This is our new yearling "Eddie" that we bought from Pete & Sharon Curtice. This is a repeat breeding (Hurricane/Caesar) that produced a litter with an almost 100% success rate. Most of them made their winning teams as yearlings and all of them made their main teams as 2 year olds. He is doing awesome in the team and we are so glad for the opportunity to add him to our kennel. This is Fender holding the line out in lead ( a bit dark for the picture). She wasn't displaying any leader qualities in spring during puppy training, but Larry finished his run with her proudly leading the team. She looked super!Look at our little band of hooligans! They are 8 weeks old now. They get out of their pen twice a day for runs around the kennel and to chew on EVERYTHING! Soon we will start having them chase the 4-wheeler.

Ana escapes the pups jumping on her and knocking her down by standing in her wagon.

Ana trying to keep the puppies away from her.

The weather is still a bit warm most days for training, but we still managed to hook up dogs 4 times. We have to wait until it is late when the temps go down, then hook up the first team, then the 2nd, then come inside to eat and go to bed. It is hard work, but I LOVE it!! Larry is having a great time running his own team. We switch dogs back and forth so we both get to run every dog.

Let The Fun Begin!!! Zoey & Windows in lead. I am running Zoey with Windows more this year so she learns commands.
Boston (left) & Razzle

" Fender", one of the yearling females. She did super!!

" George", every time I look down, he is sitting at attention at my feet. Quickly becoming my favorite pup.

Larry & George

Me & Liddell

We started our fall training last night. The temps were great and the dogs were amped!! They were carrying on all day, knowing we were going to run. We had been out getting all the equipment ready for most of the day. I couldn't wait to run all the engery out of all the young dogs. They've been driving me crazy for the past few weeks. They were glad their summer vacation came to an end. I took out the first team of 11 and the dog yard erupted. It was LOUD!! I had 5 yearlings in my team and every one of them did super. I was proud of the whole team. Boston, pictured above, is just a beast in harness. I can't wait to have more like him in the team next year. Next, Larry took his team of 11 out. He also had 5 yearlings and every one of them did awesome!! He had some leader trouble at first, then had a good run. His run seemed like it took FOREVER, since I was back at the dog yard waiting for them to return. We will swap teams tonight so we can get a chance to look at all the dogs. It is hard for me, I usually do 90% of the training in the fall, so I can see every dog in training. Now that Larry wants to run them, I have to learn to share and boy is it hard!! Tomarrow, there will be no training. Me and Sherry Sutherby are driving up to Pete & Sharon Curtice's to pick up my new dog Eddie. We are stopping at a couple of other kennels also. Needless to say, we will be gone most of the day. We probably won't even be tired of talking "dogs" by the time we get home.

RELIEF!!!

Well, we FINALLY got some rain. It was great!! No more dust in the kennel, it had been over 3 weeks until now. The rain also brought with it some much needed cooler weather. Thank goodness, we were getting really sick of the 80's & 90's. It will be in the low 70's during the day and 50's at night throughout the week. Looks like fall training will begin this weekend after all!! We can't wait!! We have to do some ATV repairs and get equipment ready, then we will be good to go.
The Curice family came down this weekend for a wedding and stayed with us. We got lots of dog talk in, but it is never enough for us dog addicts!! It was fun showing them our pups out of their stud dog Strider. Most of them look just like him. Ana had a ball playing with Caitlin, Cooper and Emily. It was nice having them here to keep her busy. She is a little spitfire for me in the kennel. On Friday, I put her in the puppy pen (pictures above) while I did dog chores. She loved it and ran back and forth with the puppies quickly chasing her. What a GREAT idea, I actually got all the dog chores done without interuption.

Ana & Larry Puppies sleeping

We have been super busy here lately. We are doing more things to the house to hopefully sell it soon so we can move further into the boonies and getting final things done to get ready for fall training. We usually start on the 20th, but won't get to unless it cools down soon. It has been hot and super dry here. We have not gotten a drop of rain in atleast 3 weeks!! There is a big forest fire north of Newberry in the U.P. that is threatening some of our friend's kennels in the area if they don't get some rain and get it contained soon. The Holmberg's were evacuated from their house a few days ago. This is no easy task when you have to take a whole kennel of dogs with you. I hope nobody leaves their campfires unattended around here! They shouldn't be having them at all, but do not listen!

Last Sunday we took Ana to her cousin Makenzie's birthday party. She had a blast and LOVED swimming in the pool with all the kids. Last night Sherry Sutherby stopped over to pick up Ranger. He is one of our beloved 8 year old leaders that was on our main team for 4 years. I promised him to the Sutherby's if we ever decided to sell him. We really needed to make some more room in the kennel with 7 new pups and a new yearling we bought from the Curtice's. He seemed happy as can be when we loaded him into their truck. I know he will have a great home there. Ana immediately wanted to know where Ranger went after they left. Then she cried for a little while "where's my Ranger". I really thought she would not even care, she is only 2.5 years old. But she really knows the dogs already and can name most of the 30 dogs that we have. The Curtice's will be staying with us this weekend. We can't wait to show them the pups we have out of their Strider. We are also showing our house tomarrow morning, so things will be super busy around here for the next few days. Have a great weekend, hope for some rain!!