As you can tell I'm probably not going to post quite as often during spring & summer... not too many "tales from the trail" right now! But I'll try to still post as often as I remember to with what's going on with the kennel during the off season.
We're in spring-training time here. I've taken the dogs out for some 8-10 mile runs the past few weeks, whenever possible. The most fun about spring training is hooking up puppies and new leader training!
I put Matsi in lead for the first time ever last week, and man that dog just blew me away yet again! He didn't falter in the least bit: just ran up front like he'd been doing it all season. No goofiness, no chasing things, never even turned around to look at me like "what am I doing up here mom?" He kept pushing to lope and set a nice speed...why, it looks like I have another very promising leader on my hands!
Meanwhile his sister Weyekin's been running lead a lot this spring. She ran a few times last fall, just so I could see what she'd do, but she was pretty goofy about it back then. Now she's matured enough to be more focused up there and like her brother she pushes for speed. I'm very excited that both of Kadee's kids that I kept from her first litter turned out to be leaders!
Tristan and Jackson will both get their turns up in lead this spring too, once girls are out of heat. I already know Tristan has great leader potential as he ran up front a few times in fall. Have only tried Jackson up there once so far, however, and he was still too mentally young it seemed. We'll see how he does this spring.
Then there's puppy training. I hooked up the 4 McKinley/Odie kids for the first time last week... and OMG those pups are insane. I have only once before seen a puppy act so much like a professional in harness their first few times and that was Magik. Most of the time pups will naturally run and pull their first time out but they get tangled in the lines easily, they're going under the gangline and running on the wrong side, they turn around and tangle themselves up when you stop. You're constantly getting off the ATV to fix them.
Not these 4. They stay on their own side, they don't get tangled, when I stop they either stand there in place or start jumping in harness to go again, and when running they're pulling like little demons. The second time I took them out to run, the second they hit the ground out of the dogtruck they were screaming and lunging and excited because they knew what they were about to do, which is another thing I don't usually see right off the bat in puppies. I'm very pleased with this litter... and will admit I'm a tad frightened to think of the insane dog power I will have on my team next season when they're fully grown and muscled up! Seems I keep adding more boys to the team each year and I noticed a definate power difference this season. Now there will be 3 more, and Sully and Hank look like they'll be built like their daddy Odie and uncle Loki: power dogs in harness.
New pictures of the pups in harness their first day will be posted to my website soon...I promise! I have lots of photos from the season to post in fact.
In other news, Kadee is in heat right now and will be bred this week (hopefully) to NorthWapiti's Skor. Most likely via AI since she is not a willing participant in these matters, LOL! Pups will be born in mid June. FINALLY...a summer litter! Every litter I've done has been born in September or October. Will be a nice change to have one during summer months when I have way more time to spend with pups as they grow.
Well that's all the news for now. Happy mud season!
