Nice Runs

Another good day of running, good handlers, good drivers, happy dogs. This winter continues to be challenging... one day cold, one day rain, one day snow, the trails are on and off... they were great yesterday, today it's drizzle.

SPK Dogs

Yeti, pup of Martin and Frita (pretty obvious !) Sweet temperament, strong.

Eos, a nonretired retiree, she is a driven perfect gee haw command leader, sister to

Zeus.

Zeus, a perfect gee haw command leader, semiretired (don't tell him!) Super sweet,

fast, incredibly responsive.

Rosie, little fastest sprinter.

Sherpa looking a little like , are we ready to run?

Matriarch, Lillen, still tough as nails and a gee haw command leader. Infamous Yuksi's sister, hates her coat!Tsunami, strong and fast. Obviously Frita/Martin pup.

Matilda, beautiful gait and conformation, fast. Runs lead and any other position.

This is our 18th year and we've had great dogs through all of these years. The former dogs are still honored here by their pups... in these photos, Skinny's and Liller's pups, Rosie and Matilda, their granddaughter, Sherpa. Frita's and Martin's pups, Tsunami, Yuki, Yepa, Swix, Zoom.

All of these are running this winter, ready and willing and fast dogs. Zeus and Eos are looking great. They can all run sprint or middistance. We don't have a race team this year so the race cancellations aren't affecting us as we continue to have nice running trails, against some odds.

Nice Trails

Eight or nine inches of snow gave us some nice trails. However, today will be in the high 30's, so it's good that we laid a base again.

Three Generations

Trails Open

The latest we've ever had to wait for safe trails, we've been using them this week. Two college students , Katie and Jimmy took to the trails for the first runs of the winter on sleds. The dogs were excited and fast, all yelling to go.

We're down a few dogs this year , natural attrition, but we do miss Skinny, Quattro, Josie, Glory, Balto, Power, King, Sierra, all wonderful dogs who had their great days with us.

Our leaders this winter are Buffy, Ruthie and Eos, since Zeus is having some back problems.

He's not happy watching them all take off without him. Matilda is on some meds right now

for nasal issues, but we hope she'll be back in lead soon.

And new to running sleds with us, is Tanner Johnson and now his friend, Anthony Kligis.

They tore out on the trails yesterday, dogs happy again. Overnight we got some drizzle of sorts, so we'll rest the dogs today. No need to slip and slide and hurt someone today.

Snow! Trails! Runs!

Overnight it snowed enough to make our base good for running, finally! Katie ran a four dog team, her first this year... Ruthie, Eos, Buffy and Herman, very good run.

Jimmy ran his first team, six dogs, Ruthie, Buffy, Sherpa, Zoom, Herman and Kiddo, and it all went very well, no problems.

Happy dogs, happy drivers.

Finally! Time to Run

Whew, a long spell of no runs... either too icy or no snow, now! we have snow (although not

deep deep for a hook). We have ready trails and ready drivers, let's go! (of course this timing includes many of the runners going back to work and to school). Come when you can.

Last night was first below zero, low windchill night, so Lillen had her first overnight in the house.

At 15 she's doing very well.