Yes We Do Have Snow Here!

Beautiful day on the trail

Well, despite all of the doom and gloom in the news with regard to the "winter" weather this season we have had decent conditions here in Lake Elmore. We certainly haven't had the type of winter we have in the past here and there have been many dramatic temperature swings but I have been able to make due with what we have received. I typically start grooming as soon as we have an inch of snow on the ground. This may seem silly but I find that it does begin to smooth things out and fill in the dips and ruts on the trail. My groomer does take a bit of a beating but luckily it's a pretty rugged piece of equipment and so far with the exception of a few broken sheer pins it has held up well. I have had to groom more this winter than in any winter past to create a safe surface for sledding. We have received most of our snow fall in one inch increments and with rain/sleet/snow every seven or eight days it's a real challenge keeping a nice surface. We have finally gotten to where we have about five inches of hard packed base on the trail though and that should be able to hold up to pretty much anything Mother Nature throws at us; for the time being at least. If things continue the way they have been I suspect we will have an early spring here in Vermont. As warm as it has been this winter I won't be surprised if it's 70 degrees at the end of March.

Sled view, beautiful snow!

Pax on a hike this fall

On other fronts; all of the dogs are doing very well this winter. We are feeding a combination of raw and a new kibble this year. The kibble is called Inukshuk and the dogs seem to be doing very well on it. It's a 35% protein, 35% fat food and the love the taste so there have been no problems with them eating. I'm also feeding them chicken every other night as well as their usual moose or venison stew for breakfast every day. We have the same group of dogs there that we had all of last winter so everyone is well settled in at this point. That makes things much more enjoyable for me. The only new addition is our latest puppy Pax who came here this fall. Pax is just over eight months now and has already been out for a few runs with the team. He loves running with the big dogs but won't get many miles in this year. We will wait until next year when he is going on two before we let him run each day. I'm very excited to see how much he enjoys running and look forward to many years of enjoying his company out there!

Mushing Boot Camp

Fall dogsled training season is in full swing here at Peace Pups. I just spend the past two weekends at dog sledding events and have been having a great time with the dogs. Next to winter this is my favorite time of the year with cooler air returning, the hillsides covered with fall colors and the anticipation of the coming snow.

Two weekends ago Shelby (who works with us) and I went to Maine for to attend Mushing Boot Camp. It was a great learning experience for me and the dogs. Even though I now have ten years’ experience working with the dogs it is always amazing what you can learn from someone else watching what you are doing.  We did a lot of passing with other teams and even some basic agility work. There were eight other dog teams at the camp so there was plenty of opportunity for the dogs to be socialized. I brought puppy Pax and Shelby brought her dog Kanzi. Neither of them participated but they had a good time being around so many other dogs. The best part of it all was the fact that I got to spend four full days with nothing else to think about but the dogs and my interactions with them.

Our home for three nights

Tired puppy Pax. It's a lot of work hanging out with the big dogs!

Passing practice on the trail

This past weekend was the annual Sled Dog Trade Fair in New Hampshire. I had a booth with scooter demos as I have the past two years. Even though it was a rainy weekend it was still a lot of fun to hang out and talk dogs with many old and new friends. The pot luck dinner on Saturday night was a nice addition to the trade fair and a good opportunity talk even more dog talk in case you hadn't had enough during the day! As usual there were many interesting presentations on dogsledding and dog training by some very knowledgeable speakers.

We're back home now and settling into a steadier training pattern as we head toward winter. With the cooler temperatures the dogs will begin to increase in strength rapidly. It won’t be long and we’ll be back on snow!

Where Does Time Go?

I'm not sure where this summer went but it's clearly past. With leaves beginning to turn and many even falling to the ground already it's sure looking a lot like fall here in Lake Elmore. Not to mention the frost warnings in the forecast for the next two nights!



Summer Gardens


Summer really did fly by this year. I kept busy with the garden and working on single track mountain bike trails in the back yard. The garden has done quite well again this year despite a very wet spring. Things always seem to even out in the long run and a very sunny July allowed most things to catch up. I was able to ride more than I have any summer in the past ten years and so far have logged around 1,200 miles this season. This helps keep me slim and makes it easier for the dogs to pull me up the hills; not to mention keeping me healthier. We didn't have any extreme heat this summer which is always a bonus for me. I think we had a total of three days that approached the ninety degree mark. Otherwise it was a lot of mid-eighties and many days in the seventies. Now that's my kind of summer!

