Dogs

Fan Club Draw – October

October 30, 2019 by

It’s Dog Fan Club Draw day! It’s the first draw of the season. We put the dogs’ names in a cap and first picked a Dog winner. Then we picked one of his fans from the cap next. We tried to get Olivia and Nacho to help us with the first draw of the season.

 

Congratulations to Kelly and Donnie Ramey who are fans of Gold. They win a packet of the treasured SP Kennel M&M’s (actually we’ll send two packets so there is no bickering over M&Ms) plus a glam shot of Gold and some other kennel goodies.

Gold is a gorgeous, three-year old red husky. He is a real stand out at the kennel. His father’s side of the family (Clyde) gives him his coloration and sweet nature. His mother’s side of the family (Quito) gives him his fantastic ears and sled dog drive.

A special thank you to Nacho and Olivia for ‘helping’ with the first Fan Club Draw of the season. Good times had by all.

To find out more about our athletes look at the “Dogs” page. To join the Dog Fan Club you can hit the “Become a Dog Fan” tab at the top of the page or click here. We will have a Fan Club Draw twice a month or more during race time and special events. It’s fun. Support your dog or dogs!

The Kennel

SP Kennel Crew

October 28, 2019 by

Before we introduce the entire SP Kennel Crew for the season, we really just need to just talk about Karolyn.

Karolyn has returned to SPK for a second season (plus an add-on month back in 2015). Karolyn has moved her belongings back into the Handler Cabin after a summer away. She spreads her dog love evenly between the SP Kennel crew and her canine threesome: Kenobi, Habibi and Rey. Lucky for her… she has a lot of love to go around.

We are thrilled to have her here and more importantly so are the dogs. She knows all of the SP Kennel athletes intimately. Some even more than others!

Karolyn was at the kennel when the Coffee Litter and the Golden Harness Litter were born 4 years ago. She babysat Gravy during some of his more challenging puppyhood days last year. And she has been the best Auntie ever to Bill and Wu. We had a fantastic season last year and it promises to be even better this year.

Karolyn is an experienced musher with miles of experience on a dog sled. She will be increasing that mileage even more with her first 300-mile race in February.

Yukon Quest 300 here she comes! We are super excited that she will be heading out on the Quest trail.

Not only is Karolyn a dog lover and musher she is also ‘Johnny on the spot’ when it comes to fix-it projects and to do’s. Our endless to do list grows and grows until Karolyn has a down day and gets a few of those scratched off the list. When I mean endless… I mean: id new dog collars, weigh dogs, cut toenails, fix dog dishes, pass out straw, clean up straw, unload tons (literally) of dog kibble, cut up salmon, make new name plates, take photos, check the Post Office box, fix the dog boxes, paint dog houses, change S hooks, hand out rawhides knuckle bones… and that was today!

So, an enormous thank you to Karolyn for coming back to us for the season. Let’s have some fun!

 

 

The Kennel

Brown to White Overnight

October 25, 2019 by

Yesterday was dusty, dry warm and BROWN. Here’s a photo of the teams parked in front of Pleasant Valley Store when we stopped to ladle out fresh water to all.

This morning the scene has changed to WHITE. Although we did not get an overwhelming amount of snow, the dusting sure made running dogs a bit more fun!

The Kennel

Website “Search…” Feature

October 24, 2019 by

We have heard a few comments from those of you who might ‘study’ the SP Kennel website once in a while. One such comment was “How can I easily SEARCH your site?”

For instance, let’s assume your favorite dog is Peach. Well… how would you find out more about the little floppy-eared dog?

Type in “Peach” into the Search … area and let the website do the work. This new feature is located in the upper right hand screen if you are viewing it on a computer.

This same Search … engine is located on the last line on the mobile menu for those of you using a phone.

So Search … away to your heart’s content. You might learn that two winters ago Peach won the “Who wears it best?” puppy sweater competition. Or you might learn that Peach was talented at ‘Tug of War’ but often lost out to the Queen of the Game: Tig.

Anyhow, learn what you can. Share some stories. But most of all enjoy the the dogs and tails (or tales) from SP Kennel.

 

 

Races

The Season Ahead

October 22, 2019 by

Dogs and humans at SP Kennel are training and conditioning for the season ahead.

What’s the plan, you ask?

So far, the only races that we have signed up for are:

  • Aliy has entered the Iditarod
  • Karolyn has entered the Yukon Quest 300

But our Mushing Calendar has several more events highlighted.

  • The final day to sign up for the Yukon Quest is November 29th or January 3rd as a late entry with additional fee penalties. Allen is waiting until November to decide if he will race the Quest again.
  • The deadline to sign up for the Copper Basin 300 is December 1st. Thereafter an additional fee will apply to enter. We could have one or two teams in this race.
  • The Two Rivers Dog Mushing Assoc has several races on their docket this season. Being held on SP Kennel backyard trails, these races are “easy” to enter. They are planning mid distance races in December, January and March.

There is quite a bit of time and a lot of training miles to complete before the races begin. But… that’s over half the fun! We could also use some snow before we RACE!

 

The Kennel | Training

Campfire Dogs

October 20, 2019 by

We enjoyed a campfire cookout with the dogs earlier this week. As those of you who follow our racing know, we “camp out” with our dog teams a lot during races. It’s part of a successful long distance race plan. Anyhow, why not “camp out” on a delightful afternoon in Two Rivers to practice?

