada was to test our dogs out over distance - hence no sprint racing for us but lots of driving to get to the races.
2. 99.9% of races are on sleds. Dryland racing really is in its infancy over here - it was interesting to attend an ISDRA conference a couple of years ago where dryland rules were being formulated and the template for discussion were UK and European dryland races. And who says global warming doesn’t have some good to offer up.
me realise just how little I do know. As a consequence it should be no surprise that from the outset we were, and thus far continue to be, ultra
uncompetitive.
Anyway back to the thread - other notable race differences include:
1. Distance of and to the race - because we have so far to travel to race (our closest race is about 9 hours drive away) we have focused entirely on mid distance races of 30+ miles. It would not only be senseless to drive 9 hours to race for about 4 miles (didn't we used to do that in the UK though - Doh) but the whole point of coming to Canada was to test our dogs out over distance - hence no sprint racing for us but lots of driving to get to the races.
2. 99.9% of races are on sleds. Dryland racing really is in its infancy over here - it was interesting to attend an ISDRA conference a couple of years ago where dryland rules were being formulated and the template for discussion were UK and European dryland races. And who says global warming doesn’t have some good to offer up.
Imagine pushing this up the first Aviemore hill
3. Sizes of the teams: possibly because we have only done mid distance races then the smallest teams entered at the races we have attended tend to be six dog with the majority being anything between eight and fourteen. As a consequence of predominantly running 16 dog
teams on the ATV and now in training with 10+ dogs on the sled, even the 6 dog team now seems small by comparison. In the UK I always marvelled as the six dog teams of Dave Hemmins, Bruce Hall and Paul Keen thundered around the course, now when I stand on a sled with only
six dogs hooked up it feels like there is something missing – about four dogs, lots of power and a degree of adrenaline and fear to be exact.
4. Because of the size of the teams race hook ups are always done at your vehicle then the teams are led down into the start chute by handlers and volunteers. You still have one or two minute start intervals (we have yet to be involved in a mass start, although they do happen), and on one occasion there was even a two lane start chute meaning you were snubbed down next to the team heading out in front of you.
However you do always seem to arrive at the start line completely ready for the off.
teams on the ATV and now in training with 10+ dogs on the sled, even the 6 dog team now seems small by comparison. In the UK I always marvelled as the six dog teams of Dave Hemmins, Bruce Hall and Paul Keen thundered around the course, now when I stand on a sled with only
six dogs hooked up it feels like there is something missing – about four dogs, lots of power and a degree of adrenaline and fear to be exact.
4. Because of the size of the teams race hook ups are always done at your vehicle then the teams are led down into the start chute by handlers and volunteers. You still have one or two minute start intervals (we have yet to be involved in a mass start, although they do happen), and on one occasion there was even a two lane start chute meaning you were snubbed down next to the team heading out in front of you.
However you do always seem to arrive at the start line completely ready for the off.
Double Lane Starting Chute
5. Marshalling, time keeping, scrutineering etc. always seems to be done by the race committee and very often volunteers from the local community. Volunteers do everything from checking documentation, ensuring all the mandatory equipment is in the sled bag, helping lead the teams down to the start, trail grooming, marshalling, the lot, the competitors just need to turn up to the Musher’s Meeting, race, go to the Awards Banquet and go home. One race we took part in this year embraced about 6 different communities and people from all communities
got involved in the race organisation and came out to cheer each and every musher as they passed through their community (at least they did in the three communities I made it to before scratching).
6. More prominence also seems to be placed on health checks (dogs as opposed to mushers) and although only a few races that we have attended required the entire team to be subjected to a complete physical by a qualified (and purely voluntary) veterinarian, all races require proof of in-date vaccinations to be on hand and vets are often seen out next to the trails keeping a weathered eye on teams.
Within this context we have raced, or more appropriately, taken part in races over the last three years at venues as geographically diverse as:
Newberry in Michigan (a mere 32 hour drive away), Stratford in Vermont, St Pamphile in Quebec and Fort Kent in Northern Maine (only nine hours away – our local race so to speak) to name but a few. Fort Kent in particular makes Aviemore, Grizedale or Abbey-Cwm-Hyr appear
like BSHRA circuits, flat as you like (lets see if that gets past the censors). I still have nightmares about the Fort Kent 60 mile race course, it seems to be up hill for about 55 miles, then down off the mountain for a hair raising 4 ¾ miles then up a sheer cliff face for the final ¼ mile; at least that is how I remember it.
got involved in the race organisation and came out to cheer each and every musher as they passed through their community (at least they did in the three communities I made it to before scratching).
