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 ;)

Meet the Team: Bravo

I'm going to do a post about each dog, so you can get to know my team a little bit.

Here's a rundown of my dog's names:

Ajax

Bluto

Flounder

Flurry

Foxy

Nuka

Tucker

and ....

Bravo!!!

Just look at that crazy cute goon!

I'm going to start with this guy because I know him the best (be prepared, this is a long post)

Bravo is sweet, playful, energetic, cuddly when his energy tank is low, a bit rambunctious at times, not dominant in any way shape or form, curious, and wants to please.

He also has the longest legs I have ever seen on an Alaskan Husky.

I told you he was cuddly ... and spoiled :)

Okay, to the beginning:

Bravo was born at Siku Kennel of Unalakleet, Alaska in January, 2012 during our streak of temps never reaching above -30 degrees.

Bravo's mom, Beauty, got knocked up by another dog from the lot. In essence, Bravo was not planned and I have only an inkling of who his father might be. Otherwise, it's not wise to have puppies in the middle of winter.

Beauty never had pups before and was quite young. With the extremely cold temps and her lack of mothering skills/know-how, three of her five pups did not last the night. Leaving two wee ones.

Now I had learned to not attach myself to any puppies due to previous tragedies earlier in the season where we lost a number of them to parvo. Don't get me wrong, I cuddled and played and cooed with all the remaining and new puppies, but tried to not get emotionally attached.

Bravo had a different plan. While his brother was not keen on being handled, picked up, or loved on (he usually tried to wriggle free from my arms), Bravo would melt into me. As he got older, he would follow me around all over the dog lot. I didn't know it at the time, or at least wouldn't admit to it, but I was falling for the little guy.

Then one day, Bravo was gone.

Pups at Siku Kennel run free until they are old enough (or start wandering too far from the dog lot) to be hooked up like the big dogs. Since Bravo and his bro weren't planned, all the other pups were older and much bigger.

Bravo had started wandering a bit further from his mom's house as the days went on. Apparently when no one was around, we suspect the bigger pups played with him when he got far enough away from his mom, but not the kind of playing one does with a small puppy.

When we got up to the lot to feed, I went to go say hi to the little man, but was quickly panicking because I did not find him where he was supposed to be. We scoured the lot and the perimeter. No sight of him.

Until finally he was found cowering, shivering, cold, and covered in frozen slobber from the older pups under a freight sled.

I brought him to my house that night to warm and clean him up. That's when I knew I had fallen in love with the little man. How can you not, just look at that face!

PURE cuteness. 

A few months later in the spring, Bravo got really sick. I started to get worried and panicked.

Luckily, Operation Arctic Care was in town. A team of military medical professionals make their way to western Alaska every year. In 2012 they came to Unalakleet. They also send a team of veterinarians to provide spay/neuters and vaccinations.

They also will take on a special few cases.

Bravo was one of those special few cases.

They had him for four days on an IV. He was quarantined and I wasn't allowed to see him. I really didn't think he would make it and I suspect they didn't think he would make it either. I checked in with them multiple times a day (I was also bringing the whole of Siku Kennel in a few dogs at a time for vaccinations and some spay/neuters).

On the fourth day, they told me he was eating again, good as new and I could take him home! I was more than excited. I gathered him up, brought him home and spent the rest of the day cuddling with him.

They never did figure out what he was sick with, but all I care about is that they saved his life. Thank you Arctic Care vet team!!

After they let me take him home. Such a cutie!

Ever since that day, Bravo has had a special place in my heart ... and been quite the accident prone dog.


After leaving Siku Kennel, I headed to California to work for the family business for the summer. Kiana (my chocolate lab) and Bravo in tow.

I lived on a vineyard that was completely fenced in to keep out deer.

One day, Bravo discovered a hole in the fence and took off chasing wild turkey. Unbeknownst to him, the neighbors had cows ... and a barbed wire fence.

When I finally found Bravo, he was sitting a hundred yards away just sitting and watching me. He would not come when I called. I finally ventured off into the brush to try to lure him back (which is a brave feat in California when rattlesnakes are everywhere, especially that summer due to the extreme heat).

As I got closer, I once again started panicking over him.

Blood was dripping out of his mouth. He was sitting behind the barbed wire fence and would not go anywhere near it.

This is what I think happened. He was chasing the wild turkeys, and when he is chasing something he is fast and focused. I believe he was going so fast and was so focused on those turkeys, that he didn't even see the barbed wire. He ran straight into it.

The result? He caught his front four bottom teeth on the fence and almost broke them completely off. His teeth and the very front of his jaw were pointing forward instead of up. Eeek!

He obviously was rushed to the emergency vet. Luckily it was a clean break, so no surgery was required, but he did have braces for a while keeping his teeth up and in line so his jaw could heal.

See what I mean about being accident prone?!
I've just been saving his life left and right since the day he was born.




Okay, now moving on to Bravo as a sled dog.

He is now 19 months old and just a couple weeks ago was put in harness and into a team for the first time ever.

