SPK Dog Log

After a 26-hour flight from New Zealand, the final member of this winter’s crew has rejoined her Alaska family here at the kennel. Moira arrived late Sunday night and, after catching up on some much-needed rest, was up bright and early Monday morning to greet the dogs.

We are trying to take it “easy” on Moira for the first couple of days, as kennel life is quite the change of pace from her other job, with the Ministry of Education in NZ. Won’t last long, though, as there is always lots to do!

Right: Moira reunites with one of her favorites, Spicy.

Allen and Aliy were in New England for just over four days. It was a whirlwind trip. Aliy has lots of “history” in area. She was born in New Hampshire and lived in the area as a youngster. (Although at a breakfast gathering her old family friends couldn’t decide what kind of “accent” she now has!)

However, one of the best moments of the trip was seeing Hoss – an SP Kennel retiree who, after finishing Iditarod in lead, went to live with Tom and Cindy in Pennsylvania. He has had a rough year with shoulder surgery and a cancer scare. So, it was absolutely delightful to see him (and his humans)!

Aliy, Cindy, Hoss, Allen (and Tom who was taking the photo) had a great visit.

But, that wasn’t all…

Other kennel retirees: KitKat, Garlic and Heidi came to join in the fun. And, Hunter, who is now the only brown dog in an all white dog kennel really stood out! Even Lourdes brought kennel mascot “Nome” to visit the mushers. What a treat! Aliy and Allen even ran into SP K dog sponsors and many website enthusiasts.

L-R: Hunter is ready to race; Kitkat, Garlic and Heidi show some love.

But, visiting old friends was only part of the trip. Aliy and Allen were graciously hosted by Christine and Kip at Seal Cove Kennel. The old New England farm house and barn are home to about 30 fantastic dogs and two humans. Breakfast was oatmeal topped with their homemade Maple Syrup and dinner was lobster (Kip and Christine are also fisherman) and beef from the local fields. It was hard to leave!

L-R: Christine’s comfy old Farm House; Lobster dinner with friends.

Let’s just say… Allen and Aliy left New England with a warm feeling from past times, present situations and future possibilities. It was a GREAT trip!

Pebbles waits at the window for Christine and Kip to come in from feeding dogs.

It’s all about perspective. While pondering which pup should go in each group, Allen said “Why do we have to split them up at all? Why don’t we just build a duplex?”

So… there you go. SP Kennel Fire Litter will stay together!

Newly renovated 2-door, rustic, long interior bedroom, elevated SP K Duplex.

The litter if eleven have come to a crossroads in life. The litter turns three months old this weekend. How the time flies! But, they now have issues that many of our other SP Kennel litters have not had.

Ten Fire Pups sit at a crossroads in front of the Handler Cabin late in the evening. They were on their post dinner puppy walk and were headed home to sleep.

The biggest issue is: there are too many bodies for one dog house! That’s right. It’s becoming very close quarters. As they continue to grow, their dog house doesn’t! Occasionally we can hear them in the middle of the night: “Hey get off me!” or “That’s my side!”

People have asked “Why don’t you just put two dog house in the pen and they can split up themselves?” We have tried. They all continue to pile in one house. They like each other!

So, the challenge in the next few days will be to split them up into two sleeping pens. We’d like to split them up into personality groups: excited, high strung and fast versus laid back and more calm. But, we are working on that!

During the late night puppy walk last night, we got one thing figured out: Coal would like to sleep in our bed. He continuously mentioned that he was okay with being split up with his bro’s and sis’s. He said that a spot alongside ChaCha, on the Lazy Boy chair in our bedroom, would be just fine.

Puppy number eleven, Coal, never came to the crossroads. He hung back with the mushers saying “Pleaseeeeee. Pleaseeeee. I’m sure Granny ChaCha won’t mind!”

WE PROMISE BETTER PUPPY PICTURES TO COME!

Aliy and Allen had a great time at the Northern New England Trade Fair and Seminar this past weekend in New Hampshire. They did several talks and answered questions about their lifestyle, dog care and of course, sled dog racing. They camped out Saturday night with folks from around New England, as well as their dogs.

L-R: The crowd was fantastic; Allen and Aliy shows videos of SP Kennel.

Everyone throughly enjoyed the Sunday morning races. There were quite a few classes to choose from: one-dog, two-dog, three/four dog rig, five/six dog rig and a canicross. WHAT FUN!

L-R: A Siberian is ready to roll; an excited Pitbull Mix; Four-Dog Class from Boston area

L-R: The team waits their turn to race; “3 – 2 – 1 GO!” And their off!.

Just before Mickey left Alaska, she and Doug took several training rides with the dogs. They wanted to get to know some of the younger dogs better, since the next time they will see them is at the Iditarod! So, here is a video clip of Aliy talking exclusively about the brothers: Felix and Pepe.

The boys were born August 17, 2011. They are from a litter of five (Izzy, Mismo and Neslon are the other three.) Quito is their Mom and Biscuit is their Dad. The Golf Litter (Driver, Iron, Woody, Sandy, Chipper and Wedgy) are the identical breeding, but one year younger.

Popa Allen holding his granddaughter; Khloe Grace Smith born October 1, 2013

Every year it’s a three-way competition between Mother Nature, the dogs and the mushers. Most of the time, the dogs and the mushers are on the same side … but not this time!

Dogs are dogs. They like to dig, run around, bury bones and generally – act like dogs. This creates a yard full of holes with hidden bones, holes with out hidden bones (hey.. where’d it go?), holes with poop, holes with rocks, holes with anything that seemed like a good idea to bury at the time. Therefore by the end of September the yard resembles a exploded mine field.

The Top Five Hole Producers of 2013 are: (drum roll please…)

L-R: Izzy; Lester; Pepe

L-R: Fang; and the winner is… Tatfish (his house actually levitated between two holes)

By October (that’s tomorrow) Mother Nature swings by, elects a winner and immediately freezes the results in the yard as they lay. So these holes stay where they are – frozen in time and space – unless we fill them before then! This situation can be bad. Real bad. Actually, a few years ago, an SP Kennel visitor (dog lover and musher fan) walked through the yard, loving the dogs and ladling out the morning kibble. She slipped into one of the holes and broke her ankle and had to visit the local hospital. OUCH! Therefore, we try desperately to avoid that kind of thing.

Yesterday, September 29th, Allen and Aliy rented a skid steer bulldozer and “took back the yard”. It was more than an all day affair for two people. Aliy moved all of the dogs and all of the houses. The houses were washed and cleaned. Allen spent 8 hours on the bulldozer filling holes, back dragging the yard and re pounding posts. Needless to say, it was a night for Ibuprofen.

DURING:

Collecting all of the houses; Willie has a nice clean house

Allen smooths the yard with the skid steer; Pretty smooth!

All of the houses and most of the dogs returned to their homes yesterday evening. Several top “hole performers” are staying in temporary accommodations until the ground freezes solid. Tatfish, Fang and Pepe got kennels in the Dog Barn last night. Waylon and Tug were moved to the Barn this morning.

AFTER:

L-R: Viper speaks his mind “You RUINED Everything!”; Mac says “You do realize that it took me all summer to get that hole how I wanted it?!?”

Come on Mother Nature. Tomorrow is October. Let’s freeze it up!