Pumpkin the musher
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Posts posted by Pumpkin the musher
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Hey, we're back, a little stiff and sore, but none the worse for wear. As this was a relatively short race, there were allot of "Sprinty" dogs entered, so my Malamute/Alaskan crosses didn't exactly go out there and light the trail on fire... But we weren't last at least. We did the very hilly 30 mile trail in 3 hours and 2 minutes the first day and 2 minutes faster the second. The first day there was 4 inches of new snow, and new snow is always sticky so that made the trail a bit tougher- but the hills were the worst! Not short steep ones but long, long slopes up to 2 miles long- I did allot of running, but hey I lost 6 lbs.! Bug and Zeus ran lead and went through all the check points with out even a sideways glance and passed other teams really well. Cricket the Pom went along and was an absolute angel!! :angel: Slept all the way up and all the way home, and was good at the motel we stayed at (who incidentaly, accepted pets, but not kids!!! 8) Made my weekend! The strangest thing was that there was a girl entered from Victoria Australia. Really! It was really fun talking to her, she was staying with some Mushers in Minnesota. All in all, we had fun, but I can't post pictures as I don't own a computer.. :-?
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Iditarod. That race is waaaaaay out of my league! Courtnek- If you want to see lots of sled dog stuff, check out a web site called Sled Dog Central- sorry, can't provide a link cause I'm a total technology nerd, but they have a load of info- links ,pics , the works. When I say snow racing i use the term loosely, cause we don't have that much, and with A 40 degree day today it's fading fast. the race we are going to is on the south shore of Lake Superior, so they probably have some lake effect snow. I hope.
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Well, this weekend is our first race of the season; a sixty mile race of two 30 mile heats for a six dog team. The truck is packed; the dogs have been training since September and have over 800 miles under their harnesses, and the weather looks like it's going to cooperate, (for a change!). I'll let you guys know how we did on Mon. See ya then! :lol:
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My first Pomeranian learned [i]on her own[/i] to ring a bell to go out- they were just hanging on the door and every time the door opened the bells rang. One day she just walked up and rang them, and looked at me as if to say-"OK, so let me out". After that she never had an accident in the house for the rest of her 11+ years. It was such a neat thing that I taught my new little ankle biter to ring when she needs to go out.
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I knew it! the minute I think I just can't get Cricket to ask to go out, she figures it out. In spades! Now she won't [u]stop[/u] ringing the bell :o . 2AM? No problem. Ding! Can I have a cookie now? 5AM. Ding! Can I have a cookiee now? She seems to think that she can just bypass the going outside stuff and just progress straight to the cookiee part. Little sh*t. 8)
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IMO, this whole business about preparing for an attack is a form of terrorism in itself- by our own government. Yes, be ready, be prepared, but plastic your windows???. The last few mornings around northern Wisconsin we've had temperatures from 15 to 20 below F. with wind chills near 50 below. We burn wood, but it's not enough to heat the whole house, so with the furnace running, making your house airtight will kill you with carbon monoxide before any chemical weapon known could. Idiots.
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My first Pom (the bell ringer)has since passed on, and the really amazing thing is that I never really made an effort to teach her to ring the bell. The bell was originally there because my door did'nt close real tight and occasionally the wind would blow it open, and that way I would know when it opened. One day she just walked up to the door, hit the bell with her nose and looked at me as if to say"Well? Let me out!" She used it every time since then until she died last spring of cancer. She was an incredibly smart dog tho- she could retrieve over a dozen different toys by name, including hearing the word on TV. She had a toy named "Snake"just a tube of cloth really, but as my husband and I watched a National Geographic program about snakes, she heard the word and proceeded to produce the toy. Same with Monday Night Football- as soon as the words "are you ready for some football?" came on, out came the little nerf football.
I already have a bell hanging on the door and ring it everytime I let her out treat her when she comes in ,but she doesn't seem to be picking it up.
Maybe it will just take time, and I'm expecting too much too soon. -
OK, I'm stumped. My Pomeranian Cricket is now 10 months old and doing well with potty training, with one exception. She does not ask to go out; in fact gives no indication that she needs to go. This is only the second indoor dog I've owned, and the first learned almost immediately to ring a bell to go out, so I guess I got spoiled! I'm not a novice at reading dog behavior, but this has me going. She does do her business when I put her out, but I wish she would indicate when she has to go. Any ideas? :-?
