Northern Blast Sled Dogs

...by video that is. We have been on our property for 5 years and the kennel keeps growing. So I have put together a video that shows it's evolution. I'm not completely happy with the final product but it's the best I can do right now. I was having trouble with both of my camera's and without editing capabilities, I needed to do the video in one take. This all proved to be quite a challenge. After several takes, and retakes, I chose the best one for the website. My main complaint is the washed out look it has, often a bit too bright. Be prepared, it is an 11 minute video! The file proved to be too big for my video page so I had to download it to YouTube and post it as a link. This was all new to me as I have never had a YouTube account so I had to fumble my way through that as well. One mistake I make during the tour is when I introduce Holly as the grandmother to our new litter when actually she is the great grandmother. Too many dogs to keep track of!    I would be happy to hear your thoughts and comments (I think) or if you have any questions after watching this please feel free to ask. I will post a link here for your convenience but you will always find the link near the top of the hompage so you can easily access it long after this posting goes away.

NORTHER BLAST KENNEL TOUR

Yesterday, while at work, Alan called and explained this great idea he came up with for today. It was our goal to get another training run in and although the races were cancelled at Frog some additional snow had fallen and the trail hardened, so the 4-dog loop was back in play, although still sketchy for a 12-dog team. Alan's plan was to divide the team in half and we each take a 6-dog team out, allowing us to finally pull out the sleds.

OK. So I stayed up late deciding how to divide the team. Now if you have been paying attention, it has been 2 years since Alan stood on the runners behind a team, and that team would have been our recreational, now retired, team. So I gave him a good set of leaders with additional back up leaders, an even 3-boy, 3-girl split with no girls in season or recently out of season, and 5 of the dogs were 100 mile finishers at the Eagle Cap race.

We decided this would be a good time to practice weaving and passing with our teams. Since I have no races that I am training for this year, I don't need the mileage. We hooked up the dogs and I led my team out first looking back frequently to make sure Alan was with me. After about a half mile, when things settled down a bit, I asked him if he wanted to try passing. "Nope!" was the quick sharp answer that I got. OK, so I stayed in lead until the turn-around point and hooked down for a moment to retrieve my camera. I asked Alan how he was doing and I got a "Oh my god, I am going to be sore tomorrow! This is crazy!"

On the way back I snapped several pictures and then we did do some weaving and passing for the last mile. All the dogs did great with this of course because they all know each other so well, what each other smells like, and they knew they weren't at a race so there was no hidden agenda's from them. We made it back to the truck with no incident's. Afterwards Alan commented on what a difference driving these dogs are compared to the rec team. He was impressed with how well they worked together. And while he was feeling the first couple of miles were too fast and insane, I was was actually on the break for the first half mile, then dropped my drag mat and maintained resistance for nearly the entire rest of the run. I felt it was an easy, smooth run and I missed the strength of my 12-dog team, which by the way, Alan stated he never wants to try! I asked how they were for him and he said he never asked anything of them because they responded to the commands I gave to my team! Probably the funniest one was the last quarter mile when I yelled "Let's go to the truck!" Which the dogs are allowed to pick up the pace for a strong finish but Alan wasn't expecting that and his dogs did as I asked. You get the picture!

Here are some pictures from today:

My team. Wheel: Faith & Eagle, Swing: Rosie & Joy, Lead: Kwyta & Looker

Alan and his team. Lead: Drew & Bounder, Swing: Spirit & Lizzy, Wheel: Tundra & Orbit

Close up of Alan's happy dogs. I never get to see my dogs from this view so this was great for me. Notice the footwork of the entire team. They are in perfect sinc.

Alan's team in front of mine after a pass.

Both teams running side-by-side.

Unexpectedly another musher did show up today. We got to bid farewell to Debbie Lyman. I knew Debbie planned to go to Canada for 2 months to train and race her awesome 4-dog sprint team. I asked her when she plans on leaving and she told me today, that she was actually on her way but she stopped off at Frog Lake for one last run. That's a die-hard musher! Good Luck Debbie, have a Blast!