We've started running the dogs again and our run yesterday brought a huge smile to my face. We have the same dogs on our teams this season that we had all of last year and most of the year before that. They all seem very well adjusted to working with each other (finally!) and with yesterday only being our second run of the year they blew me away. Granted they have a lot of strength building to do yet but what a nice straight gang line! Both leads stayed to the right of the road perfectly, everyone had a tight tug meaning that they were all contributing and it was a beautiful afternoon. All of which left me smiling and once again reminded me of why I do this.



Puppy Pax


We've had one new addition this fall. I bought another puppy from my friends at Husky Works in southern Vermont. His name is Pax and he is now about three and a half months old. He has brought a lot of joy into my life and I enjoy every minute I get to spend with him. Puppy hood goes by almost as fast as this past summer did! We have enjoyed morning walks every single day rain or shine which has gotten me out into the woods much more than I typically would and it's a great way to start the day. As a bonus this year Pax and I have found several nice patches of Chanterelle Mushrooms on our walking trail. Not only are we getting in nice walks but we're bringing home treats for dinner. Pax won't be running with the team for a while yet but he will be riding shotgun and going along on all of our winter outings so if you come to visit this fall or winter you'll be sure to meet him.

Birthdays And Bucket Lists

One of the unanticipated joys of working with Peace Pups has been sharing in special moments and occasions in people’s lives. When I started Peace Pups Dogsledding I knew that I wanted to spend more time with my dogs, spend more time outside and that I wanted the business to be socially responsible and sustainable. I never imagined that I would be given the gift of sharing in so many special moments with others.


Many visitors plan their dogsledding visit in order to celebrate a special time in their life. We have had numerous “big” birthday tours; the “big” 50, “big” 60 or even the momentous “big” 80. Christmas presents, anniversaries and family reunions are a few other celebrations that have taken place with the teams.

I have even been honored to have had guests who knew their time on earth was growing short and that dogsledding was something they truly wanted to experience before moving on. I’ve had guests who wanted to propose to the special person in their life while being out with our dogs in the Vermont hillsides. There has even been discussion of having an actual wedding take place out on the trail with the dog teams.

Having moved on from my previous career as a custom furniture builder and having left a good paying job in order to find something more rewarding to do with my life all of this has been a truly unexpected bonus for me. It’s not that woodworking wasn’t enjoyable for many years; I think I had just done it for too many years. I had gotten to the point where the paycheck I was receiving for my work was not enough motivation for me to continue what I was doing. I was not finding any personal satisfaction in my daily work life. With Peace Pups every single day I get to watch the joy on people’s faces as they interact with our Siberian Huskies. I can take no credit for the dogs loving nature but I do feel privileged to be able to bring them together with people from near and far.

With an admittedly short attention span and very low tolerance for tedium I wasn’t sure if the dogsled tour business would keep me satisfied over the long haul. As with anything in life there is repetition in dogsledding but these unanticipated rewards make me quite sure that I have found something that I can spend the rest of my active life participating in. It’s certainly not a business I would recommend for making a lot of money but the lifestyle and joy it has brought into my life and others makes it well worth the effort. I would like to extend my thanks to past guests, future guests and most of all the dogs for bringing this joy into my life.

Happy New Year

Another year has come and gone and we are into our busy season here at Peace Pups. So far this winter the snow conditions have been quite challenging here in Lake Elmore. I am very fortunate to have a trail that does not require a huge amount of snow to be able to run the dog sleds. As soon as we receive an inch or two I am down there with the groomer packing it down. We have been able to run every day for the past two weeks with only about eight or nine inches of snow in the woods while many trails through out New England are not open.

We have a new cabin tent and wood stove set up for our tours this winter and it has made life at the trail head much more pleasant. Thank you Vermont Forest, Parks and Recreation for the approval letter! Last season guests were often running to their cars to warm up after a run with the pups. This year folks have been lingering next to the wood stove and enjoying a hot beverage and conversation. The smell of wood smoke in the air and a warm place to warm your toes makes the tour site much more inviting.

Not too much else new here this season. Our health is good, all of the dogs are doing great and we have already had dozens of wonderful guests and have spent many beautiful days behind the dogs running through the woods. I'm thankful for the prospect of yet another season in the wilderness with my canine family and visitors from around the world. This is as good as it gets!

