kinvig k9z racing sled dogs

more training and grooming.

2012-01-27T20:39:00.000-08:00

The snow never stops here this year. Moose also are looking for a nice packed trail to use. the wolves are back on another tour behind our place around the trails. when this happens the caribou and Moose scatter. When they scatter like this eventually they find the trail. When they do they bee line it straight down the trail to get some speed to put some distance between them and the wolves. Then it won't be long and we will be grooming the trail and big long wolf turds full of moose or caribou hair will be dropped along the trail. Then everything settles again until their next trip through the area hunting.
I spent some time over at the race trail for the arctic winter games. Pretty well have all the trails marked out now. It will be a matter of keeping up with the snow and hoping people in the area respect the trail and leave it as they find it. It makes it very difficult to have your sport venue in a public place where anyone can be on the race trail.
The eight mile loop is a old trappers trail. It winds it way through the bush and will be a very exciting trail for the Mushers to speed through. There is still lots of work to do on this trail but it will get done.
The six mile loop is mostly on a lake surface. Easy to put in but hard to maintain. Wind new snow and snow mobilers can wipe it out in a hurry. We have the new groomer on the way. I hope It will make a good trail in most conditions.
The four mile stays on the bush trails and has many turns on it as well.
Rachel/s teams are awesome and they are fit and ready to race. Problem is no where to race yet. So will keep you informed when we go.

Cold again today.

2012-01-20T12:28:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. Well the groomer was approved by the AWG's for us to use on the trail. We have many groomers here that I have used and improved upon over the last 25 yrs but we did not have anything that will do what we need to do for the games. The AWG has the trail open to public. Unfortunately that includes TRUCKS, HORSES and big snow machines with paddle tracks ripping up the trail. My objective is to have an awesome trail here for the Juniors to race on. So in order to do that we had to purchase a drag that is made in Wisconsin U.S.A. If it wasn't approved I would have to build one. With my back the way it is I am glad we could go purchase one. It will help if we need to repair the trail at anytime. SO thanks to the AWG committee for the approval. Now I will get it made and sent to us.
Training continues. Some injuries on key dogs. Rachel remains busy training some young dogs that were bred for an open class driver friend of ours. This fell through so a friend in Tok has them. She is swamped with young dogs so we took three of them home with us and Rachel and I are working with these young dogs in our training now. We have one other AWG team member who needs dogs as well. Kat has lots of our dogs in her kennel but they have gotten old. Some of these dogs were from Ben's dog team when he finished running dogs she got some and some of those dogs went to Rankin Inlet. She now is looking for dogs and we will be doing our best to provide some that will help her out with her races. We have been doing this for years now, we also used to keep more dogs so in the end we will probably split the yard up and spread the dogs around so we can make two decent teams that will be used in the AWG.
weather has stayed cold and down south the races continue to get cancelled due to lack of snow and north of us it won't quit snowing. LOL. Oh well that is the way this sport is. We have some good training coming up soon and then there will be some more colder stuff coming. We continue to plan our next race. Difficult to decide when the weather and cancellations continue. FT Saint James will be one we would like to go to race but not sure on the dates and if that will work for the AWG. Time will tell. Winter goes so fast that if you don't hit every race you can the season is over before you know it. It won't be long and we will be back in the dog truck travelling to the next race.

Holed up at home

2012-01-17T20:17:00.001-08:00

Well things are not great right now. Weather has us holed up in the house. No training at these temperatures.
Before the temps dropped Rachel was training a 10 dog team. The theory is that she needs to put on eight mile runs. There is a big elevations change on the 8 mile loop. There is lots of short climbs that can really slow an average down. So we added two more dogs to her team and now she also has an increadable amount of power now for climbing up the elevation changes along the trail. Plus this gives Rachel and myself a easier training regime this way.
When we came back from Alaska we brought back the new females. there were three of them and now we have four from a female of ours named Stryker and a male of a friend of ours from Tanacross Alaska. Rachel is harness training the three females and keeping our other dogs trained up. They should be able to race this season as well once there are a few more runs on them.
No snow at our races down south. So we are unable to go there. Too cold here to even train now but got good runs on them before we had to shut down the training. It won't be long and the weather will change and warm up. Then we will be right back to where we left off. Not sure what the next race will be but will be there as soon as we can get there.
I have to work on a new drag. Because we are putting on the AWG dog racing near our place. We will get a new one shipped up to us from Wisconsin. This trail groomer will repair hardened trail to the point that If it rains on top of the snow it will scrape if off and repair any damage to the surface of the trail.
The AWG dog mushing is being held very close to our place so we don't have far to go to fix and work on trail for the Games.
Our plan is to try and get to a race in Ft. St. James. that would be a good one to go to. Then we shall be back home for the games. Then for the remainder of march I am not sure of yet. depends on what Rachel has time for as well.

Talk to you again soon

The plan

2012-01-05T11:03:00.001-08:00

Well I don't know what we will do in the Month of Jan. Our plan was to go to Grande Prairie Alberta to an adult race so Rachel could race there. It has been cancelled/postponed until sometime in Feb. Looks like We could see all the races be scheduled for Feb March. It makes it hard to get to the races when they are all in one or two months. Now we will look for other races around our range to travel and see what we can do. Obviously the more the races we go to the better prepared we are for the AWG. This is the goal. It is also the goal for other teams to challenge Rachel to her races. There are some very capable teams just inside the Alaska. lots in Northern NWT. So no cake walk for Rachel this year. We have allot of work ahead of us.

The dogs are ready to run longer runs now. We need to increase their endurance without taking away the teams speed. We also have to increase our speed and bring up our total average speed over the distance. It is dropping slightly due to the extra amounts of loose snow we are running due to the weather. Other than that the team is looking pretty good. Can't wait to see what they will do when drove hard in a race? Should be under 17 minutes in six miles. We must run eight miles in under 24 minutes. Should be interesting.
We also took some puppies from a friend of ours in Tok Alaska. they are ready to run and be harness broke. So we also have puppies to train. Four of them need to be trained so we need to split up some of the adult dogs to help train puppies. One dog turned out to be too much of a fighter and they stopped running her. The other dog started to quit on Roni's team and just didn't want to run anymore. Would quit in the same place every time she ran. the third puppy I am not too sure about but they just didn't want to harness break them. We are excited to get them started. We are looking forward to some of these dogs contributing to our kennel. '

We will keep you all posted to what happens next.
Thanks again to all our sponsors. It has been a great help so far and are excited to go on our next trip.

our Races in Alaska.

2012-01-04T13:43:00.001-08:00

Well we are back from Alaska. The trip proved to be a productive one. At first I was wondering why we were even there. Our first race wasn't until the 31st of Dec. There were always races there on the 26th 28th then the of course the last week-end of Dec into the first week of Jan. The races early in Dec were cancelled. We had dogs on the truck and were training on different trails. The trails in Anchorage are very difficult to run dogs on so being there training dogs is well worth the time there.
When Rachel trained there she had a leader quit in her team. Spartan. Very unexpected. We have always looked at Spartan as our best leader. One of the best we had for a very long time. We just never expected this from him. It is difficult to know why it happened. In at this track in Anchorage nothing surprises me. There could be anything out there. Rachel said he just stopped and the dogs would run over him. She would straighten it all out and it happened again. She thought it was water that was under the bridges this time. when other times it was not there. Rachel said it was a problem on the six mile trail.

Leanne ended being the first one to race Rachel's dog team. It was a four mile four dog race and a six dog six mile race. The first of the races was a four dog. on the four mile trail. When the four dog and the six dog teams were made Rachel thought the best leaders in the four dog team would be Spartan as one. Rachel though that the problem spot on the six mile would not be encountered on the four dog trail.

LEanne left and took off no problem. The teams left the starting chute in one minute intervals and Leanne left number three. Just to add, to those who do not know, Leanne does not really race dogs. She has not raced for a number of years. Mainly to always having a crash or just a general bad experience. However when we are in areas that only have adult races, ones that will not let Rachel race at, then Leanne is more than happy to jump on the runners and give the dog teams a good experience and a good training run while in a race environment. Leanne does not train them Rachel does all of that. So basically Leanne is getting on the runners and hoping the dogs run fast and where they are suppose too without any problems. We all hope the same thing when she leaves the starting chute.
We waited and waited for leanne to return. So we knew something was going wrong. When she came into the finish line she looked pretty disappointed at her run. When asked what happened she said that Spartan was quitting on her. over bridges and on any trail that had steep drop offs on the sides. IT put the team into last place. This is odd. It raises some concerns in regards to his vision although he is just a young dog? We just do not know why this happened or what caused it, yet. Dogs are so full of surprises. You never know all you think you know about dogs, there is alway something to learn.
Leanne also ran the six dog. Rachel put a nice six dog team together. Leanne had a clean run. And was in second position. This is what we would think, and hope for if we are there. Somewhere in the top three.
On day two we needed to make some changes in the four dog team. I suggested using a dog named Rafiki. in lead. Rachel said no because that dog also has issue with some tunnels and bridges. So why not use Mac. I looked at Rachel and I asked if she was serious. She said yes mac can do it. So here is this silly big houndy dog. he is just a goof and never portraits any kind of intelligent behaviour. but how smart does he have to be to run like hell. As if he had no idea where he was. Perfect I thought if he has no distractions behind him he may just make it around the four mile trail as a leader. Leanne left last I think 7th in the four dog. In the starting chute Mac acted as if he may not go and may just leave and wonder why he doesn't see any team mates in front of him. He noticed the teams ahead go so maybe he may think of catching them. Remember there is only on minute between teams. Away Leanne went and Mac looked like he was actually running good in lead. So We left the chute waiting for LEanne to come back. I do believe she was in first place on day two time but because of day on it kept her in the back of the field. During the run Spartan was now in wheel. the position just before the sled. Mac ran by all the obstacles and even passed other teams. He also kept on pulling when Spartan would quit at the same spots that bothered him in the training runs and in the first day of the four dog race. After a couple of stops while in the wheel position Spartan started to run by these spots again without stopping which means it was good training.
When Leanne was out on the racing trail it was very busy at the truck. her six team had to be ready. when she gets back there will be very little time to have her team ready before she leaves number two in the six dog race. We usually get all the dogs walked or for sure the leaders. You want them to move around and have a good crap. This some do right away and some need more waking and coaxing. We forgot about one particular dog that has this problem we discovered last year but of course forgot about it or this year.
Leanne came back from the four dog and we rushed to get her six dog team ready. She was in second position and could move up to win or of course the opposite could happen. She came back from her run and said she had some troubles. I asked what and she said bullet had to crap while running. This interrupts the teams flow. If you do not know it is going to happen you can get tangled. this is what happened to Leanne. She got tangled up more than once and had to untangle dogs to continue. This moved her into third in the six dog. So she would have been 1st and 2nd or maybe won them both. This could have happened easily. It only takes a second to move from 1st to third. That is what happens in the sprint races. You cannot have a shut down. Once you do you just lost.
Rachels race was on the third. She raced one junior that is going to the AWG in the six dog and he was her closest competition. She won her five dog race six miles. This was a very good race for Rachel and the time was pretty good. Rachel's six dog team also had a bad experience when she was training. She tried to pass in the trail coming home. the last stretch of the race trail is called no mans land. Passing is allowed there without even asking for trail. Rachel had tried to pass there in a training run but was tangled up with another team. This made it a rather negative experience for her two leaders. The best way to correct this is to have a successful pass as soon as possible after the bad pass.
In Rachels race she passed a couple times and in the same chute coming in the finish line she passed a team at the exact same spot as the place she stopped in while attempting to pass in training. Perfect training. this is exactly what we wanted to happen. She also was first. with a pretty slow time of 18:14 Rachel will run this distance in 17:15 may-be under 17:00 this year. When they are ready for it.

Sorry for the slow reply. We will keep you updated

Training CHRISMAS DAY?

2011-12-26T09:44:00.001-08:00

WOW Rachel wanted to train on Christmas day. SO I said sure. We went down to the track in Anchorage and Rachel ran two teams. There was 4-6 inches of fresh powder down there so we ran a couple of short runs. Leanne and Rachel rode together so Leanne could have a look at the dogs. The dogs looked great and it was well worth our effort to go down there and do that. We do not want to leave the dogs too long without training while travelling. Have to keep the training up. These different trails and runs are good for the dogs also. It gets them on the road and doing something different than what they get at home and this is good.
Unfortunately this season will only see Leanne able to race Rachel's team here. With the different schedule it puts Junior mushing out but we are here to give the dogs needed racing experience. That means someone should race them. This leaves Leanne to do this. Leann is Game to do it so that is what we will do. There is a Junior race that is held on the 2nd of Jan. But we need to be back on the third. Rachel does not want to run this cause it would put her late for school.
I do not want Rachel missing school on the way home on this trip. We have another planned and that is to go down to Grande PRairie to race. This is our goal and that race is Jan. 7-8th. I would rather have Rachel leave school a bit early on Friday the 6th to make this trip to the starting line the morning of the 7th. This will be a great trip for her and I and she will be able to race a great race trail down there in Grande PRairie. We shall see how that goes

Hope all had a good christmas.

Twas the night before Christmas

2011-12-24T14:33:00.000-08:00

we made it to Anchorage where they have more snow than I ever imagined. The biggest problem is too much snow. The trails are not groomed yet and some trails are closed for this reason. we will be racing and training here. Not as much as we wanted too as the race we usually do on the 26th is no more. we do have a chance to race and that is the 31st and Jan. 1st but then we must hit the road to get Rachel home back to school. This was easy when she was younger but now she cannot miss any class. It makes it difficult for her and I. it means more night travel and less sleep on the way.

I still am planning a trip to Grande Prairie and will leave after school on the sixth of Jan. That will be a good trip. we are back here in Anchorage for the Junior worlds in Feb. Rachel is the defending champion in that race.

The trip has meant good training for dogs as far as riding in the truck goes it makes it good to be here no matter the amount of actual racing we do.
We will train the dogs a couple days after Christmas and then we will take the kids skiing and get ready for the racing at the end of Dec.

Talk soon to update
MErry christmas and Happy new year ot all.

NORTH TO ALASKA

2011-12-21T23:09:00.000-08:00

Some new sponsors are now on board. Minconsult is now on-line and we are very happy to have him as a sponsor. Thanks Tim.
Here we are in Alaska. Got here on Tuesday. We are staying in Tok with some good friends. Today we trained dogs on a new training trail. Rachel ran two eight dog teams today and the trail was tough. Wide and boring for the dogs. Surface was sort of soft. Both of Rachel's teams ran good and train again tomorrow. Another pair of six miles. Dogs are ready to race, but no racing here at the moment. We are trying to organize and pick some races but the weather has been really mild West of here toward Anchorage. This is a weather pending trip.
We looked at a race in Grande Prairie Alberta as well. We would get home for Rachel to go to school the third to the 6th, leave after school and get her to the starting line by 9 a.m. on the morning of the 7th. Ya I know what you are thinking but we have done it before and it was not problem to do it. Just need the right drivers to come along to keep us moving south east. There is a great race there that we could not make last year. This year will be much better if we can make it.
So far for Alaska we have races on the 31st of Dec. and the 1st of Jan. So after the races we have to leave and drive home so Rachel could be at school on the 3rd of Jan. Some miles to be covered. This is the problem with races being so far spread out. More miles on the truck than on the dog teams.
Leanne and Rachel also have been very busy making polymer clay Jewelry (neck laces, ear rings luggage tags, nurses name tags and zipper pulls) and selling them to help raise her own money to help pay for some of the expenses. Problem is I hear that it isn't much fun anymore because they have so many orders to fill. LOL. very nice stuff and it sure helps out to get us to the races. If anyone is interested they are welcome to drop Leanne a line.
Leelalily@hotmail.com Give her your requests for orders or to see pictures. Talk to everyone again soon. Tomorrow we train dogs and then start heading for Anchorage. We will stay Christmas there with some good friends. Hit some races and then head home then south.

Back to the training. Welcome to winter of 2011/2012

2011-12-07T20:48:00.000-08:00

Well Rachel was hard at it all summer long. Rachel and the dogs ran together all summer. Did not hook up dogs in harness. Rather Rachel ran the dogs in our kennel loose. The dogs all follow her on the four wheeler. This means that Rachel can take them for a six mile run if she wants too. That is what she did. Ran them up to six miles. Rachel ran them lots. Too bad we never kept a journal on the miles that the dogs accumulated during their summer runs.
In all my time around dogs and dog training I never have scene dogs in such great shape. We free ran before. I have scene dogs in as good shape at the beginning of the season but never like this. We fed meat all year as well. Rachel also ran them lots of 4 and 6 mile runs. These dogs look better now than they did at the end of last season.
My philosophy with free running is exercise the same muscle you would use for sprint/speed mushing. There is only one way to do this Okay maybe two ways. One is to swim them in water. the other way is to let them run. But only free as you cannot be hooking up the dogs to a four wheeler and have them pull hard in the heat of summer. Sure way to teach dogs to slow down. That is all it does is make them work hard enough to get hot.
When you look at the dogs they look right. the form is right, the muscle development looks right. They run nice at the end of summer and after they get put back into harness. Rachel did her second run on her sled. When she went on that run I told her to let the dogs run just easy. Then find out how fast she is going. This is to find the basic pace of the team. You need to know this to be able to help train the team. The basic pace was right around 19 mph. That is what her teams basic pace was. Normally this speed would be 16.5-18 mph. I could not believe it. This is great news but we need to keep this speed up in the team. I am very happy to have learned this.
We are now getting ready to leave again to go to Alaska. We will race as many races as we can and Leanne will also race Rachel's dog team to keep it sharp while there is opportunity to do so.

I am not home at the moment so I keep in touch via email or text. Rachel trained today but was not sure about the trail. It was snowing and blowing. She went out and ran two teams in this kind of condition and did well. Thanks for your help Matt.

We need to also thank all the sponsors that came on board again.

Thanks to Ernie and Kim Doble. They are the owners of Supreme Diesel in Sexsmith alberta. They are really great people and enjoy visiting when I can.
Also thanks to Nigel stubbins at Paint en place. Nigel has to be the longest participating sponsor we have ever had. He has been with us for years to help us get to races Thanks again to Nigel for another year of sponsoring.
We hope to get Arctic backhoe. and a few more businesses in town.