OTHER NEWS

I have reduced the pups from 3 feedings to 2 like the rest of the dogs (they still get the same amount of food in these feedings). They have adjusted well to this and I, after 5 months, get to sleep in an extra 10 minutes!

I woke up Wednesday morning of last week to find Apache limping on his left front foot. I gave that leg and foot a thorough check and found one of his middle toes to be sensitive. I figured he probably got it caught on some fencing. We watched him for 72 hours and on Saturday he was no longer limping but when I checked his toe, he pulled it away as it was still irritated so off to the vet we went. X-ray showed that it was not broken but it did have inflamation so he is now on medications. He is suppose to be quiet for 2 weeks. Yea, right!

The tree in the small yard is generally of special interest in the summertime because some darn bird usually takes up residence and builds a nest in it. Well, for some reason the dogs are very interested in the tree again, but in January? On Sunday night I could hear a commotion from the boys at the tree with braches breaking and lots of pacing around it. I went to check out the problem and my headlamp caught a pair of eyes in the middle of the tree. Could it be a raccoon? I went over to the tree where Eagle was pacing back and forth and found the critter to be ORBIT laying on a branch (pine bough) about 7 feet up, hanging on tighly with his front paws. I had to bring the branch down lower to reach him and peeled his paws off the branch, pulled his head out of a V notch in the branch and pulled the rest of him off and set him on the ground where I proceeded to give him a lecture that he is not a cat and to never do that again. He is an incredible jumper and I would assume he jumped up to get at whatever and landed on the branch. Whether he meant to do that or not I don't know. Obviously he didn't consider the consequences and probably will never do that again, probably! Oh, and I still don't know what he was after.

During the fall time we switched to Red Paw dog food and the dogs having been doing great on it. I have seen some real improvements.

Look at what this food has done for Rosie; and Lizzy standing behind her isn't looking too shabby either and this has nothing to do with conditioning since we barely have any miles on them.

YARD SHOTS

Here are some recent pictures:

Ana

I don't know who is laughing harder, Alan or Ana.

Yep, that's one of my best leaders, Looker, on a rest day.

Apache is showing some good leg here, but still a little short in the body. That's ok, so was Orbit at this age and we all know how that worked out. Grandma Spirit in the background.

Lizzy, such a goof!

Eagle

Our "Little Black Wolf" Nezi.

Cree just keeps getting bigger.

Tundra

Cheyenne looking good!

Faith

Ok, so I tried getting an updated group shot of the pups. This is not easy to do. Sometimes I would have them sitting all nicely togther but couldn't fit all of them in the frame so I would back up a step or two and 1 or 2 of them would step with me. AHHH!!. So, here is the best one I could get:

Apache decided to jump just as I took the picture. Also there are a couple of ears missing.:o

I am going to post this one too. This just cracks me up. During this photo session Cree was trying so hard to work with me. Every time, a couple of the pups would move or look down and there would be Cree sitting so nice and looking at the camera as you can see in this pic. He is so proud with his chest puffed out. Now Cheyenne also looks good in this shot but in every shot someone would move except for Cree.

I gave him an extra biscuit for trying so hard. I really can't wait to try him in lead.

SITE UPDATES

The Racing page has been updated with our lack of a race schedule.

The puppies pics and profiles have been updated on Our Husy History page.

Training With A Surprise Start
Last Thursday we took the dogs back up to Frog Lake for another run around the 4-dog loop. Driving down into the valley that we live above, just 5 minutes from our house and approaching the Eagle Creek, a bobcat crossed the switchbacking road in front of us and headed up the densely forested hill. What a great way to start off the day! The last time we saw a bobcat was 2 years ago in Washington on the way home from the Cascade Quest race. (See my story Racing, Cascade Quest Style regarding this encounter.) Locally the last time we saw a bobcat was about 6 years ago on the nearby Wildcat Mountain Road of course (and site of the old kennel).

