Aviemore Sled Race

Last weekend was the 27th annual Aviemore sled dog race. Mum, dad, me and Skye have been many times as spectators but this was the first time as competitors.

Dad went up on the Wednesday with me, Skye and Talia (mum had to work) to try and get some extra training in with my partner Blue and to help with flattening of the trail. We had fun being as naughty as we could in the caravan so that by the time mum arrived ob Friday afternoon dad was close to a nervous breakdown hehehee.

Friday night was the mushers meeting and a mushers market where mum bought me a lovely new purple running harness. Afterwards mum and dad went off to a friend's caravan for drinks!

Saturday was day one of the race and this year is extra special as it is the first time weather conditions have allowed the race to be run on sleds in 15 years. Mum volunteered to marhsall in the morning so was able to see how many people fell off at the bend after the first big hill hehehe. She gave dad a few tips on how to approach it after watching lots of the other teams.

My first run was Saturday afternoon, I had a fabulous time the snow and trail were lovely on my feet and we were able to go fast and scare dad hehee. We finished in 19th place in a class of 37 teams. Mum and dad were very pleased with that for our first sled race and first race as a 2 dog team. Blue my partner is a very nervous dog he was scared of the loudspeaker system and of spectators on the trail. Dad also told mum that I was still doing the lions share of the work.

Sunday brought a bit of a problem, it turned out that Blue seemed to have pulled a muscle on Saturday and was unable to run on Sunday :-( Mum and dad were very disappointed. We had lots of offers of another partner if the organisers would at least let us still have a run (you are not allowed to switch dogs so if they let us we would be a disqualified team). The organisers very kindly agreed to let us run the trail even though we would be disqualified.

Dad decided to run me with Yukon who I have trained with in the past. He is 10 and retired from racing but a good steady dog and usually is used to help train other dogs up. Dad was offered faster dogs but thought it was not a good idea to run me with a strange dog in case we did not get on.

We surprised everyone by running the course in roughly the same time as Saturday which considering Yukon usually tires after a couple of miles was really good ( I think he was just scared I wold bite his bum if he didn't run well with me).

Dad said we learned a lot over the weekend mainly that they need to find a running partner of the same level as me as I am carrying my partners at the moment. On paper Blue should be a better runner than me he is from pure racing lines whilst I am racing lines on my dad's side but show dog on my mums side. People are very surprised how well I run for such a petite dog so the search is on for someone as hard working and fast as me!

Talia news

Kayla has very kindly decided to let me tell you some news about me before we get back to talking about her again.
The weekend starting 15 January were my first proper trips into the outside world and what a busy weekend it was! On the Friday there was a photo shoot at dad's RAF base for some articles in local newspapers about our dad and some friends entering the big Aviemore Sled Dog Race.

The photographers and PR lady all thought I was adorable so I got to be in some of the pictures too. Mum didn't take pictures so here are some links to some of the articles (not all made it online as well as in the printed papers).


http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1564614

We were also in 2 of the other local papers the Northern Scot and the Forres Gazette.

On the afternoon mum and dad took us up the high street for me to have practice walking somewhere noisy and being approached and touched by strangers. I loved all the cuddles I got from people :-)

Saturday was more sled training for Kayla, I hung out and bossed all the dogs around hehehe.

On Sunday I got to be the centre of attention. BBC Countryfile were up in Aviemore filming a story on the Aviemore race and sled dogs. They were looking for sled dog puppies and I went to represent Siberian Huskies. Oh what fun I had I met malamute, Eskimo Dog and Samoyed puppies and had a play with them. I was the cutest and youngest pup there so me and mum had our photo taken with Matt Baker one of the presenters for one of the newspapers.

http://www.strathspey-herald.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/5014/Dogs_ready_to_line_up.html

I really enjoyed being a TV star and having everyone fuss over me but in true husky style I made as much mischief as possible heheheh.

Weekend Sledding fun

Well we were supposed to be racing at the weekend but due to some politics within the club the race was canceled at the last minute. Mum, dad and some of their friends decided we would do some sled training at the race site as the trails had been nicely prepared.

I went out on the first run with my racing partner Blue and dad The leader (who had 6 dogs on his team) decided to take us on the very long train, me and Blue struggled a bit so dad's friend gave us his bitch Nala to finish the trail with. Usually me and Nala do not like each other as we are both dominant girls but we were just so excited about running that we didn't fight.

Mum took Skye and my friend Little Skye for short run. Little Skye had other ideas though and did not want to run she wanted to head for the deep snow and trees and raced off the trail and mum fell off. Mum had one more go with Little Skye but she still wouldn't run so I got to have another go woooooo hoooooooo. Mum is a bit nervous of the sled so we did a short run and bumped into our friends walking one of their huskies so he was hitched to the sled too. Mum screamed a lot when he picked up speed hahahahahahahahahahaha.

