Nice weekend

This weekend was very nice, and absolutely NO rain :))) So we went to a part of our trail that we want to change. We had to drive up with the dogs at a mountain, turn and drive the same way back. But now we can drive about 3 km over the mountain where are no trees and go down at the other side. Could be a good training ;))) Our two housedogs Susan and Kuchen where of course with us, a nice and slow adventure for our 13 years old Kuchen!

This is a part of the mountain we drive with the dogs in wintertime
Old Kuchen in the sunshine - she liked it!

Jörg reads the map, Susan controlls if he does it right ;)))

Where is the beginning and where is the end of this band for marking the trail where we have to turn to the right???

Our puppies grow up now. They had the first part of their education to be a sleddog - getting food at the chain. Here Sivtsov on the left and José on the right. Look at Josés nice curls :)))

Andrew looks not that happy...

We trained of course also our dogs. We have to cross a bridge with a lot of water, sometimes the young dogs are a little bit afraid.

Coming home with the dogs

Here a small video from out trainingstrip today. Jörg is at the turningpoint and screams to me in the end that I should go out of the way. He was afraid that the camera gets some water.

Harestua

This weekend I was turning to the south to the sleddog seminarium in Harestua. I was there with my ManMat equipment and to listen Roger Dahl and Arleigh Reynolds. My fall-booties were like usual soon sold out and the other equipment was also very popular.
Like last year I slept over by Nina Skramstad and this time I had even the time to drive a trainings round with her dogs. Many thanks to Nina and Didrik for their hospitality and the talks about dogs until 2 o´clock in the morning ;)))
In about two weeks I pack again and went over to Kiruna to their seminarium.

Loading out my ManMat-equipment
Slide show from Roger Dahl

Arleigh Reynolds spoke about the nutrition of racing dogs

September is a good month for our dogs. Not only because of the regulary training and the - normally- lower temperatures (this year is really warm, about 10 degrees warmer then usual with a lot of rain). Last monday the moose hunting season was starting and yesterday we got the first bones for the dogs. They really liked it!

This bloody monster with the yellow eyes is Miguel.
Vino found a big bone

Even for the small ones where some bones left. Little Tyler to the left together with her friend Bartali.

Finnmarkslopet

Today there is a nice article about me and my start at Finnmarkslopet 2012. I hope that I can do something in the future against my reputation of the eternal second ;))))


Katy tilbake

Noe av det mange sikkert husker godt fra Finnmarksløpet 2008 var duellen mellom den evige toer, Katy Meier (40) fra Slagnäs, og Jan Vidar Dahle (43) fra Båtsfjord. Meier hadde to andreplasser i sekken fra før av og fortalte at dette ble hennes siste sjanse til å vinne. Hun ledet med en god halvtime ut fra Jergul, men på Jotkavannet kom spannet til Dahle opp på siden av henne. Det var da begge stoppet. Dahle gav henne en klem og beklaget at han var nødt til å ta fra henne denne seieren. I mål skilte det 25 minutter i favør Jan Vidar Dahle. Meier kjempet tappert men måtte ta til takke med nest øverste trinn på pallen – igjen. Nå er hun tilbake, ut fra presentasjonen hennes ser det ut som om det blir et løp med unghunder som skal lære dette gamet. Likevel, Katy er en glitrende kjører og det blir spennende å følge henne i FL-2012. Gledelig nok er også Jan Vidar Dahle tilbake i manesjen. Denne gangen ser det ikke ut som om det blir noen duell med Meier. Han vil kjøre FL-1000 med en ungt spann som skal gis mye hvile.

BACK ON TRACK: Katy Meier er påmeldt til FL-500. Foto: Reiulf Grønnevik (Altaposten)
(Artikel by Finnmarkslopet.no)

On wednesday I went with our new puppy Tyler (Tyler Hamilton ;)) to the vet that she gets her vaccination. In the car she was not that happy, but this time the ride was only 40 km long.

Where do I have to go this time?
Oh, it´s not that bad in Annettes clinic and she has always some food for nice puppies ;)))

But at home again with the other puppies at the lake it´s much better!!!

Tyler is really small against the other puppies (of course nearly 6 weeks younger). Here she is the white one to the right, the white one besides her is Andrew, the black one with the ball is Giovanni. Sivtsov and Felice in the background.

A new puppy

Yesterday I went over the norwegian border to Bodö. There I was taking a 9 week old puppy from Knut Skår. Father of the puppy is our Tchmil, the mother is a daughter of our old famous Robert. Could be an interesting combination!

Our little girl to the right together with her black brother.
Mama Ronja, a typical Robert offspring.

The little girl is not so sure if it´s ok with me...

On my way through the mountains. You can see there is still snow left.

So we spend the night...I was late at home so we decide not to shock the girl anymore and she should stay in the house with us. So I took a mattress and sleeping bag and we had a good first night together. Now she is out in the kennel with the other dogs. Maybe she liked the last night more?

Busy weekend

This weekend was little busy for us. We drove for a short trip to Finland to visit Alex and Daniel Schwarz. They have a cosy private hotel together with their parents. They drive their guests even with sleddogs and now they want also to compete on races. Last year they bought already two of our dogs and now they bought the third one. So we put the dog into the car to bring him to Alex and Daniel. That had more reasons, first we wanted to know how they live - and we can say that they have it very nice and that we can recommend to make holidays there ( http://www.naturepoint.fi/ ). The other reason for our visit was that the two brothers were members in the austria and finnish national team in cross-country skiing. So they know how to wax skiis or even runners for the sled. We got a very good instruction how to do and hope that we don´t forget too much ;)))

Alex is choosing the wax and Jörg is watching with interest


Really a lot of wax!

Alex put the wax onto the runner, Jörg is still interested

Now the wax has to remove

This was a really impressing cup-collection. Do you believe now that they are professionals?

After coming home we trained the dogs this morning. They were very happy about it after sitting one day in the kennel.

Tchmil and Fränk in lead, Susan like usual beside the ATV. She things that we couldn´t manage it without her...

Water is good!

Frederico and Vino

Here finally some pictures of our puppies. They grow now really fast and soon we need the bike or the ATv to go out with them. Here plays Jörg soccer with them, a few are more interested to tease Susan.

In the woods.

At the lake, Sivtsov in front, Fausto behind her.

They even like it to go into the water, it´s hard to see the dark dogs there. The white Andrew is easier to see.

Giovanni jumps onto the bridge