6. More prominence also seems to be placed on health checks (dogs as opposed to mushers) and although only a few races that we have attended required the entire team to be subjected to a complete physical by a qualified (and purely voluntary) veterinarian, all races require proof of in-date vaccinations to be on hand and vets are often seen out next to the trails keeping a weathered eye on teams.
Within this context we have raced, or more appropriately, taken part in races over the last three years at venues as geographically diverse as:
Newberry in Michigan (a mere 32 hour drive away), Stratford in Vermont, St Pamphile in Quebec and Fort Kent in Northern Maine (only nine hours away – our local race so to speak) to name but a few. Fort Kent in particular makes Aviemore, Grizedale or Abbey-Cwm-Hyr appear
like BSHRA circuits, flat as you like (lets see if that gets past the censors). I still have nightmares about the Fort Kent 60 mile race course, it seems to be up hill for about 55 miles, then down off the mountain for a hair raising 4 ¾ miles then up a sheer cliff face for the final ¼ mile; at least that is how I remember it.
Louise in L'Odyssée Appalachienne 30
The Eagle Lake 100 is another one that haunts my sleeping hours. This was the first time I had raced beyond 60 miles and the first with a mandatory 4 hour stop over at the checkpoint. Snow conditions had been really poor across the eastern seaboard in the weeks and months
leading up to Eagle Lake and many, many racers dropped out before the start due to lack of training miles, I unfortunately didn’t. We turned up at the mushers meeting with only a little over 300 training miles for the season on the dogs; we had planned to be up to around 1500 to 2000 miles by this point. Nonetheless we decided to treat the race as a training run and gain some checkpoint practice in the process (and boy did I get some practice in the checkpoint but that is a whole other story which involved the team trying to leave the checkpoint whilst I was still sat in
the warm lodge drinking coffee and chewing the fat). It was much to everyone’s relief that we finished the race at about 0830 the following morning after having run through the night; I learnt so much about mushing at that race it is untrue.
This winter we are not too sure where we will be racing and over what distance; if we have made it to the Yukon we’ll be training for 200 and 300 milers; if we haven’t managed to sell the house and are still in Nova Scotia then we’ll concentrate on 60 and 100 mile races again.
To enact, or even fail to achieve, races such as these requires one main ingredient - dogs. As it is the dogs that truly enrich our lives whilst absorbing the majority of our time, money and thoughts then that is all that remains to be discussed.
As I write this article in the middle of August 2008 we currently have 29 dogs and barring the possibility of a breeding this year (if Medea ever comes into season) then we are probably close to our maximum number; the cheer you may have just heard was from Louise. I do find these days I always have to give it some thought before I openly declare how many dogs we have, not out of fear of ridicule (I am long past caring about that) but because I often genuinely struggle to remember how many dogs we currently have. I used to think it was quite a pretentious trait in people when asked how big their kennel was and they would come back with "Um, I think I have 19 dogs,” (pause) “yes 19 that's right". I always used to think 'How the hell can you not know exactly how many dogs you have?!?!'. However it seems that since we passed 17 I too find myself in the predicament of having to think about how many we have, but yes, on reflection today we have 29 UKKC, CKC and/or AKC
registered Siberian Huskies living at the bottom of our garden. Oh yes and we are clinically insane!
When we got our first husky about ten years ago we never had this in mind. The response to the oft asked question "How on earth did you get into dog sledding living in the UK?" normally receives the now weary response "We used to do a lot of mountaineering and we wanted a dog that could both come with us and carry its own weight. Louise's Dad sent us a magazine that had a picture of a husky wearing a backpack and so we decided that the husky was for us". The blank stares that normally ensue are then followed up with "After much investigation we got a husky. Someone then told us Siberians need company so we got a second. Someone else invited us along to watch their team train; we
liked what we saw so bought a second hand rig in order to run the two dogs. We liked the training so thought we would try racing. I woke up this
morning screaming and found myself living in Canada with 29 dogs, 2 ATVs, 4 sleds (5th on the way), I haven't a clue how many harnesses, lines, boots, bags of dogs food and everything else that consumes all my time and money but is essential to the life of the musher. Oh yes and a huge pile of dog poo and a very understanding yet often antagonised wife." (Maybe I shouldn't link dog poo and the wife in the same sentence, too often - oh well I am nothing if not insensitive). The ironic thing of course is that since we have had huskies we have had to give up mountaineering because we don’t have the time.
Any of this sound even remotely familiar? To the reader who has happened across this article whilst still only owning one husky or even just considering going out to get their first - beware!! This too can happen to you.