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We finally got some decent snow and we took our first run with the sled Sunday night. It was wonderful- we took some snacks and a thermos of cocoa and headed out into the public land- the trails do not allow snowmobiles so it is really quite and peaceful. We stopped on the trail , put the dogs on their tie outs and watched the stars and the beautiful northern lights. Although it was about 5 below zero, I hardly got cold, it was such a wonderful night! The dogs got their snack too, my homemade husky snacks- brown rice, beef fat, peanut butter, honey and chicken liver. It was hard to turn around and go home! :lol:
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It was about this time last year when my 1st Pom was diagnosed with Lymphoma- her name was Pumpkin, and she was a beautiful red sable who loved to go for walks in the woods, catch frisbees, and ride in my jacket or on the sled when I trained my sled dogs. Her favorite food was carrots and raw pumpkin (She was named Pumpkin because I brought her home from the breeder on Halloween!) The cancer was fairly advanced and there was'nt much to do but wait and try to make her last months happy and pain free. She lasted until late June- I was hoping that she would just drift off in her sleep, but that was not to be- we had to have her put down. The vet was wonderful and compassionate, but my husband and I cryed all day, and I couldn't go to work for a week. She was our very best friend, and although we have a new little ankle biter named Cricket, I still cry when I look at Pumpkin's scrapbook, or talk about her, like now. :cry: I miss you shnoozle...
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I agree with keeping working minded dogs out of pet homes- Alaskans are very similar to BC's in that they have an incredibly high energy level. Since I began dogsledding in 1979, I've only produced 2 litters of puppies- most of which I kept and those pups that did'nt appear to fit with my existing teams went to other mushers tha I knew personally.The biggest reason a certain pup would'nt fit would be size/gait related . Most of my guys average around 55 lbs, and my last litter had one little female who topped out at 40 lbs. She is running now with a sprint team of similar sized dogs. Occasionally there are dogs who love to pull, but not at the same level as the majority of the team. those dogs go to recreational mushers who use their dogs for winter camping, backcountry fishing expeditions or just running the local trails at a leisurely pace.
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Alot of mushers use a device similar to a large hamster wheel- there was some flak from animal rights people till they found out that the wheels were open; that is the dog could use them and get off at will. most mushers had to gate them so the dogs would'nt spend [i]too[/i] much time on them- :multi:
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I guess I'll have to add my two cents here. Most professional dogsledders have added various breeds to the mix to try to improve the working ability of the various strains of Alaskan Huskies used in dogsledding-most notably greyhounds , irish setters, and various hound breeds in the 50's, but the latest addition are German shorthairs- and they are [i]fast[/i] some open class teams are averaging over 20 miles per hour. I'm not sure I agree -they are very hard to keep warm and their feet are notoriously tender. I did purchase an Alaskan last year that had Border Collie in his backround-(sorry! to those who disapprove, but I could'nt resist. He is the sweetest, most itelligent lead dog I've ever owned, a beautiful red and white with blue eyes. I love him, but would never add Border collie to my dogs intentionally. I bought him because he was and is an excellent sled dog!
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There is considerable discussion about this in mushing circles as well- considering that any one of your dogs could come in close proximity with potentially hundreds of other dogs at a race- such as passing another team or being passed, or just being parked in the staging area before a race, most dog/dog aggression is not tolerated. A dog that bites at another dog while on the trail is called an "alligator", and is considered bad manners to allow one to be on a team. Of the 13 dogs that I have, 3 are intact males, one is a nuetered male and the remaining 9 are intact females. They can all be allowed to run free in their play area and I have never had a serious dog fight. There is the occasional curled lip, or pushy-shovey hackle raising, but most confrontations are mediated by my lead dog, Bug, who I believe feels it is her duty to keep everyone in line. The one nuetered male is so because he was extremely pushy with other dogs, and the nuetering transformed him into a mellow, friendly, hard working dog. This does'nt work all the time, but with him it did. Another fix for an aggressive sled dog is to put them in lead. Usually after about 4 or 5 miles of having to think [i]and[/i] run, they figure it's easier to be nice... 8)
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Perhap my opinion would be considered biased because I'm actually involved in the sport, but I do believe that there are some people involved in the Iditarod that are there for reasons of ego and personal glory and have forgotten the true meaning of the race- that of the collaboration between people and dogs to acheive a goal. At this time it is very restrictive monetarily for just anyone with a dog sled team to run the race. Some estimates run into the 10s of thousands of dollars- that includes handlers, having food and supplies flown to checkpoints, entry fees, and so forth, not to mention the time training the dogs and yourself.
