4 week old pups

Lucky’s pups are 4 weeks old now, furry little huskies.  Socialization continues for all the pups in the video clip.

done

Full load of wood

Here’s a full load of wood.  The dogs pulled this easily with the exception of one steep hill leading up to and across the road.  The dogs almost got it up and over, but couldn’t quite do it.  I threw a couple logs off the top, the dogs pulled, the sled crested the hill and crossed the road.  Then I stopped to reload the top logs.  You’re never stuck with dogs.  Sometimes you have to lighten the load, but you’re never truly stuck.  When a snow machine stops on a hill or sinks into soft snow, you’re in big trouble.  You can unload all the cargo, but the machine will still be stuck.  You never have that problem with dogs.

done

Wood

I’ve come to appreciate wood since moving to our house on Waskey Road.  Not because it’s holding up the metal roofing keeping the rain off our heads.  Because it keeps us warm.  A wood stove heats our house.  That’s it.  If the fire ain’t burnin’, we’re freezin’.  Not only does it heat our home, it cooks the dog food (see post on “Dog pot”), and heats our maqi where we wash.  We go through it quickly, we always need more of it, and I’m always looking for it.

We’re not trying to make a social statement about fossil fuel consumption (are trees considered renewable energy?), or carving out an independent life like our ancestors did.  It’s just that it’s all we got right now.  This house is a work in progress.  Building in stages is very common up here.  The well, septic, and central heating will come in time.  Until then, we burn wood.

At first I was kind of excited to burn wood.  The dogs and I could haul it, we’d chop it up, and the kids could stack it and earn their keep.  We’re doing all those thing, but it takes so damn much time.  Seems like all I do is haul wood, cut wood, haul wood, stack wood, haul wood…it never ends.  Last week I began to resent being so reliant on wood.  Felt like I was chained to it, couldn’t escape.

Jo and the kids are in Anchorage for doctors’ apointments.  So I had the weekend to myself and yep, I hauled wood.  Even better, the chainsaw is broken so I brought my single bit axe and 30 inch bow saw.  We got into the tree patch I’ve been working in and chopped.  Then I sawed.  Chopped and sawed until the first tree was down and neatly sectioned ready for transport.  The entire time I could hear the dogs playing and making small noises that caught my attention.  I heard planes overhead, someone shooting at the range, small animals chattered.  It was nice.  When the chainsaw is running and you’re in the middle of the woods, you don’t hear anything but the chainsaw.  The constant roar, BAHHHHHHHH!  The axe and saw were different.  The chopping axe sent shockwaves that rattled through the trees and the saw was small and quiet.  After the first tree was down I looked at my watch.  Didn’t take that long and I wasn’t as tired as I thought I would be.  Before long I had stacks of logs ready to haul.

My hands, forearms, triceps, and shoulders are more sore than normal, but it was nice out in the woods this weekend.  I’m still going to get the chainsaw fixed.  It’s a very useful tool.  However I did ask Santa for a new 36 inch bow saw with a few new blades for Christmas.  Maybe being chained to something isn’t always bad.  A couple quiet days in the woods weren’t bad at all.  Maybe other things are better done with an axe and bow saw.  Maybe sometimes we need to leave the chainsaw at home.

Kyle

Meet a few more dogs

There are a few more dogs for you to meet on the “Meet our Working Dogs” page.  I took the video clips at dusk so they’re a little dark.  Won’t do that again.  Hope you enjoy meeting a few more characters in the cast of Nushagak Kennels.

Training really little pups

I described our early puppy socialization practices in an earlier post (Let working dogs work: Can I pet your dog?).  Here’s a video clip showing that early socialization.  These pups are not quite 24 hours old, but they’re old enough to begin their educations.  As you’ll see, it’s not just great way for pups to learn about kids.  It’s also an opportunity for kids to learn about pups.  Great early training all around!

done

Kyle

Early season mushing update

We’re only a few weeks into the mushing season.  It’s never been this good.  Due to family/medical reasons, the dogs didn’t get much fall training.  It was enough to shake the cob webs off, but the dogs weren’t getting many miles.  We’ve been hauling wood a few miles away from the house.  The dogs are having fun and building in strength and confidence.

