Extreme Doggy Home Makeover

This summer has been the summer of extremes.. extreme projects that is..  One of these major projects was to take our pretty little forested hobbit dogyard, which was actually quite treacherous when covered in snow an ice, and turn it into something safe for dogs and mushers and efficient for hooking up and feeding the dogs.

Our yard is on a pretty good slope and used to be completely forested. This was great for providing shade for dogs in summer, but after a couple years the dogs had dug up the roots killing most of the trees and creating a very unsafe surface for mushers hooking up teams. Trees started to fall last winter and Paige had back surgery so we decided it was time to do something while the dogs were away on the glacier.

So we cut down all the pretty little trees and called in the dozer.

Yogi was the foreman as usual, but John from Heavy Horse construction, a fellow musher, made 3 terraces out of hour hillside with paths for trails to shoot through each level of dogs.

We then put down some small gravel to keep the yard from being mucky when wet.

Voila' ... the dogs enjoying their new level home. the treasure at the end of the rainbow and at the other end... the finished feed shed that used to be a wall tent platform that we lived in when working on the house.

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!

New pups!!

We had our first litter of puppies for the summer on June 16 to Smoke and Grisman. Smoke is a dog we just got from Lance Mackey and Grisman is a Seavey dog that Sebastian Schneulle has now. There are 5 pups in the litter, 3 boys and 2 girls, and Smoke is a great mom! Her are some photos of their first days...

We named them after David Grisman songs to honor the Dawg himself and also the dad of the litter. Here is an introductory video.

They are now 2 weeks old and have their eyes open. They are super chunkers weighing in at 5lbs each! Here is super fat Dawgma! He looks a little sharpee-ish:)

Summer camp for the dogs

This summer we sent some of our dogs up to the Denver Glacier outside of Skagway, Alaska with our good friend and great dog driver, Megan. Here they will run a 2 mile loop for the tourists thoroughout the summer and will come back to us in early September. I just went down to Skagway to visit them for a couple of days to make sure they were happy and also because I missed them terribly:) Here is a  picture of their summer home from the air. They are having the time of their life, doing what they love best, staying cool and away from the bugs!!

 

Here is Brutus, giving me hug before I took off again. I miss you buddy!!

Here are the dogs all hooked up and ready to go. Who says you can't have winter all year long!! I am jealous, really.

photos from the arctic 2011

the dog line at our camp. we were set up on a lake and drilled hole in ice for dog water.



The team bringing in another load of dog food



there are 100's of caribou right over that ridge.. now what to do with 26 raging dogs.

the teams chillin while we stalk a small herd of caribou

Cody lost his bed to Stout during the windstorm

we rotated the pups through the tent to dry out and hang during the blizzard. Goober in bed with Paige, Stout warming her bed from below and Bleeker doing his sleep sit.

a panoramic of camp at start of blizzard. by morning, dogs had a foot of snow on their backs... it acted as insulation and kept them warm.

dogs waiting semi-patiently while we glass for caribou and a good route to the valley floor.

Paige and Stout chillin in camp.

YUM.. SPAM.. need I say more?

The gang hanging in the snowtrekker, Paige, Phoebe, Chris and Scott.



remnants of a nice caribou skull with our team in the distance.



taking a load back to the truck at the end of the trip. wind blew in our original trail we broke, so they had to break it all out again.

Days like this are just amazing.. what we dream of alllllll year!

Arctic Adventure 2011

Hi all, We returned last weekend from another amazing trip to the artic north slope of the Brooks Range. We spent a little over a week living with the dogs out on the tundra, following the great caribou herds while we exploring the mountains and valleys. What a blast. We had several friends come out and share camp with us and had some amazing weather.. especially if you forget the 24 hour wind storm whiteout that kept us in the tent for a day. We came home with two lead dogs that stepped up to the challenge of breaking trail day after day and two caribou that gave themselves to us to feed our family for the year. Both were awesome gifts that make these trips so worth it. It is awesome to be able to get such wonderful, orgranic, free range meat and do the entire process from tundra to freezer by ourselves. Nothing goes to waste and the dogs get anything we can't use.. Happy dogs. As for the dogs, Stout and Okie have stepped up to take over the main duties of off-trail command leaders. They have shown that they have the skills to break trail day after day when there is nothing but white in front of them. The terrain in the area we traveled could be quite steep and sometimes hairy, but the dogs were awesome at listening and going the way we wanted...most of the time anyways..  a real bonus when you are 350 miles north of Fairbanks and help is far away. All 14 dogs we took were rock stars. The yearlings stepped up to show that they were great campers and great in harness for sometimes very long days. We sometime only ran a couple mile from camp and then they would have to sit and rest for long periods of time while we looked for caribou. This is awesome training for them and they acted like they have been doing it for years.

Breaking trail into camp the first night at about 11 pm.. still light out! We ran 14 dogs with two very loaded down freight tobbogan sleds. We found that a large team with 2 sleds works better for heavy loads to and from camp with no trail. We run smaller teams when we are just traveling from camp.

A picture of the crew minus Cody.  Paige and dogs, Chris, Phoebe, and Scott.

I am having troubles loading photos, so will try again later.. check back to see the sites and also check back to see our next big adventure... Taking the dogs to Skagway next weekend and flying them up to the glacier for  summer tours.

Migrating with the caribou herd - Headed to North Slope of Brooks Range

It is time again! Time to pack the truck with our strongest dogs, a couple sleds, and gear for 10 days of living on the open tundra. This is what we live for each year, travelling with the dogs in the arctic while trying to procure the years worth of caribou meat for our freezer. We are headed to the North slope of the Brooks Range in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to intercept the migrations of caribou on their way to the coastal plain. Hunters are not allowed to use any motorized vehicles to hunt here. Only non-motorized transportation is allowed. So we will be doing what we love most, travelling by dog team. Stay tuned for stories and photos upon our return.