SPK Dog Log

Congratulations to Kate Laine who has won this week’s draw. Kate is a fan of FELIX.

Felix is the never ending energy on the team – truly an Energizer Bunny. As he matures he more and more resembles his All-Star father, Biscuit. Felix is happy to be a sled dog and shows that with his amazing ability to just keep going, and going, and going…

Kate’s winner’s prize pack includes one of our limited edition T-shirts and some other goodies.

The next fan club draw is on December 11th. If you haven’t already won this season or if you are a new member your name will be in the next draw.

Click the button below for instructions on how to join:

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

We’re thankful for our families and friends, our supporters and fans. And this handsome crew – they are our everything and who it’s all about…

From all of us at SP Kennel, we wish you a happy Thanksgiving!

This time of year — now that snow is falling and temperatures are dropping — training runs are getting quite long. So, when hooking up teams, we want to be as efficient as possible in order to get out on the run ASAP. But, we also want to remember everything: fish snacks, headlights, extra harnesses, snow hooks, parkas, dog jackets, booties and much more.

Allen works with Schmoe next to the harness Rack; Two teams are almost ready to go.

When we hook up two training teams simultaneously, the sleds and mainlines are positioned in the middle of the yard. The harness rack is directly in the center. There is a clipboard on the rack with the names, harness sizes and positions of every dog on the team. Just in case, there is a permanent “cheat sheet” affixed to the rack that lists all dogs with their harness size. Each musher is generally in charge of hooking up his or her team ~ usually front to rear.

L-R Lydia is ready, Outlaw gets boots while Lester looks on; Chipper gets special treatment.

With our harness and line system there are no necklines. So after the dogs are harnessed and hooked into their position they will often mill around; sniffing, peeing and socializing. They understand that it is not quite time to leave. Our dogs enjoy this pre-run social time.

When it’s time to work… the mushers says “READY?!?” and the dogs face forward, tighten their tug lines, quit socializing and are there to work! It’s an awesome sight to see the teams leave the yard.

Teams One leaves the yard: Kodiak, Lydia, Spark, Schmoe, Scooter, Sissy, Chipper, Coal, Hotshot, Daisy, Sandy and Felix; Team Two is right behind: Junior, Commando, Scruggs, Dutch, Outlaw, Nomex, Clyde, Chemo, Violet and Pepe.

In this video; Waylon and Kodiak are in lead; then Dutch and Sissy; Torch and Amber; Woody and Outlaw; and in wheel: Biscuit and Sandy.

November sunrise over the SP Kennel dog yard.

It came to my attention today that the daylight in Two Rivers is quite limited these days. Sunrise this morning was at 9:36 AM and sunset will be at 3:34 PM. So, we will have the possibility of 6 hours and 4 minutes of daylight. This is super considering today we will have 6 minutes and 25 seconds more daylight than tomorrow.
Yippee!

Mid November makes me look at the sky and think back to mid June when we had all daylight hours. Of course, I am the kind of person who looks ahead as well… and December 21st is really just around the corner. On the shortest day of the year, the sun will rise just before 11 AM and it will set about 3 1/2 hours later.

Good thing dogs can see well in the dark!

Where the heck’s the trail, Commando?!

It was 20 below zero Fahrenheit today in Two Rivers. Quito’s puppies are living indoors at 30 above zero and “visiting” the chilly outdoors periodically. They are growing their fuzzy winter coats but aren’t quite up to enduring our first cold snap of the season.

We thought you might enjoy a video of the youngsters’ playtime in the big house.

We have had a few snow falls in the last week and the trails are shaping up nicely. So much so, that we took several teams to the east of the kennel towards the first Yukon Quest Checkpoint. No one, except for the occasional fox or snowshoe hair, had been over the far side of the trail.

LOOKING WEST – No sign of the YQ trail!; LOOKING EAST – Chris and Wes rest the dogs.

Kodiak and Junior were the first dogs over this portion of Yukon Quest trail. The sibling duo laid down a very nice route that now all dog teams will follow for the remainder of the season.
That being said… it’s nice to start the season being the FIRST place dog team on the Yukon Quest trail. We like that! We just need to keep it up until February 15th!

Kodiak and Junior pose for the camera while Mismo and Izzy take a break; Nacho and Cayenne and ready to go; Torch and Nomex are next; and in wheel are Wedgy and Felix (you can see Felix’s head.)

Congratulations to Kathy Ferrel who has won this week’s draw.

Kathy is a fan of LESTER

Lester is the little man that everyone looks up to. He has been the ‘steady-as-he-goes’ lead dog for several years now and despite his rather petite size and calm attitude, the younger dogs look to him for guidance. Lester is important and he knows it.

Kathy’s winner’s prize pack includes a mounted and signed photograph of Allen’s 2014 Iditarod team along with a few other fun goodies. Coincidently, Lester was on Allen’s team that year and, although you can’t make him out in the photo, he was there!

The next Thanksgiving themed fan club draw is on November 27th. If you haven’t already won this season or if you are a new member your name will be in the next draw.

Click the button below for instructions on how to join:

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