Alot of people who are not really mushers in the traditional sense of the word can now lease teams and run the Iditarod, provided you have the cash. They have poor winter survival skills, and limited dog knowledge. When you train and raise your own dogs for years you develop a bond with them that you just can't buy-with any amount of money. That the problem I see with the Iditarod. As far as animal cruelty- I've seen worse invovling so called family pets who are often untrained, neglected and have no veterinary care at all. If you want to run an 1100 mile race you can't abuse your dogs in any way and expect to even finish. -
Yes I know, one source in particular called Black Ice Sled dog Equipment carries both the sledding and weight pulling harnesses. There are also links on SDC to weight pull events both here in the US as well as Europe, Australia and South America.
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yellowlabs:
That "cage" that the web site refers to is called a "dog box". What it is is simply a topper that fits on the back of a pickup truck. All it is used for is to transport the dogs from the mushers' home to the race. Sometimes the box is mounted on a trailer, but the dimensions are fairly standard. My box is made to fit on my Chevy S-10 pickup, and can carry 6 dogs- Each dog has its own box, mine are about 2 feet by 3 feet, and high enough for the dog to stand up in. I usually put the dog box on in late November, and the dogs erupt in howling and barking as soon as I take it out of the garage because they know what the box on the truck means! Each one remembers what box they were in the year before and I usually have to hold them back so they don't scratch up my truck or get hurt trying to get in on their own. :D -
Nope, never lived there, but have gone to purchase a few dogs, and have friends who routinely go up there for the racing season. Unfortunately they, like we here in Wisconsin have no snow there either. Dogs are really gettin' bummed... :(
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:mad: Just on a whim, I typed in "Sled Dogs" in the link search, and lo and behold, here is "Thge Sled Dog Action Coalition". Folks, this site is just plain bull****. This is a site designed to make mushing look cruel and inhumane, and nothing could be farther from the truth. That lead in picture? It's been [u]altered[/u], there is no dog being dragged on the ice. How do I know? Because a friend of mine in Alaska knows the musher that is in that picture, and it was actually a piece of black plastic that was blowing across the ice. These people have used quotes out of context, information from decidedly biased sources, and totally ignored any information that did'nt uphold their ideas. I'm so mad I could spit. I love my dogs with all my heart, and would never make them do anything that would harm them. Yes, there are some bad apples so to speak, but that is the unfortunate reality with most sports and breed enthusiasts. Please, if you go to this site, do so with an open mind, and then check out a site called "Sled Dog Central" . Thanks for letting me rant![/u]
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Try asite called "Sled Dog Central" they have an enormous site with lots of links to harness makers and suppliers. Good luck
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OK, I'm on break now and can think. I believe this was more of a problem last year- another reason that there is a problem is that it is illegal to feed wild game- (moose, caribou, deer to dogs in Alaska, even if it is road kill. And there is allot of road kill in Alaska, and the last I'd heard it all goes straight to the land fill-unused. A shame really- a natural "barf" food source that can't be used. Most of the people whose dogs were starving also lived so far from roads that once the dog food made it to Alaska it had to be flown in and air dropped. The salmon seem to be more plentiful this year from what I've heard from friends up there, so that's a good thing!
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Yes, this is happening, and allot of other dog food manufacturers are helping as well. I've just gotten to work so as soon as i get my ducks in a row, I'll look up the addresss/contact if you want to help. BTW, these are usually not racing kennels that are involved, but indiginous peoples who u se their dogs for transportation and "getting by". Very sad, but mostly because of the diversion or damning of natural water ways and overfishing. :cry:
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The luddite emerges from her cave... :lol:
Misinformed web site alert!!
in Sport
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The link doesn't seem to work- I get an error message