Take a Trip Without Leaving The Farm.

I had a scary few moments here at Peace Pups Yesterday. I was just coming back up the driveway at the end of my bike ride and heard a lot of commotion coming from the dog yard. I put it into high gear and flew up the hill and into the dog yard to see what was going on. Once in the dog yard I saw that Buck who is my main, go to lead dog was laying on the ground with a large amount of foam coming out of his mouth. Panic.. This is not one of my strong points with my dogs. I tend to become a tad emotional when I think one of them is in danger. Immediately I began worrying about what I'm going to do without my best buddy Buck. I ran over to him and got him to his feet, kind of.. He was staggering and seem to have lost some of his motor skills. His eyes were glazed and dilated and he didn't seem to know where he was. I ran to the house and called my veterinarian but only reached the receptionist. Both vets were on the road but she suggested I keep an eye on him and call right back if his condition got worse. I went back out to see how Buck was doing and found that he was walking much better and had shaken the foam from his mouth but when I started to approach him he growled at me. "Buck, buddy, it's me. You alright?" Grrrrr. This is one of the only three dogs I have raised from a puppy and he has never growled at me. I'm thinking Old Yeller at this point; but it couldn't possibly be rabies, all of our dogs are vaccinated regularly. Or could it be, maybe there was a problem with the vaccine? These are the kind of thoughts that flash through my mind. I went back in the house for another five minutes to grab some biscuits then back out to the yard. This time when I returned he seemed to be back to his normal self; wagging his tail and very happy to see me. I was also very happy to see him acting like himself again. A round of biscuits and a lot of hugs were in order!

I'm still not positive what happened but I suspect it was a toad and that Buck took a little trip with out leaving the dog yard. I have had other dogs pick toads up when I have been in the yard with them and they had a similar foaming at the mouth. This seemed a lot more extreme though. It's possible that Buck ate the entire toad. I spent quite a bit of time looking around his house and the surrounding yard for any sign of body parts and found nothing so I think he must have either eaten it or it escaped the yard intact. Buck seems to be fully recovered now and during play time yesterday afternoon he was running around like nothing had happened.

Hopefully Buck has learned to leave toads alone; or maybe he will be hunting for them now.. I sure hope not, I don't want to go through that again!

Summer Simmer

Wow, where does the time go?? Spring is gone and summer has been flying by here at Peace Pups. This year I decided to stay home this summer and focus on getting things done around here. During the fall and winter months I'm so busy with the dogs that I have little time to keep up with household projects.

After years of my wife doing our garden I have taken over that task. We doubled our garden space and now have close to a acre tilled and planted with every kind of vegetable you can imagine. I built a small green house and started all of my own plants from seed this year. Our berry and fruit trees are maturing and beginning to produce as well. It's so rewarding to be able to walk out into the front yard and pick dinner; not to mention how good the fresh picked food is too eat. All of our gardens and fruit are grown completely organic. I've even added some laying hens to the mix this year. No eggs yet as they are only around ten weeks old but hopefully by fall we'll be collecting fresh organic eggs. I see this entire project as a means of not only eating better but it also saving us money on our food bill. If only I could feed the dogs from the garden!

Front Yard Gardens

 The flower gardens are compliments of my wife. Since she's not doing as much with the vegetable gardens she now has much more time to plant flowers and plant flowers she has! There's not much lawn left to mow with all of the new flower beds she has tilled up but that's a good thing. One thing I don't like spending my time on is mowing lawns. There are many other things I would rather be doing so the less lawn the better.

Two skin boat kayaks were on the project list for this summer. They have been completed and we just returned from a  week of paddling and camping on Acadia Island Maine. Both boats worked very well and seemed to draw attention everywhere we went. They were a great conversation starter and I met quite a few interesting folks over the course of the week. I did see a couple of home built skin boats but the majority are plastic or fiberglass. This is a picture I took of both kayaks resting on the shore of Somes Sound where we paddled our first day.

Skin Boats on Somes Sound

As usual the coast of Maine was beautiful. We've never stayed in Acadia National Park before but I enjoyed it very much. There is a lot of traffic in July but there are plenty of hiking trails and open water where you can escape the crowds. We brought our bicycles and did several rides on the car free carriage roads. Of course I can't go to Maine with out eating some sea food and with our camp stove set up we were able to find plenty of that to bring back and cook ourselves.

