dogs

Dog Of The Week: Willie-Charlie

Sarah · January 19, 2015 ·

Willie-Charlie

Most dogs have one name but Willie-Charlie isn’t most dogs. When we picked Willie up as a young pup in 2011 he was extremely skittish. He wanted absolutely nothing to do with Travis or I. When Travis went to load Willie into the truck the first time, Willie bit Travis’ finger.

At the time, a popular video was making the rounds. You’ve probably seen it: It’s called Charlie Bit My Finger. Well, ever since that episode Willie, has been Willie-Charlie.

When we got Willie-Charlie, Travis was still working forDallas Seaveyup in Anchorage. Travis couldn’t wait to show off the lanky long legged pup he’d just gotten so he brought him to work. As Travis pulled “Willie” from his kennel, Willie got so nervous he pooped all over Travis. Travis never lived that one down!

Three years later and Willie-Charlie has blossomed into one of the most amazing dogs in our kennel. Although skittish, he has found his place at the front of the team. He effortlessly takes commands, working alongside his nephew, Wrangler in lead. They are a dynamite pair up front who’s excitement never ceases. Willie-Charlie still gets shy from time to time, but has learned to trust both Travis and myself. Although a nervous dog, he has learned to calm down when we have guests and does especially great with children.

In 2014, Wille-Charlie finished the Copper Basin 300 and started his first Iditarod. Unfortunately, Willie-Charlie caught a nasty stomach bug and had to be dropped due to severe diarrhea. Our friends Robert, Mary, and Carly Meachum who helped with our dropped dogs last year were kind enough to take care of Willie when he was under the weather.

Now a year older and newly trained as a leader, we are excited to have Willie-Charlie leading the team.

Willie-Charlie really is one amazing dog. His relatives in our kennel include his sister Fidget and his nieces/nephews: Wrangler, Trunk, Penny, and Meena. His other nephews, Levi & Carhartt have played a crucial part in Nicolas Petite’s kennel. We are excited to watch Willie continue to grow in our kennel and are looking forward to his continued progress!

Wrangler and Willie-Charlie from Travis Beals' 2015 Iditarod team. — Wrangler (left) and Willie-Charlie (right) exhibit some tangible excitement during the start of the 2014 Iditarod

Dog Of The Week: Cuervo

Sarah · January 12, 2015 ·

Cuervo

Cuervo joined our kennel shortly before Iditarod 2014 from Dallas Seavey. Travis needed a last minute go-to dog and knew he could rely on Dallas to provide him with a top quality racing athlete.Travis and Dallas both grew up in Seward and ran tours together for Dallas’ family for many years. In 2011, Travis went to work for Dallas for a summer at his summer dogsled tour show in Anchorage. Although Dallas no longer runs it, Travis looks back on that time fondly.

Dallas described Cuervo as:

The canine version of Dallas Seavey. Cuervo is small, confident, and can’t sit still. He is also incredibly mouthy, often times smarting off to dogs twice his size. But like Dallas, Cuervo can run…and run and run. He loves to eat, and can usually finish his food in time to swipe somebody else’s too. If there is a disturbance at 3 a.m. in the dog yard, it is usually Cuervo trash talking. In spite of his aggressive demeanor, he gets along with just about everybody

Cuervo has been starting to lead for Travis intermittently. He is a great dog with a lot of natural talent. He often runs with his half-sister Gremlin, a 3 year old Travis purchased from Dallas as a pup the summer Travis worked for him. Cuervo brings confidence, excitement, and a steady work ethic to Travis’ team. Although smaller than most of the males in our kennel, Cuervo makes up for his size with his hard work ethic and his big heart!

Remembering Bode

Sarah · November 16, 2013 ·

This is not a post I want to write but not writing it, I feel, would be a great disservice to a wonderful dog taken all too soon from us. On Monday night, our dog Bode unexpectedly passed away. I don’t think I have ever been so stunned. For a long time, I simply held his lifeless form and wept hysterically. Bode didn’t eat his morning meal that day — but this is not unusual behavior when a bug is going around a kennel; I had several dogs who didn’t eat that day. Still, he seemed a little bit sluggish so I spoke with our vet when I went in to check on Flo and described his symptoms. We decided to give Bode the same antibiotics that I was using to treat my other ill dog at home, Grace. Flo continued to stay at the vet’s to be monitored as she was very weak. If Bode wasn’t back to himself the next day, I would take him in for further evaluation.

