SPK Dog Log

Congratulations to Crystal who has won this week’s draw. Crystal is a fan of Outlaw.

Outlaw has grown in spirit and body this summer. He was a “main man” last season and promises to fill that spot again this year. He is a beautiful dog with incredible strength. Outlaw is already trying to prove that his performance last season wasn’t a fluke.

Crystal’s winner’s prize pack includes a Holiday ornament with Outlaw “Mug Shot” and other kennel goodies.

The next fan club draw is on Christmas Day! If you haven’t already won this season or if you are a new member your name will be in the next draw.

Due to popular demand, we will soon be opening the Dog Fan Club up to include the Coffee and Golden Harness Puppies so shortly you will be able to show your support for the youngest members of the family!

Watch this space!

Click the button below for instructions on how to join:

Click this button below to take you directly to the Dog Fan Page.

Wendy and Aliy took out some smaller teams on a short run several days ago. It was beautiful.

Aliy’s team was: Quito, Wedgy (in lead), Mismo(single swing), Nelson and Ginger, Scooby and Ernie (in wheel).
Wendy’s team was: Lester and Five (in lead), Rodney (single swing) and Biscuit and Nutmeg (in wheel).

The Two Rivers Dog Mushers Association – our home club – is holding two races in the next couple months, their Solstice 50 race in December and later in January is their 100/200 mile race. SP Kennel has entered multiple teams in both races!

Three teams are entered in the Solstice 50 which kicks off at 11 AM Saturday morning, December 19th at Pleasant Valley Store. The race field is limited to 30 teams and it is currently full. See the details of the race HERE. Or check out the Two Rivers Dog Mushers Facebook page for updates.

SP Kennel always loves to enter this early season race to give the teams a good run and give some youngsters the experience with other teams and the race environment. This will be the first race of the season and will be used as training build-up for the Copper Basin 300 in January.

In the January 100/200 mile race, there will be three teams entered as well. Aliy and Chris will both race. The third team is under review. Allen’s Yukon Quest team may enter or Wes may enter a rookie team. The decision will be made as we near the event date.

This race kicks off at noon on January 22nd at the Chatanika Lodge with checkpoints at the Two Rivers Lodge, Pleasant Valley Store and Angle Creek Lodge. The trails are all very familiar to us and we are excited to run them.

These races will be a good build up and part of the training schedule for the Yukon Quest and YQ300 just a couple weeks later.

We’ll post more details and race team rosters closer to the time.

While Jeanne was at the kennel in October taking Race Dog Portraits, Quito’s pups were only 10 days old. Some eyes weren’t even open yet! So, we decided it was easier to take a group shot. Aren’t they adorable?

The pups have grown up and are now healthy and happy 8 week old today.
Here they are:

Bruno

Bruno is the small boy with a big attitude and lots of energy. On the puppy walks he will be the first one to stand directly under your legs.

He is also a loud mouth.

With his short coat and if his ears stand up, he’ll look a lot like his Daddy.

Aliy has always wanted to name a pup Bruno. It’s a great name for a spunky little guy. So here he is.

Good boy, BRUNO!

Dancer

Dancer has been the first to do everything and will tackle her siblings to get ahead.

She is downright sassy.

Dancer was born a lot darker than her siblings and had a prominent white belly. She squirmed a lot when she was young, always nudging and dancing her way to the best nursing spot.

She has a thick husky coat.

Dancer is named after our beloved ChaCha.

Jefe

Jefe is a climber. He climbs fences, houses and people. Wendy has toenails scratches on her neck to prove it.

He is a traditional looking husky – especially if his ears stand up.

Jefe (the “boss” in Spanish) was named after one of SP Kennel’s great leaders, Hoss. The naming went something like this… “Hoss was the boss. Boss.. hummm I think that’s jefe in Spanish.”

A Spanish name seems appropriate for one of Quito’s babies.

McCaw

McCaw is a big, strong boy, yet sincerely sweet.

He has become more and more active as he gets used to his long legs and body.

McCaw has one of the neatest colorations of any pup at SP. We don’t know where that spotted cream-colored variation comes from.

Moira named McCaw after the most talented and successful Rugby player in the world. (Who also happens to be from New Zealand.) Go McCaw!

P.C.

P.C. is petite, independent and feisty. She doesn’t think she’s small.

Her coloration has changed over the weeks from cream-colored to almost silver. Her mask has become more and more defined. She’s a beauty!

P.C. stands for Probably Chevie. She is named after Aliy’s grandmother, Chevie McDonald, but since we won’t decide who will go to Joar until the last minute we couldn’t let him have a pup named after Grandma! Therefore she has been referred to as P.C.

Q.T.

Q.T. is a little shy. So much so, that she didn’t want to ‘smile for the camera‘.

Her brown markings are very similar to those of her Father’s.

Q.T. is a racy girl with a slighter build and a ‘come and get me’ attitude.

Q.T. is short for ‘the cutest puppy in the world’ which of course… she is!
Plus, how many dogs do you know whose name starts with a “Q”? We can think of one in particular.

Zesty

Zesty is zesty! She doesn’t back down from much. If there’s something to chew on — shoe lace, hair tie, brother — she’ll have it in her mouth.

She is a bit more stocky than most of her siblings. But, she’s still fast!

Zesty was named ‘Socks’ for quite some time because of her two white socks. Zesty seems to fit her personality a bit more. Plus, the word zesty just seems to roll out of Allen’s mouth.

