Dogs | Retired

Super Woman – Olivia

January 10, 2019 by

Congratulations Olivia on being inducted into the SP Kennel All Star Hall of Fame!

Big-O turned 11 years old over the summer and today is harnessed up ready to run! She’s not running far or fast but she still enjoys a jaunt to the bridge and back or along the slough trail.

Olivia is a Wonder Woman incarnate. Mother to three litters (Secrets, Fire and Coffee) and now, grandma to Junior’s pups, Olivia is a firecracker of a champion race dog. Small and racy with a huge attitude and heart, Big O enjoyed racing at the top level for many years. She is a Yukon Quest and Copper Basin 300 champion and runner up in the Iditarod and has contributed significantly to the success the kennel has enjoyed. You can pick her out of the line up as she was often in lead – side by side with Quito. In her mature years, she didn’t step out of the spotlight. She has been a key player on the junior varsity race teams – even racing at 10 years old.

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Olivia and her fellow All-Star boyfriend/husband Nacho live side-by-side and enjoy a comfortable co-existence in ‘the Plaza’ these days. They run free around the yard, usually Nacho following behind his blue-eyed beauty. The genetic combination of Olivia (ChaCha X Oddball) and Nacho (Venus X Zorro) have created the prototypical SP Kennel dog: happy, tail-wagging, small and fast … and best of all they LOVE being sled dogs. A majority of the Racers today are their puppies. It is amazing to think that during the height of Olivia’s racing career not only was she winning races (often in lead) but also whelping and rearing large litters of puppies doing her summer “off”. Olivia is a Super Mom and an overall Super Dog!

Check out her All Stars profile and those of our other Hall-of-Famers through this link or under The Dogs/All-Stars on the menu on the left.

Puppies

Pup Updates: Gravy, Bill and Wu

January 7, 2019 by

As youngsters do… our puppies are growing up quickly. Bill & Wu are now 5 months old and Gravy is 4 months.

Bill and Wu are best buddies and spend 99.9% of the time together. We have taken them on collared leash walks separately but the whining and screeching by “one who is left behind” is almost unbearable. The boys play, sleep and wrestle much of the day. They are chubby, healthy and furry husky pups. They eat in separate dishes but watch each other out of the corners of their eyes. “Is he done yet?”

Once in a while, their long-legged uncle Mac comes to visit and they will play in the field. Mac is an enormous, burly fellah so the intimidation factor exists now and then. Mac told Wu to leave his caribou antler alone a month ago and Wu has never forgotten that moment. Who would?
They have two play pens in which they spend most of their time. But Wu, like his daddy Rodney, doesn’t appreciate the pen off to the east of the house and he vocally will let us humans know of his displeasure. So, if anyone wants to sleep at night we do NOT leave the boys in the eastern most pen. We think the issue might be that here was a cross fox tromping around in the woods just behind this pen and Wu didn’t like the fluffy canine being anywhere near him.

Years ago when daddy Rodney stayed in this pen as a puppy he simply learned that when he barked, the light breeze would carry his lovely voice up to the house and Aliy would come bring him a treat or biscuit or food or food or food… basically Aliy was trained up nicely by the time Rodney moved out of that pen!

Gravy is all together different than his cousins. He spent two full weeks in a cast for his broken hind leg. Of course, a cast can’t get wet, dirty or chewed on. RIGHT….. Honestly, we did our best and Gravy was incredibly cooperative although now he is incredibly spoiled and is somewhat offended when his dog bed and his couch are occupied. Thank goodness he just goes off and sulks and doesn’t take up his consternation with Scout or Quito.

During his 2 week cast period he had an enormous growth spurt and that helped the healing. He is now cast free but still has two weeks of confinement. “Confinement” at SPK means carefully playing with a chew toy, kong or tennis ball. Not extreme rough housing and no running loose across the yard. YIPPEE… I’m free. Let’s just say: We are doing the best we can!

The other significant development that has happened in the last 3 days is that both of Gravy’s ears now stand up. We have been hoping that his rather ridiculous ears would make a choice and either stand up or flop over. They have made up their mind… finally!

