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..."