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Been running the dogs now for the last couple of weeks. We've had several shoulder and wrist injuries, due to fast, hard trails. Therefore, I've been alternating between the sled and the atv. The dogs have been doing well, and we even got a couple of 45-50 mile runs in, where we practiced checkpoint/rest procedures. There are several young dogs on the team, so it is real important they learn to rest. Dutchess had hurt her shoulder a couple weeks ago, but with rest and massages, she seems to have bounced back nicely (knock on wood!). Ran the dogs today down to North Pole, and got some great practice running on the river. I've been relying on Achilles & Curry in lead, and boy are they shining! Achilles learned to gee/haw over today, after he kept getting off the main trail on the river. I kept telling him to "Gee over" and finally, a lightbulb clicked on in his head, and he did a perfect gee over. After that, it was like I had a remote control. How cool is that??
However, now I have 2 dogs limping...looks like Patsy injured her wrist pretty bad, and Shiver has a slight limp too. Well, with a week to go for the race, we'll see how these guys do. Good news is that Hazel, who had hurt her shoulder in a run 2 weeks ago is looking much better. Time will tell. I'm still not completely sure which dogs I'll be racing next Sunday, so I'll probably take 13-14 dogs for the vet check...and make my decision based on that. Well, lots of stuff to get done before we leave!
Tammi
"The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself, too." ~Samuel Butler~ |
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