The weekend!
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Over the weekend I participated in my first dogsled race. It was a fifteen mile race in Wonalancet, NH. We had to get up at 3:30 am to get there. Talk about an early start!
I had a six dog team and was "competing" against twelve other teams. My goal for the race was to let the dogs have fun and to enjoy the experience, not to see how fast I could go. Because of that, I did not push them but made several stops. Two of the dogs on my team had never been in a race setting before.
Getting ready for the race required harnessing and bootying up the dogs as well as driving the team to the start and stopping them at the starting line. This is at least a two person job, usually a three or four person job because the dogs are really rearing to go. The excitement of seeing all the other teams out there really gets them going.
The course was a lot of fun and was my first experience going up really large hills. Most of the course went up and down then up and down some more. The race was incredibly well organized too so that at the few road crossing the racers didn't have to worry. The trail was also incredibly well marked. Green stakes meant you were on trail and red stakes indicated that at the next junction you would turn according to the side the stake was on.
I couldn't have been more pleased with my experience. My team (Lev, Loki, Turtle, Nik, Fineman & Walker) were incredible and did really well. I also had a lot of fun seeing a new trail. Some of the trail was quite tricky. The hills were long and in some places very steep, so I had to help push. There is a technique you use to help the dog which involves standing on one runner and pushing with your other leg. It's sort of a weird motion to do when going up hill. There were also several sharp turns. I also learned how to pass and how to get passed.
All-in-all, I had a fantastic time!
Sunday was when trouble struck -- and of course, trouble strikes in threes.
The First Strike.
First, the thing I had been dreading happened. I got lost, though I don't think lost is necessarily the right word, with a team of seven dogs. I knew where I was, more or less, it just wasn't where I was supposed to be. I was given directions and thought I had followed them. I was supposed to go straight at one section of trail and then take the next two lefts. Except I took a hard left instead of bearing left, which didn't bring me to the correct location. Bummer. I was pretty upset about that because I really don't like getting lost and I wasn't sure if I was taking the dogs too far or not far enough. Turned out to be the second of the two, which is bad because now they are behind in training.
The Second Strike
After that debacle we took out the 5 puppies and they ran really well. Trouble didn't strike until we got home. I was putting the puppies away and was about to put the last one in the puppy pen when I saw Ivan jumping up and down against the door and, to my horror, hit the lock loose. Next thing I knew I had four dogs tearing out across the kennel causing a cacophony of barking and howling. The next half hour was awful. I remembered the time when Samantha had gotten lost in New Hampshire and my mom and dad stayed up all night trying to find her. In some ways, this was worse because they weren't my dogs and they didn't know to come when they were called. I looked around for tracks with my headlamp and Lev got in his car to search for them. He did, thankfully, find them all. Apparently they were almost to town by the time he caught up with them and he had a hard time getting his hands on them. They thought the whole thing was a big game.
After they got back in their pen, it seemed nothing else could possibly go wrong. I was feeling pretty bad about everything however. When I went into the other puppy pen the 9 dogs immediately jumped on me and I slipped on ice and cracked my elbow. The dogs swarmed over me and started nipping at me. One stole my hat, which, I suppose I should be grateful for because the other dogs started chasing it trying to capture the new prize.
Eventually I won it back, only to slip again and the little devils pounced all over me again... I escaped eventually.
Today, it's warm and rainy. Not exactly inspiring weather. Hopefully, the rain won't take away too much snow and the trail won't get too icy.
Ok. Ciao.
I had a six dog team and was "competing" against twelve other teams. My goal for the race was to let the dogs have fun and to enjoy the experience, not to see how fast I could go. Because of that, I did not push them but made several stops. Two of the dogs on my team had never been in a race setting before.
Getting ready for the race required harnessing and bootying up the dogs as well as driving the team to the start and stopping them at the starting line. This is at least a two person job, usually a three or four person job because the dogs are really rearing to go. The excitement of seeing all the other teams out there really gets them going.
The course was a lot of fun and was my first experience going up really large hills. Most of the course went up and down then up and down some more. The race was incredibly well organized too so that at the few road crossing the racers didn't have to worry. The trail was also incredibly well marked. Green stakes meant you were on trail and red stakes indicated that at the next junction you would turn according to the side the stake was on.
I couldn't have been more pleased with my experience. My team (Lev, Loki, Turtle, Nik, Fineman & Walker) were incredible and did really well. I also had a lot of fun seeing a new trail. Some of the trail was quite tricky. The hills were long and in some places very steep, so I had to help push. There is a technique you use to help the dog which involves standing on one runner and pushing with your other leg. It's sort of a weird motion to do when going up hill. There were also several sharp turns. I also learned how to pass and how to get passed.
All-in-all, I had a fantastic time!
Sunday was when trouble struck -- and of course, trouble strikes in threes.
The First Strike.
First, the thing I had been dreading happened. I got lost, though I don't think lost is necessarily the right word, with a team of seven dogs. I knew where I was, more or less, it just wasn't where I was supposed to be. I was given directions and thought I had followed them. I was supposed to go straight at one section of trail and then take the next two lefts. Except I took a hard left instead of bearing left, which didn't bring me to the correct location. Bummer. I was pretty upset about that because I really don't like getting lost and I wasn't sure if I was taking the dogs too far or not far enough. Turned out to be the second of the two, which is bad because now they are behind in training.
The Second Strike
After that debacle we took out the 5 puppies and they ran really well. Trouble didn't strike until we got home. I was putting the puppies away and was about to put the last one in the puppy pen when I saw Ivan jumping up and down against the door and, to my horror, hit the lock loose. Next thing I knew I had four dogs tearing out across the kennel causing a cacophony of barking and howling. The next half hour was awful. I remembered the time when Samantha had gotten lost in New Hampshire and my mom and dad stayed up all night trying to find her. In some ways, this was worse because they weren't my dogs and they didn't know to come when they were called. I looked around for tracks with my headlamp and Lev got in his car to search for them. He did, thankfully, find them all. Apparently they were almost to town by the time he caught up with them and he had a hard time getting his hands on them. They thought the whole thing was a big game.
After they got back in their pen, it seemed nothing else could possibly go wrong. I was feeling pretty bad about everything however. When I went into the other puppy pen the 9 dogs immediately jumped on me and I slipped on ice and cracked my elbow. The dogs swarmed over me and started nipping at me. One stole my hat, which, I suppose I should be grateful for because the other dogs started chasing it trying to capture the new prize.
Eventually I won it back, only to slip again and the little devils pounced all over me again... I escaped eventually.
Today, it's warm and rainy. Not exactly inspiring weather. Hopefully, the rain won't take away too much snow and the trail won't get too icy.
Ok. Ciao.
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