My team consists of 5 proven adults and 7 youngsters (8-18 months).  This the 3rd group of pups I’ve bred, whelped, raised, and trained.  I finally feel like I know what I’m doing.  I don’t think anyone can know everything about mushing, but I’m confident with this group.  That confidence allows me to be calm, make quick decisive decisions, and layout plans that I know will work.

Looking back, I expected too much from my young dogs.  I didn’t allow their brains and bodies to fully develop before pushing them.  I’m going slow with this group.  ”Happy eyes and wagging tails” is my mantra.  I’m letting the dogs choose the pace of training.  It’s working well.  Everyone’s happy, including me, and we’re really having fun together.

This group of youngsters is also unique in the quality of their breeding, and it shows.  These guys and gals are dripping with natural ability.  Some of them are out of my main man Bing and good female Lucy.  Others are from a great distance leader who also sired a dog on Sabastian’s team last year (Quest champ and 2nd place in Iditarod) and my grand old gal Lucky.  Another small bunch are out of  a dog from John Baker and Lucky.  Then one is a half brother to one of Mitch Seavey’s main dogs Eagle.  All of the youngsters are doing well.  I can see the quality of their breeding.  They started with more natural talent and seem to be progressing faster.  A few are already showing signs of greatness, but again, I’m taking it slow with this group.  If they are great now, they will be even better in a few years.

We’ll be hauling wood for a few more weeks until the dogs build themselves up.  Then I’ll start doing some longer runs and let them see the country.  Hoping for an extended trip late this winter.  All told things are progressing nicely for the dogs, for myself, and for us as a team.

Kyle

Let working dogs work Part 6: Half load of wood

I often talk about hauling wood with my dogs.  I cut some wood Saturday and returned with a half load when I decided to shoot this video clip.  This wood is very important for our family right now.  Our wood stove is our sole source of heat.  If we don’t have wood we freeze.  We don’t have any plumbing either so the wood heats our our Maqi (steam bath) where we wash.  In this way, our dogs play their ancient role in helping or family survive.  Dogs who race or go on weekend camping trips also have a purpose, but our reliance on the dogs in this way makes for a deep primal bond.

Everyone in our family works hard.  We couldn’t live in Rural Alaska on our budget if we didn’t fill our freezers with fish and moose and burn wood.  When you live like this, everyone in the family assumes different roles.  Individual talents  are refined and employed for the betterment of the group.  The dogs’ primary talent is to pull the sled no matter what the cargo may be.  They do this without question, without hesitation and without complaint.  In fact, they do it with happy eyes and wagging tails.  Now if I could just get my kids to work like that.

done

Kyle

Blog updates

I’ve begun developing the “Meet our Family” and “Meet our Working Dogs” pages on the blog.  Just click on the tabs at the top.  The dog section begins with a video introduction of Lucky.  The family section has a brief narrative and some pictures plus a video clip.  I’ll update both pages periodically.

Kyle

Belleques go sledding

The kids wanted to break out the sleds as soon as snow started falling last week.  We all went sledding on the trail behind our house today.  It is my mushing access trail to the flats.  This is my first attempt at posting video clips so we kept them short.  Let me know how it works for you.

Here comes Jacob.

done

Alethia’s turn.

done

Then Jake hitched up Alethia.

done

Bunny

Last night Jake, Alethia and I set two rabbit snares on a rabbit trail 75 yards from our front door.

 

Jake set this snare. I fixed it a little when he was finished.

We checked them this morning before school.

 

This was hung up in Alethia's snare.

First bunny of the season.  A good stew and part of a hat.  Way to go Jake and Alethia!  Looks like we’ve got a bumper crop of the fluffy little guys this year so there should be more to come.

We love our place on Waskey Road!

Kyle