Although it may seem that we have just randomly collected 29 dogs there has in fact been some thought behind it all. Our plan, OK, OK, my plan is to run longer mid distance races and try to move into long distance racing – it may not happen but it won’t be for want of trying. After discussing this with an awful lot of people, not all of whom live exclusively inside my head, the consensus appeared to be that the core dogs in a mid/long distance team should be aged between 2 and 8 (although exceptional dogs do lie outside this age group) and in order to put together a 14 to 16 dog team you need a pool of about 24 dogs. By our calculations, and barring any disasters, in 2 to 3 years time we will have a pool of 23 suitable dogs. If we do breed a litter successfully this year this will give us some more options. So although we are mad, penniless and
devoid of a life we have reached this stage by following a carefully considered plan. Is that worse than just randomly collecting dogs do you
think, the husky equivalent of Mad Cat Woman in the Simpsons?
We have also tried to be extremely selective over what dogs we have acquired, each dog has been brought in based on the ability of it’s parents in harness (the majority if not all of the US bought puppies have both parents that were leaders on their corresponding kennel team) and because its pedigree offers up something that we want to bring into the kennel. A quick scan though our pedigrees will show a lot of dogs going back into Northome’s Maggie and Shelly however we are also keen to explore the Kodiak and Anadyr lines some more; in fact if our next planned breeding happens the sire will be half Northomes’ lines (through Shelly) and half Kodiak lines – we will be very excited if this breeding comes off.
leading up to Eagle Lake and many, many racers dropped out before the start due to lack of training miles, I unfortunately didn’t. We turned up at the mushers meeting with only a little over 300 training miles for the season on the dogs; we had planned to be up to around 1500 to 2000 miles by this point. Nonetheless we decided to treat the race as a training run and gain some checkpoint practice in the process (and boy did I get some practice in the checkpoint but that is a whole other story which involved the team trying to leave the checkpoint whilst I was still sat in
the warm lodge drinking coffee and chewing the fat). It was much to everyone’s relief that we finished the race at about 0830 the following morning after having run through the night; I learnt so much about mushing at that race it is untrue.
This winter we are not too sure where we will be racing and over what distance; if we have made it to the Yukon we’ll be training for 200 and 300 milers; if we haven’t managed to sell the house and are still in Nova Scotia then we’ll concentrate on 60 and 100 mile races again.
To enact, or even fail to achieve, races such as these requires one main ingredient - dogs. As it is the dogs that truly enrich our lives whilst absorbing the majority of our time, money and thoughts then that is all that remains to be discussed.
As I write this article in the middle of August 2008 we currently have 29 dogs and barring the possibility of a breeding this year (if Medea ever comes into season) then we are probably close to our maximum number; the cheer you may have just heard was from Louise. I do find these days I always have to give it some thought before I openly declare how many dogs we have, not out of fear of ridicule (I am long past caring about that) but because I often genuinely struggle to remember how many dogs we currently have. I used to think it was quite a pretentious trait in people when asked how big their kennel was and they would come back with "Um, I think I have 19 dogs,” (pause) “yes 19 that's right". I always used to think 'How the hell can you not know exactly how many dogs you have?!?!'. However it seems that since we passed 17 I too find myself in the predicament of having to think about how many we have, but yes, on reflection today we have 29 UKKC, CKC and/or AKC
registered Siberian Huskies living at the bottom of our garden. Oh yes and we are clinically insane!
When we got our first husky about ten years ago we never had this in mind. The response to the oft asked question "How on earth did you get into dog sledding living in the UK?" normally receives the now weary response "We used to do a lot of mountaineering and we wanted a dog that could both come with us and carry its own weight. Louise's Dad sent us a magazine that had a picture of a husky wearing a backpack and so we decided that the husky was for us". The blank stares that normally ensue are then followed up with "After much investigation we got a husky. Someone then told us Siberians need company so we got a second. Someone else invited us along to watch their team train; we
liked what we saw so bought a second hand rig in order to run the two dogs. We liked the training so thought we would try racing. I woke up this
morning screaming and found myself living in Canada with 29 dogs, 2 ATVs, 4 sleds (5th on the way), I haven't a clue how many harnesses, lines, boots, bags of dogs food and everything else that consumes all my time and money but is essential to the life of the musher. Oh yes and a huge pile of dog poo and a very understanding yet often antagonised wife." (Maybe I shouldn't link dog poo and the wife in the same sentence, too often - oh well I am nothing if not insensitive). The ironic thing of course is that since we have had huskies we have had to give up mountaineering because we don’t have the time.
Any of this sound even remotely familiar? To the reader who has happened across this article whilst still only owning one husky or even just considering going out to get their first - beware!! This too can happen to you.
