Visitors

My daughter and her friend visited this weekend. We took a chilly Ranger tour over the Brule river and the colors are still beautiful.

Earlier in the day we had a pelting of snow and high winds, flipping tarps all over the place. A large white pine fell off the trail.

This morning it is 27 degrees and calm.

Out the Gate, Over the River

STRAW BALE COUNT: 10

Undaunted by unmowed trail, Zeus and Matilda (leader in training) took off out the gate with enthusiasm.

We ran three miles, over the bridge into Michigan, kicked up some turkeys to pace us ahead and had a great early morning run. In all he does Zeus is obviously a pro. We hit the bridge and he didn't miss a beat. Some dogs will balk at it the first time. Can only wonder how many bridges he has crossed, this one being a piece of cake. He's a great trainer for these younger dogs. A good day.

Team Training

First team to go out in full will be:

Buffy (LEAD)

Ruthie (LEAD)

Medio (Team)

Rosie( Team)

Herman (Wheel)

Kiddo (Wheel)

Second team out will be:

Zeus, LEAD

Ruthie, LEAD,

Kiddo, Team

Sherpa, Team

Copper, Wheel (single)

Third team out will be:

Buffy, LEAD

Matilda, LEAD

Lillen, Team

Medio, Team

Zeus, Wheel (single)

We will run two mile runs on the next cool day (not Saturday). There are some aging dogs in those mixes.

Teams are planned to put the least stress on the aging dogs. (may rethink Zeus in wheel, maybe up with Lillen.

Scrambled Morning and Out the Gate

We scrambled things up a bit to add some interest for the dogs this morning. Some moved to different pens, we ran different combos and generally botched the usual schedule.

Zeus and Ruthie ran a twosome out of the gate for the first time this fall. Zeus took the command to go out the gate as if he heard it every day, more than willing to see new territory. It was just a bit warm so we didn't cross the river, but had a nice two mile run. Ruthie ran a great colead with Zeus, a nice pairing for future teams for sure.

On the return Copper unlatched his gate and charged out toward Zeus and Ruthie. Zeus laid right down and Copper wagged his tail, whew! Very nice to know Zeus kept his cool in that situation.

And more more rain and mud

One pen is so filled with water the trenches we dug can't even remove it. Icy water for those nice paws, so we moved Yo to higher ground.

Dog Houses, Rain and Mud

This is the season for rain, mud, sleet, slippery walking and filling holes. We are also building new houses and repairing others. One day it is nice, the next day a sloppy mess. Flexibility is the key right now.

Tarps go flying in the gusting winds, bungee cords break, dogs eat bungees. We still have at least one tarp in every pen for shelter from the pelting rains, but most are put away for next year now.

As I move from pen to pen repairing, the dogs are right behind me (or under me) digging great new holes in the soft sand. Photo: Zeus runs between the pens on return from his run.

Sagging tarps visible, work in progress in all pens. Have just started putting straw in houses.

Buffy meets Zeus

Zeus has been getting solo runs since his sister, Eos, has been recuperating from surgery. Yesterday our leader, Buffy, met leader, Zeus. Neither one batted an eye as I hooked them up to take off. They ran in unison, equally enthusiastic. Zeus took commands slightly faster than Buffy but both were eager to keep moving down the trail. Still too warm, we took just a short run. Soon we'll have Zeus integrated with the regular teams, as the rains move in and keep it cool.