If only I had known…

Words cannot describe the sense of loss Travis and I currently feel. I last was with Bode at about 6:30 pm. I’d been working downstairs on our indoor dogbox. He had moved around the basement several times before finding a spot to lie down. He did not seem like he was about to die. When I went down to check on him after eating dinner at 8:30, he was gone. I still can’t believe it. We have not lost a young dog before and to have this sassy playful dog snatched from us so early in his life seems incredibly wrong and a gross injustice.

Bode was born this past February. His father Joe is the beloved cheerleader of our team and Mama B. a quirky surefooted female who we were sad could not race last season due to the fact that she was rearing pups. We had the litter inside the house for almost 10 weeks and grew very fond of the three dogs: Bode, Teddy, and Fergie. But Bodie always stood out from his sibblings.

2013-02-07 12.19.58

Once Bode was old enough to bark, it seemed, he never stopped barking. He is the loudest dog I have ever met. I keep going back to this idea I heard a few years ago: You only have so many heartbeats…… I know it doesn’t make sense but I keep thinking, does a dog only have so many woofs and barks?

I know that probably sounds stupid but my heart aches so deeply and I struggle to make some sort of sense of this terrible situation.

I often wish I could have taught Bode to be silent for at least five minutes but now the dog yard, without his endless yipping and yapping, seems too quiet: adjusting has been hard.

We have had several other dogs in the kennel who have been sick recently. Flo, another puppy, was hospitalized last Friday due to dehydration caused from uncontrollable diarrhea. I take comfort, though not much, in the fact that she and our other dogs have gotten well and the fact that our vet has said that we have done everything we could for our dogs, including Bode.

Still, we are left with the question: Why Bode?

It’s been tougher dealing with this reality with Travis gone. He is training out on the middle of the Denali Highway, hundreds of miles from here with little to no phone service. When I told him the news on Tuesday morning he was in disbelief. And to be truthful, I was too. Honestly, I think I still am.

Travis kept asking me if I needed him to come home. How badly I think we both wanted for me to say yes! However in no way would that have benefitted our kennel. We were not yet sure if the antibiotics we were giving were working and the last thing I wanted was our race team to get sick incase the bug was contagious.

So Travis stayed North and has continued working with his race team. I know these training miles have been particularly tough on him. The lone quiet of the trail can truly make your heart ache especially when something as heavy as this weighs upon it. “He was my favorite,” Travis confessed later. “I know we are not supposed to have favorites, but he was my favorite dog back home.” And how could he not have been with his energetic, happy-go-lucky, loud mouth personality?

It is always hard to lose the dogs we love, harder when they are taken too soon, and still even more difficult when we are left with nagging questions: What could I have done differently? Where did this bug come from?

Still, I have been told that I could have done nothing differently. And it is true that I always acted with my best judgement. The swiftness with which he died, my musher friends have told me, must have meant that he had other undetectable health issues that we never could have known about. His mother did not pass her EKG in 2010 for Iditarod but at the time it was thought that it was due to the fact that she had been ill as she has passed it since. Perhaps Bodie had some sort of genetic disease or mutation which made him more susceptible or weak that he possible inherited. I do not know. All I know is that he was my dog and that I loved him dearly…

I think there are many lessons that as young mushers we must learn. Grief is one of these lessons and loss, of course, too. Knowing that these things happen does not make it easy. We all know that we will (hopefully) outlive our dogs but we love them anyway. We give our dogs our whole heart knowing full well that one day they will leave us.

I will never forget Bodie. I just wish I could have got to know him longer… As Dee Dee Jonrowe once said the only flaw with dogs is that they don’t live long enough…

On a positive note, everyone is feeling better. Today we had our first play day in awhile and it was clear the dogs were feeling good. I took comfort watching them run loose and play together. I couldn’t help but feel that even though I couldn’t see Bode that he was somehow still there, running wild…

Bode is remembered in our kennel by his parents, Joe & Mama B, and by his siblings, Teddy & Fergie. He is also remembered by the dog box we are building indoors as he was the first dog to test it out.

Rest in peace Bode and keep us safe on the trail…

The Ebb and Flow of Things

Sarah · September 29, 2013 ·

It should be obvious enough that we are dog people. Our life revolves around our dogs: In the morning we wake to water and feed them, Then there is scooping the yard, running them, feeding them again, and if we can, running them again. At least that’s how the days go by this time of year. In the heart of winter it’s different, the days go by slower and longer, and in the spring it’s different too, perhaps more relaxed, but it’s not much different. Still even so time passes, not so much in the changing of the seasons but in the life cycle of our dogs.

