Where does the time go?

This summer is flying by as summers around here tend to do. Projects galore and puppies to boot. Here is a little doggie update to sedate you until the snow flies. Smoke's puppies are now weened and at 8 weeks old weigh in at a whopping 20lbs! They are really fun, darting everywhere, exploring trails, learning what all the berry fuss is about, these guys are a blast. Gypsy, the girl in the middle, is the ring leader, making sure everyone follows her everywhere and telling them off if they don't! Dogma, the boy on the far left, likes to stay close to his people during walks and doesn't much care for Gypsy's antics! Puppy TV is in full effect.

We have also had a second litter of puppies. These are Lucy's puppies. We bred her to Brent Sass' lead dog Silver. There are 2 boys and 3 girls in this bunch. They are now 9 days old and already opening their eyes.

One of the big projects we have been working on is the dog yard. Our land has a pretty steep grade to it and in the past we have learned to cope with sliding down hill all winter, finding all the dog bowls can be a challenge, but we liked having the dogs in a treed area so we dealt with it. Well this summer, while some of the dogs are on the glacier, we decided to make some drastic changes to the dog yard. After lots of tree cutting, dozing and a little bit of gravel to top it off, we now have a much more workable dog yard! My back is already haapy about not falling all winter...We still have spots in the trees for the summer time but since winter is approximately 9 months around here, we are excited for the ease that this change will bring us. Thanks to our friend John for helping us with this project!

In the midst of all these projects, Paige signed up for the Yukon Quest, 1000 mile dog sled race that starts Feb 4, 2012. We have started training the dogs with the ATV, getting them in shape so that when the others come back from the glacier, they will be up to speed. This happens in the wee hours of the morning before the August sun heats everything up again (sorry neighbors). The glacier dogs come back in 2 weeks and we cannot wait to see them again! Once they are home, it will be running dogs, full speed ahead!