All puppies will have sponsors and we will announce them shortly.

This season we have made an investment safety.

Safety in Mushing is something we don’t think about until “something happens“. But, in our world of: wilderness, physical challenges, extreme temperatures, environmental hazards, lots of dogs and independent (sometimes unpredictable) mushers, there is one thing we can guarantee: Something’s gonna happen!

This week, after our first “Safety Meeting” of the season, we decided to start carrying our DeLorme InReach satellite communicator. We can easily toss this small device into the sled bag or parka pocket of a musher who is headed out on a training run. There are options on the device that can allow a person with internet access to track the location of the device and thus, the musher and team. There are also options on the device for “Come Get Me” and “Everything is Okay”. Of course, it is rare that one of us would be sitting at the kennel, just twiddling their thumbs, watching SP Kennel dog teams trot down the trail on the internet. But, stranger things have happened!

Allen took the Sat. Communicator in his parka pocket. This is halfway through the run.

Technology these days is incredible and dog mushers are using it as well as the rest of the world. This device would obviously not be allowed on a race. But, most races these days use tracking devices and technology of their own.

Every year we get new dog collars. As you can imagine, after covering thousands of miles during a long winter, followed by playing all summer on the local muddy trails and swimming in beaver ponds — a dog’s collar needs to be changed. So our bright red colors are bright red again. Thanks to folks at “Alaska Made” in Healy who have been making our collars for a few years.

Outlaw likes hugs with his collar; Chemo shows off his name.

During the November’s fitness check and weigh in we switched out collars. Before doing so, we wrote each dog’s name in permanent marker and we attached their metal identification tags.

Pretty dogs with pretty collars!

Barista

She was the first born.

Barista is the pretty girl of the litter. Her outstanding eye markings and long legs really make her a stand out.

She will often be found tromping across the field with her two brothers. She doesn’t like to be left behind!

Barista enjoys cuddling and kissing.

Barista is Sponsored by Wendy Brott.

Bean

Bean is a ball of energy.

She started life at half the size of her litter mates and has made a valiant effort at the food dish to catch up. She has been quite successful.

Bean is full of zip. She doesn’t always go the correct direction while ‘zipping’, but she does like to GO!

Bean will not sit still, so don’t ask her.

Bean is Sponsored by Sally MacDowell.

Creamer

Creamer is sweet and somewhat shy.

She and Sanka are BBF.

Creamer is lighter-boned and will resemble Olivia’s side of the family.

She might hide under the dog house or go for a walk — depends on the day.

Creamer will gladly sit and cuddle anytime you ask her.

Creamer is Sponsored by Bob & Jane Nelson.

Decaf

Decaf is mellow (what a shocker, huh?)

He is not shy around the food dish. That boy can eat!

Decaf covers some ground on our daily walks.

He and Perky have a brotherly macho relationship.

Decaf thinks belly rubs are the best.

Decaf is Sponsored by Dawn Engler & Amy Baird.

Perky

Perky is, by far, the loud mouth of the litter. He screams for breakfast, lunch, dinner and all snacks in between. You can’t take a nap if he is unhappy about something.

Perky is exuberant and demanding.

He is often the first pup out on a walk.

Perky won’t sit still for loving, but he will gladly talk your ears off.

Perky is Sponsored by Suzanne and Brown Clodfelter.

Sanka

Sanka is a ‘get up and GO’ kinda gal… from sleeping to ready in an instant.

She is an eye catcher with brilliant blues and a sleek dark coat. (She looks like her Uncle Scruggs.)

Sanka has more of a pensive curiosity. She will not follow unless she’s sure of the situation. Perhaps that’s smart?!

Sanka prefers to play with chew toys than give kisses.

Sanka is Sponsored by Julie and Ron LaPoint.

Oh. No, no, no.

You thought puppy portraits were completed and ready for viewing? HA! Not quite yet.

You know the way we say everything is challenging? Well… multiply that times 13!

The day started with the idea that we could somehow convince a 9 week old pup to stand pretty on a table. (Would the best show dog in the world stand on a table at 9 weeks?) Anyhow, Perky was our first candidate and he failed miserably. He thought the table was too high: “Yikes, scary!” and the stuffed squirrel was eatable “Hey… bring that squeaky thing back here!”

We then switched to the ground. Perhaps we could hold a puppy still while snapping a few quality shots. Nope. Creamer did her best to pose as she hung in mid air. I agree it’s a pretty shot, but a hanging puppy?!?

Perky doesn’t like the height but the squirrel looks good; Creamer ‘hangs in there’.

Then we switched to a method that we have successfully used in the past: set up a background and have a ‘puppy wrangler’ wrap up in a sheet while helping the puppy “pose”. HA!

Background READY; wrangler READY; Puppy READY!

This ‘tried and true’ method was still quite challenging! We think that some of our difficulties were due to our rookie photo assistants. These two were not as qualified as our past assistants. But they enjoyed their jobs!

In between snapping photos, Barb coaches her assistants Tig and Rambler; SMILE!

We now have 1,500 photos to go through. We are hoping that we might find ONE good one of each pup. Once we have this done, we’ll get them on the website. Promise! Here’s a few that didn’t make the cut:

Bean’s best side is up side down; Barista says “which way?”; Sanka prefers to cuddle.

Decaf likes belly rubs; Quito’s little girl kisses; Quito’s little boy likes to nuzzle.

The Coffee Pup Portraits will be posted Sunday.
The Golden Harness Pup Portraits will be posted next Sunday.