Races

Copper Basin 300 in one week!

January 5, 2019 by

The second Saturday in January has become a fixed engagement on the SPK racing calendar for around 15 years. The Copper Basin 300 is one of the kennel’s favourite races and this year is no different. Allen will be taking 12 elite athletes plus support crew down to Glennallen for the 2019 CB300 race that kicks off in one week – on Saturday, 12th January at 10am local time. It is touted as the toughtest 300 miles in Alaska and I’m sure the mushers would concur! It traverses some of the most challenging but also the most beautiful parts of the state.

Preparations

This week the crew will be busy with final preparations – packing supplies into the drop bags that will be sent ahead of the teams to the checkpoint, inspecting and setting aside the racing harnesses and lines, assembling team-packs of booties and meal size kibble portions. They will also ensure the support vehicles are primed and ready, packed with all the essentials as they follow the race by road. The CB300 has it written in the rules that each team must have a handler at each checkpoint so reliable transport is critical!

As the week progresses Allen will finalise his team line-up and start tapering their training so they are fit and rearing to go come Saturday. He will pack his race gear into his sled, including the mandatory gear (sleeping bag, hand ax, snowshoes, cooker and fuel, food for dogs and musher plus spare booties) and gather his personal clothing and equipment. Even through he knows this race like the back of his hand he still consults a master checklist to ensure nothing is left behind.

Race Route

This year due to low snow conditions the race will start at Gakona and continue from there to Red Eagle Lodge in Chistochina, to Meiers Lake Roadhouse to Sourdough camp to The Point Lodge on Lake Louise and finishing at Old Paths Baptist Church in Glennallen town.

Total race trail distance from start to finish is approximately 263 miles

Find out more about the route, the rules by visiting the CB300 website.

Coverage

We will be covering the race, of course, through an SPK-centric lens and will bring you updates from the trail and from Moira who is following the race from the NZ summer. Check back with us here often and also on our Facebook page and maybe even Instagram too!

For the best overall race updates keep an eye on the CB300 website and their Facebook page.

For the last few races the local Glennallen radio station KCAM has live streamed the start and finish of the race plus giving updates through the weekend so tune in closer to the time for that. They have really knowledgeable commentators and are great supporters of the race. You can also keep an eye on the weather in the area with this link.

You might also like to support the race directly through their “sponsor a mile” program. It is a well-run and managed race with many great people involved. Thanks to several of you who already have! There is also some supporters gear available to purchase on-line.

We will post again, closer to “go time” with a race roster and handler crew details. With Allen getting to choose only 12 canine athletes to take with him he will have a hard time deciding!

Top graphic by Margaret Wirtenberg

Dogs | Sponsors

Lydia Wins New Year Dog Fan Club Draw

January 1, 2019 by

Happy New Year to all our Dog Fan Club members – we hope that you achieved your goals for 2018 and that 2019 is spectacular! Thank you for your support this year!

Congratulations to Maryella Woodman who is a fan of Lydia! Thanks so very much for joining Lydia’s Dog Fan Club and supporting SP Kennel.

Lydia takes after her Mom Olivia with her small stature, feisty personality and blazing blue eyes. She is one to always make herself comfortable wherever she is – whether it be curling up on the couch or on a parka that has been set on the ground while hooking up the team. She is a bit of a contradiction in that she is a tough little nugget but enjoys the comforts of life. It makes no difference to her that her siblings Dutch, Kodiak and Junior are the more “well known” racers, she has more than enough self-esteem to cope!

Maryella, you’ll be receiving a fun “Alaska” beanie, a glam shot of Ms Lydia plus some other kennel goodies.

Find out more about our athletes 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.

Dogs | Training

The Horizon looks bright ahead!

January 1, 2019 by

Happy new year to you all.

Just the other day while 12 dogs and myself were going on a 70 mile camp out in the hills I started thinking about the future. And, by golly, it seemed awfully bright to me. The new year is here and the opportunities and possibilities for my self, my dogs, my family, my friends… all of YOU folks… are endless. There is so much we can do and be!

