Dogs | Retired
August 23, 2018 by

It’s winter in New Zealand and, therefore, our dog racing season.

Much of the racing in NZ is sprint type racing but Fleur and Curt Perano of Underdog NZ (who also keep a kennel in Willow, Alaska) organised more of a “distance” type race a couple of weekends ago, to introduce teams to North American style racing. Fleur and Curt run sled dog tours up at the Snow Farm in Cardrona and asked me to be a race judge for the first (and hopefully, annual) Cardrona Valley Stage Race.

We had skijourers and sled teams competing over the same course at the same time and a skijourer with her two dog team even won the race! There were some gorgeous dogs competing; from Alaskan and Siberian Huskies to GSPs, Border Collies and Huntaways (one of our famous NZ farmdog breeds).

You may be interested to see who I bumped into while I was there!

That’s right! Torch and Waylon! They are having a blast in New Zealand with Sheryll and they competed in the race with Sheryll’s housemate Ilona. They hadn’t seen “proper” snow since leaving Two Rivers and when Waylon saw it he nose dived into the snow bank and rolled around, enjoying the sensation again. They are regular competitors in the North Island races and recently gained their “Sled Dog” titles giving them letters to put after their names: Waylon SD and Torch SD

Torch and Waylon LOVE Sheryll

Torch is still as happy and handsome as ever!

Here are some fabulous pics, courtesy of Underdog NZ, of Torch and Waylon (and their team mates Salem, Hook, Leap and Hatchet – and Ilona) on the spectacular trails in Cardrona.

And for you movie fans, check out the Media and Film tab on their website!

Moira

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10 Responses

  • Fantastic! A very interesting breed, that Huntaway. Not my breed or my country and yet I felt a strong sense of satisfaction that the title was based on working ability only and had to win at trials to be registered.

    Thanks for posting, Moira.

  • Wow! How exciting. It looks like Torch and Waylon are loving life. Absolutely beautiful there in New Zealand.
    Thank you for sharing.

  • Thanks for the pics of Torch and Waylon having fun Moira! Also llona and the rest of her dogs.
    Always nice to see SP dogs again even when retired and forever homes. New Zealand is so
    beautiful!

  • Awesome!!!

    Thanks ever so much for the news from NZ, enjoy the winter and don’t the boys look cute!!! In lead, of course!!!

    Go Waylon!!! Go Torch!!! They’re racing hard and look to be in their element.

    Again, thanks so much for the news, Moira, best always!!!

  • Dear Moira, you let us see Waylon again, quite something for all of us who LOVE that dog. Good to see how happy and healthy everyone is. Thank you so much.

  • So nice to see those smiling faces again! Torch looks fantastic, and ole 3 toes too! Hello to Moira!

  • Waylon and Torch look great! Both are working hard in lead. Waylon’s beautiful blue eyes looking directly into the camera is very familiar. We’ve seen that face/expression often in the past. Thanks for sharing.

  • So lovely to see this post about Waylon and Torch. I feel I must be one of the luckiest fans of Waylon as I live in New Zealand, and he now lives just a few miles from me! I caught up with Sheryll, Waylon and Torch a few weeks ago at a local (dryland) race in the North Island. It was so wonderful to be right there with them to see their excitement being in harness to run. I can assure everyone they are loved and thriving in their new home. As we all know, SPK finds the right home, at the right time, for the right dog – no matter where in the world that may be!!

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