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Iditarod 2014 Thursday March 6

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As of 9:30 this morning Travis was through the checkpoint of Ophir in 29th place. He posted a strong run time of 2 hours and 10 minutes. He stayed In Ophir for 35 minutes probably to feed his dogs and give them a short break.

He is now on the trail heading towards Cripple. I imagine he will rest somewhere on the trail between Cripple and Ruby, probably during the heat of the day from about 11-4 or something like that as it is a longer run.

Without his 3 main leaders — Zema, Madori, and Mary — in the team I’m sure Travis is being more cautious as to when he starts really pushing the team.

Remember, last year Travis’ team didn’t start peaking until Kaltag about 630 miles in to the race. By Koyuk, 200 miles later, they were absolutely flying. These are dogs that generally get stronger the further they go down the trail and Travis is playing off of that. He moved up approximately 10 positions in the last two runs of 2013, passing the last team as he came onto Front Street in Nome.

Currently, only 4 hours separates 30th place from 19th place. And 6 hours separates 30th from 13th place. Two things lead to this: (1) the front of the pack is running faster (2) the back is resting longer. In reality it is some combination of the two.

Travis rested a little more earlier in the race with hopes that it will pay off later. Regardless, this is a very competitive field with a whole lot of race left… it will be interesting to see who moves up and who moves down in the standings as the mushers continue down the trail!

Rest in Peace Noon

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We lost our beloved cat, Noon (pictured on the right) this morning. For anyone who has ever visited our kennel, you’ll remember that she was the sweetest, most affectionate cat. She loved children and didn’t care if they held her up by her tale. She never bit or scratched. She was simply a good cat. We adopted her after Iditarod last year to keep our other cat, Midnight, company.

Noon was never my cat. From the moment she came home, she was Travis’. She came when he called, curled up in his lap, and often slept on his chest at night. We knew something was wrong with Noon early last week. She stopped eating and had lost weight. Our local vet has been out of town for some time and after consulting with another vet we started her on some treatment. Her health continued to decline.

On Friday, when we left for the ceremonial start of Iditarod in Anchorage, Travis and I agreed that she needed to come with us. We spent Friday night before the race, typically a time when mushers are trying to stock up on sleep, in the vets office trying to get her better. We didn’t leave til about 2:00am. The vet was flummoxed by her symptoms and having worked with so many animals, Travis and I knew that the prognosis was not good. On Monday morning, I received a phone call from the vet. Test results were back and it looked like she had cancer.

I have spent the last few nights sleeping by her side trying to make her comfortable. But I’m the consolation prize — she wanted Travis. Cats don’t understand Iditarod and I know she wanted her dad, meowing to look for him. She slept on one of his old shirts last night and it immediately brought her visible comfort as she closed her eyes and rested.

This morning, shortly before she passed, our 3 inside dogs, Archie, Betty and Perry as well as our other cat, Midnight, all walked in and gathered around where I was holding Noon. They each took a turn nuzzling her. Midnight licked her ears and put his paw on her forward. I am amazed by the compassion and friendship animals show one another in times of need.

She crossed over surrounded by her friends and family. I am certain that wherever Travis is on the trail, her spirit is flying towards him, and in the moment where they meet, I am sure that her arrival there will lift his spirits.

Watch over us, sweet Noon. You will forever be in our hearts!

Day One of Iditarod 42

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It’s 8:00am on the first morning of Iditarod 42 and we are beginning to see different strategies once again emerge. I still haven’t been able to get my insider subscription to work so I’m currently relying on just the standings published by ITC at this time.

Martin Buser, Nicolas Petite, Mike Williams Jr. all currently sit in Rainy Pass this morning. I imagine they will rest here a few hours and then head out on the trail. It seems these mushers are doing an adaptation of Martin’s strategy last year of “rush to the front” but are choosing to add a little more rest.

Kelly Maxiner has currently pushed out of Rainy Pass and is en route to Rohn. He may opt to 24 there, once he gets there before trekking over “The Burn” but I imagine he will continue further along. Like Travis, Nick Petite, and Jeff King, Kelly Maxiner has a sled caboose (like Travis). It’s been reported that he has only been running 12 of his 16 dogs due to the hard fast conditions so even though he has rested little, his dogs have been getting rest.

The hard trail allows those traveling with dogs in their sled to maintain good, fast speeds despite having fewer dogs in the line. Petite, who probably has at least 1 or 2 dogs in his trailer was only a minute slower than Buser. Buser, who does not have a caboose, may have still had a dog in the sled – it just is a much tighter fit.

Unlike Petite, Buser, and Maxiner, Travis is running a more traditional schedule. We knew going into this race that the danger of this hard, fast trail would be that it is very tempting to go too fast and run too far. Combined with the warm weather, this can really sap a lot out of a dog team. But that energy drain, if it is seen, won’t be seen until several days into the race

Martin has definitely learned from last year. His team has performed consistently winning every mid-distance race they have been entered in. Translating that into an Iditarod win, however, presents its own unique challenges. Still Martin has the knowledge, skill, and talent as a dog man. I am not sure what to expect of him this year. His 17th place finish last year did not surprise me; I would be equally surprised if he hadn’t learned from it and refined his strategy.