We are excited to be back on the road . The dog truck is just about on the truck. IT won' t be long and it will be ready to go again for another year. So exciting to get the dogs on the road again. Rachel will be training primarily for the Arctic Winter games.
I will try and keep up to what is going on this season. Last year I had website and blog problems. Until next time
DK

Junior North american championships

2011-03-08T11:44:00.000-08:00

After the world Championships in Anchorage we did very little prep for the North Americans. When we go to races we take 16 dogs with us. The idea is this. When the dogs on the truck are raced then the others that are not raced should train the same distance. Reason: So they all have the same conditioning and miles on them. This way no one gets out of shape and behind. This doesn't happen enough. IT is hard to do for one dog driver. It is necessary and I will tell you why it is.
WHen we went to Fairbanks for the Junior North Americans in Fairbanks Rachel had an option to race in two classes the six and the four dog classes. When this happens it actually weakens each team to a certain amount. Rachel picked out each team. I was not in agreement but Let her do it anyhow.
In order to build a good four dog team she dipped into her world championship team. She had one leader in standing heat that should not have ran. She also had a cough going around in the kennel. This left out two leaders one in heat and one with an exceptionally bad cough. Her four dog team had two dogs on it from her world championship team. Then to replace these dogs on her six dog team she made some rather unusual choices but that is okay. We go race to see how various dogs perform then we learn and do not repeat the mistake.
There was a total of three of out best yearlings left out to sit and two really good older sisters that should have run. One young male that Rachel figured could not make the miles. This dog needs to be trained to do this or sold. Not sitting on the truck all the time.

Day one came and Rachel ran very conservative on her first day. Which was awesome. The trail there goes down hill for quite a ways mile or more. You need to slow the team down while going down that hill. OR the dogs go slow coming up the hill. This you do not want. On day one she was in the lead by a few seconds in the four dog. In the six dog she was third by 26 seconds in the six dog race. Both teams in the six dog race are very competitive. So she had to be right on the money with her plan. She was she was sitting perfect on day one.

Day two her had was forced. She had to push harder in the six dog the four dog she just had to speed up a bit. In the six dog race she had to be in contention for the last day. that meant she had to push them a little harder to be in the running. These six dog teams were within seconds of each other. after day two she lengthened her lead in the four dog race and she was first on the second day in the six dog but just by seconds. I new then that she didn't have the team she needed to dominate at the North Americans. SHe might of even had dogs in the team to drop for day three. I asked she said no.

Day three came along and the miles on the days run is increased. Longer runs hotter days as the race went on and the trails were not good. SHe was in a good position in the four dog race and I said to her just run them and see how they do. each day in the four dog she made her lead bigger and bigger. The six dog race she was not in a good position. She was leading the race so she went out first and her competitors got to go after her and catch her. Rachel was also racing her team into a loop that her team was not familiar with. So they will slow down in there for sure. she had leader problems the leader in Standing heat did not want to perform. The older dog she put in was jumping off into the snow and a different team do just wasn't a big help all week end.

Rachel blew away the competition in the four dog race by minutes. Rachel was second in the six dog and lost first by only 10 seconds over three days of racing. . It could have been different and it will next time. The only thing that could happen that is great about all this racing is that there is learning going on during all this. I know there is.

Once again we like to thank all our sponsors for all their help. We now have 11000 km on the truck since starting out in Dec. With out our sponsors we could not make it to these championship races. Thanks again

We now run two more championships one is the adult race of Champions where we will take Rachel's team to train in the race. Leanne will run them for Rachel. Then we come back to race the Tok junior race of champions. We look forward to this.

2011-02-24T11:15:00.000-08:00

Rachel is the new Junior World Champion in the five dog class

2011-02-23T15:58:00.000-08:00

She did it. We had been waiting. Problems every year at the worlds. Dogs that would stop at bridges or tunnels. SO many obstacles. Rachel was a rookie to this race at one time so the dogs were too. They learned together.
We had been gone to Anchorage over the Christmas holidays. Rachel was able to race the dogs twice and Leanne once. SO it was more experience for the dogs that had trouble on the Junior World Championship trail 2010. Rachel had said that she was able to find a team of six or more that does not have trouble on the trail. She needs five for the Worlds to race with. How do you pick out the best of sixteen ? Just base your team on the ones that do not have troubles or what other criteria do you choose?
Rachel made that decision on her own of course. She mentioned that she would leave out the ones that do not like the heat. The ones the heat bothers the most in other words. That makes more than enough sense to me as it is usually warm in Anchorage. If it isn't when we get there you can almost be sure that it will be in a few minutes of race time. Rachel has two males in particular that are very susceptible to the heat. They just work the hardest. That is another way at looking at the dogs. It usually is the dogs that work the hardest that over heat the most. She left out viking and Ace. Two great males that would speed her team up quite a bit I think. Rachel would agree. Viking starts to look good in stride when the team is going 19 mph so he has lots of speed in him. He hates to start though. He came to us this way. Ace is just a great dog. works so hard and is extremely fast. But gets hot and hits the wall. Then he won't eat or drink after day one or after day two etc.. He would probably do okay but would not be happy with what happened and he would not enjoy what he was doing next time.
SO the team is picked and we make it back to Anchorage for the Junior Worlds. The race starts on a Fri. continues on till Sun.
Day One.

four inches of fresh snow. easy to wax the sled for but tough going on the dogs anyway. We quickly start clipping hair off the dogs feet in hopes that we do not ball up on day one and cause any feet damage. I asked Rachel if she wanted me to put foot cream on the dogs feet right away before they ran. She said no. I used to do this in hopes that snow would not stick in their feet and that would cause less troubles later on. Rachel not being familiar with using this cream refused the idea. So we ran with clipped feet. I told Rachel I know it will be hard but do your best to slow down the dogs. Real slow so that they do not get tired on the way home. This is the challenge on a day like that. IF the team goes out way to fast they have trouble coming home. They really suffer for the extra speed on the way out. It is just too fast and it wears them out on the way out. When you do this the time you think you made up on the way out by going fast just gets lost on the way home. Just doesn't work at all. Rachel uses a GPS to let her know what is going on when she is training. It helps her feel the speed that she should be going and then checks in with the facts of the GPS.
When I am talking to Rachel about speed. We talk about how fast per mile in minutes and seconds. When I tell her to go out slow that may be a 3 minute five second mile. Then the second mile could be three minutes. so at two miles on her Gps her time would say six minutes and five seconds and so on. With faster and faster miles on the way home. I had no idea her team could do it as fast as they did it in. I knew it was possible but not when asked to do it by Rachel at any given time. SHe has so much control with her team.
Rachel's time on the first day was slow as expected but the dogs looked really fresh coming in to the finish line. She finished in 19:51 seconds or so. This is a slow run but she finished ahead of second by almost a minute. The success to this day was simply having a clean run. The dogs went around without any troubles This sets up the last two days with the hope to push them fast. If you do not have to worry about mistakes by leaders then you can focus more on speed. Sometimes this puts Rachel in a bad spot because second place could be a second behind her or even faster so while she was unsure of her team on day one the last two days mean she has to catch up. So successful day.
We had cut feet to look after and that went well they healed up fast. the next morning it was a nice temp again 10-12 below C. Trail was better because the trail groomers worked on it during the night. I made up a six mile schedule for her to follow. we were hoping for a 18 minute run or so on the second day. Rachel had another clean run and ran the six miles in 18:50 she dropped a minute off her time easy. Dogs looked good again. I then asked her how the dogs looded and felt on the way home. she said they were find. we looked after feet and got them fed early. at three or so.

last day. Day three. Rachel now has a big lead on the second place team. I was told that the track Record in Anchorage for the junior mushers was 18 minutes and seven seconds. that is for five dogs six miles. So I asked Rachel if she could race them and see if she could break the record. I drew up a record pace on a piece of paper. We put it on her sled handle bar so she could think about it and give it her best shot. The day before I had talked with the trail groomers and they were pretty sure that this last day would produce a really fast trail. Rachel Leanne and I got prepared to break the track record for the Junior six mile.
I wrote out what I thought was near impossible schedule to adhere to. Rachel saw it I don't think that she had any doubt that her team could do this? Okay then I thought go for it. Rachel left the starting line first and her time was posted on the timing tower for us to watch. She took off and had a great start. No problems. There is a ski doo that leaves quite a bit ahead of the dog teams to sweep the trail. He drives around the six mile trail in front of the first team. So he was just ahead of Rachel. When he cam into the finish line I asked if he saw Rachel and he said ya she was right behind him and that her team was catching up with him. He said he was going well over 25 mph. I knew then that she was having a great run. I looked down the trail to see her coming in. Where you can see the team to the finish line is about thirty seconds. I looked at the time and looked at her and thought it looked like she had the record. She pushed the dogs across the finish line and immediately stopped. Immediately her leader started to crap. Rachel said that her lead dog had to go crap a couple miles after starting. This is very difficult to deal with as the dog always looks like it will stop . If it does and you are not ready you get a pile up really fast. I could not believe she noticed and kept the dog going as fast as she was around the track. This is not an easy task for the musher or the dog. She finished her last day with a time of 17:49 . NEW track record. the last record was 18:08. Rachel said that the team that she ran would run that course under 17 minutes and would likely run it in 16 minutes and change. I believe that. It could happen only in perfect conditions.
It was nice to see Rachel get rewarded for hard work. She really went at this hard to get it figured out so she could race there. LIke I said she wanted to race not just hope they made it around without a problem. Congratulations Rachel.

We leave next week for Fairbanks to race the Junior North American Championships. Then a couple of trips to Tok Alaska. then the season is over already. IT goes quick.

We have good friends there that you can't thank enough for having us at their house. It is very nice to have that when we are there. Such a a big difference to have friends on the race circuit. It is makes it more fun that is for sure.

Junior World Champion.

2011-02-23T15:57:00.000-08:00

Stay tuned if you are waiting for a report. I am in the process of writing it up.

Darren

WHERE HAVE I BEEN?????

2011-02-08T23:10:00.000-08:00

Well if you all need to know? I will tell you where I have been. Sorry I can't believe that it has been that long since I talked last. Unreal. Totally. UNreal. AS my Northern Tutchone friend would say. to catch you up, I will write a few lines. We have been training Training and more training. There just was nothing near by to go race. SO we stayed at home to trained. It is such a shame not to be able to take them out and race them more often.
I think the Race they have out at annie lake yukon was the only race left in the territory for us to go and race. We don't go there because the distance is not what we train. It was a ten mile trail over some very very rough stuff. So we do not take a chance in racing this race for fear of injuring the dogs.
I am now on the Yukon Quest Trail helping out Hans Gatt. He is racing again some good dogs from our kennel His partner Suzie also is racing some of our dogs. She raced the 300 mile race and I was to pick up her dogs and take them back to whitehorse. I was asked to go further north into dawson city where the Yukon Quest has a 36 hour layover. From here they are half way to the finish of the 1000 mile race. My Truck is in the shop getting worked on because of a wheel bearing problem. Once this is fixed and Hans Gatt is on his way I will come back to Whitehorse and prepare to leave to the Junior worlds in Anchorage.
This is Rachels time to race and I am hoping she wins this race in Anchorage. So lets hope it works out for her this year. We Will keep you posted as time goes by.

Alaska

2011-01-04T08:03:00.000-08:00

We are home now from trip number one. What a trip. Love it there in Anchorage and love our family there that looks after us. Lots of fun to visit them. Last Friday was Rachel's race day. She ran in the five dog race and it was extremely hot. SHe won her race but some of the dogs got over heated in the heat. She did her best but One of our biggest dog got hot. Rachel won two races out of two. Perfect record so far.
Leanne ran day one of her races on Sat. She ran the four dog race and the six dog race class. Her first race was the four dog class and she got tangled up while racing and had to stop to untangle the dogs. This was all it took to move leanne into Seventh place finish on the day. IT was a very bad situation for her. New dog in a new situation. Still dogs not going through the tunnels and over the bridges. Man it just never ends learning how to race them there. Leanne's six dog team was all female team and was really small in size. They were very small for leaders and the last four dogs were not that big either. But they were very fast. Yes they went very fast. Leanne was tied for second on the first day of competition. This is excellent position considering the field was very very competitive. On Leannes Sat. Race it was also very warm.
Sat. night there was a tremendous wind that blew 100 mph down the mountains and into town. Needless to say one night of winds like that with higher temps wiped out the race trail. Sundays races were cancelled so no races on Sun. Not good for us when we drove so far to be able to race. Our training while there wasn't the greatest this time around. We missed training mid week last week. Even Ben came out of retirement to race here. It was a great trip with many good runs and great races.
Now we stay home again and get ready for the Junior races coming up later in the season.

Junior northamerican
Junior worlds
Tok junior championships.

Busy yr to come.

Todays race.

2010-12-31T20:07:00.000-08:00

We woke up today on race day with the weather hot and way above freezing. It was raining out side and the day looked pretty bleak for sled doggin. Looked after the dogs and watered heavy this morning. Dogs were ready and rachel ran the five dog class 6 miles it was very hot. She won it by a couple of minutes I think. she was happy about that. Now Leanne has volunteered to race again tomorrow and on Sunday. This will give Rachel's dogs some better training then we take off again on Sunday after the races. Will keep you informed.

fun fun under the sun here in alaska

2010-12-30T20:21:00.000-08:00

Hi. Well it is the eve of the weekend races. This year Rachel will get to run one more Junior race tomorrow. Then Leanne has to race Rachel's dogs again in the adult class. But this is all part of winning the Junior worlds or even the Junior North American championships. You have to race them to win with them. SOme of the dogs still have problems with tunnels and bridges. Hopefully when we get done the week-end they will be okay with it all.
Took the family to Aleaska ski resort outside of Anchorage so the kids could ski. We have good friends here so their kids went who are also mushers. Did some skiing and no one got hurt thank god for that. Rachel and ben did the skiing and Leanne and I looked after dogs on the truck. Tomorrow Rachel leaves the starting chute tomorrow in second place. I Will work on sled runners tonight and then they should be ready for the race in the morning. I will keep you posted as to how things go. Talk to you soon.

First race and First place.

2010-12-26T19:47:00.000-08:00

We survived our first race. We were not organized but that is why we do this. The more you race the better you get at it. The fist time off the truck can be pretty hectic. We did it once and now the second time will be much better. Leanne ran a six dog team and a four dog team. We were not expecting to leave on her four dog race so quickly so we were not prepared at all. We made a mistake in putting her four dog team together and gave her some 11 and 10 year olds that have not been trained much this year. We did not realize that she could have raced some younger leaders in her team until she left. Her six dog team was better but had trouble under the bridge and through the tunnels and got tangled up. This is okay too. The only way to get them used to it is to run through the tunnels. This is good training. That is the only reason that Leanne runs them is to make sure that they get the exposure they need to be better racers.
The Junior races went well with Rachel winning her first of the year. Congrates to her. Ben ran in the six dog as well and was third with dogs he has not even trained since last year so good for him. All the dogs on the truck got to run. That is the idea. It will get better as the races continue. The dog teams get better and so do the dog drives. SO no problem with Rachel and her team. She did what she wanted to do. she had fun doing it too.
Our next races are the 31st for Rachel and the first and second for Leanne to take out Rachels team again in the adult classes. THis is just to expose them to as much racing as possible. We are lucky that Leanne volunteers to run these dogs for Rachel otherwise they would not get a chance to run at all.
Will keep you posted after the next Junior race. Until next time. !! Talk to you later.

ONe more sleep.l

2010-12-24T19:04:00.000-08:00

Wow it is the eve of the big day. Once a year it comes and goes. We went to the track today in Anchorage and trained 16 dogs. Rachel and Leanne went around the six mile loop. Leanne went to make sure that if the new dogs had troubles with the tunnels and bridges She could help.
Things are changing. The kids are getting older I noticed at the race track. They are not so interested in the dogs anymore. They have so many other interests. The 17 yr olds are getting out of school and dogs. IT is getting close for us as well. Really sad. I find myself wondering what I will do in the winter with out these trips to run dogs. This has been such a big part of our lives. It isn't like other sports. Your friends are running and participating with you. Those friends are your dogs. They are part of the faimiy. We have done this and have had dogs as part of our family for 20 plus years. feeding and caring for dogs. WOW it has been a huge undertaking but seemed like such a easy normal part of our lives. It is the center of all we do and plan. It can't be done unless the whole family participates.
None of this could have been done without all our sponsors. Lots and lots of them. They helped to keep us going and still are. We have made lots of good friends along the way. These people have helped us more than what I can express. They have supplied labour, parts and money to the effort of our racing. When the season turns to fall, then winter, the financial responsibility for us has been quite extensive. As parents we keep it all together all year with the responsibility of keeping a kennel and all that goes with that. Sleds, truck, snowmobile, gear etc etc. When it is time to hit the road and start filling the tank and staying in hotels there isn't a whole lot left. So by having sponsors it makes it possible to actually get a competitive team to the starting line. Of course it also gets the Junior musher (*Rachel) there as well. This is another job in itself. So once again thanks to the sponsors.
We do race on the 26th of Dec. and the 31st Then again on the 1st and 2nd. I wanted to stay until the 7th and 8th for another race. It looks like that won't happen because the kids have to get back to school and Leanne has some shifts to do at work. . We will keep in touch and keep you informed.

Merry Christmas.

traveling to Anchorage Alaska

2010-12-23T15:58:00.000-08:00

We made it to our good friends house yesterday. We are so happy to be here. The weather coming this way was very cold. Now we are here the weather is much better. Rachel ran her team last on Sun. It was 25 below at home in the Yukon too. Rachel ran the dogs very slow in the cold and the dogs looked good. We left home on Tuesday morning a little later than first planned. Dog are ready to race on Boxing day at Rachel's first race. We stopped in Tok on our way and picked up a female that had been there raising puppies for a friend of mine. Now they have some great dogs to start with.
We are all wrapping the gifts and getting ready for christmas here at the Summer's house in Anchorage Alaska. Lots of fun. for us here and will get to race later on. Merry Christmas.

We are looking forward to it.

