"Running with the pack"...

On Thursday this week, I took Phoebe with me to visit Johanne. We had agreed to take out a small 6-dog team on a training run that evening. Zorro and Racer (from Hans-Christian) in the lead. Phoebe was attached to the sled with her elastic leash and left to run alongside (not pulling). It was obvious that she wanted to be in the team and she strained to go ahead - the elastic pulled her back and in a second we had run over her!!! She wasn't hit by the runners, just pushed down in the snow by the toboggan-plate. She emerged happily on the other side, no worse for wear!!! With a bit of rearranging, we kept going - she still ran happily along until her harness started to completely disintigrate! We left her to run loose and she could now approach all the dogs - frequently running in the middle of the team alongside the main towline.... A total of 15km run, fairly moderate pace run without any hickups - we stopped if we spotted anyone - I went forward to pull the dogs aside and hold them. Even at 20:30 - 22:00 in the dark evening we met 3 skiers! In January when we come back from our trip to Brasil, our "new" sled will be waiting for us!!!! I have bought a secondhand mid-distance alu-sled that weighs 14kg - with Phoebe and 3 borrowed dogs it will give us a chance to experience the pleasures of dogsledding :-) Can't wait!!

Work, rest and play....fight!?

In the week since we came back from the mountains, time has gone by so very, very fast! Come to think about it, time has gone by since Phoebe arrived in our home in July.... Here a picture of her when she was 2 months old.As you can see, we love her to bits! These last few weeks, she has been quite naughty, chewing on various items of the household - a basket full of pieces of soap; the zipper of Priscila's winter coat (ruining it!); a load of my socks; etc.... She now spends alot of time sniffing at the pee of other dogs and is very careful marking her own passage..... All her sisters in Sweden are reported to have their first period, so we are expecting it any day, now!

On the other hand, our little boy Nexus has started to "boss around" the house - the little boy is getting balls! He will be "neutered", but will be allowed to mature properly first.... Given his newfound "ballsiness", he has started to confront Phoebe! He walks straight up to her and gives her a punch on the nose!!!! Yesterday, he really bit into her and chased her around - this ended up with Phoebe trying to defend herself as best she could, giving off a panicky, wailing, "oooowww, ooowww"!!!! She was truly afraid! After I separated them, Nexus came back to confront her - Phoebe was so afraid that she turned her head away and snuck off into the corner!! POOR LITTLE GIRL!!! For those who know her, Phoebe is a happy, easy-going girl who shows little dominance. On the other hand, she likes to give a little verbal argument before giving in :-) HEHEHE - as I was writing this, there was a huuuge noisy racket going on - Nexus had been investigating a plastic bag.... Somehow the hole of the handle got trapped on him and he took off like a rocket trying to "escape it"!!! After running the length of the apartment it broke away - Nexus is now hiding under the bed...afraid that the plastic bag will try to attack him again!!! HEHEHEHE - here is a photo after the event.. Nexus wearing his "plastic bag skirt"...

Siberian Husky Club Autumn Meeting on Snow!

What a weekend! The Norwegian Siberian Husky Club had their Autumn meeting on snow last weekend.... Priscila, Phoebe and I drove up there on Friday and installed ourselves in the big cabin up on the mountain plateau (Syningen, between Gol and Hemsedal). Maybe 30 people and 200(?!) dogs were gathered to celebrate the return of winter!!! Phoebe had a new experience, sleeping on a straw bedding in her cage in the car..... During the daytime when not otherwise occupied, she was chained to the tow-hook of the car and just hanging around. In other words, she was adjusting to the typical life of the sled dog on tour! Saturday we borrowed Bardus from Johanne and teamed up the two - connected to me on X-country skis, towing Priscila behind me!! The GPS recorded a top-speed 24 km/hr - achieved running the first downhill from the cabin!!! When the two playful puppies were not otherwise occupied (read: playing in the snow like crazy), we averaged around 10-12 km/hr - NOT BAD FOR A 7 and 9 months' old Siberian dog team!
See a video of them both looking expectantly towards the "big boys" passing by in a sled-team!


Later that day, Phoebe was set in a 4-dog team pulling a wooden sled. In the beginning she didn't quite understand what was going on, but soon caught on a started seriously pulling! GOOOOOOD GIRL! The trip was far too short, but all in all we did 8.9km that day (skis+sled).
Sunday was absolutely stunning - blue skies, no wind, nice temperature (-8 deg C?). Because I had a bad back that day, we declined to borrow another dog and just went out with Phoebe... A very nice cross-country trip where we all got some more exercise - total length of 5km.
We all agreed that it had been a perfect weekend - good weather, wonderful dogs, nice people, food and wine... We have already booked space for the Winter Meeting in February :-)