FUJI

She is a small female that turned 3 this summer. She is nice and good leader. But shy. This was a real problem when she was younger as she refuse to pass or head on pass teams that she didn't know... she came with me in Oregon and Wyoming in 2005 and did OK. Last winter she didn't race at all but was leading every training run here.

This summer I decided to spay her, since I will never breed her due to the fact that she is shy, has blue eyes and a little short on speed for Stage races. Anyhow she is a nice leader and this season is imporving a lot on commands and getting over her "shyness" problem. She  works very good for me and Jacques but sometimes if a handler take her as a leader and start to loose his/her calm if problem then Fuji can really screw things up even more. But with Jacques or me she is NO PROBLEMS...

I still have a serious problem with her when I meet loose dogs that are "agressif" she just would no go she is scared.... but I have hope to not meet those loose not nice dogs too often...

She may run distance races this winter. She eats like crazy and very endurant, She doesn't like the 14/15mph constant speed....

She is a nice leader and will never leave our kennel as we rely on her a lot for training.

Thursday, October 19, 2006 3:39:40 PM (Alaskan Standard Time, UTC-09:00)     

TOPAZ

He is an other male on the 2 years old groups we have on training. He is very high attitude and loves to JUMP high when he is on the line.

He is a nice dog. All the litter is very nice and easy to train.

His mom is our main leader JEWEL and his dad a recently retired leader SMALLET. He is like his dad very easy to train and willing to please. But like is mom Crazy and goofy at times.

Last winter he was doing great until he got hurt on his wrist when we were doing 45 miles runs. So we hope this winter he will calm down a little and learn to pace himself on longer distance and then will make it to the race team.

He is a medium size male and will be about 50 pounds by the middle of the winter I would guess. He is a  nice dog to work with.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006 6:41:03 PM (Alaskan Standard Time, UTC-09:00)     

We build a larger female in heat Pen. Until now we had 3 fully secure area (fenced around, above and plateform bottom) for females in heat.

Since it seems our female decide to be all in heat at the same time we fenced in 6 plateform spots. So now we have 9 secure pen.

This is nice since we like to turn the dog loose before and after the run; before it was a problems when more than 3 females were in heat!!!

The new dog houses are in use !

 Denver and his new dog house

 Pyramid and her new dog House.

Lets see how long the dog houses don't get chewed !!!

Sunday, October 15, 2006 8:20:57 PM (Alaskan Standard Time, UTC-09:00)     

An Iditarod veteran now lives in Africa

We just heard about one of the few French Mushers who has run the Iditarod, André MONNIER. He finished in 1987 with a team of Siberian Huskies. Well, he lives now in Mauritania (a country in the western Sahara Desert), is married with a local native and raises camels in the desert. Even there, it looks like he cannot live without dogs. Here are a couple of pictures of him, one of his daughters, camels and dog. We wish him well.

Saturday, October 14, 2006 4:31:25 PM (Alaskan Standard Time, UTC-09:00)     

WIND

He is just a 2 years old male. He is out of Janet of our Stage race Leader and Niki, one of our older dog who is directly out of Gareth Wright REX.

Wind is very crazy and noisy. We were considering selling him because he is just too crazy and work too hard. But he is a very nice personality dog and does the job on the line so we decided to hang on to him for this season and see.

If he doesn’t get hurt by working too hard we are sure to be able to train him as a leader.

He will be a great STAGE RACE dog….

Friday, October 13, 2006 6:29:43 PM (Alaskan Standard Time, UTC-09:00)     

My shipment of 2 sleds from Antipode France, should be arriving within a week.

I will have for sale a 5ft Mid Distance sled, the one Jacques, Ken, Gwen and I use last winter on the stage races.

I will also have the BRAND NEW SPRINT SLED called: SQUALL

I saw it last year but never tried it yet....

here's some action photos:

For more info visit the Antipode sleds USA web site

Friday, October 13, 2006 12:18:17 PM (Alaskan Standard Time, UTC-09:00)     

ALF

He turned 4 years old this summer he is the brother of Shrek and Scooby. He is a nice quiet dog, not crazy when not on harness and he is a fairly good size: about 60 pounds. He has a nice fur and good feet.

Since this fall I started to put him in lead and he is doing a great Job.

Last year he raced all main races with Jacques.

His name come for the old TV show Alf, who was a fury alien who wanted to eat the cat from his Human host family. Very funny show.

There is nothing much to say about him he is just a nice quiet dog in the yard and an OUTSTANDING working dog. He just does his job and you don’t even notice him he pulls all the time and rest when he need too at camp and always eat and drink, no much just a PERFECT dog….

Thursday, October 12, 2006 6:24:10 PM (Alaskan Standard Time, UTC-09:00)     

I just visit the Wyoming race web site and the 2007 schedule has been posted

http://www.wyomingstagestop.org/schedule.htm

It seems like we don't have an overnight this year but a long stage with a "stop" at Bulcher creek. I never been to Bulcher creek, Jacques already told me there is a serious Uphill to Sioux Pass....

