Every year in July I start thinking about the season ahead; planning and buying gear, chatting with the twins about race plans and how we think our teams will do this season and training plans. But this year I've been doing all that planning and chatting for 3 months already, and instead I'm looking at trying to start training a few weeks earlier than usual - as early as 2 weeks from now if I can manage it. Of course, it's all dependant on Mother Nature. But this has been a cooler-than-normal summer and with any luck it will stay that way.
So it's that's time of year again! Time to slap a coat of paint on the dogtruck, repair lines, drag out the harnesses, tune up the ATV. The nights are going to start to get cooler and cooler, and then before you know it I'll be loading those dogs up in the truck and heading out for our first official training run of the season... GAWD I love the end of summer and the beginning of fall!!!!
Meanwhile, Kadee's puppies turn 7 weeks old today and these guys are absolutely adorable! Smart as can be too. And I've got another litter on the way (hopefully) - I leased NorthWapiti's Myst at Kelim from Kelim Siberians to breed to Anthem. That litter is due the 2nd week of September. Somehow I went from planning to raise 2 or 3 puppies this year to now planning on raising 6...somebody shoot me cuz I must be insane! :-)
Hopefully the new pups will be easier to raise than McKinley's kids have been though. Can't wait to see what those 4 wild McKinley kids do in harness, because they're just so incredibly full of energy in the yard that they're always getting into trouble and destroying things. I've given up trying to keep up with filling in the holes they dig - it's a pointless venture! Quinn's actually working on an inground swimming pool in his yard, from the looks of it. :P
McKinley and Nakita have been working on finishing their Working Pack Dog degrees this summer (with my help, of course!). Thanks to the cooler temps I've been able to get out hiking with them more than usual. McKinley only needs one 10 mile hike to finish, and Nakita needs only 15 miles to finish. But my smacking my foot into the coffee table and spraining/breaking a toe 2 nights ago (not sure whether it's sprained or broken, but does it really matter?) isn't going to help their cause, haha! Looks like future hikes will have to wait a few weeks until I stop limping around...
I guess that's all of the news for this month. Stay tuned!
