Shelter Dogs, Shady Acres & Training

Meet Willie, our new addition from the local animal shelter

" Shady Acres"

Inside "Shady Acres"

Ana with Star & Tefa (right) after our first training run

George (left) & Gibson

Lilly (left) & Dana

The 2nd team we ran Sunday morning, Eddie (left) and Jersey in swing

Well, summer is almost over and we have been extremely busy, as usual! First of all, we have a new addition to the house/kennel. His name is Willie, he is a Border Collie/Husky. When I went to get my kennel license renewed in the spring, the ladies at animal control showed me this dog that was put in the shelter for killing 30 chickens! Some people found this dog wandering around and for some reason they decided to put him in their chicken coop and then decide what to do with the dog. Well, Willie had a great time in there, killed all the chickens and ended up at animal control. Huskies and Border Collies are very hard to home so they wanted me to take a look. He was very sweet and good with Ana and I said I'd think about it and walked out of animal control not wanting another dog. So, over the summer, my good friend Sherry Sutherby (knowing we love Border Collies/huskies) kept emailing me the picture of this dog I had seen in the spring that was on Pet Finder. Two weeks ago, she emailed me his picture again and I told Larry. I had mentioned this dog earlier in the summer, but we definetly don't need any more dogs, so I said we shouldn't get him. So, I told Larry that that dog was STILL at animal control and was very unhappy and over the past few weeks, seemed very sad. So, Larry decided to go and take a look at him. I told him to call me BEFORE he made any decisions. Well, I called his cell phone and asked him how it went. He said "Good, I'm on my way home". I asked where the dog was, he said "in my truck"!!! So, we decided to try him out for a couple of weeks to see if he'd fit here. We don't have chickens or any small animals, so that is good!! Well, it turns out we are going to adopt him. He is very sweet, a bit shy, but good with kids and our other dogs. He is great in the house and well mannered. We weren't planning on getting another house dog so soon after losing our other Border Collie, "Bailey" last October to Cancer, but he really need a home. Also, he needed a home with people who are framilar with those breeds. They have some quirks and are not for everyone. So, we named him "Willie" and looks like he is here to stay.

I made Larry promise to build my huge pen I've been asking for though, since he got to keep Willie. It took almost 200' of fence, 4 bee stings from yellow jackets, killing bee nests and lots of hard work, but we finally have "Shady Acres". It is a fenced area for our house dogs and retired sled dogs so they can run and play with each other. I hate seeing retired sled dogs without anything to do, they like to be busy, so now they can play with our house dogs in Shady Acres. I do have to say they LOVE it!! So, thanks Larry!!

Our fall training usually starts August 20th, but it was way too warm. Our first training run was early Sunday morning, the 24th. They dogs were CRAZY to go!! It was so much fun and good to be back running dogs. We trained two 12 dog teams and went 3 miles. We had 2 retirees, 16 race age dogs, and 6 yearlings. Our yearlings were super! They are a repeat breeding that we are very excited about. Looks like we will be able to have another training run tonight and might have to wait till the weekend to run again, the temps are on the rise again.

This weekend we are going up to the U.P. near McMillan to my dad's cabin to run dogs for the weekend. He calls it "Bear Camp". It is AWESOME and there are miles of trails. It is right down the road from the Steilstra's kennel. I could live there. It is a great place and so relaxing right on the Tahquamenon River. Ana is very excited and asks me every day if it is Labor Day Weekend yet. We plan to take her to Oswald's Bear Ranch and to visit the Shaw's and the Holmberg's while we are up there. I can't wait to get away for a few days!! Have a great Labor Day Weekend everyone!!