Meet the Team: Flurry

This is Flurry:

This girl is one of the sweetest dogs you will ever meet. She is the ultimate lover and craves affection which she never seems to get enough of.

Often times when I try to put booties on her feet for a run, she rolls over onto her back with her paws up in the air hoping for a belly rub in the process.

She aims to please, because she knows if she's a good girl she gets even more lovin' from me :)


Flurry is one of the five dogs I bought from Kelley Griffin. She is on the younger side at 3 1/2 years old and is a leader in training. She is a fantastic leader, but only when she's got the energy for it. Once we start getting into the longer runs (35+ miles), her enthusiasm and fortitude seem to falter. In the beginning of the run she buckles down, pulls like no other, and listens for my commands. As she starts to get a little tired, she starts to lose her confidence. She will still follow my commands, but with less oomph in her step. On occasion, she will decide when she's done being a leader for the day by just throwing herself off to the side of the trail and plopping herself down ... while the rest of the team is still running. Oops. I try to take her out of lead before that happens though.

On those longer runs when I notice she is wavering in lead, I move her into the swing position (the dogs right behind the leaders) and her confidence is right back up with the spring back in her step. When she decides to throw herself off the trail and lie down mid stride, that's when she gets put in wheel (the dogs right in front of the sled). For a leader, that is kind of like a "time out".

*Side note: I once had to do that with Ajax (my absolute solid leader). On the second day of the Aurora 50/50 he decided he didn't really want to lead anymore. So like Flurry, he dove to the side of the trail to lie down; then just sat there looking at me all proud like. He was instantly put in the wheel position. He stayed there for about 10 miles until I needed my solid leader back. He was quite keen on getting back up front and was extra careful to follow my commands the rest of the race. Wheel was his "time out" for not behaving like a leader should and he was going to make sure he didn't end up back there again.

Back to Flurry ...

Flurry in lead

... I have every confidence that Flurry will be my future solid leader. Time and maturity will only serve her well. For now, I just make sure being a leader continues to be fun for her and to not push her beyond her limit before she is ready to be pushed.

Meet the Team: Nuka

Meet Nuka

 

Now this little girl may just be one of the cutest dogs around!

Nuka is a bit of a nervous-Nelly, but once she warms up to you she loves attention. When I first brought her to her new home, Nuka was a bit of a mess. All the new dogs, new smells, new dog house, new surroundings - it was a bit much for her. She paced and whined and squealed and barked, but after about a week she started to calm down a bit. It wasn't until about a month in however that I felt she finally settled in to her new home and friends.

Like my long legged friend, Bravo, Nuka is young. Barely 2 years old. She has more training than Bravo because like Ajax, Bluto, and Flounder, Nuka comes from Kelley Griffin's kennel. She started training when she was about 6 months old. However, Nuka is much smaller (about half the size of Bravo), and therefore has a bit harder time keeping up.

Nuka is the one who ended up in my sled the last 15 miles of the Knik 100. Along with having to move faster to keep up since she's smaller, she also doesn't quite know how to pace herself yet; so she works her little butt off and completely poops herself out.


Right now I run Nuka as a team dog, but Kelley and Ed said she has a lot of potential to be a lead dog. Now that she's getting more comfortable with me and life here at Bacon's Acres, I'm going to start running her in swing and begin to nurture her leader potential.