Running the Old Dogs

If you do this for long enough, you get to know a lot of dogs. They all eventually get old and we are lucky enough to know them at all stages of their lives. Many of the dogs have their best years in the later time. Their personalities are in their prime, they aren't distracted as much by being juveniles or the craziness that they go through over running when they are younger. They are still able to do almost as much running, they just are better focusing.

Our dogs get to grow up with their siblings, parents, children and grandchildren. The mother/daughter relationship and the siblings, especially brothers, seems to be the strongest. Buddy and B.B. are best friends, so were Petey and Elvis, who lived to be 15 together.

This year we had to say goodbye to Andy, who was 16. Andy was the cornerstone of our kennel. He came to us at two years old, after a very successful racing season as leader of a winning team. Andy was loved by all, especially the women, who gravitated to him. He was a great leader, thoughtful, and as cool as they get. When he was 14, he ran a thousand miles with us, never backing down or letting up. The girls in the kennel still loved him in his retirement and pestered him. Guinness, our German Shepherd always went right to him, layed down belly up, and payed his respects. Andy got to retire in the girls section, which he liked. Our two other retirees who we said goodbye to this fall were Krummekakke, 14, who was born here, and Pinto, a happy-go-lucky dog we got at 9 months old in 1997. Krummy pulled harder than any of the boys, worked hard without complaint, and had a great attitude. Pinto had his best years after 10 and was gentle and loved by children.

It never gets any easier, but we are lucky to know them. Some of the young dogs do things exactly the same as those who have passed, or sound the same, or have the same look in their eyes. There are little reminders of the old ones all around us.

Wolfsong Adventures in Mushing: The winter season is well underway now. We are ...

Wolfsong Adventures in Mushing:

The winter season is well underway now. We are ...: "The winter season is well underway now. We are going to start out trips the day after Christmas as planned. The snow has stacked up nic..."

The winter season is well underway now. We are going to start out trips the day after Christmas as planned. The snow has stacked up nicely and the conditions are great! Today we took out a nine-dog and a seven-dog team to break trail in about 5" of fresh snow. That extra power, plus the fresh snow made it like a powder run down a steep slope! There was snow flying everywhere as the dogs surged ahead. The sled just floated with all that power and the soft snow underneath. We led McMuffin with her mom Lucy as tutor. The siblings, Benny and Diablo (egg litter,) have been leading either with dad or mom lately and it was Micky's turn today. She did great as we figured she would. Last week, we did several 90-100 minute runs, so today we backed down to 40 minutes since they were working so hard in the new snow. At about this time in the run, they start burning fat, which doesn't quite provide as many calories to burn as what they start with. That means they slow down some. There was no slowing down today! When we got in, they were as fresh as when we started. Micky was very excited not having anyone in front of her. We let the other team pass a couple times for practice. When they are chasing, they double the power. I had to ride hard on the track brake to keep them from running up on the other team, who was breaking trail. It doesn't seem right to be braking so hard on what is already a lot of drag with the new snow, but that is what it takes. The "track" is a piece of snowmobile track that rides along on the ground in between the runners. When you want to slow them down a little, you stand on it, often using all your weight and skidding along. There is so much power with 9 dogs that they barely feel it and it only slows you a little bit.

The temps today were in the single digits, which further spurs on the dogs. They don't like to overheat and they say that -10 and below is the best for keeping the dogs cool. Single digits are a lot more comfortable for us, so I'll go with that. 15 mile per hour constant wind from running, plus temps near zero makes for a cool ride. Good day to test our our Wolfsong Wear.


The afternoon run with our old dogs was much slower. When I say old, I mean those that are over 12. We had a couple eleven/twelve year-olds on the first run with their grand kids and they refuse to show any age. The real old dogs like to go slower for another couple weeks. They are the equivalent of eighty year-olds, so they need a little more time to train before they like to go very fast. They are also very well behaved, so they get to go exploring, breaking trail, and stopping a lot while we clear trees and branches from the trail. Last week, they even got to navigate us across a beaver dam as we went wandering into some new country. I think we will keep that trail a secret. Today, we opened up one of our trails up near Pratt's Peak. There was about 16" of snow on the ground, which is hard to walk through, let alone pull a sled. Luckily for us, they love pulling. This is exactly what these older dogs like to do at this time of year. I tried running ahead of them for a hundred yards, then walking, then they passed me and I flopped down on the sled again to rest. After about two hours, they returned us home. They didn't even seem winded. All the dogs were wild this evening in the kennel and were as fresh as if they had been resting all day. When the chores were done, I stumbled in to the house and fell asleep in front of the wood stove with the cats. I remember that every December is like this and that eventually I will get in shape, too. For now, I am glad they aren't tired. Maybe some of it will rub off on me.
John

Wolfsong Adventures in Mushing: Running dog sleds on snow

Wolfsong Adventures in Mushing: Running dog sleds on snow: "Aggie waits patiently. She is one of our many twelve-year-olds who are in great shape this season. Aggie is an amazing athlete and has sur..."

Running dog sleds on snow

Aggie waits patiently. She is one of our many twelve-year-olds who are in great shape this season. Aggie is an amazing athlete and has surpassed many of the younger dogs this season, even though 12 years is equivalent to a person in their seventies! Go Aggie! She saves her enthusiasm for the run and doesn't fuss like here brother, Boulder. In the kennel, she is next to her daughter, Cindy Lou, and near her grand puppies, Diablo, Benny and Mickey (McMuffin.) She and Cindy Lou play a lot. Our dogs are lucky they can live with their family group all their lives. Most siblings and mother/daughters get along great and like to run together.

