Leader training...again

I had a chance to retest myself on my own methods this past week.  Snowy conditions (not enough to sled on) caused me to drop back to small teams and use my Fritz Dyke cart.  I took 2 teams of 6 dogs out and so once again got to test some other members of the first string at lead.  I was really happy with the outcome, Tula and Bridget are really shaping into nice leaders.  I had the usual tussle with Tula about Gee Over.  She is a strong lefty.  I had to stop many times when we first started out.  So frustrating to do when you have a fresh team!  I did the usual gentle-pushing over.  Those moments of frustration (I really felt like giving up) are a great stage for the dawn of success.  So the praise is really heartfelt.  When Tula felt my admiration and appreciation she started to work for it!  My next step working on Gee Over is to not stop the team but ride the brake if I need to correct the leaders to gee Over more.  That step lasted only a short while before Tula and Bridget were perfectly Gee-d Over, and for the rest of the run!  Good job girls!
-Miss W
Owner and Musher
Barking Brook Sled Dog Adventures, llc
http://www.Barking-Brook.com

Training Lead Dogs - a gee over tip

Training new lead dogs is always a lot of fun, and is so easy in fall.  It seems like the hardest skills to teach are the turn commands and "gee over".  You get really motivated to teach gee over when you run on a road like we do, or go up to Pittsburg and share the trail with snow mobiles going 70mph.  Also, running sled dog tours like I do, you really need to do your homework in fall to get the team ready and up to snuff.

To teach gee over I start with stopping the team and pushing the dogs gently over to the gee side.  Repeat ad naseum, but when you get that golden moment when the lead dogs see you coming and scoot over on their own PRAISE LIKE HECK!  This is the moment you have been waiting for.  And you need to let them know how great you think they are as they are doing it.  Now you still have a lot of work to do if you have strong lefty dogs.  Keep at this, it matters, it works, you will succeed.  If you think your dogs are getting bummed out, just imagine how bummed out they would be to be in a car or snowmobile crash.

After the dogs get so they know what you are saying, what you want to do is not stop, but use the command shortly followed by pressure on the breaks if they do not respond.  Slow the team down to a crawl.  Then, as they step over to the right, praise like heck and let go of the brakes right away!  Once you get to this point things go a lot faster, because lets face it, these sled dogs LIVE to run.  It also feels much better as the musher, bcs you are not stopping a million times on the trail.  But you need to make sure the dogs know what the words mean FIRST.

Good luck, and good "gee over"!

-Miss W
Owner and Musher
Barking Brook Sled Dog Adventures, llc
http://www.Barking-Brook.com

Sled dogs training for adventures!

We use our road to train in fall. It has lots of hills which helps the teams get very strong. Hill workouts are perfect for dog sled tour training. I like a 10 dog team for this size ATV. If the terrain is flat we need no engine holdback or help. Most of the time I keep the engine off. I actually help on most hills,until I am too tired! My hill philosophy is based on the fact that my hills are huge. I let the dogs rest several times on the big or long hills. I have seen over the years that my team gets stronger and stronger this way. Some people worry that it trains the dogs to quit but the personalities of my dogs have ZERO quit in the mix. So this is not an issue.
I thought this picture was funny...a wild and thing paired with the domestic. A natural engine paired with the excavater.

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Hot chicks

Pretty Darka and Blossom...taking a break from lead. Great girls to have on a sled dog adventure!

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Did someone say dog sled tours?

Bodihi says "yipeeeee". Let's get ready to take some NH visitors out for some fall sled dog rides!

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Pretty

Pretty fall leaves. Pretty team too!

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Fabulous day with two Friends and 20 Dogs

Today I met my friends Scott and Linda Isabelle at the Hill trails.  Linda said she would help me anyway I needed, and I took her up on the offer!  She was a huge help, doing half the work of prepping first one team and then the other.  It was great, I was able to get both teams out today without exhausting myself.  Further joy was having an adult to talk to for HOURS!  Scott ran his team with us while we ran my A team.  We did lots of nice passing work on the way out and then we turned around at about 4 miles to head back.  We saw him again for a head on pass as we headed out with the B team.
It was a truly spectacular day, thank you Linda!

Christmas Mush - Dogs at the truck

A nice photo taken by Kelly Berg.  I love how Rainy is Howling away!

Holidays, ice, sick baby....brain wave

After many things conspiring to keep the dogs miserable in the kennel (and poor Emma pretty miserable too) we finally get an overall break.  Today we met the usual local folk at Hill for the Christmas Mush.  Not sure what was so Christmas-y about it besides a few bad holiday decorations!!!  But it was great to get out with the dogs, get a break from Emma, know Emma was recovered from being sick and to have great cold weather to boot.  The dogs did wonderfully, perfect passing, hard pulling, good behavior.  I bumped little Blossom up for a trial on the A team and she worked very well.  She was a little overdone afterwards, tired and a little sick to her tummy. I chalk that up to her not being as fit since the B team is not getting out much at all.

Someone told me today that the ban on mushing at Profile Falls/Shaw Cove on weekends before noon has been listed.  Hurray!

Today we saw many old friends.  I find it interesting that nearly everyone has moved to large ATV's.  I love my little ATV and it is a perfect fit for my 10-dog A team.  A little heavy for my older dogs (also a 10 dog team).  Ironically I am contemplating swapping out my sweet little honda 250 for my husbands beast honda 450.  I think there is at least at 200 pound weight difference.  What I am thinking of doing is changing my mind set from two 10-dog teams to 4 five-dog units.  Swapping out units, running 3 units at a time (15-dog team) I think all the dogs would get on average 3 runs a week if I myself ran 4 times.  It wont be as fun, it will be a lot more stressful and limiting, but if the conditions hold like they are now I can get more miles on more dogs.

Holiday week frustration....

 UGH! My few hours of babysitting...and my road is iced over...not enough time to drive somewhere and cannot run the team here on iced hills.... SAD!

6 miles at good old Hill Village

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!

Ice!

I woke to the sound of ice this morning.  I headed to the kennel and things were indeed covered by a thin sheen of ice, quite slippery on smooth surfaces like the patio blocks, but OK on the rocks in the play area.  And the gravel driveway seemed ok too.  I loaded up both teams and headed to my training spot.  I decided to run the B team first, in case things were more slippery than they seemed.  Well...they were.  The team struggled up Poole Hill rd, only to zip down it on our way back.  We were sliding around, ass end of the ATV trying to spin.  The ATV also acted funny.  I ran the engine for extra hold back, only I had to jump it to get the engine going and the gas would not work. I decided not to run the A team, and fed everyone at or in the truck.
Thankfully Terry happened to be at the townhouse working on the Bean Hole Beans new building.  He pull-started the ATV for me and I got it back on the trailer.

I sure hope we have better luck tomorrow.

The teams are in training!

We've been out for our first few runs, hurray!
We've been using our home trails and the dogs are already getting tougher for it.  Today, a warm and humid training day no less, we bumped up the miles a little.  The dogs did great.  Bodhi and Twinkle led the whole run. Recent rain left lots of mud puddles and the  dogs charged right through them, cooling off and getting seriously BROWN!