More cold days

2010-12-13T08:41:00.000-08:00

Hi to everyone. Rachel went out with friends for sleep over night on a friday night. This is relevant because she has to get home in the morning to train dogs. As a parent you are always concerned what your kids are doing when they are out. The best part of Rachel needing to be home to train is she is likely thinking of the early morning and may just change what she is doing during the night. She made it home and was very cooperative and willing to train the dogs on Saturday morning. This was great.
Saturdays training. Was cold and the trail was pretty hard. The condition were perfect for snow balls to form on the dogs feet. It takes a combination of conditions and various types of dog feet to make this happen. I believe it has to do with different foot temperatures and various insulting qualities of the dog's foot itself. The snow temperature and air temp is a factor as well. Some dogs never develop snow balls on their feet others will. When this happens the little snow balls start to grow on the hair inside the foot. The balls get bigger. When the dogs step down the balls get stepped on and it hurts their feet deep inside . You end up with cracks on the webs inside the feet. This takes time to heal up because of the location of the wounds. Dogs have a tendency to lick at their sore feet as well. This takes off any ointment you apply and makes their feet worse with all the licking. The cuts have to heal from the inside of the body out so it does take quite some time to heal. Dogs that have these cracks need to have booties on to keep training. Booties are not good because it slows the dog down and can cause slipping. A dog that slips at high speeds can injure themselves. It takes the dog time to get used to the booties and they soon learn how to run on them.
Sunday's training run started late in the day. It was hard for everyone to get going. The trail was perfect. Hard fast and better for the feet. Rachel ran one of her fastest average of the year so the average is coming up. good sign as this is the purpose of the training to make the average speed to climb. Once the average speed is up near 19-20 they are ready to race. We do not train the dogs at these speeds ever. We do have training runs where the dogs do bursts of top speed but that is all. The training is going good. Almost time to leave.

It warmed up again.

2010-12-07T20:53:00.000-08:00

Hi things got warm again. IT really tightened the trail up because it got warm and then cooled off again. making the trail really hard. The dogs ran their first set of six miles in the warm weather. They looked really good after the runs in the heat and recovered fast. This is because of the way Rachel looked after them last year. Nice to see them look this good this time of year. What a difference from last year. They look really really good already.
We R hoping to get a run in sometime this week before it gets really really cold. I hope that Ben really really helps his sister train her dogs. Got some more work to do to the truck before we leave on the 20th. Then we will be ready to roll. Then we stay in Anchorage from the 20th of Dec. Till the first week of Jan. Talk to you later.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllfe

2010-12-04T20:30:00.001-08:00

Well the weather warmed up again. We ran our first six mile runs on our trail system. Finally. It was soft but not too bad. The weather was four below and the dogs were hot. They could handle it really good this season. Due to the very warm year last year our young dogs got conditioned to the warmer weather. The trick is to get them used to the weather but not over do it the first year. IF you do they become worse and have less heat resistance. Their first year is very important in a dogs life. You can really really see the difference in dogs that trained in their first year and ones that never did as much training. We really looked after them and they are really looking good this year because of it. The dogs can handle the increase in miles really easy and bump up in mileage fast. It shows that all the work done during their younger years was worth while.
For now it looks like we are heading to Alaska on the 20th of Dec. or so. Staying in Anchorage the whole time and racing where ever they will have us. LOL. There should be ample time to go ski and other things during this time. We will also do a second trip to Alaska in Feb. We will run the Junior worlds then. We also want to bring very nice young man from Rankin Inlet if he is able to make it. He will stay with us and run dogs. Long enough for the dogs to get used to him and then he will come with us to race the Junior world championships In Anchorage. Alaska.

Hello everyone.

2010-11-28T10:14:00.000-08:00

Hi. Training has been going great. Dogs are looking good ! Now that they are in their second year of life and training it isn't hard to see the difference in the dog. I think I took that for granted in my own racing years. They are just twice the dog in the second year of training. I told Rachel and Ben that last year and they were very careful with the dogs and how hard they pushed the dogs. Now this year they are jumping the mileage we add to the runs very fast. Last year it just seemed really hard to put miles on the dogs. It is true that when you add miles to young dogs it takes time to do. You really have to add slowly. The dogs could jump up to eight miles easy and look really good doing so.
Never have we had teams of dogs like we have this year. So nice to work with, such happy dogs, really really good temperament and fast like we never ever had. Rachel ran her team of eight males yesterday and slowing them down to under 18 mph was a challenge for Rachel. That is what we want in our dog teams.
We have more sponsors to mention in this blog Grandma and Grandpa Kinvig have helped Rachel again this year. Also Susie Rogan and Hans Gatt have helped Rachel again. So thanks to them and remember this is directly helping Rachel getting to races this season. After all this is what the whole point is. To get her to the races. Thanks so much.
Back out to train. today.

SNOW

2010-11-24T07:46:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. Okay so Now I will say what is expected. It can quit snowing now. LOL. Isn't always the same. We have had snow since the 20th. Has not really stopped. I will guess that it is most likely around 4-6 inches now. That is lots.
The day after Rachel's first run on snow She went out with a 8 dog team of all males. 8 dog team of all females. I am sure she struggled to keep them below 19 mph. The dogs were flying. with the trail in better shape she could run them fast and it didn't hurt anyone. She averaged 18.5-19 mph for a distance of 5 miles. The dogs. look great all smiling, teeth showing and tongues hanging out just loving the speed. So nice to have the snow but the ski-doo has been going none stop to keep the trail in and ready to run on. it doesn't take much snow and it has to be groomed again to keep it packed and runnable. the trail which is a mess in the summer time with all the ruts and dips is now flat. So it is nice and Rachel trains again tonight. It will be a awesome trail again. SHe has to slow down because she is going way to fast this time of year. although her speeds will reach well over twenty mph and average of 16 -18 is fast enough this time of year.
The dog box is just about done and on the truck again. There will be some bolting down and reconnecting wires and hot water lines to do. then it is all ready to roll. I think Rachel was happy to see the box go back on the truck. We are looking forward to another season on the road going to our races. I would have to say it is a very nice group of dogs that are all the same real hard drivers, with good attitudes. Just love hanging out with them, you can tell they just want to go run hard and please Rachel every time they go train. This is the right way to do it. you do not want young dogs that do not want to go run because you gave them a bad experience during their training runs. we are looking forward to the next training run after school today. Until next post. Later.

First run on the sled.

2010-11-20T16:01:00.001-08:00

Today Rachel burned up the trail with three runs. She ran two teams of six and then one team of five. The trail has enough snow to just cover the ground that is all. No snow hook used out there. Rachel split up the leaders and did really good with the new pairs. It was a fun day and the dogs absolutely loved the speed today. All dogs had tongues out and had big big smiles as they were running it was awesome to see. They were easily running 17-19 mph. A little fast but what the heck they have been slaving away hooked onto the 6x6 I thought it would be nice to let them have some fun running faster. It was the dogs first five mile. Conditions earlier would not allow to run the five mile loop but now we can. They all looked so much better than last year as yearlings. That one year to have them grow up more makes them work and run so much better. It looks like Rachel has a grown up team of two-three year olds.
It snowed during the day and we will be going out to do the trail tonight. It could snow all night then it will have too much snow to drag at once with the old ski doo. Better to do it more often then it is easier. the trail will look really good tomorrow. More teams to run tomorrow also then mid week as well. We are glad to see the SNOW YA HOO.

schedule conflict

2010-11-20T06:55:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. We have just found our first race conflict of the season. We are not going to be able to make it to Grand Prairie. This sucks as one of our major sponsors are there. Supreme Diesel. Actually they are in Sexsmith about 20 min. outside of Grand Prairie. The conflict is between Alaska and Grand Prairie. The race in Grand Prairie is being held on Jan. 1 and 2. We are already gone to Alaska for races right after Christmas. I think we will leave Christmas Day to get there. Then we have a race there on Jan. 1 and 2. So we cannot do both. This is unfortunate but we cannot control the schedule. I am glad that they are having a race in Grand Prairie and we hope it does good but we need to focus on the Junior races for Rachel and be careful we don't chase the adult races around too much. Grand Prairie is an adult race and Rachel could do very well there. Rachel's race in Alaska is a junior race so this is the area she will race the World Championships in. Best she gets the dogs used to those race trails also.
More news about our schedule as we get the info.

Sponsors.

2010-11-19T14:35:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone. We are in the process of getting all our sponsors together for the season. Once we have everyone that will sign up then we can get the sign built here in Whitehorse. The print shop also sponsors Ben and Rachel in the past. They provide the sign and the material to build it.
We will also take the logos and download them onto this site. It is most likely and up load to this site but I am sure we can do it. We can get our pictures loaded?

For the dog lovers out there. I have a older published book but a very good book regardless. It is Called "NO BAD DOGS the woodhouse way" written Barbara Woodhouse. You can find the book at amazon.com. Great book for people just getting into owning and training dogs. Great if you are having trouble of some aspect of training. I think it runs around 12.00 or so. 126 pages.

Trail is in !!!

2010-11-19T13:20:00.001-08:00

Well we used the ski doo today for the first time out at Annie lake. To say the trail is in is stretching it a bit.... BUt our first time around we were able to fill in allot of the 6x6 rut. This is very good because the dogs were starting to want to run in the rut side by side. They look terrible when they run this way. It really slows the dogs down as well. If you were to let them go wide open running so close together one of them is bound to get tangled in the web of his neighbors harness. We hope they spread out a bit when they are running.
I am not sure how we are going to train the dogs. I think we have to hook the dogs to the snow machine now. It would be good to have a second snow machine to go ahead so we can make sure there are no collisions with anyone else using the trails. I don't really know if the snowmobile will hold eight dogs or not. I think they should be able to drag this. Not fast but still move it ahead. The 6x6 held them good but there is starting to be too much snow to be using the 6x6. The surface is still very very low on snow. We call this the "Base" A snow hook will not hold a dog team on a trail with not enough snow on it. This makes it hard for Rachel to stop. We want Rachel to stop when ever she feels she should stop. Usually you need 3-5 inches of packed snow to hold 8 dogs safely. When you have a base like this it builds confidence in Rachel. She is going to be a little more nervous out on the trail if she cannot stop and control her dog team.
More snow is needed but I think we can start running them with a ski doo then to the dog sled. End of Dec. Is the start of Rachel's racing season. We need to get some longer runs on her young team to better prepare for the racing in Dec. They won't have much endurance yet this year because of all the short runs they do during the summer months. Playing and short runs keep the dogs in good physical shape and gives them some time to blow off steam but doesn't build endurance. We need to increase the miles and get more snow so we can get on the sled. For now we will do what is safer and gives more control and that is the snowmobile

:0 :)

Good Day

2010-11-17T05:42:00.000-08:00

We have more snow!!!!! I don't know if it is enough to set a trail on our training ground. If it is I will find out today when I try with the ski-do. I have explained before, that I use two wood pallets that are fastened together by 2x4's fourteen feet long. I hook it to our ski-do(snow tractor) We pull it very slowly over the snow. IT fills in any low spots in the trail. We pull it after snow falls until the entire trial is level. As level as can be. Sharp dips in the trail are rounded or flat. This also makes the trail set up hard. Once someone wrecks the trail by driving on it I also have a steel drag with a cutting blade this will fill in any gouges out of the trail or tire ruts.
This is one of the biggest difference between sprint and long distance racing and training. Could you imagine only running on a trail like this if you are running a 1000 mile race. No way. Your dogs would not know what to do on a messed up trail like the Quest trail. U should train on trails you will race on. Our kennel will only race on trails that are hard packed and flat! Why? because the people that put on the race make their race trails this way so The kids can race at high speeds. Which is the whole purpose of sprint mushing. IF you trained your sprint dogs on really rough and tough trails they would hurt themselves. The constant training on this type of trail would also slow down their pace. if you asked them to run fast on a perfect hard packed trail after getting use to the rough and slow trail they would also get injured. Their Top speed would be way slower as well, just because they were trained slower on a tougher slower trail. So to race fast you have to train fast. To race long distance you have to train long distance runs.
The beauty of trail making is I can do it because I can only go slow in order to do a good job. This speed make it comfortable enough that it doesn't bother my back. It gets me out and in the bush and really makes a person feel good being out there. We are currently fixing seats. I always am experimenting with seating options so I can be as comfortable as possible.

Lots of snow is not necessary a good thing either. Then you are never finished grooming the trail. Last year we used over 100 gallons of fuel. Not just for grooming purposes but someone also goes ahead of the team when we train the team to make sure there is no trail obstacles for Rachels dog team when she is flying down the trial. We also use a GPS at this time in training. This way I know how fast she has run. Her average speed. Her Top speed. Also I can see where the team slowed down and where it ran the fastest and alter training to suit. It is a very good tool and I enjoy using it to help Rachel with her training.

Here's to getting the tral set and get the sleds out. Ya hooo !!!!!

still no snow

2010-11-15T04:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday (Sun.) trained two teams of eight. Our new 6x6 is a fantastic tool for me. I was not able to ride the four wheeler any more. With this unit you sit side by side while you drive. It has seat belts and a steering wheel to hang onto. I have the ability to ride for short rides in this with out too much punishment to my body.
It makes it easy to talk to Rachel while the dogs are pulling the Ranger (6x6) . I might have gone over this before but I will say it again. This is control. There are two things we do when we are out running dogs. We are conditioning and Training . The training is to teach dogs the proper behavior when they are working. It is pretty simple to teach them but you must have control to stop and go talk to the dog. The simple action of stopping makes it almost embarrassing for the dog that needs a talking to. I have seen in some cases that other dogs will actually get snappy towards the dog that is causing us to stop all the time because of the bad behavior.
When we get out on the sleds later there is always very little snow to start with. It makes it hard for Rachel to stop. She is scared of losing the team which is the worst thing you can do but it does happen. If you are worried about stopping then if a dog is slacking and biting at the dog beside it how can you stop and go up the line and fix a tangle or let a dog know you are not happy. This doesn't mean beating a dog it just means making an example of that dog. Then when you take off again you just say that dogs name as you leave. Like Gee-whiz get up. When the Ranger starts to move forward and that dog naturally starts to pull hard because it has had a good rest then you reward the proper behavior by saying good dog or you can stop and go up the line of dogs and pat the dog and make a big deal out of how good she has done. they learn quick this way. If you have a good relationship with your dogs. look after them well, with bedding, food and love, then these dogs want to please you. It is hard for them to please you if they don't understand what you want so by stopping and either showing your disappointment or pleasure with the dog makes it easy for them to know the difference. With control you soon have a team of dogs that work hard and have consistent behavior in the team.]
The opposite can happen when you cannot stop. If a dog is not pulling hard and decides that it would be fun to bother the dog beside it and you cannot stop this behavior with your voice command then this will continue until U can stop and move up the line and tell the dog no. You are probably untangling the dogs as well. In a sprint race this is absolutely unacceptable. You cannot have one dog fool around this way. If you continue to run the dogs like this with them fooling around they soon think this is what you want them to do? So it is important to stop and let them know you are not happy with them climbing all over the dog beside it and biting at it. Playful or not this cannot be allowed to happen in a team of sprint dogs.
Our runs have proven there are some dogs that enjoy this type of behavior and have learnt that this is a fun thing to do and they do not have to work while in the team. Slowly we have corrected them and now they are working well again in the team.
We have two young dog teams but most of the main training has been done so for the most part they know what to do. We discovered a really good Leader yesterday. He showed signs of it last year. This year he really wants to be in front of the dog team. If you place him in the team right behind the leaders He will grab the line pull the leaders backward and let them go forward and hit the the end of the line. This is a sign of a leader to me. So we put him in lead and he ran awesome, like he was suppose to be there. His name is Rafiki. Now he is a really good leader and that is what we are looking for. We are going to need good leaders that can be in lead to train others beside them. The leaders that are going to train others need to be very strong physically and mentally. We sold allot of our leaders to other young mushers so they could have a good start to building a successful team. This has left us shorter than we calculated. Oh well we will train some new leaders to get by this season.
I hope that this has not been a repeat post in terms of content I felt that it would be worth explaining how some of it works to people that do not know. Since this type of training is relevant to our daily life it also becomes relevant to our blog.

Thanks for visiting talk to you soon.

Nov full speed ahead

2010-11-13T15:03:00.000-08:00

What the heck is happening to Nov. Jeez too fast. Way too fast. Our training feels behind but I imagine it has to do with the weather. Dog sled racing takes time to keep the ducks in a row sort of speak. It starts yesterday. It means many many things have to be kept in order to get the results you want down the road or should I say down the trail. This is why when a Month of the year is speeding by you feel like you are behind.
I was away from the kennel for a week or so. I was out for medical reasons. Things were in good order when I returned as Rachel and Leanne are forever busy keeping up with the daily chores. Still not enough snow to be on the sled yet. I think this is the reason we feel behind. the dogs have not run pulling the sled yet. This is really late in the year for not being on sleds. I have heard dog teams racing their first race for the first time pulling the sled. The first races are in December. This has never been the case for us out where we live. We are usually the first team on snow and the last on snow in the area. This was another consideration before we even bought the property was snow and trails.
The dogs are looking really good. They are excited to get in the routing of training and they need more running. The boys are growling and fighting with each other because their energy level is too high. Way to high. They are just too exuberant this early in the season. The behavior can set up some pretty bad habits so we watch it doesn't happen too much.
Rachel just happens to have one team of 8 males and one team of 8 females to train this. Lots of dogs for her but we hope to be able to get other junior musher to participate using some of our dogs. You can almost double the amount of dogs you have to keep to get one super dog team out of it. Racing an 8 dog team keep 16 dogs. 6 dog team keep 12 dogs. you could probably keep smaller amounts of dogs than what I am quoting but this seems to be what is working for us right now.
We are still looking for some more sponsorships and we are sending out letters to prospects. the more we get the more races we can attend. I will be putting the dog box onto the dog truck this week-end. It is time to get ready to haul the dogs from one race to the other or even to take them to a different training trail just for something different.
It was a good training day today with lots of stops so Rachel could discipline/teach young dogs on what is expected of them while they have their work cloths on.(Harness). it is all business and they need to know that. It does not take much time for them to learn it. The harder you pull the faster you get to go !. That is a pretty good reward for a sled dog that love to run. We have some dogs that are grabbing snow and that is a no-n0 in a sprint team. This time of year the speed is slower these dogs love to go fast so when it is slower and they get bored they may start to bite at the snow on the ground. This just breaks up the rhythm of the team so you want to let them know that they need to quit doing that.
Both dog teams did very well today and they pulled hard and went quit fast. Having the 6x6 polaris ranger to have them pull is very nice and very comfortable. The ranger has no problem holding back 8 dogs with the brake applied. It is too heavy for the to take off with. This means if there is a problem there is no problem stopping and holding the dog team. Early in the yr. it can be difficult because there is not enough snow for the snow hooks to hold. SO one advantage to the lack of snow is good leader training and ability to control the team better.
I am glad to be back here and around the family, dogs included.

