Meet the Team: Ajax

This is Ajax

Isn't he a cutie?!

Ajax is one of the five dogs I bought from Yukon Quest & Iditarod musher, Kelley Griffin.

Curious about his name? Well, when mushers have a litter of pups they often pick a theme when choosing names. Ajax and his siblings are the "cleaning" litter. His siblings have names like Pledge, Swiffer, and Dawn. Cute, huh?

Ajax has a bit of an odd personality. 

He's a gentle and sweet dog, however he strongly dislikes any kind of human physical contact. He doesn't enjoy being pet and loved on, which is difficult for me because I love giving my dogs that kind of attention.

He'll tolerate being touched because he knows he has to. 

For instance, if he wants to run then he has to let me put his harness on him, or if I need to look at his paws to make sure they are healthy.

Despite not wanting to be touched, Ajax is an AWESOME leader. He follows my every command. If I say "gee" (which is "right"), he goes gee. If I say "whoa", he stops. If I say "on by" (typically used when passing another team), he pulls the team forward and away from whatever distraction I want them to ignore.

Ajax has only one quirk as a leader. 

When I stop the team for a rest and water break, I typically get off my rig to check on each dog, untangle lines if need be, and tell my leaders how well they are doing. When I start to walk back to my rig to continue our training run, Ajax likes to follow me part way. 

Funny for a dog who usually avoids humans. 

Kelley said he used to follow her all the way back to the sled, taking the whole team with him! 

Luckily, he only walks back by the swing dogs now, but often times he gets himself tangled in the gangline or with the swing dogs. 

I am working with him on keeping lined out. He's not perfect, but it's a work in progress and he is getting better.

I am quite happy with Ajax! 

He's a dog I know I can depend on to get me and the team through just about any situation we find ourselves in.

One Pooped Pup

I increased the mileage my dogs have been running today.

We were running around 6 miles with some small, gradual hills.

Today we did our first 8 mile run. It was on a new trail with quite a few more hills.

For all my dogs who are well seasoned and have a number of years under their belts already, it was no big deal. They were maybe a smidge tired, but they could probably do it again and with the same enthusiasm.

Bravo on the other hand? Well, I'll let the picture speak for itself:

What a tuckered out little guy.

He did an awesome job today! He never quit pulling. He just doesn't have quite the stamina my other dogs do, so as soon as I put him back at his house, he climbed inside, curled up, and hasn't moved much since.

By our next training run he'll be raring to go again! :D

If not, I'll leave him home. 

For Bravo, this year is all about having fun. I don't want to push him beyond his limits, so if he's not excited to go or I don't think he's at the top of his game, he'll stay home for that day.

He'll continue to strengthen and toughen up so by next year or the year after that 8 miles, 20 miles, or even 50 miles will be child's play to him :)

Dog Trailer

I picked up this beauty yesterday and I'm pretty darn happy with it!

Kelley Griffin (Iditarod & Yukon Quest musher) and her partner Ed built it for me. After buying a mid-distance sled and 5 dogs from them (Silverbelle Kennel), they offered me a good deal on a dog trailer, custom made. Ed did a fantastic job! He definitely kept me and my needs in mind while building it. 

It's perfect for me because everything is my height :) There's even a space in between the boxes where the dogs go to put my sled, so I don't have to hoist it on top of the trailer (in fact, the sled is in there right now). It can hold up to 16 dogs. The two boxes towards the front on both sides of the trailer are big enough to hold two smaller dogs each, and the back four boxes on both sides are big enough for one dog each.

I'll be taking it out to practice backing up and parking it (don't have much experience driving with a trailer). So hopefully I'll be a pro come race season and I need to park amongst multiple dog trucks/trailers!

Meet the Team: Tucker

Ready to meet another one of my pups?

Well, he's not really a pup, he's a bit of an old man actually.

It's Tucker!

He's a little camera shy.

Tucker comes from Siku Kennel in Unalakleet. 

Well actually Middy bought him, among a number of other dogs, from a musher named Matt Hayashida, but Tucker was at Siku Kennel for three years ... and now he's with me! :D

He is on the older side (I believe he's 9 now), but he's still has a year or two of mid-distance mushing left in him.

Tucker is one of the sweetest dogs you will ever meet. A little shy at first, but once he knows you he's quite the little lover.

He's also very calm. I love hooking him up for training runs. He gets quite excited to get going, but he knows the drill: calmly get the harness on, walk to the gang line (not pull me in every which direction while twisting my arm in ways it shouldn't twist ::ahem:: Foxy!), get hooked up to the gang line, sit down, and calmly wait until it's time to take off. Once we take off, then he's a pulling machine!

I ran Tucker some while I was training dogs for Siku Kennel in the 2011/12 mushing season.

He was the best swing dog (the dogs that run right behind the leaders).

If my leaders weren't paying attention or were confused or simply just "giving me the finger" and not listening to my command, Tucker would take over and pull the leaders where I wanted/needed them to go.

With his tendency to take charge, I naturally tried him out in front as a leader. Tucker wanted nothing to do with it. Being a leader was simply too much pressure I guess. I think he liked his role as a swing dog. He liked following the leader until it was absolutely necessary for him to take charge, then once the job was done he'd gladly give that role back.

This year things have changed a bit. He is still an awesome swing dog and I run him in that position often, but one day I was forced to try him in lead again. We were out on a training run and I quickly had to change some dog positions (my leader was being a naughty boy, growling at other teams, and running towards them ::ahem:: Flounder!). So Flounder and Tucker switched positions. Flounder in swing, Tucker in lead.

I found my new little gem!

He did such a great job in his role as leader, so now he trains as one of my leaders.

I try to not always run him up front however because I don't want to burn him out and cause him to lose confidence as a leader. I want to know that I can depend on him when I need him.

You can never have too many leaders in the mix.

So there's Tucker for ya! 

Even though he only has a year or two of consistent training and running mid distance left in him, he will be invaluable as a training dog for puppies. He'll be able to show them the ropes and how to run as a team while doing shorter, more easy going runs. 

He'll still get the joy of running while enjoying his golden years ... not to mention I'll probably spoil him to no end ;)