Now that my one week vacation is over it's back to the garden and preparing for fall and winter. We usually begin fall cart training with the dogs around the beginning of September so with a little luck that is only five weeks away! We've had record highs here in July so I'm very much looking forward to some nice cool fall weather.

Off to do some weeding!

Looks Like An Early Spring Once Again

As it did last year it appears that spring has made a early arrival here in Lake Elmore. We ran our last dogsled tour at Stowe Mountain Resort on Tuesday, March 16th. There were bare spots on the trail that night which begin to grow rapidly once they start. When March temperatures reach 65 degrees the snow disappears very quickly; too quickly. This leaves me sitting here wondering where the winter went. After such a intense flurry of activity it is very anticlimactic when it comes to a screeching halt. We were able to meet up with some friends in New Hampshire for one last sled outing this past weekend. The conditions proved to be less than perfect for sledding but it was still great to get out on a sled with the dogs one last time.

Other than things ending too soon we had a fantastic sledding season with hundreds of wonderful guests from all walks of life and many parts of the world. Thank you one and all for your continued support. The dogs were also a joy to work with this winter. With all of the new dogs and fall training problems I had I was beginning to wonder if things would ever come together but they did. We ended up having two very strong eight dog teams plus a couple of extra dogs to help fill in the gaps. One of those extras was our one year old Pacem who is showing some amazing potential. She only ran one run a day this season but always wanted more. She ran in lead a dozen times and seems very comfortable with the roll. She has a lot of drive and adds a high level of energy to the front of the team. I'm looking forward to scooter training with her this spring and with a little bit of luck she may become one of my main leaders next season. In this photo Pacem is the second dog to the right following Buck who is in single lead. Buck is the best lead dog I currently have and the hope is that Pacem is learning from watching him. Bucks sister Etta is laying down next to Pacem.

On other fronts I have begun building a small green house. I am taking over the garden this year with the goal of increasing our food production and decreasing the amount of food we have to buy from outside sources. I just picked up our seed order from High Mowing Seeds yesterday and will be planting this afternoon. I'm a couple of weeks behind schedule but am hoping that the green house will help make up for that. The garden work is helping me keep busy as the sledding abruptly ends . Often spring can be a depressing time for a musher. Having something else to focus on can help one get through that period. Before I know it we'll be running with carts again and looking forward to another winter of sledding with the gang!

Good News - Bad News

I always like to get the bad news out of the way so I can enjoy the good news without worrying so that said. The bad news is that my main team of dogs had a run in with a porcupine a week ago Thursday while running a night tour at Stowe Mountain Resort. Coming around a slight downhill corner with a full sled at about fifteen miles an hour I noticed a dark object in the trail ahead. In the few seconds that I had time to think "what the heck is that?!" the entire team had moved directly toward the object. I threw in the snow hook and ran to the front of the team to find a huge porcupine and seven out of eight dogs covered with quills. As the porcupine slowly waddled across the trail I tried with all of the energy I could muster to hold the eight dog team from following him/her. The porcupine eventually climbed a tree and I was able to get the dogs moving forward again. The next challenge was to convince them that we needed to take a short cut down the mountain to the truck and not continue to run the return route that they do every other time. I prevailed after a half dozen attempts and we made it back to the dog truck in five minutes. We said good night to our guests, loaded the dogs in the truck and headed to our veterinarian's office as quickly as possible. Two hours later with four heavily sedated dogs we were headed home and hoping for the best.

                                                             Buck and Muddy

That's the bad news. The good news is that after just over a week the entire team seems to be pretty well recovered. Muddy and Buck who were in lead on on my team took the brunt of it. Both of them not only had a mouth full of quills but their legs, shoulders and chests were pretty well cover as well. They have both been limping for over a week but have shown much improvement in the past two days.With any luck most of the quills have been removed and we won't have any long term issues resulting from this encounter.

In other news; back in the fall Peace Pups met up with the crew and producer of an Italian television show called Donnavventura. It is a sort of Italian reality show which follows a group of women as they travel to various destinations around the world. We met with them at Stowe Mountain Resort and did a scooter outing and cart rides with them. I was told that we would be on national television in Italy some time in February and that we would be sent a copy of the program on DVD.  I probably won't be able to understand any of it since it will be in Italian but hope to see it at some point just the same. In the mean time they have added a photo album from their visit to Stowe which mostly features the women and our dogs. Obviously they found the women and the dogs to make for much better photos than me so you won't find any mug shots of me.Donnavventura Stowe Photo Album . It all made for a very interesting afternoon and a great experience for all.

