| The
Journey Continues
September 28, 2007
“If we learn from our mistakes, I must be a well educated
man.” – Eric Rogers
For those of you that have been following
the team, let me re-cap what is happening with the dogs. Of the
16 dogs I started with last year, Keiko really wasn’t up to
running with the faster team and I had to drop her in Skwentna.
She is cart training with us, but is looking for a slower team where
she doesn’t have to race. Balu mildly frostbit his penis sheath
during both of the last two years and I won’t ask him to do
that again. He is now living the good life with Leslie Gillis. Bass
is mostly retired here. He really wants to run with the team, so
I’ll let him as long as he enjoys it. If he starts having
trouble keeping up with the younger dogs I will lay him off until
next fall. I don’t intend to ask him to race again. He is
10 and has done his share for the kennel. That leaves me with 13
dogs from last year’s team: Platinum, Dijon, Basil, Dukat,
Sisco, Lycos, Mocha, Dash, Picard, Rosemary, Throttle, Jewels, and
Thyme.
In August I added Blaze from Gerry Willowmitzer’s kennel in
Whitehorse. She is a neat little girl, kind of quiet, but very professional
and dedicated to me. Gerry hadn’t started fall training yet
and we had, so she started behind the power curve, but caught up
quickly. She is a leader with 3 quests (finishing two of them) and
1 Iditarod under her belt. She finally caught up with the team in
conditioning enough that I put her in lead and she is a crackerjack
gee/haw leader, taking commands like she was on rails. Blaze brings
me up to 14 dogs, still a little shy.
I saw Lance Mackey had dogs for sale. Dogs from the reigning Iditarod
champion’s kennel are never cheap. Add to that the only kennel
to win the Quest and Iditarod in the same year… But phone
calls are cheap. Lance had a dozen dogs for sale, very reasonably
priced. A couple of three yr olds (one male), and the rest yearlings.
Two weeks ago I drove the 350 miles (one way) to Fairbanks. Walking
into Lance Mackey’s kennel was like walking into a candy store.
I wasn’t going to buy yearlings because they just don’t
have the maturity to race. They are still babies, mentally and physically.
They can travel the trail as a learning experience (puppy team),
but not for real. Or at least that is what I had always heard. Lance
explained that he had a yearling on last year’s team –
but he didn’t finish. Lance dropped him at White Mountain
because he wasn’t having fun. Dang! So I have a lot to learn.
But who? I was faced with at least 10 well built, active, playful
dogs with personalities – characters each and every one –
dogs that love being sled dogs - exactly the kind of dog I love.
Frodo (Icon)
from Lance Mackey's kennel. This well built dog
just screams personality and talent, but he will take
a lot of tender loving care to realize his potential.
Frodo is a Zorro pup. |
The first dog I had to have was Frodo
(I have renamed all the dogs I got from Lance – we have a different
sense of humor and philosophy about dogs names. This dog was originally
named Icon). Frodo looked like a death camp survivor, but was all
character. He had swallowed a piece of harness and not eaten for 5
days. He almost died. Lance likes his dogs a little thin going into
fall training to reduce injuries and Frodo went down from there. Lance
also told me that he didn’t have very many runs in his whole
life – maybe as few as 5 hookups and that this dog would take
a lot of extra work. No mind, I had to have him. Little did I know.
Strider (was
Outcast). This smooth trotting, long legged
gallot is a real powerhouse. He is a March 2006 pup, so the
oldest yearling I bought. He is also mentally tough
(hard headed) and adapted best to the new kennel. |
Next to Frodo was Strider (who was named
Outcast – that started the name changes). This big guy was 18
months and would be almost 2 at the start of the Iditarod. I had driven
to Lance’s kennel to check out him and another 18 month old.
He is a strong, smooth trotting dog that loves to lope. Where Frodo
was bouncing around trying to play, Strider lay quietly until you
walked past, then he was up looking for attention. I thought a lot
about him because he didn’t stand out in that environment, almost
passing him over for another dog. But Lance said the only reason he
was selling Strider was that Strider still had his dew claws. Lance
was away when Strider was born and his handlers didn’t know
to remove them.
Strider reclining
regally in his box on the
dog truck after a hard days run. |
Strider is a funny dog. He hasn’t
learned to pace himself yet, going all out at the start of the run
like he is going to pull me to Nome all by himself. Then he gets tired,
but is hard headed enough he won’t quit, he just slows down
and trots in place until he rests enough to go again. He is very determined
and well aware that I am not Lance. He spent the first three nights
in the kennel telling me, and anyone else who would listen, all about
it. He also wound up sleeping in a crate in the garage so the neighbors
could get some sleep, even if I couldn’t. I tried to explain
how good dogs were quiet and slept at night, but he would have none
of it. Strider and I have had several long talks since where I assured
him that I would take care of him if only he would be my dog. Finally
Strider brought up the key issue – would I promise to feed him.
I said yes and we have been friends ever since, although he doesn’t
hesitate to tell me when I should do things differently.
I wasn’t going to get more than two dogs, and I sure wasn’t
going to get any more females, but Ginger (who was named Sweet) caught
my eye. She reminded me of Mocha, Rosemary, and Thyme as yearlings.
I’ve said all along that if I could find more dogs like that
I would buy them, and so I did.
Ginger is very light on her feet, poetry-in-motion. I was looking
for a new name for her and Marti said the little girl just dances
as she moves. She suggested dancer – close but no cigar. Have
you figured it out yet? Does the name Fred ring any bells? Ginger
Rogers it is!
