Nelson was left with the handler team in Mendentna as he had developed a sore shoulder in the run from Sourdough.
As Allen will be hoping for a very fast final leg he didn’t want to risk turning Nelson’s shoulder into a major injury so he reluctantly left him with Wes, Mark and Chris. Nelson is a hard charging and pulling dog and Allen will notice his absence.
Nelson had been doing such a great job up until that point but he will be back with his team mates in a few short hours. He will get some rest and extra attention for the next little while to recuperate.
You did a great job Nelson. Rest up, enjoy your massage, you will cheer your teammates in. Hope you feel better soon.
Enjoy the extra TLC Nelson….you'll be up and pulling again in no time!! You done good buddy!
Good boy, Nelson! Enjoy all the attention and massage.
Good dog, Nelson. You are the bomb!!! As said above, "woof, woof…woof" translation: Be a good patient and enjoy massages, etc."
GO BLACK TEAM, GO RED TEAM!!! KICK IT IN!!!
Get well Nelson, next time you won't want to miss the excitement that's happening out on the trail.
Oh, yeah, Central Coast California.
Wishing warm massages and many hugs to the dropped dogs who worked so hard and are so loved and fleet and steady feet to all the rest still on the trail.
Bravo ! to Allens and super dogs fast run!!
Waiting for Aliy !!
Sorry to hear about Nelsons and Juniors shoulder injuries! Two very great dogs!
I keep thinking about those dew-claw amputations….?
This was a very fast and exiting race! Thank you so much for all the updates and infos: best site, like always, to go to. A kiss to Chipper, Scout, and those good looking mushers, Aliy and Allen!
Got interrupted by the finishers: Aliy and her dogs are just outstanding and great!
Congratulations to this "new" , young set of dog heroes! Wish you lots of fun to hug each for their performance and just LOOK at them! Superbe! Love to you all from Ingabritt
To the person wondering about the dew-claw amputations, were you thinking that this leads to a higher risk of shoulder injuries? I am pretty sure that this is actually irrelevant during a race because the dogs are always bootied while racing. The booties go over the top of dew claws and hold them tightly against the leg, rendering them useless.
For those who may not know about booties and dew claws, the booties have to go over the top of dew claws in order to fasten properly, but that will then hold the dew claw against the leg where the hard claw will rub against the soft skin and cause an open sore. To prevent this, you would have to put something like a cotton ball or thick adhesive tape under the claw before putting the bootie on, but I have even seen these methods fail sometimes. Because of this (and it takes longer to bootie dogs with dew claws), mushers like Aliy and Allen remove the dew claws when their puppies are born.
Dew claw and function: when observing a dog running, especially on slippery or icy or uneven surface the pronation, an outward rotating movement away from the center, is stopped by this little, higher up "thumb" at a certain point and the attached muscle helps to prevent the shoulder to have to recover this "slipping" all on it's own. As there is no collar bone in dogs, the shoulder can move out much farther.
The amputation is done to prevent the described prone injury in this kind of booties.
Whenever a dog runs, climbs, jumps without a bootie, it is still without its well constructed and functional "thumb". It can manage. Only in extreme singular situations it will be noticeable. But here, in a race on these surfaces it counts. More than the speed and routine to bootie??, though? – Just a discussion and challenge to construct maybe a bootie: new style to include dewclaws and not to cut the dogs towards the bootie, but the bootie towards the dogs'.
Thanks for picking up the thought.
Cheers
Ingabritt