We arrived at Frog on a brisk 24 degree day with clear blue skies. Still snow-covered, the trail had now become hard-packed, like cement. Could have used some snow on top. I used the same line-up on the gangline as the previous week and just repeated the run. Everything went just as well, another smooth 4-mile run.

Kennel Changes

It had come time to separate the boys, Cree and Apache, as they were starting to get a little grumpy with each other, especially around feeding time. But first we had some kennel repairs to make to a couple of the old kennels that we planned to use for them. So we temporarily shifted all the pups separating the boys and putting Ana and Cheyenne together. Those two teamed up to create as much havac as possible forcing us to be creative with their kennel along the way. So that kennel now has a small platform in the back keeping them from digging another den under the old kennel! Thanks for adding this little construction detour to our plans girls! We also moved Ahhsoo into the empty kennel next to his. This was Stuart's old kennel which has sat vacant for nearly a year. On New Year's Eve it will be one year that Stuart has been gone.

Then we spent the past week repairing one of the old gates in the older kennels and half of one of the walls completing the work yesterday. Then we made a big 6 dog rotation putting everyone into their new, and hopefully final, places. So Spirit and Rosie now have Cree and Apache's kennel in the new section. Those 2 keep getting pushed further and further back but they have won themselves a really nice kennel and now they get fed first! Great grandma Holly moved over into their old kennel and Ana got her kennel back as Apache and Cree are set up side-by-side in the old section right across from their father Orbit and uncle Eagle (and their sisters are still beind them which is something we may have to worry about later when the girls come into season). Now we have all the girls together in one section of kennels while all the boys are together in the other separated by a gate! It only took us 5 years to accomplish this! Doing this yesterday while I have today and tomorrow off, gives me lots of time to monitor how they do with this but so far I haven't heard a complaint out of any of them. I am so impressed how the pups have adapted to all the changes over the past week. They should do well on the overnight camping trips when we finally get them there!

Racing
Yesterday was Christmas and we woke up to this beautiful sunrise.

But as the saying goes it began to pour rain just a little while later. We were expecting this so we didn't run dogs as we normally do on Christmas as temperatures soared above 50 at our house. Our training area called for both rain and snow then continuing with just rain for the rest of the week. This will surely destroy the track on the 4-dog loop. The 6 and 8 dog loops as well as the 14 mile loop already had exposed ground on them. This leaves little hope for Frog Lake's first race in less than 2 weeks.

We hadn't planned to race here at Frog so it wouln't have effected us but it's time to talk racing here. Our favorite race the Eagle Cap, pushed their dates out from the first weekend of January to the last weekend of January. I really liked this decision and had planned to take advantage of the extra training time to see if I could ready this team for the 200 mile race. But as you can see, none of this has worked out for us. I hadn't planned not to train this year and will miss this wonderful race and the great community. I had not planned to repeat the Cascade Quest this year and as it has turned out that race is not even running. I did at least want to do the Bachelor Butte race in March. This is the 150 mile continuous race I have had my eye on for a couple of years. But this year they decided not to run it but instead are running a 150 mile stage race of 3 stages. I would have to settle for that but now with our lack of training I can't even get this team ready for that. They do have a 25 mile race X 2 days that we might consider but at this point I think we are even calling it close for that one. I do have the time off for it, just in case. There is a new 100 mile race and another 94 mile race both in mid February that I thought might  be a good back up if we couldn't do the Eagle cap but again I think we are past the point of being able to pull either of these off. So I have not placed anything on my calendar as chances are real good that we won't be racing this year. I'll make an announcement if we are able to try the one in March. Wish I had better news to report for our racing season but it became all about the puppies this year. But they are our future of racing, so there will be plenty more to come.

