This September SP Kennel is doing things a little different. And boy, are we all HAPPY about it. We have purposely not started training dogs in harness yet. For many years, our first hook up day was September 1st. Not this year!
Our focus this month is on enjoying the last month of Fall, intimate canine interaction and team building.
What?! Is this some kind of weird and pointless hippie solution to not winning the Yukon Quest or the Iditarod in 2019?
Nope. What we learned most during he 2018-2019 dog mushing season was that no matter how fit, fast and in shape a dog team was, it is ultimately the musher and dog bond that will determine the team’s performance in a race. This is a HUGE no-brainer that gets forgotten by many mushers as it’s easily buried underneath hours and hours of training runs, gear and sled upkeep, nutrition choices, dog truck repairs, kennel maintenance, vet bills and… life.
In the end, it doesn’t matter if a dog has 10,000 miles of training in harness before a race start, if the musher can’t communicate correctly with that dog. The musher / dog efforts won’t be united and their race to the finish (or to a scratch) will be a disaster. We watched this unfold several times this past season to our competition.
We believe that all of us, dogs and humans, should strive to communicate better. Take that extra time to know your dog intimately and have a serious relationship; both in and out of harness. Now, we aren’t saying everyone else is doing it ‘wrong’ by training teams in harness this month. No, no, no.
Get out there. Enjoy your dogs.
We are simply saying that building up our team dynamics is more important that their physical fitness right now.
This week the SP Kennel dogs are exercising in the fields and trail near the kennel. They are in groups of 2, 3 or 4. These groupings rotate so that dogs will pair with different dogs daily. Myself and Allen walk alongside these groups and somewhat manage the interactions. We are learning a lot more about individuals as well as relationships.
Here is a few clips from yesterday:
I think Rodney is saying “hurry up” Dogs look like that is a whole lot of fun! Could I borrow some of that energy?
Peach and Sanka cracked me up in the free run video.
Enjoy your Fall free runs and bonding.
Love it!!! Nothing more important than that dog/person TEAM bond! Lol….Outlaw looked up in curiosity at Aliy’s “Whoop Whoop!”
Absolutely LOVE this!
I like it! Building team relationships and communication is important…it matters. Learning how each team member tics helps make decisions down the road. Very cool!
Love love love this!
More play – I’ll go for that!
Very thoughtful and creative idea! When you think about it, it is an interesting concept.
Thanks for the lovely video, too!!!
Always so grateful for these peeks at the 4-legged team members!!!
Great way to connect! Bet the dogs love it also! Special attention who wouldn’t love that!
This clip makes me really, really happy.
Looking back at videos this morning and I don’t think I finished watching the free run in this post because I don’t remember seeing Sanka and Commando or Cayenne & Perky. Sanka is fast! Pure joy running through the tall grass. So glad I re-watched this.