I was really anxious and nervous because I had NO idea how he was going to react and handle all of it.

Boy was I surprised!

He took to it right away! He's a natural. He knows what to do and does it well.

I keep things easy for him because he is young and definitely not as strong as my other dogs due to his lack of experience and training. However, he is a strong puller and doesn't quit! He's figuring out how to untangle himself if he gets his foot over the line. He doesn't chew on things. He waits for me to give the go ahead before lunging into his line. I'm just so proud of him!

His only downfall currently is when we pass other teams. He wants nothing more than to say hi to every dog on the team we pass, which is not good etiquette in the mushing world. Dogs are supposed to pass by like the other team isn't even there. If dogs always want to greet each other or worse, fight with unknown dogs, you end up with a tangled mess. You and your dogs could end up with some major injuries if they don't get along. So it's just best to keep the team moving right along ignoring other teams. Of course I always find it polite and enjoyable to acknowledge the musher as we pass, just as long as the dogs ignore each other.

Kristin and I will be practicing passing with our teams, so hopefully Bravo will start learning how to suppress his desire to greet every dog we come across.

I look forward to seeing how Bravo develops and what he is capable of! I think he has a pretty good future ahead of him as a sled dog :)

Fall Training

Saturday morning was the first time I hooked up my dogs for Fall training.

Kristin and I headed out together so my dogs could learn the trail.

Hooking up our teams, getting ready to take off.
Photo courtesy of Kristin Bacon

My dogs played "follow the leader".
Since I bought my dogs and this was the first time they have ever run for me, I thought it best to let them chase a team as they learn to listen to my commands and trust me.

Excited only partially describes how I felt that morning.

I kept thinking "These are MY dogs!"

I literally was giggling at points during our run out of sheer joy.

They were awesome, I couldn't be happier with my team :)

I'm looking forward to spending lots of time with these wonderful dogs!

New beginnings

It's time to start the ol' blog again. "Why?" you may be asking.

Well, I'll tell you: Mary Helwig is back into the world of mushing!

Many of you already know, but many of you don't know, so I'll give a quick run-down:

I did not mush this past winter.
I missed it.
Started looking for property of my own in the Spring of this year to start a team.
Searched and looked and scoured the internet, newspapers, magazines, and yes even Craigslist.
Found promising places, but none truly struck my fancy.
Then a glorious day in July where opportunity knocked and I quickly swung open the door and invited it in.

"What happened on this seemingly incredible day in July?" you say.

I responded to a random ad on FaceBook for an "off the grid" cabin for rent.

"Now why would you go and do that?!"

You see, this cabin is in Big Lake, one of the major mushing areas here in Alaska. It is owned by Kristin Bacon. What's so great is that she has a dog kennel, Bacon's Acres' Kennel. What's even more fantastic is that she has room in her kennel for another team of sled dogs.

"Wow! You're right Mary, that is pretty awesome!'

I know, right??

I quickly responded to the ad. Met Kristin. Saw the cabin and kennel. Got a feel for everything.

Sold. Done. Deal. I was in. However you want to put it.
In essence I thought it was a great fit for me. One of the major plus sides of this is now I will not be living all by my lonesome trying to start a kennel and run dogs...alone.

Now I have a partner in crime.
Two crazy ladies who decided to change their lives so they could pursue what they love.

"So when do you start this new adventure?"

I already have! (I intended to start my blog sooner, sorry for the delay)

I have made quite a few big purchases in the last month: mid-distance mushing sled, Alaskan Huskies, Honda 4-wheeler, harnesses, materials to make dog houses, dog trailer to haul the dogs around, and a LOT of equipment and pieces/parts that are too tedious and boring to list for most people to read, but are a necessity to mush dogs. Frankly, going to a hardware or mushing store for snaps, chains, bolts, rope, etc. for a musher (or at least me) is like a kid walking into a candy store. Wide eyed, counting out your change to see how much you can buy.

Never thought when I was 10 years old that at the age of 29 I'd be drooling over fancy rope.

So there you have it. I now live in Big Lake, Alaska with my very own small team of dogs.\


Today was our very first day of training, but I will post about that next time. Right now, I must go tend to my fantastic dogs.

Baby it's cold outside

Whelp, as the temps continue to drop ...

Really?!?

It was a COLD time of feeding the dogs and scooping their poop this morning!

... I figured this would be a good time to stay inside, keep warm, and make a much needed addition to my blog.

Let's see, since I last posted (over a month ago, oops!) much has happened.

First of all, I was fortunate enough to take a week off to spend Christmas with my family in California. It was relaxing, rejuvenating, and most importantly: warm and sunny! :)

Unfortunately, I was slapped in the face with -25 temps when I stepped off the plane in Unalakleet upon my return shortly after Christmas, but nonetheless I loved being back (especially being back with my own pup Kiana banana butt).

The New Year brought on Jamboree (an annual basketball tournament for out-of-high school players from UNK and surrounding villages) and dog sled races. 

