SPK Dog Log

Last season the Yukon Quest participated in a film production with Red Letter Films of British Columbia, Canada. They are producing a documentary series about the Quest, the Mushers and the Volunteers for the French – Canadian Documentary Channel called Canal D. This is a short clip.

Happy Winter Solstice for those of you in the northern hemisphere! Conversely – Happy Summer Solstice to all our friends in the south!

Winter Solstice is a significant day for us, after a couple months of long, cold and dark winter days and nights, winter solstice is a celebration of the winter season we love so much and also a time to start looking forward to more daylight as we head into longer days.

We decided to celebrate with a kennel howl and would like to share it with you all!

Howwwwwwwwwwlllllll!

WOOHOO! Ally and the Red Team finished in 4th spot in the Solstice 50 in 4 hours, 31:09; with Chris and the Red and Black team just a few seconds behind at 4 hours, 31:30 in 5th position.

These are fantastic results for these two teams with a bunch of two-year olds getting some excellent experience! We’re really proud of all 24 dogs and two mushers. Thanks to the support team also!!

Check out these great pics taken by Sebastian Schnuelle of the two SPK teams.

Chris and the R&B Team

Aliy and the Red Team

Red Team

Red Team – what a view!!

Chris and the R&Bs

Chris and his R&B Team drew bib #2 and left the starting chute at 11.02am. Ally and the Red Team wearing Bib #21 left the store at 11.40am so both have been on the trail now for over an hour.

Chris and Chena; Aliy with Commando and Lydia as Spark looks on

As there is no checkpoint to make up the time differential (to put everyone on equal footing due to the differences in starting times), the first team past the post is not necessarily the winner. There will be a time elapsed calculation made at the completion of the race by officials to ascertain the placings. Keep an eye on the TRDMA Facebook page for updates and results.

Here’s a quick video taken by Mark at the first road crossing. You will see that it is well marked and well marshalled. This road crossing is one we use frequently and it is on a long straight piece of road so you have plenty of time to see any vehicles coming. Unfortunately there wasn’t quite enough time to get Aliy and team on the trail and race up the road to catch Chris and the R&B team crossing.

The Two Rivers Dog Mushers Association Solstice 50 kicks off at 11am on Saturday! Keep an eye on the Facebook page for updates and results.

Aliy will race the Red Team and Chris will have the Red & Black Team. As you know Allen and his POTENTIAL CB300 team will sit this one out and train differently in their lead up to the longer race in just a few weeks time.

The bib draw will be done just before the start of the race so at this stage we are unsure in what position Aliy and Chris will leave the Pleasant Valley Store. Click the pic below to take you to the course description.

Aliy’s red team will be lead out by Lydia and Commando (pictured below), Waylon and either Scout OR Driver in swing (TBC), Chipper and Spark, Nomex and Chemo, Iron and Outlaw with Sandy and Daisy in wheel.

Chris’ R&B team has Scruggs and Chena in lead (pictured below), Willie and Boonie in swing, big boys Woody and Mac will run together, followed by Coal and Violet, Hotshot and Cayenne then Pepe and Champ in wheel.

Click here to link you to the roster page that will give you more information about each (canine) athlete.

We will try to keep you updated as we can.

Allen and his team of 12 SP Kennel dogs have pulled out of the Solstice 50 Mile Race this weekend. He injured his big toe while driving a sled. Originally we thought he had broken his toe, but after x-rays, it’s been determined to be “Turf Toe”. This is a sprain of the ligaments around the big toe joint. It’s caused by jamming the big toe or repeatedly pushing off the toe forcefully — sound like running up a mountain along side a dog sled? Yup!

The Copper Basin 300 Mile Race starts in only 23 days. There is plenty of time to rest and recuperate the toe. But, that means sitting out the ‘Season Opener’. So, SP Kennel will only have two teams in the event this weekend. We are sorry to sit the 12 dogs out of the race, and they would probably do it with out a musher, but they will have to hold out for the Copper Basin 300.

As you can see… we think the dogs are READY to run!

We’ve updated the puppy page with team cards for the 12 little’uns and thought we would share them here for you first. You can access the page any time by clicking on the “Puppies” button on the left.

Sincere thanks to all the puppy sponsors! This season we welcome some new members to the SP Kennel Dog Sponsor Family. We appreciate you all and hope you enjoy following the progress of your little ones.

“Zesty” is now at her new home with Joar and Mille at their kennel in Willow. We won’t lie, it was a very tough decision for Aliy and Allen, and it was very hard to see her go but we wish them all the best and can’t wait to see her again out on the trails of the Iditarod! Bye-bye sweet girl. Go well.

Every season it seem we talk about dog booties.

So, here we go again:

Dog booties are critical.

They protect dogs’ feet before any injuries can occur. That’s key.

We use booties at various times and for various reasons. They are distance dependent — we might booty all dogs for long runs. They are temperature dependent — we might booty all dogs at temperatures below -20 degrees F. They are dog specific — we might booty individual dogs all the time.

Scout (above) thinks that you shouldn’t talk badly about his booties!

Here is a little BOOTY RANT by Aliy:

All in all, booties are a pain in the tush. They require a musher to assume the ‘standard musher position’ (bent over at the hip with my head down by my knees) for extended periods of time both putting on booties and taking off booties. They require ungloved hands in order to get that velcro strap just tight enough to not slip down a dog’s foot. Therefore, booties, notoriously, create cold hands. Really cold at -30 degrees F! After each use, booties have to be dried out. What do you think our garage smells like? And mind you… there might be a little bit of dog poo on the drying canine footwear. That’s not all. Then, booties have to be sorted after they dry: trash booties with holes and reuse booties with out holes. You are not done yet. Now booties have to be sized. WHAT?!? Not every dog wear’s the same size booty? Nope. Have you looked at Mismo lately? Now take a look at Lydia. Yup. Different booties for different dogs. Our system of dog booties have different velcro colors that differentiates sizes. Last step. Each dog has four feet. Huh? Now take four (dried, sorted, sized) booties and link them together with the velcro into sets of 4’s. Now… go back to your dog team and get after it!
You gotta LOVE booties!

2015 Yukon Quest
-37 F start: How do those fingers feel, Aliy?; Mile 900: How does that back feel, Allen?

Ready-to-train dog booties.

The Booty Fairy was at SP Kennel this weekend and decorated the garage with a Christmas booty theme. Let’s just say that it doesn’t quite smell like Gingerbread around here!

The Christmas Booty Fairy was a SP Kennel yesterday!

At various times throughout the season we have had Booty Fairies drift through SP Kennel, pick up a sack of “to be sorted” and bring back a sack of “ready to train”.
Thank you to everyone of you Fairies! (And please… come on back… we’ve got more!)