Who needs reality TV? I've got my own reality shows happening this month in my own kennel.
The first one is called "Who Wants To Be A Race Dog?" and every few weeks a dog gets voted off the island.
I started with 23 dogs in training in August split into 2 teams. The first to leave was a female in October due to an unplanned pregnancy. Down to 22.
Next to go were the 4 youngest yearlings, when I decided running two small teams was taking too much time and wanted just one big team to run. Down to 18.
Then a male got voted off the team in late October due to a chronic elbow issue which was not getting better. 17 dogs.
One of the remaining 4 yearlings started to get too tired with the longer runs so I decided he needed more time to grow up. Down to 16.
Now I've got until the snow significantly falls to narrow the team down to 14, which is the maximum I want to run on a sled (and I need 12 to race, so that gives me two spares). So two more need to get voted off the dogteam in the next 4-6 weeks.... who will it be?
Will it be the youngest yearling (Nukilik), who wasn't expected to even make it this far into the season? He's showing some amazing promise and still hanging in there, despite the fact that his brother was voted off the team weeks ago.
Will it be the female who just had puppies and is returning to the team with a 300 mile deficit compared to the rest of the team?
Or will it be the oldest female, who is struggling to keep up with the faster younger dogs?
Hmmm, tune in to our next episode of "Who Wants To Be A Racing Sleddog?" to find out! :P
Then in my basement I currently have my other reality show, "Who's Your Daddy?" It's the mystery litter. Maja turns up pregnant. She was in a dogyard with 6 intact males. I never saw the breeding (and of course didn't realize she was still in season, otherwise she wouldn't have been in there). Two pups were born, one looks exactly like Mom. The other is a very traditional looking gray & white siberian who could basically be out of any of the 6 males. I'm betting on a dog named Matsi as the dad. My best friends are betting on a dog named Sully as the dad. But could it be one of the others? Only time (and the DNA test results) will tell!
So hey, who needs reality tv, right?
Stay tuned....