Well, we are 4 months late in our training but we finally got out for our first run of the season! How nice it was working with 12 well trained dogs. We ran at Frog Lake and although there was snow on the ground and it was snowing when we arrived, it would have been a little risky for the sled with 12 dogs so we ran with the quad. When I gave them the command to go they hit those harnesses hard and fast before I could apply the gas and pulled the quad in gear, through the snow, uphill! Uh, I think they were ready. It's great to see Eagle and Orbit right in the team going the same mileage as the rest. They don't need any catering this year. They also got to run next to each other for the first time. Kwyta seemed relieved that she was in the game. Having a bunch of puppies wasn't going to stop her. Joy had no problems with the run today. One time when I asked them to pick it up, she slammed into her harness about a second before everyone else and got that team moving. I am still amazed at Lizzy's ability to trot at the speed she does and no GI issues from her. For today's line-up, 3 girls are in season so they are at the front, which means all the boys are at the back. It didn't matter to the dogs. They put in a wonderful 4 miles!

Front to back, L & R: Kwyta & Looker, Rosie & Joy, Drew & Lizzy, Faith & Spirit, Eagle & Orbit, Bounder & Tundra

Here's a one minute VIDEO from today's run.

I was all ready to write a new blog posting on Sunday about the many things that are going well right now when everything went bad. Apache suddenly became ill. I will spare the details of his symptoms but he felt very poorly and it all came on so quickly. Our vet wouldn't be available to meet us for a few hours and I was concerned that he needed immediate attention feeling he may have swollowed something poisonous. I took him to the hospital, about a 30 minute drive away, where they rushed us into a room and then had us wait for over an hour. By the time they were ready to see us our own vet became available too so we walked out and drove back for her to see him. I felt Apache was doing much better by then. All his symptoms had subsided and he was more perky. Everythng checked out well with him. We then weighed our options on a next step but I decided to take him home and watch him. He continues to do well and felt like a king eating chicken and rice for the day just to be easier on his tummy. So that ended up well after a very big scare and we don't know what really happened.

Apache

Now on to the good things. The new kennels are finally complete! This took longer than we were expecting and has changed our plans for the season (more on that at a later posting), but it feels good that they are done. Building on a hill is not recommended! The girls were separated out on Friday and they have done well with being alone in their own kennel. It sure makes feeding them easier. We not only used the weekend to test the girls but also to test the security of the last two kennels. So far no break-outs or any other trouble has been made. Whew! The boys will continue sharing their kennel for as long as we can get away with it. When we finally do separate them, they will be moved into the boys section.

Joy has been seizure free for one year (to the best of our knowledge) and has been doing great! We have decided to start the long process of decreasing her medications to see if she can eventually do without them although we have been warned that likely she does have epilepsy and would have to be put back on the meds long term. The only way for us to know for sure though is to try it. This will also allow us to know what her role will be as a sled dog.

Joy

Cree's ears are finally up! Well, mostly. They are up but he still has a slight bend at the tip of his right year. You can't tell that in the following picture because he has his head back to look up at me. But you can see why it is taking so long. Check out the length of those things! Adult ears on a puppy head.

Cree

Here's a few more recent pics of the pups not shown:

Ana, cute as always.

Nezi is big enough now that at night, and for a moment, I can confuse her with Lizzy.

Cheyenne is a lean machine!

One thing on the downside for us is Alan started a new work shift this week (not his choice). Which means the time the dogs are alone has increased by two hours. Wish this wouldn't have happened until the pups were a little older. Neither of us like it but we have no choice but to deal with it.

PARTING SHOT:

A fog rolled in on Sunday morning creating this surreal scene.

We've been watching the pups grow and mature for nearly 4 months now and we are so happy with them. But as I watch their parents Kwyta and Orbit, both with the pups and without, I feel so proud of them and think back to how all this started. It's part thoughtful choices and part guessing game. You go with your gut and hope you are right.

Kwyta: She was certainly an easy choice for the mother. Everything about her is pretty darn perfect. No 2 dogs are built alike here at NB and Kwyta's unique body style works well for her, light on her feet and what awesome feet she has. Intelligent and thoughtful, I have never seen another dog with her leading ability. Lots of stamina, focus and a wonderful personality. Her sister Looker just barely falls short of this list and pretty much became our back up plan if Kwyta didn't come into season when we needed her to, or if the breeding didn't take. But Kwyta pulled through at the last possible minute. She was very late coming into season and we considered just holding off because of how it would effect the rest of our year but we chose to proceed anyhow. Kwyta was not real thrilled with what we were asking of her, and she ddin't seem to be real happy with our choice of male. She would not respond favorable towards him until the last possible moment. Late in her cycle she finally came around. She allowed 2 days of breeding and called it quits. We would have to wait and see.