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We ran 30 dogs and 6 humans to a nice sunny spot just to the west of the kennel, laid out straw beds and gave everyone a tasty snack. Most dogs slept peacefully in the sunshine, whereas some of them played with sticks (Peach and Scooby) or wrestled each other (Bruno and QT) or didn’t like their neighbor and had to sit in the corner (Kodiak.)

Thankfully the humans got along perfectly.

Allen can build a fire whether it’s +50ºF above or -50ºF and Wendy packs the best campfire meals. Kaz was the quesadilla cook. Karolyn toasted her marshmallows perfectly. S’More anyone?

Not everyone appreciated Aliy’s latest camp fire idea: banana boats cooked in the fire. It’s a banana cut out of half of its skin then topped with nuts or marshmallows or chocolate. Thankfully we also had hot dogs and quesadillas to grill. And of course… MARSHMELLOWS!

Sam has been working at the kennel this fall so this was his “day off” with the dogs. Sam…see you this afternoon buddy! There is always work to be done and we are happy to have an enthusiastic youngster to help out!

Alaska

Lynx in the Neighborhood

October 17, 2019 by

We have been training teams with an ATV 4 wheeler for 3 weeks as the fall mud season turns into the winter frozen season. It’s always amazing to watch nature’s progression. Soon we won’t notice that everything is frozen solid and the sunshine is nonexistent.

I was training a team yesterday afternoon. I called it the “Big Girls Squad” to honor my leaders: Chipper and Sanka. Ha! The rest of the team was: Chevie and Champ, Perky and Spark., QT and Kodiak, Bruno by him self, Jefe by himself and Cayenne and Scooby in the back. Anyhow, we had climbed up and over a small mountain, around its base and were coming home when I looked out onto the slough. We travel on that slough as soon as the ice depth is sufficient to hold us. I saw a what I thought was weird looking log out in the middle and thought, “That’s gonna be right in the middle of our trail.” There are quite a few beavers working the area so anything is possible. Then I stopped and stared at the log for a while. It had little black tipped ears. I was able to capture the moment that the log became a lynx. Pretty cool actually!

 

Here is a description of our neighbor:

Denali NPS Photo – Ken Conger

With a dense silvery-brown coat, ruffed face and tufted ears, the Canada lynx resembles the other species of the mid-size feline genus Lynx. It is slightly larger than the bobcat, with which it shares parts of its range, and over twice the size of the domestic cat. The lynx is a medium-sized cat and is between 80 and 100 centimetres (31 and 39 in) in head-and-body length, stands 48–56 centimetres (19–22 in) tall at the shoulder and weighs 5–18 kilograms (11–40 lb). It has forelimbs shorter than the hindlimbs, so that the back appears to be sloping downward toward the front. The stubby tail, typical of lynxes, measures 5–15 centimetres (2.0–5.9 in).

Dogs | Sponsors

Dog Fan Club OPEN!

October 15, 2019 by

The SP Kennel Fan Club

DOG TEAM: a unified force of individual spirits and unique personalities

We receive a lot of feedback that this program is a real favourite with you as you get to proudly support “your” dog or dogs. You also win some fabulous prizes throughout the season AND get the chance to treat your dog to extras from the Fan Club Biscuit Bucket. What’s not to love?

Last year we gave away posters, race guides, race memorabilia and other topical prizes to our lucky winners (of the human variety.) This year we will be doing these multiple topical draws plus every Fan Club winner gets a packet of SP Kennel one of a kind M&M’s. Our dogs are unique… so are the M&M’s.

How to Join

On your computer screen, the top of the page has a direct link to the Become a Dog Fan. On your phone/mobile sites, a mobile menu is at the top right of your screen. This will bring you to the link as well. If you find issues with any of the above please let us know.

You might need to spend some time looking at the Dog Bios or perhaps you know who your canine BFF is already! To become a Fan simply choose any dog from the Fan Club Signup. When you hit “submit” this will take you to a Paypal page for payment by Paypal or Credit Card. If you wish to pay by check don’t complete this form, simply post us a check and let us know who you wish to be a fan of. Post us @ SP Kennel, PO Box 16226, Two Rivers AK 99716.

The SPK Dog Fan program runs on a seasonal basis. We have cleared the fans from years past and are ready to add new fans from this season. We add Dog Fans to a dog’s Bio page twice a week through out the season. If you don’t see your name soon after joining, please let us know.

If you can’t choose a favourite, then become a fan of more than one dog!

Fan Club Drawings

Throughout the season, we have random Fan Club drawings from all of the Dogs and their Fans. The winning Dog gets some extra treats – courtesy of the SP Kennel Dog Fan Biscuit Bucket. The winning Fan will receive a “glam shot” in addition to their M&M’s. Look for these in the US Mail within the month.

All our Dog Fan Club members that join between today, October 15th, and March 1st 2020 will be sent a collectors postcard from Nome with the official ‘End of Iditarod Trail’ postmark. We never know when you might receive this special gift, but we promise to mail it.

Thanks from everyone here at SP Kennel. Lets have a fun-filled and fantastic Season! 

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