YQ: Black Team Wrap-Up

In a final look back at the Quest, Aliy interviewed Allen about his team the other day. I’ve transcribed the conversation… there was a lot of laughter and a few out-takes but here’s the run-down of each of Allen’s team mates.

Mr Moore, can you please tell us about the dogs on your team, perhaps starting from the youngest to the oldest. The youngest dogs on your team were Isabelle/Izzy, Clyde and Outlaw. They’re all three years old. Tell us about them.

Well, being three years old there were definitely the peppiest.

Peppiest?

Peppiest. They had pep for most of the race. It’s exciting to see that they were fantastic. Couldn’t ask for anything more.

Izzy – how’d she do?

Izzy was in swing for most of the time

Why?

Why? Because she was always pulling, and we definitely want the ones that pull the most closer to the front, or you get an accordion effect and we don’t want that.

Laughter

She was always up there, peppy and ready to go.

She had a good attitude all of the time?

A good attitude, ate well, climbed well, slept well… all of the above.

Alright, how ‘bout the brothers Outlaw and Clyde?

Outlaw and Clyde… well Clyde, I guess, first of all, …

I know you had him in back because he was very excited about Quito being in heat?

He was. We had to do a little arrangement because Quito was in lead so all the boys that were not neutered had to be way back, especially him, so I put him in wheel. It may have energized him a little bit – it may have energized her too. But anyway, he has always been the best eater and usually that correlates to having the most energy. He’s only three years old and this is his fourth 1000 mile race so you can’t beat that.

Did he run anywhere else in the team?

The last run I moved him up a little bit because he, again, ate well and pulled well so he was moved up, but I still had to keep him so far behind Quito.

How about Outlaw?

It was a little bit tougher on Outlaw because, although it was his second 1000 mile race, it was his first really competitive 1000 mile race. He did well until he started to get a little dehydrated so he wasn’t on his A-game anymore. His bicep was tender coming into the last checkpoint so I decided to leave him there.

Was he barking at the start?

He was, he was barking going up those hills, several dogs were. I was excited to see the performance that he put out.

The next dog to talk about, who is a four year old, is Chemo.

Chemooooo

So how’d that little guy do for ya?

Chemo was mighty steady and that’s why we had him in there. We had the option of taking a couple different dogs other than him but we knew he had good weight, he’s always steady, he eats pretty well and he did exactly what we wanted him to do.

Who’d you run him with most of the time?

Outlaw

And they were a good combination together?

They were, they worked very well together, both similar in style of running so it worked out well.

Chemo has been in lead some times during the year but you chose not to put him up there?

I did choose not to, when you have something working at the moment you stick with it – that’s my motto – so I stuck with it. So he never did have to go in lead. If he’d have still been in my team at the end of the race I probably would have put him up there but he was favoring a couple of sore feet coming into the last checkpoint so I decided to leave him there.

Now, the five year olds on the team. That’s a group of siblings and one oddball. The oddball is Mac and the siblings are Scooter, Sissy and Schmoe. So how’d big Mac do for ya?

Big Mac, he’s another steady dog and there’s definitely no-one who pulls any harder than he does. Matter of fact, when he had to go to the bathroom he could stop just about the whole team. He was in the middle of the team so usually there would be six or seven dogs that he could stop that were in front of him. So it’s good and bad that he has so much strength, and that’s the bad side.

He’s known for screaming and getting excited now and then, did he do that at all during this race?

He did, there were a couple occasions when cars would pass when we were close to roads and I don’t know why that gets him excited but all of a sudden he’ll let out a scream that you’ll think someone just hurt themselves. But it does get all the other dogs excited and got me kinda excited too.

Now, I saw you kinda had an interesting combination there, you ran Mac with Waylon (right). Was there any reason behind that?

Yeah, it’s just funny looking. Last year I ran him and Boondocks which is the largest and smallest dog in the kennel and Waylon’s not far from it so it’s pretty comical that Waylon can run underneath his legs and he doesn’t even know it.