Orbit: I had to have this dog. It was almost a mission. He was a son of Twinka, one of my all time favorite females. Now Twinka did have a previous litter but I was not looking for a pup at that time and for me the father made the difference in this situation. Weaver! This sounded like a perfect pairing to me. It was suggested that I instead take a different male puppy available from another litter at that time as he would be closer in age to Eagle than Orbit would be and he was offered to us a couple of times. That pup was a Twinka grandson and I have watched him grow, through pictures, into a fine sled dog by the musher he eventually ended up with, as I stubbornly went against good advice and held out for Orbit who hadn't even been born yet. When I received word that Twinka was probably only pregnant with 1 pup with a small possibility of 2, I felt I had lost this one and let the other one slip through my hands. But Twinka had 1 female and 1 male, and although this would have been a perfect litter for the breeder to keep, she allowed me to have the male pup. Orbit! I did not know at the time that I would be breeding him or how soon this would occur. But when it came time to make a decision about breeding Kwyta I went throgh all the possible males for her and eliminated nearly all of them for one reason or another and was left with 2 great possibilties: Orbit''s father Weaver and his grandfather Comet. With more thought something that seemed to make more sense began to develop. Orbit had developed into an awesome young dog both physically and mentally, and his pedigree was fantastic. I kept looking at him then weighing my options. I didn't trust my own thoughts as they seemed both right and wrong at the same time. But with blessings from his breeder we went forth with Orbit as the "chosen one".

The Whelping: We were hoping for 4-5 pups for this litter. 9 days out from the expected due date I took Kwyta in for her x-ray. At times she looked huge while other times not pregnant enough. As the vet tech took Kwyta into the back she asked me if I had a guess to the number of pups. "5" was my answer. The vet returned with the x-ray and put it up for me to see. "Looks like 3" she said. I was not expecting this answer and felt a small ping of disappointment. She pointed out the 3 "obvious" pups. As an after thought she showed me an area that she felt was too high up for a pup but there was a little something there that she didn't seem to put a lot of faith into but I left there with the finishing answer "and possibly 4". I took the x-ray to work and me and 2 PA's studied it long and hard. They felt that the area of "a possible fourth" was very "consistant" with area's they were seeing with the obvious pups. That fourth pup felt like a stronger possibility to me. I also studied the other 3 pups, 2 stood out like a sore thumb but one became confusing to me. I wasn't able to follow the head to tail cleanly and felt there was an odd shadow of spine mixed in there. One of the PA's observed this and felt that the third puppy was 2 puppies side by side making it difficult to completely distinguish one. Now the possible count went up to 5! Most of the guesses friends made kept it in the 3-4 range. On August 1st, Kwyta was in labor all night with no strong progress by morning, so we took her to the vet. Another x-ray was taken first and this time the vet came back with a big smile stating there was 4 and pointed out the very obvious pups stacked one on top of the other. She assisted the 4 pups out safely. We scooped up our new family, brought them home and set them up in the whelping box. Then Kwyta proceeded to have a 5th pup! 5 seemed to be the magic number from the very beginning. Once again, everything worked out pefectly!