Little Skye's owner Shiree had a little go with me and Skye, she wanted to try with Little Skye but mum said that would be dangerous the way she is behaving. Shiree really wants Little Skye to run but isn't having much luck as Skye is very naughty. Mum told her she is not prepared to keep trying her with me and Skye till Shiree is more assertive with her and instills some discipline as it is dangerous and spoils our runs.

As all the dogs present were fully vaccinated mum let her meet a few of them and Blue really liked her and confused her by cleaning her furiously hehehehehe.

Bah the irony of snow causing trouble

Well we are onto week 3 of the "big freeze" in Britain. It is causing chaos here Britain is coming to a standstill lol. The humans are all acting like the world is ending, panic buying, schools and local facilities closed you would think Armageddon was upon us lol.

The north of Scotland has had snow lying the full 3 weeks and it is causing problems here. Dad had mums little car this morning as we were all going to the vets today. Well he had a little bump on way to work so had to come back (luckily only damage to a wheel and burst tyre or mum would have given him a right telling off hehehe). At least it meant we could have a family trip to the vets hehehehe.

Talia was there for her 2nd vaccination and to get microchipped. She was a good girl just like me as a baby she thought the vet was a new friend rather than someone to fear. She didn't even squeak at her injection or the big microchip needle. Vet thought she was lovely (she forgot to say not as lovely as me hmpff) and she got a clean bill of health. Mum also booked me in to get my hips checked next week to see if I am good enough to breed from in the future if she decides that I can ever have pups.

This weekend was meant to be another race and we were all excited as it was going to be on sleds due to the snow (that is a very rare event in Britain). Sadly due to some politics between committee members at that club it has been cancelled at the last minute :-( However a few of mum and dad's friends suggested we all go there for a training session as it is a shame to let a trail that has been nicely prepared go to waste. It is looking very likely that the big famous Aviemore race will be on sleds too so it will be a good practice run as mushers here have very little experience on them.

Last bit of exciting news is that mum has entered me for this years Crufts. Woo hooooooooooo we are all very excited.

My 2nd birthday

Today is my 2nd birthday and mum says I have turned into a real lady now :-) No food treats today like last year but I did get an exciting new present, can you guess what it was?

I got a wooden sled wooooo hooooooo hoooooooooooooo. Mum and dad hadn't planned on it (they say we need a rig for when Talia grows up) but someone local was selling it at a good price. A lot of dogs here don't have sleds as we rarely get a proper covering of snow! This last few weeks we are having a freakish amount of snow so when dad was told of someone selling their's yesterday he and mum bought it for me.

Dad took me and Skye out on it yesterday and we had a good spin as the snow was quite hard and icy, Skye was even excited and did some pulling!

We had a lot of snow last night so mum and dad took us out for a little run today. The snow was really deep today and very soft so pulling the sled was actually really difficult. We just went round the field by our house for a little bit to get some pics :-) Hopefully over next few days the snow will compact and harden again so that we can have a proper run :-)

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all our friends :-)

Has been a busy week here, lots and lots of snow. Poor mum was at work all week but luckily dad has been at home and taking us out to play in all the lovely snow.

My sister Talia had visitors for lots of puppy cuddles this week and on Sunday my best friend Little Skye came to meet her too. We had a few hours running round the house together (well apart from Big Skye who is still very grumpy and not happy with a new sister heehhe).

Talia was not at all scared of meeting a new dog although she was naughty and joined in to help Skye against me rather than showing sisterly loyalty :o

Mum is very proud of me at the moment for a couple of reasons. Firstly because I have been so tolerant and playful with my new sister which she really didn't expect and secondly because finally I am becoming interested in food. Since I was 9 months old I got bored of food and would often not eat for days. If we go away from home I don't eat at all. At one of our races we met a new food supplier and mum told them about how difficult I am. They spent a lot of time letting me sample different foods and found one that I got excited about.

Mum bought some and had started introducing it slowly to my existing food. However when we went to pick up my new sister I didn't eat at all for the few days we were away and when we came back I was sick for a few days. Vet gave me some convalescence food and after a few days of that mum decided to abandon my existing food and risk changing me directly onto my new Omnipro. I love my new food and am now getting excited at meal timed and mum is hoping that I will now put on a little bit of weight :-)

Mum now has a few weeks holiday to spend quality time with us, looking forward to it as dad tends to be home more than mum (and he says life in the air force is hard) so he tends to get to spend more time with us. I hope mum will plan lots for us to do.