Look foward to be in Beautiful Wyoming.

Thursday, October 12, 2006 12:09:53 PM (Alaskan Standard Time, UTC-09:00)     

Hello,

More bad news, on Oct 8th Jacques took the team lead by Memphis and Jenny for our regular 12 miles run. Shortly before the "due" time of the team Memphis arrived alone in harness in the kennel I went to her and she was on "3" legs.

She seemed hurt on her  rear left leg. Jacques came back and told me she way all fine until 1/4 mile from the kennel when he realize she was limping so he turn her loose.

As of today we can't see when is the problem, we check muscles, toes, pads etc... NOTHING and she will not tell us where she is hurt. So she is out .....

I figure this is may be a  muscle problem due to the fact she pulls like a maniac... she must has pull something inside when she went through the swamp and tusseks, but she is so tough she will not show us where she is hurt. She is on 3 weeks off... she started to put light weight on her rear leg yesterday....

I am very upset... And of course she got hurt when I was not training her and she is MY MAIN LEADER.... hrrr...

Keep all finger (Toes also) crossed so she heal up good and that I can run her in a month or so...

Wednesday, October 11, 2006 1:00:19 PM (Alaskan Standard Time, UTC-09:00)     

OK we are having a very strange fall this year. For sure warm, we had some day of frost earlier and recently very warm....

Yesterday Super warm 56f (+13°C) at 6:30am so we decided to not train and guess what this morning 28°f (-2°C)... STRANGE STRANGE STRANGE

I like cooler for sure..., 28f is still above normal for us but I take this instead of 56f anytime....

At least the warm weather yesterday gave me time to finish painting the 8 dog houses left... I will bring them inside to do the Stencil paint and if it freezes for couple more days we will install them in the kennel very soon.

The dogs are going to be happy this morning.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006 5:58:00 AM (Alaskan Standard Time, UTC-09:00)     

The pyramid of Zoser in Saqqara is getting damaged by the vibration made by the bus waiting for tourist which stay in Idle (for the air conditionning).

The Pyramid was build in the 27th century BC and it is about 60ft high.

Here's a link to the article

Saqqara Pyramid reveal Crack

Tuesday, October 10, 2006 1:24:21 PM (Alaskan Standard Time, UTC-09:00)     

Egypt

She is a small 35/37 pounds female white with blue eyes and good husky coat.

She just turn 3 years old this summer.

Her nickname is “mouick blanc” which in English “white Mouick”, Mouick is how I call the puppies when they scream/Cry all the time for attention… so you get he idea she is always TALKING for attention and love….

Her sister Pyramid is the “grey Mouick” and Simbel the “Black Mouick”….

Her mom is Memphis and her dad Runner.

She is not a very hard worker, but she is steady and very very good on long distance! On stage races I can use her everyday…. She is small so doesn’t get affected by the warm temperature like the bigger dogs.

She has excellent feet like the rest of the litter…

She is no very friendly with the other dogs, but she LOVES Shrek !!!!

But like her mom she got a mind of her own and she is really attached to me (us).

She finished Iditarod last march and she was tired when she got to Nome… but when she saw me walking down the team she started to wag her tail and started to “Mouick” !!!! She was happy to see her “Human mom” again. On races beside Iditarod she runs with me, it is like Memphis I keep them with me ALWAYS except for Iditarod when I know Jacques need them.

Saturday, October 07, 2006 6:28:11 PM (Alaskan Standard Time, UTC-09:00)     

Hello

One of this fall projects that has to be finished before the snow comes, is DOG HOUSES.

We Purchased plywood to make 12 new dog houses.

We use ½ inch plywood for the walls and floor and 5/8 plywood for the roof.

The house size is : 2ft high X 32inch wide  X 23 inch deep.

The roof is overhanging 1 inch in the front.

Then I paInt them with Deck/fence water based Paint from Behr, which is pricy but very good quality and last long.

Of course they are RED!!!!

I do 2 coats of paint and then for the fun I do some Stencils in the front!

Friday, October 06, 2006 11:56:27 AM (Alaskan Standard Time, UTC-09:00)     

We order 4 tons of dog food for this fall, so here's what so far 2 tons of Energy 4800 look like:

We use over one ton of dog food per month... so this will not last too long. This dog food is so good that we don't feed meat at all.

Thursday, October 05, 2006 11:40:53 AM (Alaskan Standard Time, UTC-09:00)     

Here's some photos of Topaz once he is on harness, to see larger version please click on the photo:

He is for sure Happy to go ! Etna next to him is wondering what the "fuzz" is all about... She is older so she knows what is up for the next months...

Wednesday, October 04, 2006 3:15:45 PM (Alaskan Standard Time, UTC-09:00)