Each day I am more and more happy with this entire breeding choice. As far as running Siberian's go, I feel like we just created royalty. The pups are just great and it's almost too much wondering how they will finish. But watching Kwyta and Orbit I am so amazed and feel no other options existed. This is the one. Kwyta is just the best mom. Still, even now, she is very loving and playful towards them. She is constantly teaching them something new. She sits and observes them, I can tell she is proud to be their mother and is glad for the journey. She is also in tune with me and what I am doing with them and at times seems to be a step ahead of me. She has been great. Orbit loves those kids. He is good with them and plays well with them. You can tell he knows they are his and is proud of that. Although young himself, the maturity comes out when he is with them. As he continues to grow I am loving more and more about him and feel even better about our decision. His behavior at a recent vet visit was commendable, I think the vet, who sees hundreds of dogs a month, would have easily taken him home. Around the yard he does not become stressed or nervous about new situations making him very easy to work with. More of these wonderful traits continue to come out and I just smile. Then I look at the pups and think "they come from the best of the best, what will they be like". Also these pups just adore both their parents. Kwyta snd Orbit get along great, they like to play with each other as well as with their kids together. It seems very perfect watching how this family of 7 interacts. I will give an honorable mention to Looker who has been the awesome aunt. She is far better with the pups then expected as working with someone elses pups is a choice compared to instinctively raising your own. She has taken on a lot of responsibility with them and seems to look forward to it and Kwyta is completely relaxed, and probably appreciative, with Looker's role . She has been a part of the pups shaping and you can tell they all feel she is "Awesome Aunt Looker". She was the perfect back up to our plan, but gets to be a big part of this litter anyhow.

So, thinking back, not knowing then where all this was going, it almost seems every step along the way was already set in stone. I know the journey is not over, in fact it has only just begun. I'm not exactly sure where it will lead us but somehow feel the steps are already there waiting for us. We just have to take them. So far, the persistance has paid off.

Family of 7 at play.

The first snow came and touched down lightly at our house at the end of the week and it was fun watching the pups reaction to it. First they put their noses in it then quickly took off runing in it. They didn't seem to know why they running only that it felt like they had to. They had a real "Blast"!

Cheyenne and Nezi.

Apache and Cree.

Ana.

Yesterday morning I shot some video before the snow melted in the afternoon. If you enjoyed the pictures, then see them in action. CLICK HERE

EAGLE MEETS THE BOYS

I also introduced Eagle to Apache and Cree for the first time yesterday. Up until this time, Eagle was not responding too favorably to the pups just through the fence but I noticed over the last couple of weeks he gave up his comments of disapproval so I figured he was ready to meet them. I started with Apache, then added Cree. At first he treated them much the same way Orbit does then when he realized they have limited physical skills, he started to have fun with them. He ran and they chased him endlessly with him always staying just out of range. When he stopped they would go after him him with paws flailing that he easily dodged like a well trained boxer, then they would be off running again. It was great to see! Soon I will let him meet the girls.

Eagle looks a little mouthy towards Apache here, but he is really just having fun.

Eagle plays along in a game of hide and seek. Apache is inside the doghouse, Cree is on the side. Oh, and have I mentioned how good Eagle is looking. He has finally shed the last of his teenage body and has become a fine looking young adult!

GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE SUN

On a frosty morning when the sun comes out, the girls just love to lounge in it. These are all 9 of our adult females.

L to R: Drew, Holly, Rosie, Fatih, Spirit (behind), Kwyta, Joy, Lizzy, and Looker.

Last Tuesday we took the pups in to get their Rabies. Normally we wait until they are 6 months but we chose to go this young as it will work out better for us next year and the vet assured us 12 weeks and older is fine. So now we will be able to include the pups for their 3-year in with the mob that will be getting their rabies updated next fall. Along with their rabies on Tuesday was a full exam. I guess it turned out to be a good thing that we brought them in so early because the vet found Apache had a baby molar that was cracked all the way to the gum line and Cree had a baby molar that was starting to turn dark. She also found Cree had the beginning of infection in both ears. Hmmm, maybe that's why his ears are still floppy!

Anyhow the boys were both scheduled to have their teeth pulled Saturday. I fretted all week that they would be put under anesthesia at such a young age but I picked them up in the afternoon just fine although a bit groggy and with stitches in their mouths. My guess is they did this damage by either chewing on wood, which pieces often get stuck between their teeth, or on fencing which they all bite out of excitement when waiting for their food to be served up.