Ready For Winter

Happy Thanksgiving Day to those who celebrate this holiday. It is my favorite holiday due to the lack of presents and shopping involved. Good food, friends and family; the important things in life.

As we near the end of November I am in that waiting for winter mode and once again done with my fall to do list. Now that is something to be thankful for!

This winters dog food is in.



The freezer is full of meat for the dogs.




The dog sleds are refinished and ready to run.




And the snow blower and snow plow are on the tractor and ready roll.




And that's just the list from the past two weeks! It seems like I've been preparing for winter for the past three months when we began fall training with the dogs. It amazes me how much time and energy this takes every year. For now it's done and we can sit back and enjoy our nice warm home and with a little bit of luck a nice snowy winter.

As we enter yet another holiday season I try to pause to be thankful for the good fortune I have had in my life. I may not have a lot of money but on this day I have my health, a roof over my head, food on my table and loving family and friends. If only there was a way for everyone to have the good fortune that I have had the world would surely be a better place.

Fall Training Begins Again

Once again the leaves are turning and we're dusting off the dog carts, scooters and ourselves! It's amazing how it seems as though everyone including me forgets so much over the three months of summer vacation. This fall has been especially challenging for me due to the fact that we have a total of eight new dogs in the kennel. I have never had such a large number of newbies at one time. Five of the dogs just arrived here two weeks ago and I really have no idea how much training they have had in the past. They were given to me by someone wanting to place them as a group. They do seem to enjoy running but are pretty out of shape. We'll see how they come along as we begin to run more. I also have two young dogs with us this fall who have never run in a team before. They are; shall we say a "little" crazy. They do seem to be figuring it out though and their energy will be appreciated once they learn to point it in the right direction! These two pictures are of Thunder and Prescott. They are the two young dogs from Ontario. They're actually from the same kennel as our puppy Pacem who is not as much of a puppy any more at eight months old. I'll attempt to get more pictures of the rest of the new gang if I can ever get them to sit still long enough for the camera to capture them.

Vacation Summer 09

This year we decided to do a "staycation" and stick close to home. Generally I plan a grand adventure somewhere in New England whether it's a motorcycle tour to Cape Brenton or a week long canoe in northern Maine we usually head out for an adventure for my one week off.

This summer we only drove 70 miles to Burton Island State Park on Lake Champlain. Burton Island is a wonderful state park near St.Albans, Vermont. They offer ferry service to reach the island as well as docking and mooring if you have your own boat. We bought a 1969 Chrysler Lone Star sail boat this summer. It's a small 13 foot sloop rigged sail boat with a 600 pound; four passenger rating. We loaded it up with a weeks worth of camping gear, two adults and one puppy and set "sail" across the bay to the island. It's only about a half mile from the boat launch to the dock at the island. There was no wind at all the day we headed out so we had to rely on the electric trolling motor I had rigged up on the back. I wish I had taken a picture of the boat loaded. There was barely enough space for us to get in after we put in all of our gear for the week. Good thing it was a calm day!

Once on the island we began to relax. We had a lean too for the week and brought our tent as well. The only complaint I had was that the mosquitoes where brutal! We couldn't really relax at the lean to site even with bug dope on. If you sat still for more than two minutes you were being chewed alive. We spend a lot of time at the public use area near the docks which was open and usually had a good breeze. If we weren't there we were walking on the island trails or out sailing on our boat. Having our boat right there made for some fantastic sailing days. We were able to go when ever the wind blew and got out every day we were there.



Our youngest dog Pacem spent the week camping with us. She makes a great first (second?) mate and seemed to enjoy hanging out on the water. It was great socialization for her and a good bonding experience for us. She's really turning out to be a wonderful dog. I can't wait for winter to arrive so I can get her out for some sled runs and see how she does with that.



After six days we packed it all up and headed back home again. All was well on the home front. Our house sitter didn't have any problems with the rest of the gang which is always a relief. We were well rested and it was great to get away without having to do a ton of driving. We're already debating whether to do the same thing again next summer. I have mixed feelings about that; while it was nice to not drive a lot and spend more time relaxing it is also fun to see new places and have new experiences.