2010-11-07T02:26:00.000-08:00

Today and yesterday has brought warmer weather. I do not remember being this warm in Nov. IT feels different to be this far into the winter and not have that really bone chilling weather. The dogs don't mind and we think it is okay too. Except the snow part of the weather we enjoy it being warmer than other years. We need some snow. I saw the neighbor out with his snow mobile today but I think there still isn't enough snow.
Still isn't enough to control the teams. What I mean by that is you cannot hold them when stopped. It is also harder to slow the team down by using the brakes. This is all control when you are attached to 6-14 dogs that act like your house dog on a leash when they want to chase after a cat. It is important that Rachel feels secure when running the dogs. There is a way to hold the dog team and that is by putting a snow hook around a tree. The snow hook has two hook shapes turning off like a sheep's horns. Three inch diameter or larger tree would be good size to hook to. When you put the snow hook around a tree one curl of the snow hook itself sits on the ground at the base of the tree or as low as possible. The other curl of the snow hook goes around the tree itself..one side of the hood sits around the tree and the other on the top of the ground this way it holds itself up right. IF you put both curls from the hook around the tree it would just roll off if the line did not stay tight. The line is attached directly to the team of dogs. So it is your snow hook attached to how ever many dogs you are hooked up to. Sometime when the teams are really large we use double snow hooks to hold the team of dogs. When the snow is deep enough and packed well you can stick the hook right into the snow. That is what they are meant for. if you do not have the snow yet but are still tempted to train with the sled you have to find a tree when you need to stop. This can be a problem. When you commit to a tree you have the snow hook in one hand ready to set on a tree. You also have the brake on the sled which does not work well on low snow conditions either. When you make the move to set the hook around the tree you have 4-14 dogs tied to the snow hook you are holding in your hand. That is like taking 4-14 dogs for a walk. the only difference is these dogs want to and are trained to run like hell and not to stop . stopping the team then becomes a bit of a chore for Rachel. This makes it bad if Rachel has to stop the team for a tangle or whatever reason. For now we will stick to having the dogs pull us in the six wheel ranger. Then we will still have some control.

The dogs themselves look really good and are conditioning easy. Rachel spent allot of time with them letting them loose to run during the summer this has kept them in very good shape. It is nice to see the dogs in such good shape early on in the season. The plan is to run two team s of eight dogs tomorrow. Talk to you later.

still no snow

2010-11-03T03:56:00.000-07:00

Well we are still waiting for snow. It looked good for a while but then the warm weather came again and we are losing what we had. I think this is the latest we ever waited for snow. Usually we are on sleds on snow by the end of October. This season has started out totally different. Makes one wonder about the rest of the season? Most people are in the same situation as us.
We are still dealing with some local sponsors and getting our letters out to the appropriate people. Once we know who is on board we can make a race plan for the year. So far we plan to be in Alaska for the kids Christmas holidays. We usually stay home for Christmas day and leave on boxing day for Alaska. This gives us a chance to race the dogs in the junior events there. Also Leanne will race the dogs where ever possible in any adult events while we are there. This way we can get as much experience for the dog teams as possible. When we return home to the Yukon there will be some racing south of us. We would like to race Grande Prairie. Then back to Alaska for spring break and more racing. We would like to go to the Junior North American Championships in Fairbanks. then off to the Junior World Championships in Anchorage. We will come back home again to the Yukon and then back to Alaska for the Tok race of Championships. If we can get to 6-8 races or more this season it should be enough to make the season worth while and have the dogs more prepared for the 2012 Arctic Winter Games here in Whitehorse.
It is a busy season of driving and staying with friends and in hotels. We should not take it for granted though because a time will come when this lifestyle of ours comes to a close. It has been good for the kids and I think they have benefited from this sport in many ways. Who knows maybe they may start up again them selves later in life. Some grand children racing someday?????

It got colder

2010-10-22T12:12:00.000-07:00

Hi from the Yukon. Our temp finally dropped to 10 below C in the morning and 0 in the afternoon. . This is good for training. Problem is it had rained really hard before the temp dropped. Now our trail system is pure ice. This is bad for dog's feet. When you train them on this ice there is a chance to cut their feet. This is a bad is time to cut up feet so early in the yr. I guess any time is a bad time to cut feet. LOL . Also they can slip on the ice causing injury this early in the yr. It is not a good idea either. so the dogs are back to running loose in their fenced area. This area is quite big and provides exercise and social activity that is important to the dogs well being. Although I would rather have them run five miles in training this is better than nothing. It isn't worth the risk out on the training trail at the moment. Patients is a big part of this type of sport.
We now have one of our main sponsors. SUPREME DIESEL PERFORMANCE . They are located in Sexsmith Alberta. Big thanks to them their contribution will go a long way to races this season. Thanks supreme diesel performance !
We are hoping for some snow now and we will go right away to running with the sleds. When this happens we will reduce our team sizes to six dogs in a team. This will be a good time to train leaders to lead small teams. We need to train three pairs of leaders to be able to lead the four six and eight dog teams that Rachel will be racing this year. There is lots of training left this year. So we are really in need to get them out as much as possible. The dogs are young this year and need lots of hours to figure it all out.

Some snow for us

2010-10-16T22:16:00.000-07:00

we started the skidoo today. yahey. Rachel went around the three mile and four mile loop to pack it down just with the sled. It isn't cold yet though and we might lose it that is why we pack it down. I am looking at buying a new trail groomer for this season then it would be used for the Arctic winter Games here in Whitehorse 2012. We have various ways to groom our trail now. We use a wooden drag now to float over the trail and drop any snow that is needed into the low spots. We don't want it to dig into the ground that is way it is made out of 2x6 boards and is about 16 feet long. The longer it is the flatter the trail will be. Then later in the year when we have 4 inches of base for trail we use a steel drag that can push snow off or bring it onto the trial depending on the condition. For now we just want to keep what is on the trail by packing it down. PRetty soon we will be on the sleds which is much better than using four wheelers and such. Soon enough we will be wishing the snow was gone and it was warmer out. Dogs are getting excited because of the snow. Talk to you later.

It isn't gettin as cold as usual

2010-10-15T21:36:00.000-07:00

This fall is acting a little weird. Not as cold as usual for this time of year. The dogs have totally switched over to red meat. Beef. No more fish except for snacks. I picked up half a pallet of beef today in town. Shipped all the way from Quebec. This is the cheapest deal we can get. All the way from the east if you can believe it. You would think Alberta would have some beef around too? We are still feeding last years beef that was left over. We don't have much of that left so I am glad that the beef got here as quick as it did.
Still no real snow. Nor real cold temperatures. It has been raining today and thawing again. We have a dog that filled it's mouth up with fox tail last time we hooked the dogs up. She just went for the fox tail like it was dog food. Gulped it up like crazy. I never saw a dog do this before. I tried to get it all out of her mouth but was not successful. I had looked into her mouth the other day and what a mess. Fox tail is the worse thing ever I hate the stuff. I had a horse that got into fox tail when I was young and It really made a mess of her mouth. Same as this dogs mouth. It is full of sores and fox tail burrowing into her mouth in a bunch of spots. I put her on atibiotics and held her mouth open to get out as many as possible. All you see are the tails. I think while she was tied in her spot she reached out and ate a bunch of them. The when we hooked her up to run she reached out to eat a bunch more thinking this was going to clear them from her mouth but only made it worse. It is the worse stuff. It is like a quill it will just work it's way through the dog if you don't pull it out. We have had dogs get abscesses where they exited the body after starting in the mouth. IF she doesn't improve we will have to take her in to the vet. Never a dull moment.
This morning the blue healers got out of the "feed shack" and made a rung cuss outside. Mother running up and down the dog fence defending here puppies and all the sled dogs barking at her while all the puppies cried to get back in. We moved them outside to the whelping pen where our sled dogs have their puppies. Lots of room and safe inside of there. one of the heelers have blue eyes. really nice blue eyes. I might want to keep her. She is also the runt of the litter. she is very cute. Hopefully it is cold enough to train in the morning. Rachel and I will put a run on them. We are only running them three miles and once in a while a four mile. So it isn't very far at all yet. No hurry because they have lots of time to get ready. It is faster for them to run in the snow as well. They really do not like the slow pulling of the four wheeler. It is just too slow for them. They like to go fast. That is some of the news out here. I will keep you informed as time goes on.

frozen trail and cold weather.

2010-10-12T10:50:00.000-07:00

Hi. We are very busy raising heelers. We have a litter every year. The kids raise them up and then they sell them. This is one way in which they try and support themselves during the winter months while traveling to races and purchasing gear,sleds, lines, harnesses etc. They sell for 450.00 each. So it is a little drop in the bucket but better than none.
We are hooking dog up now in front of a six wheeler. It even has a cab and heat. HA HA. In the twenty yrs I have trained dogs I never had this. It used to be the 10 speed bike in the fall. It is nice to have. Dogs are all a little heavy right now so they are looking pretty sluggish on the trail. It is pretty slow for them too. They like to go fast all the time but you have to slow them down this time of year. It looks like we will be racing in Alaska again during the Christmas holidays. Will be in Anchorage at the world championships as well. The races in December are local races that we go to. It helps to prepare the dogs for the championships later on in the year. We also have some races in Fairbanks alaska. There are some aldult races as well and if Rachel and leanne agree Leanne will race Rachels team in these races so they can gain experience while racing. Leanne did a great job last year and acually enjoyed it. It was fun to see her race some dogs again.
The diet has also switched back to the red meat. We fed allot of dish during the summer it was all salmon. It kept them muscled up better on the off season. They run in the summer and still need a good meat diet but not as good as beef or something like that. When the temps drop and the training gets further and further runs with colder weather means more energy better fat and protein. That is where horse and beef come in as a better meat for the dogs. We are adding some oil now. corn oil and some fat when it gets colder. They eat really well during the summer now they get a awesome diet to help them be the best athlete they can.

I will do my best to blog on a regular basis now that the season is getting underway. Such a short summer. ............

The hills are alive with SNOW !!!!!

2010-09-08T05:31:00.000-07:00

It is getting closer to another season start up. The mountains in front of our place got a dusting of snow and the trees are turning color fast.
Rachel kept really busy with the sled dogs this summer. She ran the three mile with the dogs running loose. It made it easier for her because the dogs always want to race the quad. If you run or walk with them they soon realize to stay with you and stay by your side. This builds incredible relationships with your dogs. In doing so it makes for a better racing team. One that knows you and you know them so good you can get them to respond so much better. Rachel has them in her pocket. It will be interesting to see her this season.
Rachel is the only one that will train this yr. Ben has moved on to other sports for now. He sometimes thinks that he will get to race a team in the odd race. I just don't think that this will happen. Rachel will not give up all her hard work to have ben run her team for her. However we will be getting ready for another fun filled season of racing. We will be going to Alaska at least twice this racing season. Rachel has some decision to make about who who will stay as her main dogs. This will happen after fall training. We are all looking forward to this racing season.

SO sorry for so many late entries.

2010-06-06T21:36:00.001-07:00

Hi I will catch up for anyone who has followed in the past. There has been allot of snow gone by between the runners. Or water under the bridge sort of speak. I just could not get back on again. After some effort well alot of effort I got back on to start to blog again.
We did have a great winter. Rachel and Ben had the best teams we have seen. They are all yearlings so with that in mind the winter was spent taking care of these young dogs. It was the warmest winter in memory for us. SOme of the races were hot. It was ridiculous. The first time that we ran into problems was at he world championships in Anchorage. We did learn allot about the heat and the difference between young dogs and older dogs. The younger dogs have very little tolerance to heat. There are two reasons for this. One reason they cannot take the heat is they do not know to slow down and take it easy because of the heat. They run and run hard despite the situation. Before they even realize it is hot out they are already in danger. Older dogs on the other hand do not work as hard going out. They then do not have such a over heating problem. They also have many many miles of running in the heat this makes them more tolerant to it. When dogs do over heat It can be very hard on them and some times they never ever recover. They seem to have endless trouble to try and control their body temperature. Rachel had a really hard driving dog in her team and he over heated. when he returned to the dog truck we used snow and water to bring his body temp. down. This works but you have to be careful not to bring the temperature down too fast or this can hurt the dog as well.

The dogs did well but not as good as they could have if the weather was colder. We actually were very lucky to have a dog race at all. It was a good time there and we went to the aleska ski hill as well. Very much fun.

SO sorry for so many late entries.

2010-06-06T21:36:00.000-07:00

Catching up

2010-01-19T08:38:00.001-08:00

I had to leave the kennel for more medical treatment down south. When I was away it snowed around 8-12 inches of snow. Yikes. This makes it hard for everyone here.
The tractor would not even turn over for Leanne. Ben went out to put trail in with the Yamaha snow machine. It quit. Ben walked home. The other Yamaha which is a bravo single cylinder engine. Pretty simple always runs. It would not start.
When I got home the dogs had sat for about a week. Not good. Plus we had no way to put in trail. I needed to get a new snow machine and fast. I do not like the fast part of the equation. Fast when purchasing something always leads to trouble. I found the snowmachine that would work for us. I picked it up and brought it home to rescue the Yamaha sitting on the trail. We now have a 2003 arctic cat panther two seater. It has a 570cc twin engine that produces 70 h.p. It works nice except someone removed the electric start. Which is now on the way. I bought a new one to put in. I made it out to the Yamaha on the trail. Ben said it would not run and it made some awful noises and quit. I told him he has to close all the doors that are on the front of the snowmobile or all the snow from the fresh powder will come in and freeze up the skidoo. He said ya ya he did it. guess what the doors were open and it was froze up with snow under the hood. Rachel and I got it running and got the track moving again. No problem it ran perfect. We pulled the drag around the trail with out breaking ahead with another snow machine. That is because of the power and traction of the new Actic Cat.
The trail was put in and we had to put on our training runs. Problem with this is that the trail was just put in and the surface will be soft and hard on dogs feet and muscle. Great time to hurt someone. I worked the trail as hard as I could and the teams ran on Sat. No injuries. Sunday was different. Leanne ran Ben's dogs and one got injured. SO far that is all you can see is one dog injured. Lucky. He is in the dog box being brought back to health.
After all this I found out that our snowmachine works fine. So I will sell the Arctic Cat again. This time I will sell it for more with an electric start as it should have come in the first place.

This is just a typical time here. Things go bad and when they do the trail is still priority. The trail has to be in and dogs have to keep moving all the time no matter what happens around them. It is costly time wise and in monetary ways. It is the only way to insure a fit team at the end of the day. So we pay. Hopefully we catch up and things go better for the rest of the season. We have plenty of snow now. It will take quite a while to pack the trail down since the snow fall. Then we can speed the dogs up again and get ready for the Junior world championships in Anchorage in Feb.

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Kinvig for their generous sponsorship again this year. It will go to travel cost to get to the Worlds or to the Arctic Winter Games. Thanks from Ben and Rachel.

The new sled

2010-01-11T14:08:00.001-08:00

Hi. Ben and Rachel were able to use the new sled while training since we have been home. Rachel likes it allot and Ben says it is okay. That is a good thing. It really is a different sled. I was talking to the makers of the sled via e-mail. I was voicing my opinion in that sled being popular in the north. Danler is a widely popular sled maker. These sleds are on everyone's truck. They are nice sleds. The sled bags are formed from the front of the sled to the back. It makes the sled very aerodynamic. Or should I say it looks very aerodynamic. I bet that this in part is a reason that Danler does so well selling sleds. The sled bag comes around in front of the driver and you can crouch down and hide from the wind behind the sled bag. Other sled bags are held on with velcro and are pretty much a bag added to the sled where as the Danler has the bag and sled integrated together nicely. The sled looks fast standing still. You also pay premium for this sled. The k-2 has a semi integrated sled bag. It hangs down from the handle bars and slops to the front. the rear of the bag does not hold a shape at the back in a way in which you could get out of the wind behind it. It is a pretty good bag, not looking near as aerodynamic as the Danler Sled.
I do think that there would be a aerodynamic factor in longer races. Or races that have many miles of strong head winds. It has to make a difference on how hard the musher is to pull on the sled. SO is it a factor in time. Yes. How much is the thing that I cannot say for sure.
Handling has a huge factor on times in a dog race as well. The k-2 has a ski made by sled dog systems. The skis lean/tips very good when the sled handle bars are racked/bent into a corner. This is good to a certain point. when they tip on edge the ski will hold the sled from sliding out in a corner.sliding in corners bleeds alot of speed off of the dog team. SO don't slide right. The down side is when the runners/skis on the sled tip too much your feet are actually on top of the edge of the ski so there is a limit to the angle of attack you can use while turning. Also when you tip a ski you have less surface area of slider on the snow. Theory is this can reduce glide and speed from your runners. It puts more weight onto less surface area of sliding surface thus reducing glide. YOu need a happy medium.
The weight of the sled is also a factor. Two ways to look at this as well. Being young and very light like Ben and Rachel can pose it's difficulties with driving a sled with a fast team in and out of corners. IF the sled is too light it will skip over the snow on the corner. The edge will not hold on the corner because there is no weight on top of the edge. Too much weight and you are giving your competition a huge advantage.
There is also a very waxable surface on the ski. This is a different surface than on other sleds and I think It may be a better medium to wax. I hope it will hold the wax better as well. TIme will tell with this.
The k-2 is a happy medium with some fine tuning available to us in way of ski differences in spring tension. Another factor to fast sleds. This sled is not heavey . IT steers well with skis that tip well and are very controlable.
I like what I see in the sled but the times will tell as well. We will be going back to Anchorage for the Junior World Championships. This the same race trail that they races earlier. IT will be interesting what the times say. Although there are too many factors to say one way or another about the speed of the sled I bet it won't be slower.
Rachel and Ben trained four teams of six dogs. The dogs looked super and are really happy!! They are very happy and fit. This is the main thing. We really enjoy it when the dogs are this happy. You cannot hold back a team that is this happy. I guess the trick is to keep them like this right up until race days.

