Iditarod Musher Eric Rogers - R North Bound Dogs

IDITAROD 37
March 7th, 2009

::: Part of the Team, Part of the History, Part of the Greatness ::::

DIRECTORY

DOGS FOR SALE

AUDIO ARCHIVES

ABOUT THE MUSHER

ABOUT OUR
KENNEL

RACE
SCHEDULE
& HISTORY

OUR 2008 DOG
SPONSORS

"ROSEMARY"
Sponsored by
Rosemary Dunn

"DiJon"
Sponsored by
Mary & Irving Horowitz

"ROM"
Sponsored by

"JEWELS"
Sponsored by

"DUKAT"
Sponsored by

"BASIL"
Sponsored by
Dale & Patricia Keefe

"DASH"
Sponsored by
Barbara &
Jerry Lake

"SISCO"
Sponsored by
Kathy and Terry Weaver

"KEIKO"
Sponsored by

The Journey Continues
August 8, 2007

“We didn't lose the game; we just ran out of time.” – Vince Lombardi
I don’t know if you have been following Barbara and Jerry Lake’s Alaskan odyssey (http://www.bjlake.org/), but in mid-July they stopped by to visit the kennel and see “their dog” , Dash. We don’t get many visitors to the kennel and most of the dogs are pretty excited to see company, even if they are shy enough they would rather admire you from a distance. Dash was so upset she hid deep in her dog house. I had to have Barbara and Jerry stand outside the dog lot and watch to show them that Dash really is a neat little dog. Bonnie read the story about Thyme carrying a rock around in her mouth when I went out to feed and thought she would like a ball (about 4 inch diameter) to play with. Well balls roll a lot further than rocks and it became a routine to see where the ball was every time I went into the lot. Picard loves to own the ball and occasionally chew on it. But Dash thought it was the greatest toy she had ever seen. She digs at it with her feet and it spins around and runs off. Off she goes to chase it. Dash really has a lot of personality and I love to work with her – finally I got her to show off a little. Silly dog!

At the end of July Mary (Curtis) and Irving Horowitz came by on their tour of Alaska. Mary sponsors Dijon, Dash’s brother. Never could siblings be more different. Dijon is a big driven galoot that nothing seems to bother. He is almost too friendly, jumping up to mark one and all with his good dog “seal of approval”. At nearly 60 lbs he can easily knock you over if you aren’t ready. He figures if anyone is in the lot they should be paying attention to him. Of course he is such a great leader that I do encourage it, but I have to get him to calm down before I can take him out in polite company. The good news is that now that he is three he is starting to listen to me more. But just like going into McGrath, if I want to travel with him it is my responsibility to keep up. He will not wait for me. At hookup he slams his harness constantly trying to get things moving. If I can keep him healthy (he has low thyroid problems and is on supplements) he could replace Bass as my “go to leader”.

Bass being groomed for his personal appearance
(Eric and Bonnie Foster – photo by Jim Foster)

We had our 2nd annual fund raiser at Trish and Dale Keefe’s home Saturday the 4th. It rained all day, but Trish and Dale have a large garage they emptied. Between that and the covered back porch there was plenty of room out of the rain. I had planned to take Bass, Lycos, Throttle, and Basil (Trish’s dog) to see how Bass, Lycos, and Throttle reacted to the crowd. Rosemary begged to come along and I have a soft spot for her (alright I have a soft spot for all of them ? ). I let her loose to run to the truck and the little minx ran off down the street. I’d let Lycos loose also and he thought Rosemary had such a good idea he ran across the street to the neighbor who doesn’t like loose dogs in his yard. I chased Lycos and caught him before anyone objected, fired up the truck and chased after Rosemary. I guess she saw me and chased after the truck because I went to turn around to check another street and there she was running my way. It took a little convincing, but she came back and all was well that ended well.

