Trek!

Trek has been in our home now for about 6 weeks. He came in terrified of men and when I picked him up to put him in the rig he peed all over us. Poor guy, but he loves Nicki.




and he loves to skijor. Here he is running with Rocket. Looking pretty happy he is.


Running along side Valley:







We've been taking him to the same spot over and over again. Shy dogs learn from repetition and consistency. Its the main way they learn to trust. It must be working, because when we come out with the harness, he plants himself next to Nicki :)

Happy Howl-i-days

We are wishing the visitors to the blog the happiest holiday season, and a year full of healthy adventures.

Spiritwalker

We went out for a little tour Saturday ending up on Spiritwalker near Summit Lake. It was a great day, with some sunshine and warmer temps up high. We lucked out and the skin track was set too, which made it easy on the dogs.

We skied up to and down the knob along the ridge behind Valley. It was a great powder day with 12 or 16 inches of powder on a hard rain crust. You can see why I was excited the dogs had a trail to charge up the hill on.


On our way down we had good views up Mills Creek before it clouded up.

Just how does he do it?

Just how does a guy let 3 malamutes off leash in a half million acre state park and then retrieve them at the end of the day?

35th Annual

Today marks the 35th annual ski on Thanksgiving Day. I started back in college and I am still going. I remember bumping into Will Putman someplace in Fairbanks sometime after I arrived and we skied at his house for years. I remember a memorable ski up from my place in Fairbanks near the Old Nenana and Henderson Road up to the top of Ester Dome. But most of all I remember having a dinner afterwards with friends and being thankful for all the happiness of the day.

It was a great day, we had a big storm blow through that brought rain, high winds and lots of warmth. We almost lost our snow pack. Today we woke up to 4 inches of wet snow. After breakfast we put it to good use. :) Its still snowing now, so far the storm total is about 10 inches. I suppose it'll go all night.

After the storm earlier in the week, this is plenty to be thankful for.

Ice Dancing

When we go cross country skiing we go cross country. This means we don't always have a trail and we have to make our own. Sometimes there are stream crossings.


This doesn't seem like such a big deal until you check out Nicki's face in the picture. This is a closeup. Click the picture to get a close up.


Look at her face out on the ice.


A little happier to have made it across. (This is actually the 2nd stream crossing :) )


Jago (Babe) decided to she wanted more of an adventure so she walked up and down the stream on the ice.


Valley on the first crossing.


The dogs walk on ice gingerly, very careful indeed. They go right across though.

These stream crossings are really "pretty small potatoes" since they are so small. Its early in the season, so we have to make sure the ice is strong enough, but that's my job :)

Best Buds

Valley and Rocket are best buddies. They often sleep next to each other, however if Rocket touches Valley when she is sleeping WatchOut! She comes out of a dead sleep to snarl and bark at him.


These two girls are ok with each other. Valley would like to be Jago's friend but Jago isn't that into it. Jago might be if Valley would give her all her food but I don't think that's going to happen. What malamute gives up their food?


When I ask Valley if she wants off leash, she comes up to me tentatively, I reach over and let her off. I don't ever think she has ever said, "Not now, I am comfortable the way I am." Its nice to let them off and let them run. They love it, naturally. And its been a great confidence booster for Valley. Today she pulled for the first time ever while breaking trail.

Thirsty Girl

We made a run up on a local trail. 8 miles out and back. Lots of snow to eat but why do that when you can stand in the creek and drink the stuff instead?

Powderhound

We had a great day in the powder down on the Kenai. Here's Valley blasting her way through some powder.



and then running down the trail

Early Season Skiing.

We are in for a bout of early season skiing. Looks like another week with little or no snow. :( that's ok, we'll get out but it means finding this on your ski tips at the end of the day. LOL



Regardless the dogs have a great time. Who wouldn't its alot of fun to run and run and run.


Its amazing what running free has done for Valley. She really loves the stuff and her confidence has grown leaps and bounds. She used to be terrified of skis and now she runs up for a pet then charges off. Skiing, good for her, good for me.

Dawn Patrol

The first day of ski touring is always a good day, even if it is at Oh-Dark-30. Here's to the first day of skiing, only 99 more to go!

Why I like Malamutes

gotta love it when they go swimming with ice on the surface.

AMCA National Specialty

Last week we attended the Alaskan Malamute Club of America (AMCA) National Specialty in Denver Colorado. Before the event we visited with a niece who just graduated from College and started working. We then ventured to a [i]modern[/i] shelter in Longmont. Since we've been involved with the Alaska SPCA who drastically needs a new shelter, this was a real bonus.

Sunday we set up the Alaskan Malamute Assistance League (AMAL) booth to fund raise to help malamutes who need homes.

It didn't take long due to the generosity of many individuals for our space to overflow with gifts. Thank you for your generosity, each and every gift, large or small goes to support malamutes who need help. Whether you gave something to be sold at the booth, or purchased something, your help is very much appreciated.

I was lucky enough to spend the week with Lynne and Dan Anderson, who have to be some of the nicest folks a guy like me could spend time with. I had the pleasure to sit in the booth with Sharon from Polaris Alaskan Malamute Rescue of Colorado, Roberta of Alaskan Malamute Rescue of New Mexico, Carol of Golden Years Alaskan Malamute Rescue and Katy of Moonsong Malamute Rescue. Meeting these folks in person is kind of like meeting your favorite radio announcer, except I only know those folks through an email list serve.