Alright, how bout the siblings. Sissy, let’s start with her, then Scooter and Schmoe.

Sissy is a pretty perky gal. With floppy ears going, she did awesome. Her biggest fault is her pooping. She tries to hold back the whole team but she just doesn’t weigh enough. But she was always driving and definitely a catalyst to our success.

Wow, a catalyst to our success?

Absolutely!

Alright, come up with something for Scooter that tops that!

Laughter

Scooter – I just like saying Scooter! I had Scooter up close to the front coz she was pulling really well. She’s ways a screamer, an excitable young gal that whenever you stop she goes nuts ready to go again. You’ve gotta have a few cheerleaders in the bunch and she was definitely a cheerleader.

She finished the race however she got a bit dehydrated at the end, like some of the others, and was not 100% so she didn’t pull as hard as she did before, but she did excellent overall.

Alright – Schmoe-Dawg?

Schmoe-Dawg – he was probably the strongest dog I had in my whole team.

The whole team? Is he your MVD?

Quite possibly – just because we had Quito in single lead leaving the last checkpoint even and I needed another dog up there that could kinda pull it’s weight in lead and I said “why not him?” because he was in swing at the time. I put him up there and he was always tight, even more tight than Quito a lot of times. I just had to put up with his rambunctiousness, meaning he liked to pee on every tree he sees – and we did see a tree or two – but other than that he did very well. So, I was very proud of him.

Willie and Waylon?

Willie and Waylon, the honkey-tonk litter. Willie (right) was in wheel and he’s in wheel because he knows how to run that position pretty well. He’ll go under the line if it’s six inches off the ground.

And that was challenging with all that ice I bet!

Very challenging, we went over 30 miles of jumble ice and he had to go under the line, because if you go over it you’re tangled automatically. So he could get under the line on both sides and straighten the team out. He was always a puller also, he was never not pulling, never a problem. You just kinda forget about him sometimes because he’s always there. No trouble.

Now, his brother Waylon. It seemed like you had a lot of clothing on him at 40 or 50 below…

Waylon looks like he’s just stripped down naked when he’s running. It’s just hard not to put something on him, especially when we started the race at 40 below, we couldn’t put enough on him. And he carried that armor just about the whole race. You could barely see the dog through all the clothes, it looked kinda silly but he got through it and he didn’t lose too much weight. He finished strong.

Alright – Scout?

Scouters started out the race in lead and led for quite a while, he was loping the whole way up until probably 700 miles into the race where he started to feel less than 100%. I had to move him back further and further because he lost energy because he was a bit dehydrated. At Circle I had to drop him, I hated to and I knew if he had a day to get over it and he’d be fine but I didn’t have a day so I had to drop him. But he’s an excellent dog.

Scout was pretty stinkin’ important for a long time, was he not?

He was, very important. He was the one who kept the pace, kept Quito going. He wasn’t worried about anything except what I wanted to be done. You’ve got to have someone that will listen to you and follow direction and you know they’re going to do what you want.

Then the three siblings. Nacho, Chica and Quito.

Wow the eight year olds. Wow, there’s a lot you could say about them.

Nacho?

It’s hard to individualize them because they’re all about the same. They’re probably the best dogs we’ve ever had. Nacho himself, we have a lot of pups out of him and for good reason because he’s always been at the top of his game. Even at eight years old he’s still a puller.

He sure was happy at the finish line.

He was, he’s always a happy dog, happy pointy eared dog who likes to run. As does his siblings.

Then you’ve got Chica and Quito. Chica is an awesome dog! Quito lead the whole race, as she has done for numerous years and the reason behind our numerous wins and seconds places. The one thing we have to come up with is another Quito. Without Quito we would be a normal, average team and she makes a normal average team become a great team.

The Spanish litter – that’s what they all are actually – they make a normal team become a great team.

All photos by Mary-Beth Schreck