Training

2010-01-11T14:05:00.001-08:00

Back home

2010-01-06T21:54:00.000-08:00

Well we are home again. Leanne is recovering from her accident on the eight dog race trail. Bad fall and a bad hit on the head. We got home early this morning from Anchorage. The dogs all rode well home and were happy to be back in their dog yard. We left two dogs and a sled behind for sale and for lease. We had an excellent trip to Anchorage and did well at the races. Things were perfect for training and that was the idea in going down there to race. It was too bad that leanne got hurt.
We plan on traveling to whatever race fits into our schedule and will be Traveling back to Anchorage for the Junior Worlds. Ben will be the defending champion. Rachel will be working to gain her first championship. I will have lots of smoked fish to sell to help pay for the bills.
We took delivery of our new sled today. It looks good and is made by sleddog systems. The sled is a K-2 has a great waxable ski base and has great turning flexability. The runners or skis really tip at usable angles to the snow. It has not been test drove by Ben and Rachel yet but I think that they are going to like it. Time will tell what they think.
We all miss our american friends and look forward to staying with them again. Thanks again to the Summers for letting us stay there again. We just love it in anchorage !!!!!
We will be training again tomorrow. I have to get the new belt onto the snow machine so I can go out and groom the trail. We fried the belt last trip. Once we do a couple of easy runs on the dogs we will do some intravels and speed work. We did zero fast runs this year and did some of the fastest work so far at the races. I would feel better if we can get some fast runs in at home before our next race. the weather is nice so better get some training in before it gets cold after all it is January.

todays racing

2010-01-03T17:28:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. Today Leanne raced again. She ran the four dog race. Did really good and held onto her second place finish. The six dog was good also and she held onto fourth place. The eight dog on the other hand was not good. She had dogs that would not go through the bridges again and she lost the team grabbed her sled as it was going by. The team was dragging her down the trail and she hit her head on a tree and into a snow fence. The trail helpers asked if she wanted to turn around and go back. She said no and finished the race with her eight dogs and got paid for her position which was seventh. I think she is okay but has some really bad swelling on her upper jaw down along her ear. It was not good and I was disappointed that she did not make it through her effort of dog racing with out mishap. This is common for Leanne and she retired long ago because of it. Thanks to her the young dogs got to run and she did excellent among the fasted teams in the world. We take tomorrow off and then leave for home on tuesday.

Results

2010-01-02T18:35:00.001-08:00

Hi again sorry but I cannot down load the results. Please go google asdra for the results. Alaska sled dog racing association. When you are there you will see the results for Ben and Rachel's new years race. Also look for the adult races there you will find the results for Leanne. good luck hunting and I hope to have links up asap.

WOW the racing is good

2010-01-02T15:03:00.000-08:00

Jan. first found us all at the track in Anchorage getting ready for Ben and Rachel to race. We were right at home here at the Summer's home. I cannot thank them enough for making this trip possible.
Ben ran in the seven dog class and Rachel ran in the five dog class. Same as they will race at the Arctic Winter Games. Ben was first and Rachel also won her five dog race. There was a total of 52 dog teams signed up that means 52 junior racers wow. That was in the one,two. three, five and seven dog classes combined. In the Yukon we cannot even get kids to fill free spots on our arctic winter games team. Here it is a different story. The dogs looked good through out the race and were not pushed too hard during the race. Really young dogs.
Today was Leanne's turn. She was told that these were simply training runs for all the yearlings on the truck. We are here in Anchorage racing the fastest limited class dog teams in the world. These dogs are fast. The drivers train hard and are great dog drivers.
Leanne ran the four dog team first consisting of new leaders and young dogs. She was second with a great time. I do not have the times in front of me but you can go to asdra site to see the times. Leanne then ran the six dog team and was fourth which is awesome because the four team dogs were yearlings again. she was 17 minutes 48 seconds so was under 18 minutes and that is great as well. Leanne ran the eight dog race but had lots of trouble with bridges and tunnels. After fighting with them and almost losing her team she managed to come back in thirty three minutes. Normally this would have been 24 minutes. SO Great SUCCESS. TODAY and Yesterday. Great way to bring in the new year.

Ben and Rachel were handlers today and were excellent at it. They were very easy to work with and very professional about helping their mom. I was very impressed by what they did to help their mom. THey were both in very good spirits today and were happy to see how well their dogs did racing with their mother instead of with them. GOOD JOB Ben and Rachel. I don't think it would be easy to share their dogs when they put so much work into training them.
I will catch up again tomorrow after the race sometime.

Hi From Alyeska Alaska

2009-12-31T02:22:00.000-08:00

We registered for the up coming Junior Race on Jan.1st. Leanne is also registered in the Adult class on the second and third. To have such good racing two weekends in a row is excellent for us to have. This trip is really good for the yearlings. One more day of skiing tomorrow then back to Anchorage to prepare for the races. " races" for us means to participate with the young dogs. The dogs have not been prepared to go top speed for any week end racing while we are in Alaska. We just did not get the training in we needed for that. Ben and Rachel have been busy with other activities this season that kept them away from the kennel more that usual. We have lots of time before our first main competition. I am not sure what race that may be. We can come back here to race the World Championships in Feb. I hope there is some racing to do In Jan. somewhere. That is the news here in Alaska.

training

2009-12-30T03:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went to the tozier track in Anchorage. Track holds many popular races throughout the yr. Ben and Rachel hooked up and trained three dog teams all consisting of eight dogs. That took care of all on the truck. After our crazy tour to Valdez on our way to Anchorage Christmas day our dogs have been off schedule. Constipation, loss of appetite etc. Today they are all back to normal. Took a while to get them on a schedule. The runs Ben and Rachel had proved that the dogs are feeling better. The teams looked good and allot of poo to pick up around the truck.
After training it was off to Alyeska ski resort as promised. We are here at the resort now. The kids all went skiing last night and I am sure they will start again early this morning. Weather is perfect I am looking forward a good rest here

At home in Anchorage

2009-12-28T19:27:00.001-08:00

What good friends we have here in Anchorage. They have been very helpful to us during our stay. their two girls Hannah and Morgan are dog mushers as well. They live right in the city of Anchorage in a 500o sq/ft. home up on a mountain side. Amongst many other dwellers. It makes it hard to believe that they are able to keep dogs. With so many people in the area and with all the fancy houses it just seems odd.
Deb and Nevin Summers are the owners of this great place. They are keeping 12 dogs. Their neighbors do not like dogs so they keep the dogs very quit.
Everyone lounged around today and then we are off to the race track in town to train tomorrow. We go to alyeska to ski after the dogs are done their training. This motivates Ben Rachel Morgan and Hannah to get their training done so they can ski. Great motivator. Dogs need to run in the morning so they do not get restless and start to misbehave. We are looking forward to that. Talk to you all later.

North to Alaska

2009-12-28T06:50:00.000-08:00

What a trip so far. We left Christmas Day at around three P.M. We packed up and hit the road to Anchorage Alaska. We made it past the Tok cutoff. Leanne started to drive and missed a turn off. When I got up from my rest and started to drive I noticed we were somewhere I was not familiar with. We had a race for the kids on the 26 in chugiak alaska. This is just outside of Anchorage. When I started to drive the truck again I was heading down a steep pass. I did not recognize any of this area. Then I came to the bottom of the pass and I was in Valdez of all places. Leanne accidently missed the turn to Anchorage. It was six a.m. the morning or the race. I had but a few hours to get the kids to the race. The truck proved to be awesome and I managed to get to the race with a few minutes left. Leanne and I ended up for 36 hours by the time the racing on the day was done.
The point of the race was to get as many of our young dogs out as possible. which Ben and Rachel managed to do. Young leaders ran in lead through tunnels etc. The 27 found us back in chugiak to race the adult class where LEanne ran the four dog and the six dog class. Leanne ran more young dogs. Mission accomplished. It is unfortunate that we do not have any fast runs on the dogs yet this year. It is important not to run to fast even in these preliminary races. The dogs are so young yet and you do not want them to experience somthing that is not fun. So we took it easy on them and it was very warm during these races.
The dogs are off schedule as well after such a long drive. SO they are not running well nor eating and drinking well. They will come around soon.
This week will find us taking the kids to the ski hill where we will over night and ski.
We are staying with some very good friends in Anchorage and are enjoying their company. It is a great place to be such nice people. Anchorage such a nice area for dog mushing as well.
The dogs will get some training runs down at the track in Anchorage then off to the ski hill for three days. Races start again on the first of January.
Talk soon

TIME TO HIT THE ROAD...... AGAIN

2009-12-20T10:56:00.000-08:00

Hi we are unable to race down south this dec/jan. One race has been postponed to next year. The one that was after this one. Taylor B.c was moved to March. We will be racing in the Arctic winter games at this time. Soo... We decided to head North to Alaska. We will go to Anchorage Alaska and stay with some really good friends. While we are there we will go to Aleska ski hill/mountain. SO Ben and Rachel will get to go snowboarding.
While we are there we will train and race as much as possible. The trails in Anchorage have tons of traffic and hazards so it is a good place to train dogs. We hope to race two races while there but do not know which ones yet.
The winter has been going good so far. The younger dogs look awesome this year. The older ones are right on pace some have retired this year. We are all excited to see how they are doing in comparison to other teams. All this preparation is for one race and that is the arctic winter games in Alberta this year.
I hope you are all following again this season. I have not been blogging much lately.
We have changed dog trucks from Ford to Dodge. The dodge is a great truck with awesome mileage and great amount of power. GReat dog truck and is loaded with all the comforts to make travel as best as can be.
Today we will train some faster runs. Depending on the trail conditions and the temperature. We will then watch our speed/average in the runs to see where the team is at and eliminate any dogs that are unable to make that speed. we won't have many that won't make it this year due to the young age.
Talk to ya later with the next update.

WOW am i ever behind on the posts. SORRY

2009-11-23T03:41:00.000-08:00

I don't know where to start. The summer was good we were too busy. Meaning I don't think we spent enough time in the kennel. It is hard to spend the time the dogs need in the summer. We all enjoyed fishing boating and traveling.
Things are changing. Ben is 16 and talking about ending his dog mushing career. He is thinking of many other things and has a harder time staying focused on the dogs. We will see how things work as the season gets busy. It is easier to stay focused when you spend more time in the kennel and get in the swing of things. Rachel is 13 now and still likes to devote time to the kennel. I may have a musher here for quite a while with Rachel. We know that this year both will be racing again.
Our focus this year will be the Arctic Winter Games in Grande Prairie Alberta. These games usually gives us the best competition. We hope to go Alaska as well. It all depends on our budget and sponsors. The dogs do need to race as much as possible in order to get ready for the A.W.G. so we will do our best to get to the races.
We switched trucks this year. We bought a nice DODGE ram 35oo diesel from friends of ours Tom and Mandy Green. I have spent allot of time switching the dog box from the older truck to the dodge truck. It has a flat deck so it was pretty straight forward except the wiring and plumbing in the dog cooker. It is ready to travel now so we will be ready for our first trip.
Our first race will likely be in Taylor B.C. There will not be a race in Ft. Nelson this yr. we do hope to be in Ft. Nelson at the Steepers kennel to train at least. This way the dogs see other dogs and different trails. I hope to get at the blog more often again and get everyone update.
Talk to you all later.

Activities at home

2009-03-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

While we have been back home we have been busy. Ben managed to fall while snowboarding and has a green stick fracture on his collar bone. This has put him out of the action for awhile. We sure miss his help around here.

Rachel has been harness breaking puppies. Mom and Dad help out to make sure the pups behave properly and to help Rachel to learn how to harness break the pups. It isn't hard to do but there are some things that we have always done that I would like to see Ben and Rachel learn as well. I think Rachel and Ben know pretty much how to harness break the pups but what you do early in life with them seems to stick for the rest of their lives. Doing it right the first time is pretty important for future runs. This litter of pups just took off running. No problems with running forward and pulling hard. One of the pups is so excited it bites the one beside it. Rachel had to stop and correct the dog for biting it's running mate. This happens often but you don't want to let it continue until puppies are fighting one another. They are the best litter of pups we have had for a long time. These pups should have as many runs as possible on them before the snow is gone. This way it makes it so much easier next racing season to run them. The pups will already know how to behave. This makes the next season so much easier with the pups.

Last years yearlings really came into their own this year. We have super dogs out of that litter. It looks good for the next four years. Raising the cash to keep racing is the problem now.

Rachel Ben and Leanne have been keeping the race dog in good shape as well. The family and kennel had a super season. We will do what ever we can to get ready for next year.

talk to you all later.

Fairbanks Jr. North American Championship. Rachel Kinvig 1st Place 4-Dog

2009-03-16T19:49:00.000-07:00

Junior Yukon mushers hit the podium in Fairbanks

Thursday March 12, 2009
By Tom Patrick
Submitted Photo/Yukon News

Eric Engman/Fairbanks News-Miner… Rachel Kinvig drives her team out of the starting chute during the four-dog class on day one of the 2009 Junior North American sled dog races on March 6 at the Jeff Studdert Racegrounds in Fairbanks.

Three weeks ago, Ben Kinvig took gold and his sister Rachel took fifth in their respective fields at the Junior World Championship Sled Dog Race in Anchorage, Alaska.
Last weekend they both made the podium.
Racing in the Junior North American Championships in Fairbanks, Alaska, Rachel, 12, finished first in the four-dog event while Ben, 15, took third in the six-dog competition.
“I had a much better race (than in the World Championships),” said Rachel.
Anchorage’s race last month took mushers through an urban setting that caused both Rachel and Ben complications, with dogs being distracted by spectators. Rachel also encountered setbacks with her dogs hesitating to cross bridges or enter tunnels.
“My dogs didn’t stop (this time),” said Rachel.
In the days leading up to the Championships, Fairbanks had about 20 centimetres of fresh snow dumped on the trails, causing difficulties for both Ben and Rachel.
“Going out of the start chute it looked like a Ski-Doo trail - there were Ski-Doo trails all around the field,” said Rachel. “I didn’t really know where I was going cause the trail didn’t look like a trail. But my dogs took me the right way.”
“It made the trail a lot deeper and punchier and it’s a lot tougher for them to run fast in it,” said Ben. “So the first day was pretty slow going.”
Deep snow continued to be an issue the second day when one of Ben’s dogs went off the trail and sunk deep into the white stuff.
“One of my dogs fell into the deep snow at the side of the trail and all my dogs ended up getting tangled up,” said Ben. “But I was able to untangle them pretty quickly and get going again.
“The last day I had a pretty clean run and everything went well.”
However, Mother Nature’s influence was not limited to weather. Ben was forced to use a different dog-team than he did in Anchorage, leaving three of his female dogs at home because they were in season.
“They’ll try to get bred while you’re racing them,” said Ben. “That wouldn’t be good.
“For the dog team I had, I thought it was pretty great.”
Winners in Fairbanks were determined by adding up mushers’ times from the three days of racing. Rachel raced 7.2-kilometres the first and second days and 9.5 on the third day. Ben covered 9.5-kilometres the first two days and 12.7 on the final day.
Currently they are undecided whether they will attend, but Ben and Rachel might be competing at another meet in Taylor, BC, called the Taylor Sled Dog Races at the end of the month.
“It’s against adults and they sometimes race that one,” said Darren Kinvig, president of the Junior Association of Mushers in the Yukon and father of Ben and Rachel. “It’s usually held in December, but it was postponed due to lack of snow.”
Then at the start of April they might travel to Tok, Alaska, for the Junior Tok Race of Champions.
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com

Running Away

2009-03-15T19:20:00.000-07:00

Now, now we haven' t really run away, but isn't that a catchy title?? sometimes, we might want to run away too. ..... But the dogs were doing the running yesterday. Ben and Rachel trained 6 miles, 8 dog teams each. It was a slow run, which is what Dad said to do. Ben put Gee Whiz in lead. She is a yearling and running well. Ben said she ran well with Willow. Willow is an awesome dog and her pups will be running the races next year. These "pups" (they are not quite 1, but are still called pups to us)..........anyways, they will be harness broke in the next few weeks with some runs on before the snow is gone.........awwwwwww just when we get going, it is over just like that. The kids are in good training routines and have enjoyed going to races in alaska and seeing all their Alaskan friends. Rachel ran Slick and Overtime in lead and did well too. Ben ran the second team of 8 while rachel prepared the food for the dogs. Right now Rachel is making some popcorn, and we are having a movie night. She also made milkshakes, too bad Dad isn't home to join us, but we think of him all the time. Tomorrow the kids want to down hill ski and train their dogs after skiing........stay tuned for the further adventures of Ben and Rachel.

Wolf Bait

2009-03-13T19:18:00.000-07:00

Ben was busy today trying to get the snowmachine going. The one normally used wouldn't go, so he used the smaller Bravo. It did the trick, but Ben says he almost got stuck out there. The groomer was full of snow, so Ben went to lift it and the heavy groomer with snow, landed on his legs. He said it was really difficult to crawl out, but he managed. "I thought I'd be wolf bait if I didn't get out", Ben said with a chuckle.

We had a significant dump of snow last night and while mom went to town for groceries and errands, Rachel and Ben stayed home to look after the dogs and groom the trail. They are hard working kids and did a good job of looking after the place while mom and dad were gone. Their hard work shows at the races. Most kids have their parents to train their teams and do all the trail grooming and looking after the dogs. Ben and Rachel manage to do this themselves. Way to go team!

Back home

2009-03-12T10:36:00.000-07:00

We are all back home and the kids are on spring break. This will give them time to do some cleaning and organizing around the dog yard. The dog yard and feed shack need attention. There are some options for the next few weeks. Taylor, Tok. Back home then to Tok again. The Taylor race did not happen during our time in Ft. Nelson. It has been changed to 20/21 of March. The kids will be racing adults for money. I don't think that Leanne is able to go. We might have to miss that race. Then there is the Tok race of champions. Adult races. Leanne has spoke of interest in going to this race. She will race the kids dogs. Then the kids would go to the Junior Tok race of champions in April. The kids would be able to race the same dogs as Leanne on the same course. The dogs may have a big advantage over other dogs by doing this, they will all be familiar with the race track. That would be the end of the racing season.

I want to go to them all of course. After these races it is back to feeding dogs to go no where to race. It is sad how fast the season goes by. Money, health and time are all factors to getting to the races. We will do our best to do as many as possible.

