Follow Squid Acres Teams while on the Trail with SPOT

Dad got us a SPOT tracker for christmas so we can keep track of each other on the long training runs we are doing solo. You can also follow along with the training runs, camping trips and spring expeditions by going to the following page. http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0YTXLnDPoJ0q6eDjMu6ABA8LrkbzpB3QN

Winter is a coming fast..

Winter is finally upon us. Snow is slowly starting to accumulate and we are itching to get off the bumpy, noisey 4 wheeler and onto a smooth, quiet, peaceful ride. The big dogs are looking good, super strong and ecstatic to be out there. The following is a little video from our training run yesterday.

Today with help from our part-time helper Uli, we will start running a larger team 14 - 16 dogs and rotate them around so that each dog runs 2 days and get one day off. It will be great to try out a bunch of new leader combinations. Be sure to check back in December and see what races we have signed up for. These dogs are going to rock this winter.

Pups are doing great. The oldest pups from Lucy and Ruger are more like dogs now and are enjoying romps in the free run pen. Kanuti and Coldfoot are loving the dogwheel and are really opening up like races horses at the kentucky derby. Unfortunately for us, these two are going to Aaron soon, but they are all awesome, so we can't lose. Here is a picture of them trying on their future wardrobe of harnesses.

The medium pups (the mustelids), Fisher, Marten and Sable are free most of the time and help us with all our daily duties and hang in the house most nights with us. They are fitting right in here and they are going to be superstars for sure.

The smallest pups have just started to get out of their house and show some personality. We finally sprung some names on these guys this week and being that I sometimes pretend to be an archaeologist, Paige decided to let me classify the pups after different archeaological traditions from the arctic. We have Ipiutak or "Ippy", Thule, Denbigh, Choris, and Norton. These are all hearty groups of people that knew how to survive in a harsh arctic land so hopefully the pups will live up to their names. Some even used the ancestors of these dogs for travel.

Thanks for checking in.. For family this is the time of the year where you might not be able to find us besides on here... we only come inside to eat and sleep and when we do, there are usually between 3 and 8 dogs in the house with us...

hang in there, i am new at this

So cody usually posts the blogs but since I am somewhat laid up due to a recent back surgery, I have taken on the blog role. However, the last post posted before I put all of the puppy pictures up so here are some more for your viewing pleasure. Here she is at 4 days old compared to her sibling on the same day. Holy canoli batman! She is tiny.

Here is a super dark picture of her tiny self next to her huge brother! His head is almost bigger than her whole body. If you can think of a good name for this pint size creature, let us know!

Well Labor day proved to be very laborious here at squid acres this year. The long awaited puppy babies arrived on labor day with a great job laboring them by Stumpy:) There are three girls and two boys in this litter. One of the girls is super tiny but is full of life so we are sure she will catch up to the others in no time. In the first photo, she is the small brown one next to the big brown one.

One monster hamster wheel

Susie and Don helped us get the dog wheel all finished up today. Yogi, our team mascot black lab was happy to walk on it as long as we gave her a treat every so many seconds. Bleeker needs a little more work and the pups are getting on it and getting the hang of it, I'm sure they'll all be up and running in a week or two. Here is a video of Yogi showing how the wheel works.

Leader gone Frisbee dog

Bleeker, the up and coming all star leader is also an amazing frisbee dog. He catches it every time that I can throw it properly. He goes long and he even knows how to read the wind.. what a dog.. here is a little frisbee video.

Paige's parents are visiting, so we sent Don out on the 4 wheeler with Paige this morning.. he got to see what fall training is all about.

You stay classy San Diego...

Fall Training Camp is open..

Today fall training started at squid acres.. temperatures have finally dipped below 50 at night so early morning runs are now possible before work. This first run was a typical first run with both us and the dogs being a bit unorganized and out of rythm at the start.. Hookup was a little crazy, but as soon as those words, "lets go" hit the air, the old familiar feel was back and the dogs looked great. I forgot the camera for the run, just a bunch of wiggling rear ends anyway.. but here are the dogs after a short jounce through the yellowing birch forest. Tired and happy dogs!

Solo and Bleeker share a sip of water.

We are excited to start another season of running dogs. Squid acres will be running a few mid-distance races this winter so keep posted to see which ones and follow along.

The pups are doing great and getting big at 3 months now.. all sitting and laying down now before their meals. Wiseman even got to go to Eagle, AK with Paige and spent time on the Yukon River at fish camps sampling salmon... you know he is going be an all star with that extra training. here he is on the boat.

Stumpy is due around the beginning of September with a big ole belly hanging low, so we'll have new puppy pics up soon! Thanks for stopping in.