I went to Hill Village for the first time this year. It's not a weekend, so I could go. NH Musher's Association agreed to ban mushers on weekends before noon at Hill Village/Profile Falls and also Shaw Cove. From what I understand it was explained that this was due to several incidents between sled dogs and hunting dogs. Which I find strange....considering the hunting dogs are breaking one of the only rules that is posted right on the Army Core of Engineers website and if they were on leash as they ought to be probably no issues would occur.
Grumbling aside....
It was lovely and very quiet due to the weather (wet and cold). We passed hunting dogs a few times, might have been the same dog each time. Bells! The dogs were psyched to go somewhere so easy, nearly flat, and they flew through the first 3 miles. After that their wind was a little gone, and we took several rest stops to allow them to continue to work hard. Their wind will come back, it's early days yet in their training.
There were a lot less puddles than I hoped, with the recent rain I was hoping for lots of big splashy puddles for them to cool off in. At the second watering stop they were still pretty thirsty so next time I have to bring more than 2 gallons of water. It takes about 1.5 gallons to water 10 dogs on each stop.
Twinkle ran lead with Bodhi. They are a nice pair. Twinkle never poops in harness, and Bodhi has a great signal he gives when he wants to stop to poop. He jumps high into the air!!! Of course the two have other great qualities up front, hard driving and mostly taking commands. Twinkle ran for years next to Bodhi's mother (Rainy) and they were the perfect lead pair, always taking commands right away. Twinkle has run with Tula the last few years but the dynamics between the two biggest bitches in the kennel don't work very well for taking commands, neither seems to want to push or pull the other...so they often just stand there looking numb. I am hoping that Twinkle will get back to her clever self with her new partner. And Bodhi is very smart, so he should pick up commands very easily. He is a nice obedience partner and earned his Rally Novice degree this summer.
Also on the team were:
Rainy and Pema at point
Java Bean and Turbo
Hakka and Tula
Bridget and Pearl at wheel (spelling the bigger dogs who usually run at wheel)
Pearl has always been on the A string but this year I bumped her back to B. Smudgie has a sore foot though, so my sweet Pearl is back with the A string. She is a great dog, always doing what she should and never doing anything naughty. Only this year she is not pulling very hard!!! She is only 8, no where near retiring age! Though she is a great housedog, a true luxury companion. Always clean, cuddly, fluffy, and super hugable.
Well that's all...I should be cleaning house!