Cruising

Ah, am I glad to be home! June is probably not the best month of the year to visit Florida and take a cruise to the Bahamas but I had a family gathering which I felt obligated to attend. My parent's who now live in Florida were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary (congratulations Mom and Dad!) and they wanted our family and several of their friends to join them on a cruise. I am not a big fan of heat and even find summers in Vermont too hot. Along with my Siberians winter is my favorite time of the year. My first day in Florida it was 110 degrees and the next morning before the sun even came up it was already 90.

I had never been on a cruise ship before so it was a big learning experience for me. I have to admit it's not really my cup-O-Tea and it was likely a once in a life time trip for me. I'm much more comfortable with one or two people in the back woods of New England paddling my canoe than on a ship with 3,000 people on board.

This is a shot from the Nassau Harbor when we were coming back from our snorkel outing. There were four to five ships docked while we were there making for some very crowded streets.



Other than the heat, crowds and noise the cruise wasn't all bad. It was really nice to spend some quality time with my family who I don't get to see very often. The food was good with many choices at each meal. We spent one afternoon at a quiet beach in Freeport and went snorkeling one afternoon in Nassau. I enjoyed snorkeling other than the crowd and leaky snorkel mask. I had never seen a live coral reef and tropical fish in person before and it really was beautiful. I could have stayed there all afternoon watching the fish. I did get flippered in the head several times since there were so many people in the water. With five or six boats at the same location and each boat having forty or so people on it there wasn't a lot of room to move.



I really missed the dogs, especially our puppy Pacem. They were all very happy to see me when I got home but were well cared for by Lise while I was away. I did get some small doggy fixes at my brothers. He has a Black Labrador who loves to have her ears rubbed and I was happy to oblige.

Now I am back at home and working on my page long to do list as we count down the days to fall training. It was 55 degrees yesterday morning and I'm loving it. I'd be happy if it didn't get above 70 all summer but I don't say that too loud around here. Often coming home is the best part of going away; it really makes me appreciate how wonderful life here in Vermont is.

Spring Scooter Fun

It's almost summer now but we have had very nice cool spring weather for most of May which has allowed us to do a lot of scootering with the dogs. Lise often goes with me on Sunday or Monday mornings and we are able to get most of the 14 dogs we currently have out for a run. We haven't been doing a lot for distance; generally only two to four miles max. It really is a amazing way to learn more about each individual dog. When we run them in teams of eight or ten it is hard to tell exactly what each dog is doing. You can see the obvious like if one of them is not pulling at all but there are a lot of subtle things going on there that are very hard to detect. Running single dogs with the scooters leaves nothing hidden. You can tell right away if a dog is confused about what to do or exactly how much they are pulling and how fast they are comfortable running. Some of the dogs have really surprised me. Orion in particular. I have always run him in wheel (position at back of team directly in front of the sled or cart) and judging by his behavior in the dog yard thought that he wasn't all that bright. When I took him out with the scooter he responded to commands like a true lead dog! He is also showing me that he is one of the fastest dogs in the dog yard. I would have never found this out if it wasn't for running him with the scooter. He likely just earned himself some time in lead when we begin regular cart runs this coming fall.



The biggest benefit of running with the scooters is that it allows us to keep playing with the dogs long after the snow is gone. Typically we would have packed things up and been in summer vacation mode by now. This year we have been running at least twice a week. It is very relaxing working with the dogs on scooters. It's rare for me to be able to spend one on one time with each dog. Usually as I stated above they are working as a team and when I'm with them in the dog yard they are all together as a group. Having just one dog out at a time allows me to focus on their individual personality.





I have found the scooters to work well in a wide range of conditions. I've been running on everything from class three dirt roads to single track trails through the woods with stream bed like surfaces. It is amazing how much control you have with the scooters. Some of the trails I have been on I have mountain bike on in the past and I have found it to be more stable running these trails with a dog and the scooter than riding them with my mountain bike. The lower center of gravity with your weight being below the wheel axles makes a huge difference. It is also much easier to step off with one foot and give a kick to hop over a rough spot on the trail. All of the scooters I have been using have disk brakes which work very well. My newest mountain bike it about five years old and still have V brakes so this is my first experience with disk brakes. In a word, fantastic! Especially with running dogs where you have the brakes on 90% of the time. It only take a couple of fingers to keep things under control.




I hope we can continue to work the dogs with the scooters right through the summer. They do fine with two mile runs at temperatures in the low 60s so I expect most weeks I can find a morning or two here that are in that temperature range. No matter what the scooters have already allowed our season to expand greatly and provided all of us with a great dry land activity!