A two day race that I ended up scratching from because my leader got injured (and yes, it was just too stinkin' cold!), and a New Year's Day race that never ended up happening because the temps kept dropping. The next weekend's race to Egavik was also cancelled due to extremely cold temps.

That's right, the temps here in Unalakleet hovered around -30 to -35 for three weeks. Alapaa!

It's amazing how warm 0, -5, or even -15 can feel. It's all in perspective :) After that cold snap, we hit 2 degrees and man was I sweatin'!

The next scheduled race was a 40 miler on a trail that was put in the day before. It was slow going through soft, deep snow and required a lot of helping the dogs by pushing the sled myself and kicking along with the dogs. I'll admit that I was a little sore the next day. 

Due to the trail conditions, a race that was supposed to take 4-5 hrs ended up taking us 8-9 hrs. Despite the frustrating trail conditions and cold wind however, I still had a great time and just loved being out with the dogs!

Just this last weekend we had a race on the Iditarod trail to Old Woman (a mountain with a BLM shelter cabin at the base) and back. 36 miles one way. 72 miles round trip.

It was a gorgeous day! Sun was shining, the forecasted wind was almost nonexistent, and the temps were perfect (even got a little warm and had to shed a layer or two).

My dogs did fantastic! The most rewarding part was discovering a new leader named Pilgrim (2 yrs old) just a few days before the race and he did fabulous on race day.  He still needs more training, but he is my new little gem!

4-Wheeler + Snow Drifts + Mary = Disaster

Whelp, I'm back to training dogs with a 4-wheeler. 

I am now running them on the road out side of town where drifts of snow are not as big a problem ... annnnnd the snow machine I was using kind of, sort of, maybe temporarily "lost" its brakes.

It's getting to the road from the dog lot that has posed a problem for me.

Yesterday, I got the 4-wheeler good and stuck in a snow drift that formed right along the road when I was taking a team out to train. Took three guys to help me get that 4-wheeler out.

Today, I tried a different path from the dog lot to the road, but alas! I still found myself stuck in a drift. It only took one guy to help me out this time though.

So hopefully by tomorrow I'll get it down and won't find myself stuck in another snow drift ... I can't play 'damsel in distress' forever ; )

My team and I training on the road outside of town - snow drift free!

Two puppies joined us (those are the loose dogs you see in the photo)

Training, Races, and more Storms

I know. It's been a long time since my last update. Sorry about that! So here's my attempt to update you on the last month:

Currently, I'm contently sitting in my little house with Christmas lights aglow, listening to the smooth jazz melodies of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" soundtrack with the wind howls of yet another storm as background while the snow flies around in the blizzard. I can't complain one bit :)

It wasn't until the week before Thanksgiving that we finally harnessed up dogs and started training them. In the early season, training is done with 4-wheelers or ATV's or quad runners, etc. (whatever you may call them wherever you may live). It's more about control. We keep at a slow pace and let them pull, pull, pull (of course we put the machine into gear and help them up hills when need be - don't want to injure them).

Thanksgiving day brought a lot of delectable foods, great friends, and my first dog sled race out here in Unalakleet. It was an adventure, that's for sure! Snow was lacking and temps were at -15 F.
6 teams were in the running.

The best way to describe my race was that I started well, and I ended well ... with my dogs. The middle? Well, that part is a different story. About a mile into the race, before the first hill I lost my team in an icy creek with a rather steep bank. Middy started the race behind me, so I jumped into his sled and the two of us "raced" after my team hoping to find them shortly thereafter.

4 miles later, with me getting out of the basket to help Middy kick the sled up the hills, we finally found my team. Another musher in the race had tied them off to a tree until I could get to them.

I jumped back onto my sled, took off with my 8 dogs and finished the race :)
I got 4th place.

Despite losing my team for a decent portion of the race, it was still a good experience. It was a great way to learn while I watched how Middy controlled the sled and listen to his tips about this and advice about that. So all in all, great learning race.

The next weekend we had another race. Same trail as the last, opposite direction.
This race went much smoother for me even though the wind was blowing and snow was flying by the end (wasn't sure where the finish line was until about 100 feet from it - that blowing snow made it hard to see!).

Sitting in Middy's sled in the last race learning, and the training I had done in the week between the two paid off. My 8 dog team and I cruised right along and got 1st place out of 5, earning myself $500 to pay next month's rent and electric bill. Woohoo!

Photo taken by: Willa Eckenweiler
On top of V.O.R. hill during the second race.




Recently it's been storms, storms, and more storms. Meaning wind, wind, and more ... that's right, wind. Because of this, training has been a little on the sporadic side, but when we get a break in the weather, I'm out there training dogs!

I have now switched to training dogs with a snow machine or snow-go or snow mobile, etc. (again, whatever you may call it wherever you may live). With the wind has come major drifts of snow out on the loop that I am currently running the dogs on and a 4-wheeler would more than likely get stuck. We're still in the slow and complete control phase of training but will be switching to sleds soon.

Hope you enjoyed the update, and I will try to be better about updating more often (at least so they won't be so long and novel-like!)