Bass getting his first bath at age 10. The things we go through for our
admiring public. (Bonnie Foster and Eric - photo by Jim Foster)

Those of you who missed the fund raiser probably missed one of the best $10 meals in the state. Trish and Dale went all out. They had the mandatory hamburgers, reindeer sausage, ribs, potato salad, great macaroni salad, smoked salmon fettuccini that was to die for, corn on the cob, three kinds of cookies, cheesecake, and other deserts. I ran the dogs Sunday and they complained the 4-wheeler had gained 20 lbs!
My first paying gig is tonight and I’m bringing a dog with me – actually I’ll have Bass, Lycos, and Throttle and rotate them as necessary if they get overwhelmed by the noise and crowd. Now I’m an Alaskan musher and these are Alaskan sled dogs. My father told me that I should take a bath once in the summer and not quite that often in the winter. I always figured that sled dogs didn’t need to bathe as much as people, but now we are going out in polite company. Bass is 10 and this was probably the first bath in his life. Bonnie took pity on my well and invited me up to her house. We figured Throttle was the easiest going and started with her. Poor girl was not at all sure she liked the procedure. Bass pretty much acted like having his servants groom him for his public appearance was the least a great lead dog could expect. Once Bonnie explained that all the girls would swoon over the coconut conditioner in his coat he couldn’t get enough ?

Leslie demonstrating the skills a handler needs to run dogs in the
Alaskan rain season. You’ve got to love these guys that come out in
any weather to help me run dogs. (photo by Bonnie Foster)

The first race of the year is the Sheep Mountain 150 the weekend before Christmas. I’ve run that race three times, and my team has been under conditioned all three times. Last year the team’s performance took a major step up in mid-January after about 2000 miles of training. So this year I’d like that to occur more like mid-December. To accomplish that goal we started training August 1st on a two on, one off schedule (before this I ran 4 days a week). It’s too hot during the day (or evening) to run, so we are getting up between 5 and 6 AM (depending on the weather) to have the dogs on the trail by 7 or 8. We started with 3 mile runs with rests and should move up to 5 mile runs next week. The dogs are looking great! Part of that may be that my youngest dog is three. Having all that experience behind them sure doesn’t hurt. I’d like to get two more 2 yr olds and one experienced storm / costal leader to round out the 13 dogs currently making the team. I’d like to get more but at some point the ideal world must bow to the budget.

When I get back after a run I turn most of the dogs loose at the truck (a few at a time) to run back to the dog lot and be hooked up. Obviously Rosemary and Dijon are not on the “loose dog” list. Sisco doesn’t run off, but he figures exploring the smells in the back yard take precedence to my calling him to the lot, so I lead him back also. Picard is the real character. When I turn him loose to load in the truck he runs over and jumps into his box, sometimes patiently waiting several minutes before I get the other dogs taken care of and shut his door. When I turn him loose to run back to his house, he runs up on the deck and sits looking at the back door. If I call him he’ll walk to the edge of the deck and look at me, then go back to see if Java left anything to eat and stand by the back door waiting patiently. Hope springs eternal. Picard was raised in the house until he was 7 months old, and now at 7 years he still remembers the good ole days. One evening soon I’ll have to reward him with some special “house time”.

Keep ‘em Northbound
Eric
© 2007 All rights reserved

OUR 2008 RACE
SPONSORS

8025 Schoon Street
Anchorage, AK 99518

Northern Restaurant
Group, LLC
Dale & Patricia Keefe

DAILY'S WEB DESIGN

Mary E Curtis

Knights of Columbus

Have you ever wanted to be part of the Iditarod adventure but didn't
know how? Help support Eric Rogers Iditarod team by joining the
2006-2007 season Rogers Rangers. Just $30 buys you a bootie worn by the
team, a 2005-2006 Rookie season musher card, and a signed certificate of
membership. All funds go to support Eric's 2007 Iditarod. For your
convenience we now take credit cards through PayPal. All donations
gratefully accepted.

Thank you for your support.

SPONSOR INFO

OUR 2008 DOG
SPONSORS