This is a photo of 1/2 our freezer van. We have our fat & meat here along with 1 tote of fish & then we are holding someone elses dog food too!!!! We have 634, 20lb bags of meat, 100 bags of fat & counting,100 bags of Ol roy dog bones & 15 totes of fish...... I am SOOOO glad that grinding meat is over for this year!!!!
Anyway, today is our last day of work & it feels good! We got everything taken of & we are ready to go on vacation! Tomorrow we leave for Hawaii for 2 weeks which is about 2 weeks later than we usually go, but this is the only time John's mom could take care of the dogs!!!! She is the only person we trust to watch them & we know they will be taken care of right! SO THANK YOU in advance JACKIE for watching the dogs!
Today we went on a 5 mile training run early in the morning & it was still pretty warm out but not too bad! All the dogs are doing great & we have alot of dogs that are impressing us leading!!! April, Mario, Irma, Blackie, obviously Zora, Whippet & Eli....Willie is Whippet X Ruby pup from last year & I think he is going to be one of our very good leaders in the future!!!!
All the pups are doing very well! Zora loves to go into the pen & play with them & Lilles are now 8 weeks old & we took Lille away last week she is tearing apart our pens & freaking out to get to them, so we let her with them at night. I have never seen a mom as crazy as her. I guess she is crazy at everything, she is the dog we are trying to break of chewing the neckline with 1 bite.
Yesterday we went to a seminar at Mat Su College & it was very informative. I am going to start classes in January for a nursing degree & when we come back from Hawaii, John is going to be getting his private pilots license so that is exciting & scary at the same time... John in charge of a plane????? LOL Just kidding! :)
Photo is of our first day of training!!! Timor, my fav pup from last year & Irma, one of my favs that we bought! :)
Today we woke up & it was 20 F at our house, sunny & smells good out! I love the fall time, it is my favorite time of year! The dogs seem to love it too!
We started training last week on 4 wheeler & we have 3- 12 dog teams & 1-11 dog team. Once we get the dogs in the rythum of things, we will break it down to 3 bigger teams, but I like working with more leaders this time of year, easier to control! Our first run went great & there was no problems, it was nice! All the dogs acted like pro's even the 15 pups from last year. I was very happy to finally see the 14 new dogs run in harness! Right now I like all the new dogs except Scream. It just seems like with her short legs she has alot harder of a time to keep up. I am very impressed with Irma!!!!
All the puppies are doing good! We had to take Lille's pup, Otis in to get a hernia removed. It was not like other hernia's that are by the belly button, it was by his man parts & his bowels were going into it, so it was getting huge. I think he had as big of balls as a 6month old & he is only 6 wks old. So we got that removed, its hard to spend $600 on a small puppy, but what are you going to do right? He is cute & worth it!!!
Well, we have 2 more weeks of working & then we are done for the season & 6 more training runs & we are off to Hawaii! Usually we go alittle sooner, but this is the only time that John's mom could watch the dogs. Sooooo we are very excited to go, but also excited to come back & start the season! :)
Free running this morning with our fastest group of 18 dogs 7 milees. TOK ABLE
Well this week has been very busy & happy & sad all in one. It has been beautiful weather & it starting to get alittle cooler at night.
One of our main race dogs, Tok, had to be put down last week. He had a piece of plastic in his stomach & we got it removed, but he kept getting sicker & sicker, the vet said Toxins were poisoning his body & all his organs were shutting down. Tok was a really nice dog & was a big part of our open team!
Then on Sunday it was my 23rd birthday! John took my out to dinner & a movie & then we went to my parents for a while! It was nice!
This past Wednes day, Able, one of Zora's pups died & we have no idea why. She was acting really sick so we brought her in the house & worked on her, but in the morning she had passes away. I was worried about all the other puppies, but they are all doing fine.
Today we free ran 7 miles & all the dogs are doing good. Some of the new dogs aren't quite where we thought they would be running , but I am excited to start 4 wheeler training soon!