They have been doing well but I am giving them limited play time, watching that they don't chew on anything. They also require soaked food so it is softer for them, and are on several medications.

But the problems don't stop there. Also on Tuesday we brought Faith with us. A couple of weeks back she developed a small grey growth in the cormer of her bottom eye lid. It hung like a grape but only a fraction of the size, and came off on its own after a few days, leaving a small pink spot. Throughout the next week it started to look irritated and by last Sunday a new growth appeared this time looking like a mini pink volcano. So on Tuesday the vet biopsied it. Faith was very good with this. We got the result the following day and it was determined that it was NOT a malignant cancer but what it was still wasn't clear. Currently she is being treated for inflammation with oral and topical antibiotics. Hopefully this will do the trick. If not, she might need to see an eye specialist as our vet is concerned about her lower tear duct.

The rest of the pups are doing fine although now I am constantly after them to drop the wood chips that they love to pick up and chew on. Here's a look at the girls.

Cheyenne, as always full of energy and loves to have fun. She's figured out we have treats in our pockets so she doesn't let us out of her sight for too long. (Is it just me or would you say she looks like the Adanac dog? If you don't know what I mean, go onto their website.)

Nezi has inherited her mother's mannerisms. Hoping that continues when she's hooked to the gangline. She is looking big in this picture. She had two recent growth spurts in a row, both were hip to shoulder. Next should be the legs to compensate.

Ana is just a real sweety and looks so cute when she runs up to you with her ears back. She has been a great listener recently and much about her reminds me of her Aunt Joy. She also inherited a funny thing from her father Orbit. She gets onto her doghouse the same way he did at her age. None of the other pups do this. In case you forgot or haven't seen it, here is Orbit's video clip.

The pups weights from their vet trip have been updated in the puppy section on Our Husky History page.

The kennel building continues but another project we included was adding shredded cedar to all the kennels and surrounding areas. We had 7.5 yards delivered. We like this much better than wood chips we have used in the past and it smells fantastic!

Shredded cedar, we had to purchase our first pitchfork to move this stuff!

I don't know how we hit 3 months old with the pups, but we did and all is going well. They did just fine with the separation into two kennels last week. No complaints by them and it makes feeding time a little easier on us but still a bit tricky. They are very excited eaters! We got in a ton of dog food last week just in the nick of time. We were down to one small bucket of food left! Now we are all happy as we are stocked for the winter.

We have about another days worth of work on the third kennel before it is complete but don't plan to further separate the pups just yet.

We have been going through gear and starting to pick up what we need for fall training which we still haven't started yet. This has been more difficult with the recent cool temperatures.

I have posted a NEW VIDEO taken last week of the pups at 12 weeks old and having fun in the big yard.

I have updated the PUPPY PICTURES On our Husky History page. Their weights were taken a week ago.

Lastly, SOME BIG NEWS!!! Look who made the home page of SLED DOG CENTRAL! If you are unfamiliar with this website, it is everything sled dog and I have it listed on my Links page. It is the "go to" site for most mushers and viewed by hundreds across the planet. It's an honor to be chosen for the home page picture. View it now before they change it.

We are hitting a real nice time with the pups. But it took a lot of worry and stress to get here. First there was the birth where our concerns were justified so most of the delivery took place at the vet, just missing the need for a c-section.

As new borns I spent the first couple weeks concerned that a pup would get squished or smothered. I was also concerned that they weren't getting enough milk. An unexpected concern with this summer litter was the heat and keeping them cool. Also, our work shifts were different with this litter allowing a 5 hour gap of alone time so we brought in a sitter who would stop by for about an hour during the gap to make sure they were safe, cool, and happy. This was a tremendous help to us.

We continued to have concerns with the heat over the next two weeks as well as the puppies getting big enough to get out of their box. With so much alone time, I wasn't sure what they might get into. First we want them big enough so they can't get squished but then we don't want them so big that they can get out and roam around. Each new week had it's own situation.