Spring Flowers

The snow is completely gone except for a few spots high up on the mountains. The mud has gone away due to a pretty dry April. It's the time of year where every new day brings a fresh batch of green to the landscape. I believe if you sat for the day and watched a tree or a fern you could actually see it growing. It is a short growing season here in northern Vermont so everything seems to be in a hurry. Our early spring flowers have been blooming here, crocuses and daffodils for cultivated plants and trillium, trout lillies and colts foot for the wild ones. Despite my love of winter and the onset of black fly season it is hard not to appreciate the beauty in everything coming to life around us.



Our not so little any more puppy Pacem is doing very well. She weighed in at 21 pounds a week ago. Just like the spring plants it amazes me how much she grows every day. I jump out of bed each morning to be greeted by her at the bedroom door and marvel at how much she grew overnight. She has been a real blessing this spring as I have been dealing with much loss and sadness. It really is impossible not be smile when she comes bounding across the yard so happy and full of life. It certainly feels like she came into my life at this point in time for a reason. As most proud parents will say; she is the smartest little dog I have ever known. She truly seems to be able to pick things up very quickly and has been a pleasure to work with.



Until next time take care and enjoy the new life and spring flowers in your neck of the woods.

Early Spring in Lake Elmore

We have had a early end to the winter here in Lake Elmore this year. March is often the snowiest month of the year for us but this year we didn't have any. What we did have were a lot of forty degree sunny days. Admittedly nice for us human types to be out but a little warm for Siberian Huskies to be pulling sleds through the snow. It's a double whammy for them, not only is it much warmer than they have been used to all winter but the snow is also slushy and soft making it much harder to move the sleds. We packed it all up after the third weekend of March. Now we wait for the rest of the snow to melt and for the mud to dry up.

We have been getting out with the dog scooters a lot. I've been trying to run at least three times a week. No trail runs yet but we have been able to go on the back roads around the area. This is my first year running with the Pawtrekker scooters and I am having a blast with them. I can't wait until the woods dry out enough to do some single track trail running with them.



The other big news this month is that we have a new little one who has come into our lives. We bought a female puppy from Nduring Peace from Ontario, Canada. She has been here just over two weeks now and is really keeping me busy. We are keeping her in the house and crate training her. I hope to have this create a stronger bond between us which will hopefully help to make her more responsive for training. I need a few more good lead dogs to help keep our teams strong. It is very hard to buy lead dogs so this is my attempt at creating one from scratch. So far she is showing a lot of promise. At eleven weeks old she already loves to run, has learned to sit and is 90% house trained. She seems to be a very smart little pup. We have named her Pacem.

I will close for now. Need to get out to the dog yard to start preparing for another scooter run this morning.

Empty Space in the Dog Yard, Empty Space in My Heart.

Tuesday, March 3rd 2009 will be a day I will never forget. My dear friend Dubois or Doobie Dog as he was more commonly known had to be put to sleep on that day. After two weeks of loose stools which we tried everything to curb that he was off to our veterinarian for going over. We could feel something solid in his stomach so x-rays were taken. There was definitely some sort of mass in his intestines. I brought him in for surgery Tuesday morning with the hope of removing a glove or other foreign object and a week long recovery. We had no such luck. Doobie had a massive cancer growth which had spread through out his intestines.



My dog yard will never be the same again. Doobie was a very special dog. He is one of four pups from the only litter we have ever whelped here. The mother did not care for the puppies so we bottle fed four of them with a 100% survival rate. Not an easy thing to accomplish. Doobie had pneumonia from the bottle feeding when he was two weeks old. He was on antibiotics for a week and after four days of feeding him drops of milk with a spoon his lungs cleared and he began to drink from the bottle again.
Dubois means out of the woods in French so we thought this was a very appropriate name for the little guy.

Doobie wasn’t the prettiest dog in the yard nor did he have the best gait or build. He was rather plan in his markings but he had a certain way about him that made him stand out. He was the most driven running dog I have ever had in our kennel. Whenever we were on a run if we stopped for more than a minute or two he was always the first one to start snapping his jaws and yipping to go. He was my main lead dog for the past year. His desire to run kept the rest of the team in motion. He was energetic and enthusiastic right to the very end. He did his last run this past Sunday and you would have hardly known he was sick. When I sat in the dog yard you could always find Doobie right at my side. He seemed more content to spend time sitting next to me than running around with the other dogs.

