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 ;)