After the first month, when they did learn to get out, we opened the door so they would have full access to the whelping yard and fretted about what they could do. Their mother kept digging large holes that I was concerned they would fall into and get hurt or not be able to get back out of. Then one day one of them dug out into the next yard, but luckily we were home and were able to reinforce the fence but I worried about it all the next day while at work. I constantly kept all the bushes and plants trimmed back but they always found some to chew on anyhow. There were also lots of bugs including tons of bees. One pup eventually got stung (we assumed, her face swelled up for a day). Then the slugs would come out at night. Yuck! I have pulled plenty of slugs out of their mouths already.

By their 8th week I thought this rowdy bunch was going to tear the gates down so we worked hard to get them into the new sturdier kennel. Just prior to moving them they received their first puppy shot. This felt good as many diseases that exist can be fatal and I kind of held my breath until this point.

Once we move them to the new kennel we watched with concern to now see what they would do in there. We built this kennel with a different concept than our other kennels, hoping it would be better and safer. So far all has been well although they are constantly testing the system. I am however finally starting to feel more relaxed although I still think of them often while at work. But I feel we have made it past most of the scary possibilities. So, why do we do this to ourselves? Here's why:

Just look at them! They are doing very well. This is a very adorable shot taken of them last week at the age of 10 weeks. I love this picture and the pups in it of course. This will forever be a classic at Northern Blast. Pictured left to right: Cheyenne, Nezi, Apache, Ana, and Cree.

Here's a few more cute pictures taken the week before:

Cree and Apache. I love this picture of the boys. I call it "Synchronized Sleeping".

Nezi caught on camera.

Cree and Ana. So far, these are the only 2 who have figured out how to get on the picnic table, each in their own way.

Lizzy's thinking "Kwyta, come get your kids!"

Alan takes a break from kennel building to sit with the pups.

Cheyenne. Now in the big yard I love watching this girl run. She has a beautiful fast stride.

I still enjoy watching them sleep. Here's a snuggly pile with Cree being the funny one of course. After several pictures I pushed his head back up so he wouldn't fall and land on it.

Apache's prize! Yep, he scooped up this salamander one day and took off running with it in his mouth and me hot on his heels. He finally dropped it and I placed it on the other side of the fencing without a scratch on it.

Kwyta is getting her normal shape back:

She's very energetic and seems to be enjoying this stage of motherhood. She just gets to have fun with them. Interesting, all the dogs who enjoy being with the pups right now, besides their father, are all my leaders. This just makes sense and it is a good thing since they will be the ones training the new leaders. Aunt Looker and Kwyta work as well together in the dog yard monitoring the pups as they do in lead on the gangline. I am glad to see Looker step forward and behave this way. Always so hyper and overly excited I didn't think she would be able to control herself around them, but her strong interest in them prevailed and she has been a great nanny with self control.

Back To The Photo Shoot

That first picture I posted of the group came from a quick photo shoot with the pups that lasted 2-3 minutes. In that time I took 17 pictures and felt that one was the best. But there were some other good ones too. This will almost appear as one of those strips of 4 pictures you get from a picture booth but here they are:

Here's the angled view.

Apache got a little bored at this point and "pulled a Lizzy" and laid down. Still, nothing wrong with this shot.

What's interesting about this picture is the 3 girls are looking in one direction and the boys are looking in another.

Now in this picture they are all focused on the same thing. I like that they aren't looking at the camera, capturing their normal behavior.

This picture is just amazing. With the 4 sitting soulder to shoulder at perfect attention and Cree slightly off being downright funny, again!

That concludes the photo shoot.

Second Kennel Completed

And just in time too. The pups have outgrown the first kennel, at least for 5 of them and this weekend we have separated them into two groups. Did I say I didn't have to worry any more? Ana quickly found a way to sneak back into the first kennel. Was I surprised to see her back in with the boys and puzzled over how she did that. Once I figured it out, it turned out to be a quick fix. Other than that we haven't heard much complaining from them.

Still 2 more to complete.

Site Update

Due to the big changes this summer, I have updated the About Us page. To view, scroll towards the end where it is dated October 2011.