I suppose I will get over this with time but it is hard to believe right now as tears roll down my face every time I picture his big brown eyes gazing into mine. I know no other dog will ever replace him and at the moment my desire to run dogs at all just doesn’t exist. Our team just doesn’t seem right with out Doobie out in lead. Doobie would have been five years old on Saint Patrick’s Day next week. I love you Doobie and you will always remain in my heart.

Retirement Isn't So Bad

Here is a photo I shot this morning of Aiko our 13+ Siberian. Aiko just retired from running tours this season and seems to be adjusting quite well to the retired life. Here he is hanging out by the wood stove with his buddy Charles the cat. It's a rough life!



Actually Aiko isn't completely retired just yet. He and I are a certified pet therapy team and we do bi monthly visits to a adult day center in Morrisville just down the road. I call it his retirement job. He really seems to look forward to the trip to town and all of the attention he receives from the people there. Sometimes he even scores a few biscuits.

Aiko is still in great health but we did some extended walks with him this past fall and found that he was getting tired much more quickly than the fall before. On one long hike we did he was became shaky and a little unsteady on his feet (I'll probably be a bit unsteady at 90+ myself). That was when I decided he probably wasn't going to be up for our tours this winter. Hopefully he will have many more years of relaxing next to the wood stove.

We are all enjoying a little down time this week after being crazy busy last week. This past weekend was the last weekend of President's Vacation week which is the busiest week of the winter for us here. The dogs did a amazing job of getting everyone out for rides. Well done; extra chicken for one and all!

Moonlight in Vermont

The dogs, I and a few lucky guests had a perfect evening for dogsledding last night. We had two tours scheduled at Stowe Mountain Resort. With temperatures hovering around 3 below zero and crystal clear skies the ¾ moon lit things up very nicely. It is hard to describe the peacefulness of the experience. Running through the woods the only sound is that of the dog’s feet hitting the snow; their breathing and the runners of the sled sliding through the snow. The moonlight has a very different quality than sunlight; more subtle and soft but with the snow reflecting its glow you can see almost as well as in the daylight. The dogs stride smoothly in and out of the long shadows of the moon. Running in this setting you can’t help but feel privileged to be able to share the experience with the dog team.

There are not many evenings that the timing of the moon rise coincides with our running schedule and even fewer that it happens to be clear and cold as well. Being able to share the moment with others only makes it that much more enjoyable for me.

It’s hard to believe we are almost to the end of the first week of February already. Where does the winter go? It flies by way to quickly and soon I’ll be counting the days to fall training again. Time is a fleeting and seems to slip by more quickly with each passing day. I must remind myself each day to appreciate each and every moment. Running through the woods of Vermont with a team of enthusiastic dogs doing what they love to do is one of the best ways I have found to do this.

Good old fashion winter!

What a great season this has been so far. Thinking back to our first season of tours in 2007 I remember getting in one of our first sled runs of the season around January 10th. Even that was marginal and we were running on about three inches of snow. This winter has been the best one in recent memory. We have had great trail conditions since the first week in December. Between that and the new; used Tidd Tech groomer I purchased this past fall the dogsled trail has been just about perfect. We haven’t seen a day above freezing here since Christmas. Seeing that in writing doesn’t sound like such a big deal. It’s only been four weeks but it seems a lot longer than that. I’ve become accustomed to the big temperature swings of past seasons where we have had temperatures in the 50s above zero. I guess we have had similar swings this winter but they have been more in the range of -40 to +20. Same amount of swing just a lot colder.

We have been doing well with sticking to our plan of skiing every Monday and haven't missed one yet. I've already broken my record from last season. As usual the biggest challenge is to get my butt in motion on Mondays after working with the dogs all weekend. I'm often ready for a break by Monday but getting out for a ski is a great mental break if not a physical one. Craftsbury does an amazing job of keeping their trails in top form and they are always great for skate skiing.

On other fronts all has been going well. No major break downs of equipment. The tractor has been running great so keeping our road open has been easy. We haven’t had any huge snow storms; just a few inches here and there adding up to a few feet which is much easier to keep up with. We haven’t even had any frozen water pipes in our cabin despite the record cold. Just maybe after seven years of living here we are finally getting things figured out.

No complaints from the frosty woods of north central Vermont!