We had a little incident today while we took out our first group. We free run on trails that are very popular during hunting season why I don't know because there are no moose because we scare them, but we put up signs to let everyone know to be cautious on Mon, Wed & Fri from 8 - 11am because of 15- 20 loose dogs behind a 4 wheeler & this guy parks his car on the trail ( not sure why he would take such a nice car on a crappy trail) & was hunting with his little 4 month old GSp puppy right in the middle of the trail on a corner. We come around them bend to see him in the woods & the puppy scared to death running on the trail screaming , but luckily our dogs are pretty good about it & went right by the poor puppy. I can't understand why the guy would even try to do that with a puppy thats not trained knowing we are going to be coming by with that many dogs. I know I wouldn't take the chance of hurting my hunting dog mentally..People are so weird sometimes, but on a good note, hunting season is almost over & so far all the MOOSE hunters we have ran into have been curtious & we both has respected each other!
Thats all for now, Tok & Able, you will be missed!
John,Ariel, Heather, Sterling & Kenzie at the fair. Sterling conked out after a long day!!!!
Well, it's fair time & this year we took my 5 neices/nephews to the fair for some fun!!!! They had a blast & it was good to spend some time with all of them! We never realized how much money kids are, we spend so much in just a couple of hours, but it was worth it! I can't believe Ariel is already in Middle School. They are all growing up soooo fast!
Anyway, we have been free running the dogs a couple of times a week & everytime it seems harder & harder, as hunting season has opened & hunters are everywhere. We had to put signs up I made them look like Bear sighting signs so people would pay attention to them. There hasn't been a problem & I don't think there will be, but with hunters you never know! Its crazy though because it seems like everywhere is becoming so populated, I guess that's what happens though.
We have 3 groups this year free running, 48 dogs total, but we are having some trouble with some of the dogs wanted to chase so we made a little group for the "slow" guys with Bengt, Capri, Sausage, Curt, Scream & Adam. It seems to be helping having them in a separate group. The other 2 groups are super fast, the 2 females we bred to Egil/Helens Timmie & Ruby last year are all very fast & focused on running, very focused, I am excited to race them the next couple of years!!!
All 17 pups are doing great! Zora's 12 are little pistols who already know how to dig out of the fenced in area & are very smart. They are very freindly & mellow, but you take them on a walk & they change into mischeivious little non listeners. I guess they are going through the stageof curiousity it seems like all puppies go through, but we are working on it because I hate to take them on walks when we have to go pick up all 12 1 by 1 until we get them all back in... Lille's 5 are now 2 1/2 weeks old & have their eyes open & are moving about the dog house! We have picked out their names ( I think) Madison is the girl, Marshall, Otis, Axel & Tobie. I named 3 of them, John got 1 & we let John's Aunt Sandie name one. She picked the weirdest names, but finally she settled on Tobie for the country singer Toby Keith.
John on my dad's boat when we went to Seward to go fishing!
Well, you can tell when fall is here when it rains & the whole weeks forcast is rain, right?! I guess fair time too!!! Anyway, since the last time I wrote, we have gone fishing with my dad for 2 weekends & caught some hailbut, salmon, black bass, Ling cod & I even caught a huge sting ray~! We had alot of fun & it was nice because for the 6 years John & I have been together, we have never gone out with my dad on his boat, so it was good to spend time with him! John's mom took care of the dogs for us, so we THANK YOU for letting us go fishing!
Zora's pups are 6 weeks old now & we had to take her away from them at 4 weeks old. We took her to the vet & she was getting depleted from 12 puppies suckeling, so we decided the best thing for her was to take her away! They are all doing great & mom ( Zora) comes into play with them everday, mainly to steal their food!!! :) All the pups are super friendly & love to play by the pond! My favorite is the runt, Arthur & John's is Wilbur!!!! We had my neice Ariana & nephew Andre come out to play with them & John's neice Elsie also came out too!
Lille is getting close to having her litter bred to Egil/Helen's Timmie! She is 58 days & I think she will have 5 & John thinks 7. We thought she was going to have a bundle early on because she was gaining weight really fast, but then she just stopped!!!
We started to free run the dogs 3 miles & they are absolutely crazy for the 4 wheeler! The weather has been nice to train in & we are starting to get to know the new dogs ways I guess you would call it. Some are just like our dogs & others are completely different, of course!
John's sister just had a new baby, Broghan & he is healthy & doing good!!!
Oh & I almost forgot the dog barn is done! Well it has been done for along time, but anyway, we are glad it's done & the dogs are enjoying not being so crowded!