We watch the puppies transition, first away from their mothers, then into the dog lot, and then, finally into harness. We watch their goofy progression as they learn how to manage their lines in the team and how not to chew on the gangline or their neckline and finally we watch as they come into a steady, rhythmic gate, their legs moving so swiftly and effortlessly you could balance a glass of water on their back.

The playful puppies Travis had when we first started dating now have the look of hardened athletes who know what competition. They are steadfast. They give their heart and soul on each and every run. They are more disciplined this year — and so are we. As they grow up and learn the rhythm of training, we grow up and learn how to train and live and balance running dogs with running a home and managing two businesses. I am honestly still not sure how we do it. I guess the way you do anything hard: one step at a time, then another, then another, then another. Progress seems slow but we are always moving forward.

The older dogs who once ruled the dog lot — Pilot and Hope — have gone on to help a neighboring musher and have left our yard for the winter.

When we dropped Pilot and Hope off Travis said few words, his sadness greater than my own for as many times as they had come to my rescue, I knew they had come to his more. Together they have travelled countless miles not only across the frozen wilderness but also across his childhood; Pilot and Hope had run almost every junior race with Travis and had helped him qualify for the Iditarod.

Last year, when picking out his Iditarod team, Travis choose to take Pilot despite the fact that he thought Pilot wouldn’t finish. “He always has my back,” Travis said when I questioned the decision. Pilot, sure enough, ran 700 miles with Travis and then broke out of the checkpoint when Travis left him behind. “I guess he wasn’t as tired as I thought,” Travis told me. “Some guy from the checkpoint had to go out on a snowmachine and bring Pilot back. He wanted to keep going with the team. I thought he hadn’t been feeling well. Guess I was wrong.”

As we drove away from Pilot and Hope’s new home, my eyes were full of tears. Travis told me, “Pilot and Hope are teachers.”

I nodded, thinking of all the fantastic dog runs I’d had with them both and everything I’d taken away from my time with them. How do you measure what a dog has taught you? Pilot and Hope got me through my first 200 mile race, The Tustumena 200. They were the old solidified backbone to my otherwise young, rookie dog team. They encouraged not only the young dogs who would later form the core of Travis’ Iditarod team to keep going, but they also encouraged me: I was intimidated by the intensity of what I had undertaken — two hundred miles of unending hills, without sleep, with only my dogs.

He continued, “They need a new musher, new dogs to teach. They know they are getting old. Would you rather sit around remembering all the awesome times you had when you were younger or would you rather keep having them? They aren’t fast enough to keep up with the young dogs they’ve trained anymore. I think they will be much happier here feeling like they are still A-team stuff.”

We’d seen this throughout the summer on tours and we’d seen it last winter too, especially with Hope. They weren’t running in the front anymore and though excited to go anywhere in the team it was always obvious to me that lead dogs, even when not up front, never stop leading.

Our dogs grow up and grow old and one day, we always hope its a long ways off, they pass on. We measure our lives by our dogs presences and their subsequent absences. Pilot and Hope are not gone; they have simply moved on to another kennel but I can’t help but feel that we are growing up and growing older too: we are no longer uncertain in ourselves or our young team — we are confident in what we have built.

Where’s the Snow?

Sarah · December 12, 2012 ·

November seemed to come and go without any real excitement and, more importantly, without snow. It’s been cold the last few weeks but the skies have been mercilessly clear. Over the weekend we had our first snowfall. Unfortunately, it wasn’t significant and it rained after so Travis went north. At this point he’s spent more time in Knik training with fellow musher (and good friend) Wade Marrs than in Seward.

The Team out at Kenai Fjords National Park

I stayed in town and managed to put on about 70 miles on my team over the weekend and do some oddball projects. As we move into the heart of mushing season, we get less and less time to ourselves, to our families, and to each other so we’re doing all that we can now to make life simpler later on. Over the weekend I prepared a bunch of freezer meals for our crockpot. If you live in Seward and want to help the kennel out, this is a simple & cheap donation that makes our lives easier, healthier, and tastier. I made these meals for nights when we’re too busy or tired to cook. Simply thaw and throw in the crock pot. My type of cooking! I’ve started working on some pasta dishes — and no, I haven’t gotten around to making a lasagna yet — to bring up north with us when we train out of our friends house.

I’ve also started making burritos. They’re good trail snacks and easy to eat one handed. We like every sort of burrito: breakfast, bean, chicken…they’re all delicious! I feel like I’m slowly winning the battle, but I’m not convinced that I’ve won the war just yet… Lots and lots more to do but slow progress is still progress.