Ginger (who was
named Sweet). She was an outgoing playful
girl in Lance's kennel, but isn't convinced I’m going
to
take care of her yet. She is also suffering
raging hormones currently. |
Ginger is taking much longer to adapt
to my kennel than Strider did. She joined him complaining about the
injustice of it all, but where he quit after three days, she still
has her moments. In Lance’s kennel she had friends nearby, but
the poor girl came into heat shortly after arriving and I can’t
let he play with Strider and Frodo. She doesn’t know my dogs,
and doesn’t trust them anyway, so this poor little girl is an
unhappy wallflower in the heat pen.
In the team it is another matter. When I hooking up she sometimes
lies submissively on the ground, but as soon as we start to go she
is up and pulling with abandon. This little girl really wants to run
and given time and patience (and a good set of earplugs) the rest
will follow.
Frodo has been much more of a challenge than I ever expected. I believe
that he is a very smart dog who probably thinks too much (we have
a lot in common ;-). I got the three dogs home late Saturday night,
gave everyone Sunday off, and Monday the 17th we went for a run. I
had to move Ginger next to Picard, my oldest, steadiest dog so she
wouldn’t cower while I hooked up. On the command to hike Ginger
and Strider took off like this was what life was all about, but Frodo
was terrified. He drug back on the neckline like I was leading him
to his execution. He kept looking back in fear. He was one dog up
from wheel, so I moved him back to wheel thinking he was afraid of
the strange dogs chasing him. No better. I moved him three up from
wheel to get away from the 4-wheeler. No better. I swapped running
mates. No better. I finally took him out of the team and tied him
behind the 4-wheeler. He trotted beside me, but didn’t look
comfortable doing it. I cut the run short.
When I got home I called Lance, who was appalled. He said that if
he had any idea Frodo would act like that he never would have sold
him. I needed to decide what to do and he would make it right. Either
exchange for another dog or a refund. I never doubted Lance, but had
hoped he had some insight I could use to turn Frodo around. All week
I agonized over the decision. Every time I asked Frodo to run with
the team he tried to avoid it. I started running two teams so he could
watch the first team have fun running and want to go in the second.
No luck. I tied him to the truck to watch. No change. I left him in
the dog box on the truck. No Change. Thursday I put him back in the
team and tried to run, but he was pulling back on the neckline again.
I tied him to a tree and left him there to pick up on the way back
and he still didn’t care.
I knew Frodo had the potential
to be an exceptional dog, I had seen it at Lance’s kennel. But
it was going to take time to bring it out. This is one of the things
I do well, but I didn’t have time. My team was running 15 miles
when I drove up to Lance’s. He had just started training Sept
1st and his guys were running 5 miles and ready to step up to 10.
I dropped the team back to 10’s to accommodate the new dogs,
but needed to get back to 15’s and then 20’s or I was
throwing away all the hard work I had done in August. Frodo had the
least runs (because of the swallowed harness) and needed the most
help (time) to get into shape. Now what!?!
Frodo was starting to come up to me for affection in the kennel and
I really liked the little male offspring of a female dog, but I wasn’t
willing to throw away my whole training program and goals for the
year just for him. I could keep him and not run him, but the yearling
year is key in a sled dog’s development. I had pretty much decided
I had to send him back, and it was tearing me apart. I don’t
quit or back away from a challenge. There had to be another way.
There was. The issue was how to bring Frodo into shape when he can
only run 5 to 10 miles and my team is running 15 to 20. I sometimes
carry a crate on the back of the 4-wheeler. If I let Frodo ride for
the beginning of the run and put him in for the end it will work.
I hadn’t seen this guy even be willing to run with the team,
let alone pull, but decided to take a chance and keep him. It was
like a cloud lifted.
Friday the 21st was no better than before. I carried Frodo in the
crate, stopping three times to ask him to run with the team. All three
times he refused. Monday started the same. The first three times Frodo
looked horrified whenever I put him in the team. Finally I stopped
the team about 100 feet from the end. The truck was in plain view.
The truck where he got fed! That turned the corner – he pulled
hard to the truck and I praised him like he had cured cancer. Then
I fed him. Tuesday I put him in the team about a mile out. He wasn’t
sure, but the further we went the happier he got. Thursday I put him
in the team with 10 miles to go and started to see the dog I bought
from Lance. He is as smooth as silk. He still has a long way to go
before he really trusts me, but we turned the corner and he is a keeper.
Good thing to because he chewed (ruined) a brand new $20 gangline
section after the run because I didn’t feed him fast enough.
;-)
Keep Dukat in your prayers. Tuesday the 18th he slipped and fell three
times during the run. The mud is pretty slick, but this is unusual
for Dukat. Then in the kennel he had an episode that looked a lot
like a seizure. I rushed him to the vet, but we could find nothing
wrong. Blood work came back normal. On Friday he had two more episodes.
The first vet wanted to put him on Phenobarbital, which would end
his racing career. Dukat is only 5, so I got a second opinion. Susan
Whiton said it could be hypoglycemia, try feeding him twice a day
and an hour before he runs – and watch him. He looked much better
over the weekend, but slipped trying to run Monday (I left him right
then). He was looking very good, but had another episode last night
after dinner. It seems to affect the hindquarters more than the front
and the head control seems ok. Time will tell and prayers will be
appreciated.
Dijon has lost an entire toenail of his right front foot. I’m
not sure when or how. He walks on it, but favors it when sitting or
standing. I’ll give him four more days to heal and see how he
is. He is my best dog, if I can keep him healthy.
Keep ‘em Northbound
Eric
© 2007 All rights reserved
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