Although it may seem that we have just randomly collected 29 dogs there has in fact been some thought behind it all. Our plan, OK, OK, my plan is to run longer mid distance races and try to move into long distance racing – it may not happen but it won’t be for want of trying. After discussing this with an awful lot of people, not all of whom live exclusively inside my head, the consensus appeared to be that the core dogs in a mid/long distance team should be aged between 2 and 8 (although exceptional dogs do lie outside this age group) and in order to put together a 14 to 16 dog team you need a pool of about 24 dogs. By our calculations, and barring any disasters, in 2 to 3 years time we will have a pool of 23 suitable dogs. If we do breed a litter successfully this year this will give us some more options. So although we are mad, penniless and
devoid of a life we have reached this stage by following a carefully considered plan. Is that worse than just randomly collecting dogs do you
think, the husky equivalent of Mad Cat Woman in the Simpsons?
We have also tried to be extremely selective over what dogs we have acquired, each dog has been brought in based on the ability of it’s parents in harness (the majority if not all of the US bought puppies have both parents that were leaders on their corresponding kennel team) and because its pedigree offers up something that we want to bring into the kennel. A quick scan though our pedigrees will show a lot of dogs going back into Northome’s Maggie and Shelly however we are also keen to explore the Kodiak and Anadyr lines some more; in fact if our next planned breeding happens the sire will be half Northomes’ lines (through Shelly) and half Kodiak lines – we will be very excited if this breeding comes off.
Kelim's Mothers Ruin of Shaytaan - Cassie
Acquiring this many dogs hasn’t been easy either; they have come in from Alaska via New Hampshire (a 10 hour flight), Oregon on the West Coast (a 12 hour flight), New England, Edmonton (a mere five hours flying) and the UK. Arranging the various flights has been a nightmare at times, particularly getting Jim in from Anchorage as no single carrier would bring him into Canada so we had to drive down to New Hampshire to collect him whilst dropping off a Kelim bound North Wapiti bitch. Driving the 14 or 15 hours to collect dogs from the States hasn’t been much easier than arranging flights. We have suffered speeding fines (twice), paid excess in customs fees (on many occasions) and actually been
refused entry back into Canada on one occasion. I do laugh about that one, basically because I was tucked up in bed in Nova Scotia whilst Louise was being turned back by the Canadian border guard at 3am on a Sunday morning. What makes the story even more amusing was that initially the US border guard wouldn’t let her back into the States either so she was literally stuck in no mans land. How I laugh about that, when she’s not looking.
Do we have any complaints? None at all. We are delighted with every dog that has come to us. Nor have we gone to any extremes, we have tried to maintain the look and type that we had in the UK and I think that has been emphasised by our finally fulfilled but very long held desire to bring Zoox dogs on board. In my opinion not one of our dogs would look out of place in the UK show ring (they will rarely get shown over here) and although biased I think of the US dogs Cassie and Ammo in particular would have done extremely well showing in Britain and any of the other dogs would have held their own. I have little doubt that you will be seeing Ammo's brother earn a great deal of success for Hugh and Judy Wakker in the UK show ring and if we ever have any money again I think Louise will be bringing a few of our dogs back to the UK to show one day.
refused entry back into Canada on one occasion. I do laugh about that one, basically because I was tucked up in bed in Nova Scotia whilst Louise was being turned back by the Canadian border guard at 3am on a Sunday morning. What makes the story even more amusing was that initially the US border guard wouldn’t let her back into the States either so she was literally stuck in no mans land. How I laugh about that, when she’s not looking.
Do we have any complaints? None at all. We are delighted with every dog that has come to us. Nor have we gone to any extremes, we have tried to maintain the look and type that we had in the UK and I think that has been emphasised by our finally fulfilled but very long held desire to bring Zoox dogs on board. In my opinion not one of our dogs would look out of place in the UK show ring (they will rarely get shown over here) and although biased I think of the US dogs Cassie and Ammo in particular would have done extremely well showing in Britain and any of the other dogs would have held their own. I have little doubt that you will be seeing Ammo's brother earn a great deal of success for Hugh and Judy Wakker in the UK show ring and if we ever have any money again I think Louise will be bringing a few of our dogs back to the UK to show one day.
Barking Brook's Amarillo Slim - Ammo
And that, you'll be very pleased to know, is that. As I look forward
into 2009 I can forecast our most turbulent, adventurous and exciting
period to come over the next few years so perhaps I'll subject the long suffering member to more of this rot in the future.
Finally in conclusion two notes of caution:
1. This is what the Siberian Husky can do to you.
2. Careful what you dream of, you can have the power to make dreams come true.
Take care and good luck,
Rob and Louise Cooke
Shaytaan Siberian Huskies
period to come over the next few years so perhaps I'll subject the long suffering member to more of this rot in the future.
Finally in conclusion two notes of caution:
1. This is what the Siberian Husky can do to you.
2. Careful what you dream of, you can have the power to make dreams come true.
Take care and good luck,
Rob and Louise Cooke
Shaytaan Siberian Huskies