The dog runs went well. It was our first trip out to Kenai Fjords National Park with the dogs and I was excited to get out there. They close the road to the park in the winter so people can mush, ski, and snowmachine out there. It’s such a beautiful place in the wintertime. We love seeing the mountains covered in snow and there is usually wildlife to be seen. We’re excited to do our first season of winter tours out there — what a beautiful place to share with our guests.

Travis took all the dogs contending for his Iditarod team with him North so I had mostly puppies and no real lead dogs. It made for an interesting run, especially because to get out to the park you have to carefully navigate the dogs through a gate about 3.5 feet wide — barely wide enough for my fourwheeler. I was impressed. We went out a total of 4 times and they did it flawlessly all but the first.

On my first run, I saw 5 moose including two bulls. When we see moose they’re almost always in the same spot: right by the park entrance. In heavy snow years they can present a problem but with so little snow they’re happy to stay away from the dogs and don’t try to hold there ground quite as much. We also ran into some cross country skiiers and the puppies on my team were terribly frightened by the strange humans with large feet. By the end of my trip, all but 1 dog had learned that the skiers didn’t present a threat. They all passed exceptionally well.

Travis did a similar trip up north with his dogs — though he camped out on the trail.He said the dogs did great but he was quite sick and is currently fighting the flu. Still, he went out and trained because that’s what is needed. “I only got real sick a couple of times,” he told me. He broke trail most of his run which made it tough for the dogs but was excellent training.

Today, I tied the puppies up to their houses. It’s always bittersweet — it means they are growing up and becoming real sled dogs and losing that cute puppy charm. They whine and protest loudly at first, yanking on the end of their chains trying to get their collars to pop off their heads. Archie ran around while they were screaming and tried to calm them down. Today they were greeted by our neighbor, a large bald eagle who has made it a habit to come sit in our dog yard during the morning. His nest is in our yard and for the longest time we were afraid that our dogs would scare him away — but I think if anything, the dogs have become a source of entertainment for him and his young. He often sits and watches them and occasionally we leave a frozen fish out for him. You can bet he enjoys that.Today he came when the puppies started screaming and he started screaming back at them. It always interesting to watch different species interact and there was no doubt in mind that they were trying to communicate with one other. The puppies would whine, the eagle would screech and the puppies would whine back. On and on it went. Who knows what, if anything, they said to one another. The eagle’s son came and sat in the tree to for a while, though he was less vocal.

The last week we’ve been busy with events. On Wednesday we went to the Seward Elementary School and did a short Q&A on dog mushing. It was a blast. The Student Leadership Team, one of our sponsors, helped set it up. The team is composed of 4th, 5th, and 6th graders — they’ve been far too kind and it’s been great working with such a young, talented, enthusiastic, group of kids. They sure make us feel special and have been a wonderful sponsor to work with.

On Thursday we hosted a Family Night at the Seward Brewing Company. We played pin the booty to the dog, had dog mushing themed coloring, brought Archie and Bonnie to meet all the kids, and had hot cocoa. It was really fun to take a break from the lonesome dog trails and to get out and be a part of the Seward community. We feel really blessed to be part of such a wonderful town and we’re really happy to be able to do something for the kids.

The week before we delivered Santa Claus to the Alaska Sea Life Center’s Tree Lighting Ceremony. We drove the dogs through a parking lot (no obvious trail) and through a crowd of people. It went flawlessly. We were thrilled to see how well trained our lead dogs are. It’s quite impressive and I have to think that our summer dog sled tours really helped. Our tour is SO COOL because we use it as real training: our dogs are constantly listening to commands. We used it as an opportunity to fine tune their abilities and to train a few new leaders. We’d like to thank the Alaska SeaLife Center for sharing their photos with us and for letting us be a part of their holiday celebration. What a blast!

In other news, our first race of the season, The Sheep Mountain 150, was cancelled yesterday due to lack of snow. While we are disappointed, we are not devastated. We have many other races to look forward to and are hoping that the snow will get here soon.

Well that’s it for now. We are looking for a few homes for some of our dogs who aren’t quite cut out for competitive mushing / life as a sled dog. If you are interested in adopting one of our dogs or know someone who may be interested, please email us at Info@TurningHeadsKennel.com All are friendly, good with kids, and are loved tremendously by us so we’d like to see them put in a good home. We’ll post more on this later with pictures and descriptions of the dogs but please keep us in mind if you know someone who is looking. These are AWESOME dogs.

dogs

Willie-Charlie

Cuervo

Happy Trails.