There is many pups to train. We have a litter of seven that need to be harness broke and ran as much as possible before it gets to hot. I think Rachel and Ben are looking forward to this. We are going to remain as active as we can with the dogs this summer. The free running will be very good for the dogs. The only problem is that the kids cannot ride the four wheeler fast enough to keep up to those dogs! We are all looking forward to training all season.

We are in the process of looking for a new food. The food that we started with has gone through the roof. It always does. We have changed so many dog foods for this reason. A new product will come along. People selling the product will be excited to have you use it, prove it then they sell lots of the product. As soon as it becomes popular the price goes up and it becomes too expensive. We have been treated really well with our dog food producer. We will wait until we purchase our next pallet to see what it costs. He has been sponsoring the kids by providing so many bags free a year. We would like a full sponsorship someday. That would make a huge difference to our budget. It would make it possible to race more often. That is the whole point is to get to the races.

Rachel got her report card back and her marks have gotten better! That is good after missing all that school. She can do it on the road. The best thing to do would be to home school so we can stay on the road without coming home so often. That would be great! We shall see what the future brings.

It is winding down and we have pups that are a week old that will need our attention as well. Ben and Rachel look forward to seeing these pups run. If they run like Natty, the mother, then there will be no stopping Rachel and Ben in the future races.

I am away from the kennel until next week so I hope that it will be a little more organized when I get home. For now I will enjoy my trip to Sask.

on the way home

2009-03-10T13:53:00.000-07:00

Hi we are on route home. We stayed the night at Arleigh and Donna Reynolds house last night. We had a good visit and learned more about dogs. Rachel had borrowed Neo, a leader that Arleigh lent her for the race. He also lent me a work mate work bench to make it easier on the back for waxing. They are really nice people.

We have stopped in Tok Alaska for a bite to eat and then we will drop the dogs and take off for home. We are still six hours from home. Yesterday we had stopped at the ice sculptures in Fairbanks. Ben, Rachel, Leanne, Deb, Rachel, Morgan, and Baily walked around to look at the ice sculptures. I made a nice bed in the back of the truck and rested until they were done looking.

Ben and Rachel sold a dog named Slapshot to the owners that we had bought her from. She was a tiny little dog but a good leader. The Callis family were short on leaders so she bought her back from the Ben and Rachel. Slapshot would not have made it for the limited class teams that Ben and Rachel are running. She has a good home that is for sure. SO we are home soon. Talk to you all later.

The banquet

2009-03-08T22:09:00.000-07:00

The banquet was quick. There was no eight dog teams this year. All the other classes are dwindling down to hardly any kids. The smaller classes are filling up. The one and two dog classes have more kids than usual but the older and bigger the class the less kids. It was sad to see the starting area with hardly any trucks parked there anymore. It would be sad to lose it all. That is what has happened in Whitehorse Yukon. I don't know what to do. The sport is very important to us. We don't want it to die off. What to do ? I just don't know. Maybe I can blame it on the down turn of the economy. The price of fuel and dog food has gone up allot in the past few years these may be reasons but not cures for the problems facing the sport of dog mushing. It is a sport that takes the whole family to participate in racing. I guess not many families want to be together in the way that it takes to run a kennel. What ever the reason the key is to find a way to boost it up again.

The meal at the banquet was spagetti. And a cake at the end. Lots of fun and we hope we are able to come back again to race soon. Talk to everyone later.

day three and final day of Junior North American championshipsionships.

2009-03-08T17:35:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone. The race is done. Rachel was first today and had a great time. Rachel's team looked awesome on the way in off the race trail.. The mileage was a mile or so further today. This really shows who was training in the dark days of mid winter. The times when no one wants to go out and train with their head lights on. It can be difficult for sure. Getting the team out on a regular basis is hard but we stick with a schedule during the training season. It can be very difficult telling the kids to get training when the temp is cold or windy. Getting the dogs out and trained is the key to being successful. Rachel had a clean run and is the North American champion. Congratulations to you Rachel.

Ben had troubles all week-end and we struggled to keep his team together. One dog was lame and we worked on her for hours. Rubbing her foot. We walked her lots. Gee-whiz (the dog) did not want to put weight on her left leg . Just before race time Ben walked Gee-whizz and I looked at her and told Ben she looked better and she could probably run. I left the decision up to Ben. He decided to run Gee-whizz and she did awesome. A Little sore today but she made it OK. His leader who is the oldest dog in the yard and probably running his final year led Ben to his great finish today. Ben was in fourth. He was having troubles moving up from fourth and was stuck in a rut. I kept telling him little things he could do to make a difference in his team .

Today the six dogs ran further as well. Now the time Ben spent out training when he didn't want to will pay off. The teams that missed training will suffer on the third day and will travel slower. Ben had a good run didn't have to shut down. Ben and his dogs ran a clean race and Be n moved up to third. ON the podium sort of speak. Awesome great week- end to Ben and Rachel. Thank to all the volunteers and trail groomers. The volunteers put allot of work into the trail and putting on the race. We all had a good week-end. Talk to you all later.

day two in Fairbanks Alaska

2009-03-08T00:41:00.000-08:00

Well it was another day come and gone. The days fly by when we are out racing. The kids did the same today. Ben had to stop his team shortly after he left the starting chute. Not sure what happened. The stop cost him third place today. His leader is barely hanging in due to a bite on his shoulder less than a week ago. The bite happens to be right under his harness. not good. Another dog came up lame today on his team so he will likely start with five dogs tomorrow. His team is just hanging on. Ben has to run farther on Sunday so it will be interesting how they look on their way in.

Rachel had another strong run but had to stop today also. The dogs took a wrong turn. Thanks to our friend Areleigh Reynolds the dogs are running good. He gave a leader to Rachel to run with. Rachels leader is in heat and the only other leader is a male. This weekend has been fun but we have had alot of things not go our way. Some organizing at the truck will help also. The Callis's are running strong and Gracie is winning by a long shot. Congrats. to Gracie Callis. I will let you know how things go tomorrow. Talk to you all later.

2009-03-07T21:02:00.000-08:00

Rachel Kinvig drives her team out of the starting chute during the four-dog class on day one of the 2009 Junior North American sled dog races Friday afternoon, March 6, 2009 at the Jeff Studdert Racegrounds.

day one in Fairbanks

2009-03-06T18:59:00.000-08:00

Day one is in the bag. Windy, snowy day. The snow has fallen. There is lots of snow and more on the way. The groomer started working at 2 am to get the trail in shape. He has a big tracked machine. Something that you would see on a ski hill. There was so much snow that it even got stuck. He did the best he could and it ended up to be a pretty good trail considering. Slow but better than what we imagined

Rachel ran the four dog race. She ran two new leaders. One we borrowed the day before the race from Arleigh reynolds and the other one is one that ran on lead in training but then the dog was taken out of lead for various reasons. She also ran a yearling on wheel with an older dog. We were not totally sure about these two either. Rachel had a great run all the dogs did great and looked good on the way home today. The team ran a 4.9 mile. Rachel won it today. Can' remember the time. I think it was 16 minutes and change.

Ben also ran a good race with six dogs. There is five in his class of racing. He had a pretty clean run but poor overtime had trouble with the speed. The trail is soft after all the snow that fell and the dogs struggle to hold speed on it. Overtime is an older dog and was a team dog most of the year. He leads okay but his best position is closer to the sled. He struggles on lead the most today. Ben's main leader is willow and we left her at home because she is in heat. His world championship team this is not. It is the best that he thought he could put together for the Jr. North American Championships. He was in fourth today but only a couple of seconds back from second and 55 seconds off of first. If the weather cools off and the trail gets hard it will be better for Ben's older leader. It is suppose to cool off and the snow has slowed down now. He ran the race in 21 minutes which is slow for 6 miles. That distance is usually ran in 18 minutes and change. Ben may change out his leaders tomorrow and see if that helps his speed any. The race is not won on day two so the kids will have to bear down and keep up the speed. We know the dogs can handle the speed and the distance so it is not unfair to ask it from the dogs.

I will let you know what happens tomorrow.

2009-03-05T23:01:00.000-08:00

Trip to Fairbanks

2009-03-05T21:47:00.001-08:00

The drive to Fairbanks went well. We stayed at Tok Alaska last night and drove here in the morning. The drive went well today until we hit the snow. It snowed and snowed. It has snowed 6 to 8 inches since eight am this morning.

We stopped to see a friend Arleigh Reynolds in Salcha. It is about 30 miles from Fairbanks. He gave Rachel a well needed lead dog to use. He also gave us some Vet supplies and some egg powder that we have been using this season. The chickens that produced the eggs have been injected with diseases. This made the chickens make antibodies. The chickens then produce twice the antibodies in their eggs. The eggs are then made into egg powder which is mixed with the dog food. The dogs receive the antibodies through their food. This then strengthens their immune systems so they don't pick up any sickness on the racing circuit when the dogs are exposed to so many other dogs with sicknesses. IT works, we have not had a sick dog all year which usually isn't the case after this much exposure to other dogs.

Ben and Rachel race tomorrow. The race itself starts at noon. Rachel and Ben will go sometime after noon. Ben is in the six dog. Two dogs from his world championship team are at home. Anna and Willow. They stayed because they are in heat. Rachel is in the four dog. She will have the best team we can possibly put together. Not sure yet what Ben or Rachel is running for dogs but should know by tomorrow morning or by the last time the dogs are dropped (let out of dog box). They should be able to field two pretty strong teams. Rachel is taking the chance by using a dog she doesn't know but her other option is to use a female with a male on lead. The female is starting to come into heat so it isn't worth the problems that she could have. She will take the chance of using a new leader. I will do my best to keep everyone informed as to what the races hold as the week-end proceeds. Talk to you all later.

Jr. North americans next

2009-03-02T19:36:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone. We have been home training. Rachel has been working to make a new front end for her team out of what ever leaders she can find. We have females coming into season faster than we can count them. This is really changing things. Rachel might have to run all males and Ben all females or something like that. It is near imposible to mix any females that are in season with males in the same team with out a big problem. Ben and Rachel do not need any accidental breedings while in the middle of their race.

Natty just had six pups last night four males and two females. Nice litter. Unfortunately it was unplanned. She had ate her way threw a fence to get at a male. The male happened to be Spare. Spare has bred many of our females to produce some of our best dogs and dogs that have been successful in the quest and iditorod. So as far as Spare goes he seems to be somewhat proven as a sire. Natty is from excellent breeding and is very tough headed. What a eater and drinker. Never misses anything to eat ever. She may be a little on the small size. Spare usually produces nice size dogs so the pups should be a good size.

We did some small training runs at slow speeds to maintain the teams during our time at home and the teams look ready to travel to Fairbanks for the Junior North American Championships. I will try and update the blog from Fairbanks. Talk to you later.

Dogs that Fly

2009-02-26T22:56:00.000-08:00

Ben SPEEDING past camera

GO BEN!

RACHEL FLYING OUT OF CHUTE

GO RACHEL!

Our way home.

2009-02-26T10:30:00.000-08:00

Tues. Feb. 24

This morning we said good bye to the Summers in Anchorage. What a great family to stay with. I don’t know how they do what they do living in the city with sled dogs and loading in their truck every day if they want to go training or racing. The bylaw says that the dogs have to be kept quiet. The dogs are only allowed to bark for 10 minutes at a time or a complaint to the city can be launched. Then your kennel license could be taken away from you. This makes it difficult as you are always after the dogs to keep them quiet. With limited space, time and knowledge the Summers have a fantastic Dog team and Morgan is the one to watch in the future. Morgan and Hanna share the kennel. Hanna is oldest and has a tremendously busy life and will be done with the sled dogs soon. Morgan on the other hand has a mission to start winning with her dogs. Like she has something to prove. I like that. That attitude is the attitude that will get you out training dogs when you are tired or the weather is bad. Etc. Lots of reason not to train but is totally necessary.

We had to got to Eagle River to see a wonderful Friend named Randy Lutes. He had a four wheeler we were to pick up and take home with us. Randy came out every day of the race to watch Rachel and Ben. His wife and grand daughter also came out to see the dogs. It was great to see Randy out at the races. I had alot of good laughs with him.

After getting the four wheeler I went back in to Anchorage to get some lotto tickets being sold for the Rowdy sled dog races. Then we were on our way at around noon. It didn’t take long when while climbing a steep grade the back passenger wheel exploded and we were stopped on the side of the road. We worked away and got the spare put on and were on our way. When we got to Glen Allen we stopped and put a used tire onto our rim and continued on with it as our new spare.

We pulled into Tok Alaska at around 8:30 and grabbed a hotel room for a good nights sleep. We are not far from Haines Junction Yukon at this time and will be home later tonight. Thank to all our supporters out there it is great to see so many help Ben and Rachel get to and from the races and also helping us out while we were staying there.

Aleyska

2009-02-26T10:27:00.000-08:00

Time to Ski with friends.

Mon. Feb.23

Today we all went to Aleyska ski resort 45 minutes south of Anchorage Alaska. Hanna and Morgan Summers went. As well as Rachel,Ben, Leanne and Darren. The four kids went skiing and Leanne and Darren went to relax.

I have to say that this ski resort made the best hamburger I have ever had by Far. It was the black angus burger. This burger was made from the best grade A beef and that is it, pure tasty beef. The best beef I have ever had. Wow was it ever good. Leanne and I looked after the dogs for the kids while they spent the Day skiing in the beautiful sunshine in Alaska. It was a beautiful day.

Come to think of it the whlole three days that we raced were beautiful as well. We have raced in Alaska before but never in such great conditions. Warm but not too warm for the Dogs. The slight breeze that blew on each day was cool enough for them.

anchorage world championships

2009-02-22T22:01:00.000-08:00

Getting Race Ready

Hi everyone. Our three day race here in anchorage is now over. Rachel had more problems with her team again today. It was worse today because now the leaders would stop as they got to the bridges and tunnels where the team dogs would stop and make the leaders stop. Basically the team dogs stopping trained the leaders to stop as the trouble continued. Rachel worked after the race on the second day to make her team dog go over the bridge and through the tunnels. THis dog did good today but the leaders just thought that they were stopping at the tunnels and the bridges. The leaders were also stopping at the crowds of people watching the race. Rachels times were very good considering the trouble that she had. This race is very difficult for dogs because of all the obstacles that they have to go around and by. It was a good training experience for the dogs and Rachel.

Ben is now the 2009 7 dog world champion and ran a clean run today to win it. He ended up running after some ones pet dog out on the trail. He lost some time but not too much. Winning over all by less than half a second. It was very close in the end. Two very competitive teams were in 1st and 2nd. The times were a little farther behind in third and so on. Congratulations Ben. He works hard and puts his time in with the dogs but does not often finish that high in such competitive competitions. It is really nice to see him win here in Anchorage.

As for Rachel I tell here there is more lessons in losing than winning and she must take the good with the bad. She is focused on making a team for the Junior North American championships in Fairbanks in two weeks. We had a good time seeing lots of old friends and making some new ones while we were at it. Ben Rachel Morgan and Hanna go skiing tomorrow and we head home on Tues. Talk to everyone later. Bye for now.

World championships Anchorage Alaska

2009-02-21T20:44:00.000-08:00

Hi from Anchorage. What a drive. It always is like that. We drove straight through to get here and recover before the race. We left at six a.m. and got to bed at 2 a.m. It is a slow drive in allot of places. Not a easy haul. Thanks to Leanne we made it without a overnight.

We landed in the super 8 Anchorage the first night. Got to bed at 2a.m. Up early to look after the dogs and track down our billets. Evan and Debra Summers. Daughters Morgan and Hanna. Nice place and we settled right in. Great people. We stayed here on the thursday rested the dogs and made them a good early supper.

The final training runs at home prior to the trip left Rachel in need of a older leader to come with here to lead her team. Not the best choice but the only one that she had considering the age of her young leaders. Rachel's younger leaders were not ready to race with so many obstacles here in Anchorage. We did do our best to peak the team and get them ready for the Worlds by laying off and running less and less distance.

First day of the WOrlds Rachel ran Dini her old leader. Leader is about nine and ready to retire a while ago. She ran this leader in her Arctic Winter Games team last year. She raced for three gold metals. Still this dog is ready to retire. It was Dini Overtime. On lead Single point dog was Gypsy. Then on wheel was Slick and a yearling called Rusty.

The first day of competition brought warm weather but a great hard fast trail. Some new snow. near zero c. some cool wind out of the North was blowing. Rachel Left the chute in 7th position and was running 5 dogs. She came back with a 3rd place finish but had lots of trouble with the young dogs laying down at the tunnels and the bridges stopping the team. Not much time separates first from fifth. 1st 20.59 2d 20.37 3rd 20.35 4th 20.47. 5th. 20.52 Very close race. Second day Rachel has the same problem even after taking the troubled dogs to the tunnels and walking them through the tunnels until they felt better about being there. She slipped to fourth. She was very disappointed. Her old leader is barely keeping up if at all but at least she is going in the right direction. Day two. 1 st 18.07 2nd 19.23 3rd 19.30 and Rachel ran it in 19.44 with all her problems. She is trying to figure out what to do. Her overall time is 40.31 3rd is 40.05 2nd is 40 even 1st is 39.06. She can still move up.

Ben in the seven dog did fantastic. was third on the first day. 28.32 1st was 27.00 2nd was 27.47 . Today Ben was first with a time of 27.22 and first overall with a time of 54.47 second is 55.09 3rd is 100.09 Some good racing here at the world's as expected. It is a dog race so you never know what could happen so we will see tomorrow the final day of the race.

Ben and Rachel worked their butts off this year training through thick and thin. The third day should show this by the toughness of their teams. If anyone was on the xbox instead of training will regret it on the third day. So I will let everyone know what happens on day three sometime after the race.

It is very exciting to watch and to see Ben and Rachel reap the rewards from a job well done. Talk to you all later.

Hello again

2009-02-17T20:54:00.001-08:00

Well we leave tomorrow. Not much to report. Ben and Rachel continued to work with the dogs in spite of the lack of racing. I was happy to see this. The enthusiasm was low, even for Leanne and I . Today is different. Ben and Rachel are happy today and excited to go to race.

Ben has the best team I think. I wasn't allowed to change anything this year with the teams. This was the first time. I usually divide the dogs so they each have the best team possible. Ben is running in the seven dog class at the worlds.