Petite, who (I believe) only has 7 returning veterans from last years 6th place team, has had the consistent training. This guy was always out on the trail. Talking to Petite early in the season, he had a unique race strategy lined out for Iditarod 42. I’ll be interested to see how and if he chooses to execute it – but I wouldn’t be surprised. He likes to shake things up. He has one of the dogs we bred and raised, Levi, running on his team this year. His brother Wrangler, is running with Travis. Both are probably the youngest dogs on these mushers team, a nod to their talent.

So what is Travis doing?. He is taking his time, building up rest. This is going to be a trail that wears dogs down. The hard fast icy trail combined with the long stretches of snowless trail predicted later on in the race are going to be rough on teams. Wrist injuries will take lots of dogs out of the race. Taking extra rest now will pay off later. It is a tried and true method that has been proven year after year to yield good, reliable results…however only time will tell!

Chesney Goes Ice Skating

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Last weekend, I spent Sunday afternoon ice-skating with a friend out at Tern Lake. It’s a fun little spot where the Seward Highway & Sterling Highway meet and is usually one of the first places to freeze. I admit that I have never skated out there before and am not actually much of a skater.

Still, I used this as an opportunity to introduce one of our shier pups and to get him more familiar with me. We were really hard to socialize are dogs and it is important that lots of socialization occur at a young age. We try our best to work with dogs that show early signs of being shy by working with them more frequently. We often try to do plenty of 1-on-1 time.

Chesney was born this summer. He is the son of Fidget and Copper, both finishers from last year’s Iditarod team, both incredibly eager dogs, and both a little reserved when it comes to social interaction. I expected several dogs from this litter to show more signs of being shy. Fortunately, they are all very friendly dogs.

Here is a video of Chesney following along on the ice:

PS sorry…my voice over came out really loud, you might want to turn your volume DOWN.

In the last week after this video was shot, Chesney has been really friendly and out going — all very positive signs.

The New Dog Barn

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By now it’s no secret, but we recently built a new 10-dog indoor box (picture 10 cubby holes big enough for dogs) so that our dogs could come inside on less-than-favorable days. While I can’t say I am an exceptionally good wood worker, I will say I have certainly enjoyed the process.

What started off as a way to distract myself from Travis’ absence grew into a fun project that now has me, I will admit, somewhat obsessed with building things whenever I can seem to find the time. (which is never)

The process itself was somewhat bizarre. Two years ago we had started a 15-hole dog box for a small one-axle trailer that Travis had spent the summer living in. Although no gem, we were excited to have a way to transport our dogs. Well, long story short, although we built the box it was actually too heavy for our small trailer and we never finished it. There was no top piece and none of the “boxes” actually had sides.

So, for the last two years it has sat in our garage collecting dust, power tools, and any other object that needed a temporary (or even less-than-temporary) home. Well, all that, changed. With the help of a friend, I cut the top row off using a sawzall and now had the parts to what would be a new 10-hole dog box, to go in our basement, as well as a 5 hole dog box, also to go in the basement.

I know what you are thinking: But you have SLED DOGS…why do they need to come inside?

Believe it or not, there are several reasons mushers bring dogs inside during the winter. One of the biggest reasons is to work on the dogs — maybe we have a dog with a foot problem and we need to keep applying ointment or maybe one of our dogs has an ongoing sore muscle — regardless of what the problem is, being able to bring them into a warm environment is very beneficial for the healing process. Another reason is if dogs get sick — we recently had several sick dogs in the kennel which really rushed me to finish the box. Perhaps the least “practical” reason but perhaps the most important, was the simple fact that we like bringing our dogs inside to hang out — not just with us but also with each other. We believe it’s important for a team to have good camaraderie both on and off the trail. Plus, the whole reason we have dogs is because we love dogs…the more time we get to spend with them, in our eyes, the better!

So after cutting the the top part off, I moved the 10 whole piece inside. I then had to cut side pieces, a top, and make clips to ensure that the dogs stayed in their cubby hole…we need to maintain some sense of order after all 🙂

Here is a picture of it being put to use:

Photo Nov 13, 11 47 04 PM

It’s been especially having fun all the puppies inside…the one thing I forgot about however was there need to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night so usually when they come in I have to get up every four hours because they have tiny bladders. Well worth the extra effort in my opinion 🙂

This picture was taken after many of the dogs had been inside for awhile (at like 3am) and were tuckered out from playing. Faraday, the big grey and white siberian husky in the middle of the picture was not feeling 100% because she got into an open bag of kibble, gorged herself and had a rather full stomach. On the top from left to right we have Kip, Odin, Meena, & Faraday (sorry I can’t remember who the last dog in the right hand most hole is and I can’t tell from just the leg!). On the bottom we have Gracie, Coda, & Chesney.

Some of you may be thinking…”Wait…none of your puppy names go together?”

Yeah…so what! While I am not completely opposed to “themes” I would rather find a name that fits the dog even if it means waiting a little longer. We have had themes in the past but only if the theme really and I mean really fits the dogs.

Ok well hope you enjoyed the update!

P.S. As you can see, our dogs enjoy their blankets. If you have old fleece blankets, sheets or towels and live in the Seward area our dogs would certainly appreciate the donation. I like to change out the bedding and end up doing a LOT of laundry…someday we will have a washer and dryer just for dog blankets, harnesses, and booties. I just wish that day would get here sooner!