Sunday, October 23, 2016

And Still More Dogs!

This time I will head down to the lower dogyard area at Slow Rush. On the east side there are two more pens with six-seven dogs apiece in them. These are all girls. Then the other side has the boys. All of these dogs are racing type huskies. Some have come from Lance Mackey stock, some from Hans Gatt, another Iditarod and Yukon Quest racer who I think bases in Canada and a few other teams. These are the main group from which Kyia will seek to put together a group of twenty or so to train intensively through the late fall and winter and try to make some of the mid-distance races which are qualifiers for the two 1000 milers.

Okay in the higher of the two girl pens, we have Piper, Lola, Didi, Amy, Lena and Reo.  Piper is black and white, a leader, and kind of got to be a pet of mine. She has a shrill, yappy bark when she wants you to notice her and holds up a front paw, usually the right, and acts like it is hurt.   Down from her is Lola, a solid black dog, and one Kyia rescued but she is a good team dog.  Below her is Didi, another black one and one of the 'crazy' bunch that runs wild circles around her post. I think she is the sister of a couple of the boys who do the same thing.  To her right is Amy. Amy is a small gray brown dog, very small for a husky and I think young as well as a runt of her litter. She is rather shy. Above her is Lena, a larger yellow dog. According to Kyia, Lena is half Golden Lab and half Husky but she loves to run and is a good team dog. Above her and on Piper's right is Reo. Reo has some kind of allergy and snuffles a lot. Her meds have been on backorder for ages and they cannot seem to get them for her. She is another black and white and a team dog.

Down the hill but adjoining on the one side is another pen. In it we have Minto, a gray-brown girl, then Abra, a black dog and Osprey, another gray and tan. To the right we find Ronnie. She is another very small dog and was getting extra feed. She is quite shy and I tried to make friends with her but only half succeeded. Coming back up in a kind of zig zag, we find black and white Heidi, who wails like a banshee when she is feeling neglected--a most hair-raising scream! Above her is black Kyia who is also a circle-er, black and white Pok who's the mom of some of the younger ones,and then another black and white, Cowgirl. Cowgirl is also good leader but loves to jump on her box and shove at you when you come to feed her. She is feisty but good in harness.

The boys are in an open space, fenced on the outside. There is a big water tank in this area and also a shed where the harness is kept. Just past the water tank we find Albert. He is black and when I first came would growl at me and look tough but I hand fed him a few times, just a dozen kibbles or so, and pretty soon he would give me 'hugs' and we'd dance, his forepaws in my hands. He was one of my pets. Off to the side we fine Combo, a tan and gray dog and also lead material. Behind him are Victor and Dillon. Vic is tan and gray and Dillon is black. They are both very active.

Down from them is Chewy. No, he is not Chewbacca--he chews things, especially the roof of his  house which is splintered around the edges. I called him the "giant stride" dog. Did you ever play on a piece of playground equipment where there were handholds hanging from a pole and you could run and swing, sometimes going way out in a big circle? Well, that is what Chewy does on his chain! He is a nut but a good team dog, lots of energy.  Below him we have Beaver, a tan and gray guy with a very deep voice when he howls, the basso of the pack. Then there are Phoenix-black; Whiskey- gray-tan; Cody- gray-tan; Connor and Jackson, more of the same. Then there is black and white Cowboy. He had the cutest way of 'dancing' with his front feet when he was waiting to be fed. His hind end was still but he'd go back and forth, barely lifting one paw at a time from the ground. I wish I had a video! It was adorable. He is also a leader and I think a sibling to Cowgirl.

That is the crew, except for the two "house dogs"--Princess is old and way past any running. She is the mother or grandmother of most of the black and white dogs. She spends most nights inside and stays on the front deck in the day. Ozzy is her son, I think, and one of Kyia's pets. He is a good active team dog still but often gets to go inside at night and sometimes has a pen to himself beside the cabin or a chain below the deck where he climbs on a pile of firewood. I think he is prone to fighting with some of the other males and doesn't get that chance.

The amazing thing if you are not used to being around a lot of animals is how unique and distinct each one is.  No two are quite the same and you learn quickly to see the quirks and traits that mark each dog and make it an individual. Some are friendly; some are aggressive or pushy; some are shy and stand-offish and some just seem to ignore everything except their personal needs. When they are taken out and put in harness, they show different facets but the inner dog is still there. The traits that make some leaders and others totally unsuited for that can sometimes be surprising. Some dogs will run well in any position and others have friends or enemies they want to be near or need to be separated from, It is a special skill to select dogs that will work well together and then hitch them in the right spot! Piper and Cowboy were the leads on the first team we took out.

Here are a few photos.
Albert on his house; water tank behind
West Lower dogyard --boys

East lower dogyard--girls



Mento, female Husky
Piper-female Husky

Ozzy on his woodpile

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