Rachel on the other hand is struggling with leaders. All young leaders. It is difficult to train new leaders with new leaders. This is what has been happening because Rachel's older leaders are running too slow to stay ahead of her team. Then the new young dogs make mistakes and teach each other to make mistakes. It is good to have a reliable well trained leader to teach a new one. As far as speed the teams are a little slow. The overall average speed is too low. I am not sure if it is because Ben and Rachel are holding the teams back too much. We will find out when they race. I hope that they are happy at the end of the day with the teams that they have trained this year. We are staying at some friends house. Ben and Rachel are going skiing as well for a day. It will be a good trip and all will have fun. I will keep in touch as the races happen so everyone can find out what we are up too. Talk to you later

good day

2009-02-10T06:43:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. It is our final few training runs before the worlds. The snow keeps on falling and the trail keeps getting softer. It has been hard to get the speed from the dogs lately. So many variables that you just have to do the best you can and forget the rest.

Ben and Rachel are having some slow averages from their teams. I am not sure exactly why. It is easy to blame the trail conditions all the time but there is always more reasons. I know Rachel has had some leader problems lately. Her main leaders just won't do it this yr. Rachel has been busy training new leaders. Young new leaders. This can take a season to make a good pair of leaders. They do not become good leaders without going through some races successfully. This is another problem. We have not been racing enough because there is no place to go race this yr. that matches their race distances. To be out racing is about the best training you can do to prepare for your big races. The training has been steady but a little on the slow side is all. The dogs get sour on the same training trail all the time also. This slows them down because a lack of enthusiasm for the area that they run in. After the last run the dogs got sore feet from the punchy surface of the trail. This is because of the big dumps of snow that we keep getting. I need a blade that pushes snow off the trail. In any case Rachel has what she has and that is what she has to race with.

Ben's team is strong. He has the biggest dogs to use. I am not sure how that happened except he usually gets the biggest dogs because of his size. He needs more power to pull his heavier frame around the trail. He ended up training all eight of the biggest dogs. His dogs seem to be moving quite good and power through even the bad trail conditions. Ben's average speed is down a little also because of the training. We have to speed up these teams somehow. If the trail won't allow it then it is hard to do. You can''t go down the road with the dog teams so we have to be happy with the trail we have. It is nice and flat and smooth just soft on the top.

Ben and Rachel train today after school. We will be looking for some high speeds today. Hopefully the trail set up hard. We all will be getting ready by packing and getting all the little details ready for our trip. The world's are held in Anchorage Alaska. We are all looking forward to our time there.

Buddy and Terry Streeper are there and just finished racing the Exxon Open championship. Buddy won the open class with 18 dogs I believe. He set the new track record and averaged 20.2 m.P.H over 15 miles. WOW> This sport just gets faster and faster every year. It is almost impossible to catch up year after year. The breeding program has to be perfect and you have to breed for five years down the road. A person needs to have allot of puppies every year to add to and improve your team. It is a fun but expensive program.

We are waiting on a answer from one sponsor. We have a place to stay in Anchorage with some friends and We are getting some gas money from a friend who wants us to pick up his four wheeler. This all helps out for the trip. We are all looking forward to our races and we will keep in touch as things get closer to race days.

Dogs are lookin good

2009-02-02T19:37:00.000-08:00

The weather has co-operated lately so Ben and Rachel could get some good training in. The dogs are ready that is all I can say. They have never looked so good. It makes it difficult now to keep the team ready for the next race. We are doing some maintenance runs. The only way this can happen is to decide what is 75% of their top speed. There is no reason to run them at 100% when we do our training. Ben and Rachel reach near top speed on their intravels. Not when they are running their six mile runs. When the world championships are nearer we will taper the training and peak them before the race.

With out racing Ben and Rachel have untried leaders to race at the worlds. This is something we are not used to. We usually prepare by participating at more races so the leaders know what they are doing. This just hasn't been possible this year. Oh well it is different every year. You try to keep your season's consistent with each year as far as how many races you go to and your training but there are variables that are not in our control.

Ben and Rachel have been supported by many sponsors this year. Grandma and Grandpa Kinvig. Grandma and Grandma and Grandpa Labbie. Paint en Place. This is an auto body shop and friends of ours. Smith drill bits. This is a company that supplies drill bits to drilling rigs. They are also friends of ours. Minconsult. A mining consultant from B.C. They work in the Yukon. Donald Banks. Another friend here in the Yukon. Kal Tire Yukon. They work hard at keeping tires on the truck and keeping it running. Sport Yukon has just recently came on board to help Ben and Rachel. We have many many friends that help out. All these sponsors are key to getting us down the road to the races. We appreciate them all.

Not long now to the World championships. We are hoping that Anchorage gets some snow for the World Championships. There wasn't any there not long ago so here's hoping.

We will keep in touch as the world's gets closer and fill everyone in on the preparation. Then on the trip and finally the results. We are looking forward to that.

Talk to you later

beautiful weather

2009-01-27T13:24:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. beautiful weather. Yes but a little on the cool side. Mind you we will take it rather than rain. The snow fell again since my last blog. around an inch and a half. The weather is cold in the morning, around 30 below. It is okay because by the time Ben and Rachel are ready to train it has warmed up to 24 below. If they are training after school then it cools off quite a bit more by the time they get the runs in. On the week-end the temp in the afternoon is perfect. Maybe a bit on the cool side. I am scared of that warm weather !

The dogs are taking some days off. The trail will be worked because of the new snow. The stick men that are on the trail will get new cloths and some ribbons put on their arms. They will also be moved to a new location. I got this idea from the Streepers. What we did is made some people out of wood that stand up on the trial. The dogs see it and think it is something scary the first time they run by. Some dogs know right away it isn't going to hurt them others act as though it is all the time. Why is probably your question. I think it has everything to do with the dogs personality. Not what they see. Or whether they are smarter than the other dogs and learn that it won't hurt them , quicker than the other dogs. Some dogs are just nervous and everything they see that is not there before becomes stress to them. It could be a stick with a flag blowing and some dogs that seem to be more nervous than others bark like it is going to kill them when they go by it. It is not to say that if you make your scare crow as human like as possible that dogs do not recognize it as something that has a human profile they just learn it isn't going to hurt them quicker if they have a calmer personality. I don't know if it is a calmer personality but a different personality than other dogs. They are all a little different from each other. I would rather see my dogs bark at it and run away from it as to stop and go visit every time they see something on the side of the trail.

The point of this exercise is to get your dog team used to going by strange things they see on the trail. This could be allot of things but most things they see are photographers standing in all kinds of different positions to take pictures. If you can duplicate things the dogs will run by then in a race they will run by it without being so bothered by it. I like it and it is funny to see some of the dogs reactions to the surprise visitors on the side of the trail.

We would also like to duplicate a bridge and a tunnel. The world championships will have both obstacles at the race. If the dogs see and run over a bridge and through a tunnel enough times they get used to that as well. One of the problems if they see these obstacles at a race for the fist time is this. The dogs are running in the race and suddenly they are half way across a bridge when they realize it. They start to panic but the momentum of the team gets you off the bridge. If the experience startled them bad enough they will remember it. They will remember where it happened on the trail and try and stop in the same area the next day in the race when you cross the bridge again. During a race can be a difficult time to teach a team that it is Okay to cross the bridge or go under the tunnel. Most of the time if you have a well trained dog team they will manage during the race. It is better if you can get them used to it first. Why make it a bad experience for them during a race ?

All this and other ideas for training is what makes it so much fun to train dogs. You have to think of how to duplicate what they will see at a race. If you can duplicate as many conditions you see on a race trail at different races then the dogs will be ready for it no matter where you go and race.

Ben and Rachel will take some more time off and train mid week or so. Then again on the week-end.

Bye for now.

hello everyone

2009-01-23T19:40:00.000-08:00

Well we are back in the training mode and the dogs are moving great. The dogs are ready to race. The trail is good. It has taken some work but it is the best it has been this year. The teams are divided into three eight dog teams. The first two teams are Ben and Rachel's racing teams. The third team is running with some of the older dogs in it with some of next years dogs. We will be adding some more younger dogs so we may be running 4 or 5 teams soon. Right now the Gps is saying that the average is moving up to 18 mph. This is what we are looking for. Now that the trail is fast and the dogs are ready for the speeds Ben and Rachel will see the slower ones. It is looking right now that they are all lookin really good ! The worst thing is there is no races in the Yukon to go to ! This is a bad year. We have not heard about three races and whether they will be on this yr. or not. It doesn't seem so.

This is becoming the biggest problem here in the Yukon. There is one new race that is more of a get together for friends than a race. The rules are different than anywhere we have been and the age grouping for kids and distances they race is not like anything we have seen. So really it doesn't match any other races we would train for or go to. The few races that are established in the Yukon are dying out. So unless we work and put on a race for Ben and Rachel to go to there isn't much going on.

We do enjoy going to Alaska to race. It is just becoming more and more expensive every year. I don't know what will happen in the future. It is hard to keep sled dogs when there is no races to go to. It just takes allot of traveling to and from different areas of Canada and Alaska.

The dogs are ready and we are ready to go and race ..........somewhere. We look forward to

the next race. Bye 4 now .

hip hip hurray

2009-01-21T21:50:00.000-08:00

It snowed! Yes ! This is very good. It snowed four to six inches. It cooled off and the forecast is for colder weather. Our helper has been working on the trail. The trail is shaping up. Ben and Rachel will be training again on the trail tomorrow. It will be good for the dogs to get back out running again. We have seven pups that are eight months old that will need to go for free runs behind the ski-doo. The kids will be running these dogs next year. These pups need to run 2-3 times a week. The hope is that all the pups will be able to run 6 miles by the end of the season.

Here is hoping for better weather for the rest of the season. This way we can keep the training up. This year you never know what the weather could be. We will be back on the trail soon.

All the best everyone. talk to you later

Weather

2009-01-20T18:31:00.000-08:00

The weather remains warm. The trail needs to be groomed with our steel groomer. The helper went out and ran around the trail with the groomer to shave the ice off the top. This was yesterday. Today we had another warm day so I don't know how the trail is. It started to snow while we were driving home later this afternoon. It has cooled off a bit but not much. The snow will make a world of difference as it will freeze on top of any ice that was left on top of the trail. Once snow freezes on top it makes a surface that the dogs can run on without slipping.

Ben and Rachel kept their teams off the trail while it has been warm. The surface of the trail has been soft so it was better to stay off. Ben and Rachel's teams can wait until the weather stabilizes a little. We have been doing our best to keep any dog foot punch holes out of the surface so when it does freeze again we don't have to fill all the holes in. When the trail freezes with punch holes in the surface the dogs can really hurt themselves by stepping in the holes while running 20 mph. We do our best to keep it safe. Training at home is a real poor time to injure the dogs. If it is going to happen better it happens in a race not at home training.

Ben and Rachel will have their work cut out by culling all the slowest dogs from their teams. This is not easy because some of the dogs are only .5 mph too slow. The dogs do let you know when they are not comfortable at those speeds. Ben and Rachel will then sell those dogs to friends that are racing else where. If their friends do not buy them then some go to local long distance racers. The money that they can make from their dogs go into some expenses for this years racing or next years racing.

The next training runs will involve intravel training, some slower average runs about 85 percent of their max. speed. Then some fast runs trying to keep the average speed near 18-19 mph. During the higher average speeds the GPS comes back with speeds spiking around 23-26 mph. These speeds are too fast to make the dogs maintain but Ben and Rachel find a way to go that fast. Once the speeds average in the area of 18-19 mph it is easy to see which dog cannot make the team.

It has been worrisome to see the weather turn so warm but I think the forecast is correct and it will snow and cool off. Ben and Rachel can continue where they left off in their training without too much negative effect on their teams. We will keep you posted. That is all 4 now.

More melt down

2009-01-18T10:53:00.000-08:00

It has been warm again with the blowing wind being the snow killer. We need some cooler temp. The training trail is getting very icy as well as the yard. This is hard on dogs feet in the yard and on the training trail. We will have to fabricate a drag to pull behind the skidoo to scrape the ice off the surface of the trail.
Yesterday Ben and Rachel ran a team each. They are now running eight dogs each. This makes it easier to train. There is a eight dog team left over for Florian and he trains them. This way Ben and Rachel only have to hook up once each on a training day. Helps a bit for their time schedule with other activities makes it hard to train two teams each. If they intend on racing into the future it will not be this easy for them. When they race bigger teams this means more dogs to train up for each racing season. This will be the future for them if they stay at it. Time will tell. For now we will be happy with a decent trail and some steady training leading up to the Junior World Championships.
Two teams will go today, conditions willing. Ben went skiing today again and will train later today. Rachel is home and will train her team this morning and another one with the new dogs.

Talk to ya all later. Here is hoping our trail stays.

Warm weather

2009-01-16T16:49:00.000-08:00

It has been warm here. It feels like it should be March not Jan. The weather got well below freezing at night. This made the trail very hard for training today. Florian ran a eight dog team today again. Today we tried to run them faster coming home. I told Florian to hold them back until the turn around coming home. He did and it made a difference in his team's performance on the way home. Florian is running an older leader that did really well today even with the speed of the team. I was impressed with the old guy.
The trail is the best it has ever been. We have some overlapping activities this weekend so we all have to figure out the best schedule for training. Rachel needs to start training some new dogs that we got while in Ft.Nelson. They all look good but not too sure how they will run. We will find out soon. Everyone is going skiing in the morning and training dogs in early afternoon. I hope that this happens both Sat. and Sun. We will know after we talk to Ben and Rachel and see what works best.

Another successful training day.

2009-01-15T22:08:00.001-08:00

Florian ran a team of eight here today. Ben and Rachel each ran 8 dogs. The weather is warm and the snow is getting soft. We hope the warm doesn't stay too long. Florian ran a four mile to day. Some of the dogs I think were nervous having a new driver. That will get better the more he runs. The trail is in excellent shape. We have been looking after it on a daily basic now that Florian is here. All the snow that we had has packed down nice. The warm weather will tighten the snow up so it is even harder.
Ben and Rachel will need to train their teams hard this month to prepair for any races that are looming around the corner. We are looking forward to going to the races. Some races are hard to get info from. We will be looking to find the next best race to go to.
Ben ran his team of eight six miles. It was very warm but the team did well. Whenever I saw the dogs they all looked great.
Rachel ran her team today as well. They looked alittle sick of the routine at this point. They need a slight atitude adjustment. Other than that the teams look great.

Home again

2009-01-12T17:22:00.000-08:00

We left Toad River at 7 am. It had snowed that night about 3 inches. Great, now the snow to deal with. We got up early. Had a great breakfast and hit the road. It was slow going. No plow trucks out yet. Lots of snow on the road. We slowly wound our way through the mountains until we made it to the liard hot springs. I stopped there to rest while Ben, Rachel and Florian went into the hotsprings for a swim. I was hoping that some plow trucks make it out while we are stopped at the hotsprings.

After the swim we made our way up the highway and stopped to feed dogs. It was nine p.m. before we made it home. Leanne, Florian. Ben and Rachel unloaded the truck and put the dogs into the dog yard.

Today was a total rest day for me. I never left the house and rested as much as I could inside on the couch. I needed the day of rest for sure. We have dog trail to break in the morning and it has to be groomed for training tomorrow. I see that A truck has been out on the trail so it will need to be repaired. What a mess to come home to. Lots of snow here now.

Ben and Rachel need to take the dogs out this week for some six mile runs. We brought new dogs home from Ft. Nelson that need to be trained. The next race maybe some local races around the area then off to the world championships in Anchorage Alaska.

The dogs all look good, we just need some races to go to now. There has been some cancellations down south so we will go North from now on. The cold weather has had an impact on some of the races. Some are a go but no prize money on the races. We are going to go to as many races as possible that is all we can do. All are happy to be home

back from Ft. Nelson

2009-01-10T19:59:00.000-08:00

What a nightmare in Ft/ Nelson. This town is sad. Not a nice place. Sorry residents. I was stuck there since Weds. Night. After breaking down in Toad river and meeting some very nice people who saved us. We finally got a tow truck to pick up the truck and dogs.

The shop was notified and the owner stayed up late to meet us in the Tow truck. My helper Florian and I rode in the flat deck truck with my dog tuck on it to Ft. Nelson. Ben and Rachel stayed behind at Colin and Heather peakes place near Toad river. We have been waiting in town for three days to get it fixed. Florian and I looked after the dogs. Well I should say Florian looked after the dogs. I gave the orders.

The air pump which was just fixed quit spinning. The shop had to order the right air pump and idler pulleys. This turned out to be a hassle as nothing fit proper. We finally got all the idler pulleys and air pump fixed. It was very expensive. I couldn't believe the bill. Florian and I just made it back to toad river where the kids stayed. Everything went good for the kids. What nice people.

While we were in Ft. Nelson Florian ran Ben and Rachel's teams. There were four teams of six to run and they are all done. I am very happy that the dogs were run and we are all back together. Thank god for all these nice people that live in the north.

My truck runs really good now. The mechanic also noticed some other issues with the truck which he fixed. I think that it may get better mileage now that it is running better.

Tonight we will shift some meat around from the truck to the horse trailer and head home in the morning. Organization is the main thing for the truck tonight. I want to leave early in the morning..

failure to arrive home

2009-01-06T21:07:00.000-08:00

This has not been a great day in some ways. We left Ft. Nelson at 6 am heading for Whitehorse. Yesterday I had the truck in to get looked at. The pulley on the air pump on the power brakes was sticking. I had it looked at in Ft. Nelson. The mechanics said it was A OK.

While we were on our way the pulley stopped and the belt broke. All systems were down. 38 below and a 20 mph wind. No power brakes no power steering no alternator no water pump. We were stopped on the side of the road 205 km from Ft. Nelson in the middle of no where. The closes place is Toad river lodge. Which is closed

I was stopped working on finding a way to drive it far enough forward to get it off the road when a highway plow truck pulled up to ask what was going on. I told him I need a tow truck he said he would phone for one. I worked on getting a rope around the pulleys to run enough stuff to move the truck or at least keep Ben and Rachel warm inside the truck. A gov. truck pulled up and heard the news. His name is Colin leake. He said he would take Ben and Rachel back to his place. I was nervous about that but something about him told me it was Ok. So away they went back to toad river. Florian and I stayed behind to look after the dogs. The same highway truck driver came back and picked us up to go back to toad river. We have been here and feeling quite at home. It has been great. I met Heather leake their daughter and Herb stumpf here at their home. This is the way that it has been a good day!