Perhaps my thoughts were incredibly upbeat and positive because of the fantastically brilliant horizon that continually glowed in the distance throughout my day. It had to be telling me something. The sun was in full view throughout the day because we were traveling along a trail that hugs the southern rim of a ridge line. I watched the sunrise at 10:57AM, the incredible midday sun and then the sunset at 2:47PM. To say the horizon was brilliant is an understatement. At times, the pinks, oranges and yellows consumed the entire sky. As hours went by, it was more and more glorious. I hate to admit that it had my complete attention at times and I nearly slipped off the sled runners twice. The horizon was so spectacular that I could not put my camera down. The horizon was no less than SPECTACULAR! By the time I reached camp, just at sunset, the violet glow of the sky even had me taking photos of our ragged arctic oven tent.

Maybe you will see the brightness and brilliancy of the future in this video as well. I hope so. If not, then simply: Enjoy! And sincerely… let’s – ALL OF US –  have the best 2019 that we can!

Dogs

Full Moon Mushing

December 27, 2018 by

This past week the full moon of December, ironically called the Full Cold Moon, arrived on December 22nd. What a lovely time to mush with a happy, determined team of huskys! At winter solstice, the sun does not spend much time in the northern hemisphere.

So, as we sit in interior Alaska patiently waiting for a little more sunshine everyday… the full moon was a blessing!

The Kennel

Merry Christmas & Holiday Cheer

December 24, 2018 by

The SPK dogs are waiting for Santa.

Lydia and Scout made a deal with the rest of the dogs that they would stay up all night waiting for the fat, jolly red man to appear. Aliy made a last minute check on Gravy at 11PM and while wearing her large red race parka, they almost jumped the gun and howled “SANTA!” But… no he’s not here yet.

Driver and QT are on the official NORAD Santa Tracker website and they see him still in Nebraska. QT likes her Apple MacBook Pro, whereas Driver is a Windows laptop geek (who would have guessed?) Right now they are keeping Allen awake playing Free Cell (thanks to Doug for that game being introduced to SPK!)

Cloud and Peach, who are both feeling quite domestic, broke out of the Heat Pen and hung all the dogs’ stockings (we call them booties here) up for treats. They are hung in the garage (which clearly does NOT make the garage smell like cinnamon and spice). But they are ready to be filled and hopefully Jolly St. Nick will not be intimidated by some of the brown stained, somewhat smelly footwear. Hint, hint: dog treats, biscuits and chew bones of any sort are appreciated! Cloud and Peach got into no other “trouble” while they were out and about.

Opps… Scout just claimed to be a tired, grouchy, scrooge – yea, like no one knew that already – and left Lydia alone to watch for Santa. Scout said he needed his beauty rest. Lydia is on her own. How can Santa resist that face? Not a chance!

You must admit that Jeanne Schnackenberg is the absolute best photographer. We can not thank her enough for all the time and effort she puts into taking fantastic and fun photos of SPK dogs. And these are REAL photos. Not photoshop! Here is the kennel garage with Jeanne in action. The only hiccup was that Lydia and Scout required Yummy Chummies in their dressing rooms for rehearsal. PICKY! And without Karolyn and Wendy to help out, there would have been about 10% of the Christmas cheer.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

 

Races

Two Rivers Solstice Race Results

December 23, 2018 by

The race was a success for Bridgett and the SPK dogs. They started and they finished. Yay! Unknown finishing position as of yet, but Two Rivers Dog Mushing Association – understandably – has limited volunteers just days before Christmas. So it was exciting to simply have a race course and a local race.

It was quite the family gathering at the starting line and at the finish, but also there was an enthusiastic cheering section along Baseline (5 miles from the finish) at Casa de Kaz. You can’t ask for more than that!

Congrats to Bridgett, Chena, Sanka, Lydia, Ginger, Daisy, Barista, Iron, Jefe, Felix and Decaf!

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