There were also hundreds of malamutes. So many it makes the head spin at times. One of my favorite was Timberwolf who was part of the South Dakota malamute rescue over 3 years ago. This was a big rescue of nearly 20 something malamutes (if I remember correctly) who ended up in a shelter and needed help in a big way.

Timber won the regional and National Rally competition and earned his CGC.

For the past three years I flew down with Valley. At first I was told Valley would go into a crate for the event, but once they saw how Valley handled the affair, a crate hasn't been needed.


This is one of the rare moments when she was not flat on her side at the booth. Many folks couldn't imagine Valley could spend so much time laying still. Ha! At the Rescue Showcase reception, Valley got up on her paws and at least a dozen folk exclaimed "Valley got on her feet! Valley got on her feet!". Its entirely possible, that might have been the first time they had seen the phenomenon LOL.

The highlight of the week, besides visiting with Dan and Lynne, is the Rescue Showcase. Before hand, Sharon and Paul organized the "AMAL Annual Meeting" a tailgate party where they brought Beer! and food. It was a great way to meet the 16 malamutes, and their owners, who were going to be in the annual showcase.

I bet you can spot Valley in the picture :). All I needed to say to the owners was "What's your malamutes story", and I heard 16 great stories.

Here's the notorious Hoshi and the two wonderful folks she lets live with her.


Before long everybody lined up and Dan Anderson gave them instructions of what was going to happen.

With Katy's DSLR camera I took pictures of the Rescue Showcase, when I get those I'll post them here.

We were lucky enough to stay at a flophouse which graced us with rabbits on the lawn early in the morning and late at night. They provided lots of entertainment for Valley who loved to give chase. In the morning and after dinner we frequented the Sand Creek Greenway for long walks. We found gophers, deer, rabbits and geese. The ground hogs don't make the same sound as the marmots we have so they weren't so much a prey item as the deer and rabbits. Whoever trained the gophers to chirp in a low non-shrill voice, well Thank You! Every dog we met was on leash, now how about that!

Check those gopher holes out, you could lose a leg in there.

We left the Specialty early. Our malamutes need exercise and with two weekends without a good run, makes them antsy and difficult to live with. Saturday and Sunday, after the specialty, they ran good and fun.


Valley! For those folks who were excited about her getting up at the Rescue Showcase Reception, they'll love this :)






Thanks again for supporting Malamute Rescue. It was great meeting you and seeing you again. See you in Michigan next year!

First Snow

What a surprise, we were out hiking, the clouds dropped and we found ourselves in a snow storm. I can't complain about that.

Here are the first few flakes on Jago's head.


Fall colors first snow.


Lots of Moose starting to appear because of fall rut. One has to be more careful in the woods than with bears now. Moose Encounter of the 2nd Kind.


Moose Malamute Stare Down.


Moose Encounter of the First Kind. I had to run like crazy to get away from this guy. He just appeared out of the hemlock, then ran along side us as I trotted down the trail. There is no zoom on this picture.

Great day to be out hiking and enjoying the gift of our first snowfall.

2011 Calendar

After weeding the best 250 pictures out of thousands of photos I took last year, I finally picked 13 to go in this year's Fundog Calendar. It took 3 or 4 weeks of sitting at the computer to look through the years photos. Besides the great memories I have one sore rump. Now I have to figure out some one liners for each photo and we are ready to print.

If you'd like a calendar, email me. All the profits go to AMAL or the Alaskan Malamute Assistance League. AMAL is the U.S. national rescue organization for Malamutes and your donation funds veterinary care, emergency boarding and some transportation for malamutes who end up in shelters or the short end of the stick.


(click the picture to enlarge)

Last Weekend of Summer

We spent the last weekend of summer 2010 in neighboring Chugach State Park. The forecasted high winds appeared as we were about a mile from our destination for the first night. We were scoured by 40 mph winds and intense rain. While attempting to set up the tent we were lucky not to have it blown away, because several times it was squashed flat in the wind gusts. Nicki, myself, Rocket and Valley stayed in the tent. Jago decided she didn't want a part of it. Talk about tough as nails! This is the same dog crying murder because she was "stranded" on a rock in our last blog post LOL. Everytime the tent was blown flat Valley gave me this "Help Me" look. I petted and held her, letting her endure the storm sleeping between Nicki and myself.

We woke up in a cloudy drizzle with no wind. I had forgotten the cook kit so we couldn't heat up any water, meaning no breakfast, coffee or tea. That was enough for Nicki, so all of headed back to the trailhead and she stayed home. I picked up the cook kit and returned with Rocket to resume camping.

The second night we were afforded a beautiful sunset.


The dawn's light showed early fall colors down valley from our campsite, with the promise for some sun for the day.


The calm shown in the reflection of the lake we camped next to.


Before tackling the return trip for the 3rd day in a row we tried a day hike up to another pass.


Where he decided to go for a swim.


Then made a loop around the granite to dry off in the sun.




Returning to camp to pickup the backpack and start home, we encountered yet another group of Dall Sheep.

(Can you spot them on the knoll to the right of Rocket's head?


Tired boy, needs a nap at the rest break on the walk home.


and one more final shot before we drop down to the trailhead.

The weather doesn't always cooperate for our outdoor adventures, but this weekend we snuck in enough sun to dry off the camera and keep up the good spirits. Bring on the fall colors and some snow!

(you can always click on any picture to enlarge it)