The tow truck will be here in the morning around 11 a.m. to pick the truck up. I hope that we will be able to drive with the truck to Ft. Nelson. We have to be with the dogs when the truck goes to town for repair. We hope that it can be done tomorrow? Then another night in Fr. Nelson and home on Thurs. This is if every thing goes good.

Colin Leake went with us to the truck to feed dogs. After the dogs were fed we unhooked the horse trailer and Colin pulled it back here to his house in Toad River. This way we have our supplies with us and don't have to deal with the trailer when they tow the truck. I hope that this is not a sign of things to come.

Ben and Rachel are such a big help when it comes to this kind of thing it makes me pretty proud to see how they can cope with adversity at their age. This is what life is all about.

I often wonder where my new truck is ? Maybe that isn't the answer. We had a friend that has a newer truck and he is broke down in Ft. St. John with a blown head gasket?

I am ready to end this day. I will talk to you all later

A sucessful weekend

2009-01-04T21:02:00.000-08:00

The weekend in Ft. Nelson is over. It was cold again today . 30 below with a wind. Rachel finished in fourth place and sixth place yesterday. Ben finished seventh and third yesterday. It is a mass start race. This means that it is very difficult to get a true feel for how your team is running. All the teams leave the starting line at the same time. It ends up that four or more teams run side by side. This is a major distraction to the dogs. It means that they do not run to their full potential and is frustrating for the dog driver. It is also frustrating to the parent watching the race. As a matter of fact I cannot watch the race until Ben and Rachel and the dogs are near the end of the race. The whole race is visible from the starting area but I cannot watch it all.

Our helper turned out to be good help for the weekend and I hope he can stick it out for the rest of the winter. He seems to be distracted by things back in Germany. Ben and Rachel were given three dogs from the winner of the six dog team. The more the older mushers see the work that Ben and Rachel put into their teams the more they want to help them out by giving them good dogs. We leave Ft. Nelson with 27 dogs on the truck.

The truck needs to see a mechanic tomorrow. This is due to a air pump that is driven by the fan belt of the truck. The air pump helps to boost the brakes on the truck. The pulley on the pump is not turning and the belt is slipping over the pulley. The brake light comes on and the brakes fail to work. This problem was just fixed. The truck ran all weekend to keep everyone warm. I started to hear some grinding noise and belt squealing noise coming from the engine compartment. Then the brake light started to come on. I hope to leave here by Tuesday morning the latest.

We went to Terry Streepers for supper after the race. It seems to be an annual thing to do after the race. Deb Streeper and family looks after everyone who was there to race. Just a great time.

I met the Erharts from the village or Tanana. This a village is northern Alaska. Great people and a pleasure to meet. I hope that they stop by when they are heading north through Whitehorse.

We had a great weekend as usual when we come to the Canadian open in Ft. Nelson B.C. We are now qualified to race in the event next year when they have a very high purse to race for.

Ben and Rachel did an excellent job with the dogs. It is amazing what they do with those dogs. Not even the cold weather can stop them from racing their dogs. To say that I am proud of them is an understatement.

We were planning to go on to a race in Taylor B.C. but the race has been cancelled. So we will head back north to Whitehorse in search of races to prepare for the World Championships in Anchorage. Not the original plan.

We will be in touch again when we are home.

Sat. day one

2009-01-03T15:37:00.000-08:00

Today Rachel and Ben raced and it was 37 below C. It was cold. I mean cold. I told Ben and Rachel that it was totally up to them whether they ran or not. I almost said stay and not run. They really wanted to so I let them go.

Ben and Rachel ran in the six dog race. The race was approx. six miles. Ben was third. He had a great run. Rachel was held back to sixth place due to trouble passing. It is hard because this race is mass start so every team leaves at the same time. This style of race does not leave the fastest team to win. IT is the one that has the least trouble with passing and being crowded in by other teams. Rachel was okay with the results. Rachel also ran new young dogs. The point of this race is to give the dogs experience. That was done and done well. Today was a success for both teams and the young dogs in each team.

Tomorrow is the same trail and Rachel and Ben can switch dogs for the second day. I hope it is a little warmer tomorrow.

Talk to you later on

Better late than later

2009-01-01T01:18:00.000-08:00

Sorry I have been out of the typing mode. I will do my best to catch up. We now have our helper Florian Hill. He has done some helping of other kennels. This can at times be a problem as some of this kind of helpers have their ideas about how they should do things. This idea comes from what they have learnt from other mushers. We are in need of help that can learn our way of doing things. This would be the same for any other musher. Everyone of us do things somewhat differently.

Florian is great so far! I do not fore see that changing. He is patient enough for Ben and Rachel.. He even listens to Rachel tell him things to do. It is great so far. He stays busy and is very manner full around the rest of the family. He seems very interested in learning every day. What a big help for Leanne, Ben and Rachel. It sure makes a difference to have the help.

Our friend stopped by on Monday night They were off to the same races as us. Arleigh Reynolds and his helper stopped by. We had a good visit. He wanted to get away early in the morning. When Arleigh went to start up the truck it started no problem but it soon died. IT would not start again. The whole system acted like it was dead. We talked to everyone in town that was booked solid until the end of Jan. for ideas. I then tested the batteries and they were low on power. I went to town and picked up two new batteries and an alternator.

I have not talked to Arleigh yet but I am hoping he made it from our house to Ft. Nelson. I didn't see him on the hi-way from Whitehorse. We all made it to our destination in Ft. Nelson and we will prepare for the race this coming weekend.

We had a good trip and are looking forward to the weekend of racing. I will do my best to keep in touch with you all as things unfold

Good news in the sprint mushing circles

2008-12-26T17:42:00.000-08:00

The Anchorage Daily news reports on How the fur Rondy sprint races are bursting with prize money from businesses while the iditorod has lost some money. This means that for the first time in many many yrs. the sprint races are pursed high. The long distance race such as the iditorod usually sucks all the money up. I know here in the Yukon the businesses money goes to the Yukon Quest. Why not it is an international race with lots of exposure for a sponsor. There doesn't seem to be much left for any other style of racing. It is easy to understand as the Quest races need a tremendous amount of revenue.

The Yukon doesn't have a sprint race to speak of. I mean as far as a open championship. It has happened but dies. I have been involved in the Rendezvous dog races starting again. The trouble is the interest, funding and people to put on a race of that magnitude doesn't exist with such a small population. Maybe a sprint race in the Yukon may be worth while sometime in the future.

Today we are getting some snow and the trail was groomed it is becoming very flat now. This week involves picking through the dogs. Putting the fastest for Six miles together and putting the fastest over four miles together. Then Ben and Rachel will put some faster runs on them to prepare for the races in the new year. It is coming soon. We start thinking of our first races sometime in July. It is crazy how much you can think about training dogs when you enjoy it so much. The dogs are looking good. runs have reached over 20 mph. The average is down. This is what is important is the average. You have to train the dogs to maintain a high average. This is what we work on now. Earlier would have been better. The trail just hasn't been great for more speed than what we have been training at now. The hope is to push the average up to eighteen to nineteen mph. Ben and Rachel will then see who cannot make that speed over a particular racing distance.

Try and find the link for the information on the fur Rondy from sled dog central. I tried to post the link but doesn't seem to work. It is a good article making me feel that there may be a small revival for sprint mushing in Alaska. GREAT NEWS

Another training day

2008-12-24T22:26:00.000-08:00

Hi all. Ben and Rachel were out again with the dogs. Rachel ran one of Ben's teams while Ben ran his second team behind her on the training loop. These teams are the teams that spent yesterday off from training. Rachel then ran two of her teams for intravals training. This type of training is stop and go hard in nature. It helps to increase speed in a team. I don't think she will get the team much closer to being ready than they are now. The teams are looking good. Ben may have a injured dog in his team. The injury comes from an injury that happened last year. Hopefully that dog will be OK. We will take Christmas and Boxing day off. No training will happen then. Merry Christmas and will talk to you all on boxing day.

the cold weather broke

2008-12-24T10:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the cold weather gave us a break. Rachel trained two of her teams. They were ready to go I can tell you that. A little too much time off during the cold period. It was nice to see them run and they did excellent. Top speed is climbing up and the average speed throughout the run looks better all the time. Ben did not run as he was gone being social at a friends house.

It is getting so close to the racing season. The dog truck was back in the shop with some problems. I just wanted to add a by-pass filter. The filter needed a return line into the oil pan. We all attempted to put the plug into the oil pan while the pan was still in the truck. I opted for this option because the cost related to pulling the engine out to get at removing the oil pan. The welder attempted the to weld the plug in but it leaked. Then he attempted to weld in further the heat from the welder burned out the oil pan gasket and we had to pull the engine anyway. IT was not low on the stress level. I just got the truck back yesterday. It has been put together beautifully by Bernie. It was also quit a bit quieter when I picked it up. After 200 clicks the noise is back. Oh well we will figure that out too down the road.

Rachel and Ben will train today again and we will take some time off for Christmas and will soon be on our way to the first races of the season. The worming needs to be done again and the nails clipped on the dogs well before the first race. Things are going pretty smoothly right now.

I will keep in touch with everyone.

Back at the kennel

2008-12-22T03:21:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. I finally am back. I didn't get many reports while I was gone. I did write a couple more blogs but they did not publish proper. Rachel and Ben have been running dogs up until last Thurs. The weather decided to drop to a point that is beyond our cut off of minus 25 Celsius These temperatures for a cut off are laughable for longer distance mushers. Their dogs have to get use to moving at these temperatures and beyond. For sprint dogs it is just too hard on them to take them out and run the speeds they go at temperatures this cold.

We have found a Handler from Germany. I should say he found us through a friend. I haven't met him yet but have talked to him. This is a good thing for us. The help will be very much needed and appreciated by us here. The plan is still to go race. What is needed now is to put the racing teams together for some runs to see who is fast enough for race speeds. It had snowed here more than a week ago and the trails are nice and flat. It will be good enough for some speed training.

I hope this cold weather breaks soon. It is nice when you can get some runs on the dogs prior to Christmas holidays. If you can then you can take Christmas off with no runs at all. The weather is cold enough to bring dogs in. We bring them in to travel kennels that are located in the feed shack. The "feed shack" is a small building that has a wood stove in it and is heated. We keep enough dog food in the building to mix food for a week at a time. The meat is brought in the "feed shack ' to thaw out so we can mix it easier. It saves bringing dog food into the house which we have done for many years.

With weather like this there is nothing to do but feed the dogs and add straw to their houses. Everyone here did an excellent job while I was gone. I am very happy to be back home and back near the kennel. talk to you later

Training held over until Monday

2008-12-15T20:17:00.000-08:00

Hi The weather did n0t cooperate for Ben and Rachel on Sunday. It was too cold to train safely. Ben was home on Monday. Ben was able to train one of his six dog teams four miles and trained his second team an interval. Ben said that all the dogs ran good. Ben had a leader not want to lead early in the year. Ben laid him off by putting him farther back in the team for several runs. Ben put him back in lead and he did great. That was good news.

Rachel had no complaints about her run. Rachel is training a new female leader named Honey and she is doing very well. Rachel ran one team intervals today. Leanne ran Rachel's other team for a four mile run today. all training is up to date

I got contacted by a friend that was wondering if we needed a handler this winter. A handler is someone that spends the winter with our family and helps handle dogs. I said sure as long as he will work out. We will need him to travel to races with us. He will also need to train dogs for us and help with what ever he can around the yard. I haven't met him but will when I arrive back home. Let's hope that he works out for the season. That would be great !

I will be talking to Ben and Rachel soon to see what their training plans are. I am not sure what we will plan yet. It will be up to how the dogs looked in the last training run. Talk to you all later

More on Saturday's training

2008-12-13T11:02:00.000-08:00

Hi. I got a call from Ben. To ask what ski-doo he should use. His bravo or my ski-doo. Ben and Rachel will use my ski-doo for training tonight. Rachel and Ben are alone tonight and have to drive a ski-doo for each other. Just in case they come around a corner and run into someone. I asked how the run went. Rachel said her run was awesome and told me that they ran super fast today! I asked if they got tired and she said no. Ben was equally impressed by his run. Ben ran a leader that had been giving him trouble three weeks ago. Ben put him in lead and he did fantastic

Ben and Rachel got one team each run today. Tomorrow they have to run a team each again. I will keep in touch from home and keep everyone informed

Saturday training

2008-12-13T06:12:00.000-08:00

Hi all. I have been Talking to Ben and Rachel over the phone. I am still away from the kennel. Ben and Rachel are going to do intravels today. This can be quite grueling for the dogs. If it is done wrong it can have negative consequence's. I learned how to do intravels as an athlete my self. Over the years by trial and error we have learned how to apply this training to sled dogs.

Rachel and Ben report a decent trail at home now. I think they received a couple of inches since I have been gone. The trail is fairly flat. This is a good time to start some intravel training. This kind of training is a benefit to the speed of the dogs. It allows them to open up in speed and stretch out while running. It works on anaerobic training. This is training the muscle without adequate oxygen. Continued training allows the muscle to perform better and longer with less than adequate oxygen. In Human training the human body does not have the ability to take in enough oxygen to provide the muscles at a high rate of use. Example is while the human body is sprinting. The body learns how to cope and recover with the proper training.

This kind of training does wonders for speed and response training in dogs. It helps the dogs to react to Q's that are giving while racing for asking for speed or increase of speed. There are two ways to do it. You are able to do this training with a static rest or a moving rest. To start off we will be doing intravels with a static rest. The distance you run and the amount of rest is a formula that you will figure for your team at a given time of the year. The better shape the team is in the farther they will have the ability to run at high speed before a rest. Condition also results in a shorter rest. Or shorter recovery time. It really is up to the trainer to see how their team looks. This is why it can be detrimental to the team if you push them to fast and hard before they are ready. If you pay any attention to your dogs you will see if you did too much. Dogs can also run faster, harder than a human can. Human training is just a guide line.

I will report back and see how the dogs did today after I talk to Ben and Rachel.

Long distance coach

2008-12-11T15:05:00.000-08:00

Hi. Yesterday Leanne thought that she would train Rachel's team for her. She asked Rachel if it would be okay. The answer was no! Rachel would not let her touch her Leaders there was no way! Leanne quickly backed down and left the training up to Rachel.

Rachel has a English short hair pointer cross as a leader (Slick). He has worked very well in the past and Rachel has raced him in her main team. We had a talk about that dog and thought he may be getting sour on lead and that switching him into the team would be a good idea. The problem that Rachel was having was who would replace as a leader. There were two girls that Rachel was thinking may lead. We got the dogs from Harris English in Fort Nelson last year (Honey and Sweaty). They have the right head set and are great workers in the team but are quite small.

Rachel has done very good with small dogs. I always say that her dogs are too small but she has great success with her smaller dogs. I think that she would do much better with bigger dogs in her team. I have not heard any more about what was going on back home. When I hear I Will l notify everyone about what is going on. bye 4 now

Some snow and some good runs

2008-12-09T18:58:00.000-08:00

Today Ben and Rachel ran a team of six each after school. Ben ran Finder, Willow Team and Rachel ran the Nadie, Overtime team. The teams ran four miles each. There were no problems reported from Ben or Rachel. I asked them which comment would fit their team. HOLY SHIT ARE THEY EVER GOING FAST. or HOLY SHIT THIS TEAM IS RUNNING LIKE CRAP. Both Ben and Rachel said it was the first comment that fit the description of their team best. So both were happy with the teams performance.

Leanne went out with the ski-doo and the drag to drag the training trail. The drag pushes snow while the snowmobile pulls it. She said that she stopped to take the snow off the drag. When she started to pull the drag again she felt a tug and then it got easy to pull. She thought wow it is easy to pull with the snow is taken off. She went all the way around the trail and didn't realize that the drag wasn't even behind the ski-doo. She was driving along the trail and noticed something on the trail. She looked ahead and wondered what the heck is that on the trail. IT was the drag sitting where it had broke off the ski-doo. LOL. Oh well that is how you learn about draggin the trail. I think that the ski-doo needs a new rear view mirror.

The trail will be flatter with less dips and holes in the surface. This means that Ben and Rachel can start to really speed their teams up and it isn't a moment too soon. The dogs have to be going much faster than they are if they want to be competitive in the early races. The speed training on the flat trails help that allot to speed the dogs up. Everyone did a great job today and if they keep it up the teams will be hard to beat.

That's all 4 now.

kinvig k9z racing sled dogs

more training and grooming.

Cold again today.

Holed up at home

The plan

our Races in Alaska.

Training CHRISMAS DAY?

Twas the night before Christmas

NORTH TO ALASKA

Back to the training. Welcome to winter of 2011/2012

Junior North american championships

Rachel is the new Junior World Champion in the five dog class

Junior World Champion.

WHERE HAVE I BEEN?????

Alaska

Todays race.

fun fun under the sun here in alaska

First race and First place.

ONe more sleep.l

traveling to Anchorage Alaska

More cold days

It warmed up again.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllfe

SPONSORS

Hello everyone.

SNOW

First run on the sled.

schedule conflict

Sponsors.

Trail is in !!!

Good Day

still no snow

Nov full speed ahead

still no snow

It got colder

sponsors

Some snow for us

It isn't gettin as cold as usual

frozen trail and cold weather.

The hills are alive with SNOW !!!!!

SO sorry for so many late entries.

SO sorry for so many late entries.

Catching up

The new sled

Training

Back home

todays racing

Results

WOW the racing is good

Hi From Alyeska Alaska

training

At home in Anchorage

North to Alaska

TIME TO HIT THE ROAD...... AGAIN

WOW am i ever behind on the posts. SORRY

Activities at home

Fairbanks Jr. North American Championship. Rachel Kinvig 1st Place 4-Dog

Running Away

Wolf Bait

Back home

on the way home

The banquet

day three and final day of Junior North American championshipsionships.

day two in Fairbanks Alaska

day one in Fairbanks

Trip to Fairbanks

Jr. North americans next

Dogs that Fly

Our way home.

Aleyska

anchorage world championships

World championships Anchorage Alaska

Hello again

good day

Dogs are lookin good

beautiful weather

hello everyone

hip hip hurray

Weather

More melt down