We have now done our 5th run with sleds on snow this year. That is a record for before Thanksgiving. I think we are up to 28 runs total, counting ATV training, since September, so the dogs are looking really good!

We have had 20" of snow so far and there is a good base on the trails. It varies a lot as we go further inland from our Lake Superior snow machine. Down by the Lake there is hardly any snow, but just 5 miles inland, it is well over a foot on the ground now. We have about a foot on the ground here as it settles a lot. If it keeps up, maybe we could start early!

Slow runs are good for old dogs!

We have run 23 times so far this year and only twice have we averaged over 5-6 miles per hour on our runs with the ATV. There are about a dozen dogs that we are training that are over 12 years old! The long, slow runs develop muscle and protect the dogs when we go faster on sleds. The old ones get in shape slower than young dogs and this gives them time to get caught up with the younger dogs.

The slow speed also keeps the dogs from getting to warm when the temp is over 40, which it often is early on. The last couple runs were a bit faster, with short sections where we let off the brakes for short sections to let the 18 dogs get the ATV up to about 12 mph. That gets fast over the bumps and curves on the woods trails. We have to hang on tight!

The old dogs look great, as does everyone else.

Snow is in the forecast, so we are hoping to put the ATVs away soon and switch to sleds. After dragging an ATV with both brakes on almost constantly all fall, they have learned to pull very hard, so the sledding will be a little hard to control at first. Next entry will be full of snow!

Boulder Boy

Boulder Boy

Boulder is one of our 12 year-olds. He acts more like a 12-year-old boy than a 12 year-old dog. His enthusiasm for life is still unbelievable. In the winter, he rolls in the snow every time we stop. He used to do a barrel roll at speed when he was younger, dragging along in the snow on purpose, but has wised up enough to wait until we take a break before he rolls in the snow. It is like clockwork, though. Stop the team, Boulder rolls, go again. Luckily, he doesn’t like to roll in the mud! He gets the whole team in the mood for a run before we hook him up.

Ready,

Set,


Jump...


and SCREAM!

Then, cooling his feet in the water after a drink

about a half hour into the run.

Boulder just loves to run. His sister, Aggie, runs faster and outperforms him, yet doesn’t make a fuss.

With 20 runs in this season, they are both in great shape again. Run, eat, sleep. What a life for an old dog. When we hook them up together, she just looks at him screaming to go and says, “I can’t believe he is my brother” Then she smokes him on the trail. Tail down, running hard the whole time. Aggie has a song, “Aggie likes to move it, move it.” She has always been calm most of the time, then runs with wild abandon. Now she is a granny and gets to run with daughter Cindy Lou Who and grandpuppies (the Egg litter) She is so proud!

When Boulder gets home, it is into his house for about 23 hours to rest, until he gets to run again. Don’t waste any energy when you are old! Aggie just hangs out with Cindy Lou in the kennel like it was no big deal. Such great dogs!

Young Dogs

The "egg litter": Benny, Diablo and McMuffin.

Fall is a good time to let the young dogs lead. With two of us on the ATV, one can get off and switch dogs around if they don’t want to stay up at lead. This group of “puppies” is 2 ½ years old now and ran the full season last year. We tried them one at a time last year at lead for a little while on the way home. That way, all they have to think about is going home, not how far we are going. They all passed the initial test well, so we are hopeful. Most kennels have a few leaders in the group. We have been lucky in our last several litters and over half of our dogs lead.

A little responsibility at a time and if they don’t love it, we put them back in the team for a few more months. The position of their tail and ears tell us how they are feeling. This group of pups (2 ½ year-olds) each got a chance this fall to co-lead along with their mom or dad. Ears back, tail down , focused on the trail ahead. Just what we like to see. How about a turkey thrown in for something to chase! Those wild turkeys can run fast and fly easily when they have 18 dogs on their trail. Lucky for them, the brakes work pretty well with two of us on the ATV.

Fall Training

How can they still be so fresh? After 90 minutes of dragging the ATV and me through mud, grass, stumps, rocks and puddles so deep I have to lift my feet up to stay dry, I can’t get them to rest for more than a moment. With bungee cords, I can lock both the front and back brakes while I jump off to clear logs off the trail. But when they decide to go again, all eighteen of them, the locked wheels barely slow them down. At least they leave good skid tracks in the leaves! That makes for a good laugh when we train the other team. This time, the ATV hit a small tree and stopped long enough for me to catch up before pushing the tree over. This is our seventeenth run of the year.

Ruby at the ready

The frost was thick this morning as we ran down the trail. The ice on the puddles was about a half inch thick and they were breaking through as they went. The dogs that don’t like water are able to jump around the puddles and look pretty silly when the right hand dog goes right and the left had dog of the pair goes left and they both end up with wet paws. After a couple puddles, they go right through them and forget all about not liking water. The puddles are great for giving them some water to drink.

Howling, barking and carrying on is at its height during fall training. By mid-winter, they are more focused and save their energy for the trail. But now, they are just nuts! It is infectious and fun for us, too. If they didn’t want to go so bad, I might sleep in.

muddy-faced Sassy