Summer!!!!!

Ana & "Zeus", our pup out of Prophet/Tefa

Tefa & Zeus

Ana & Zeus. Doesn't he look comfortable with his pillow & blanket??

Zeus, discovering his first toy at 3.5 weeks old

Larry & Zeus

Hobo, the super stud that lead Lance Mackey's winning Iditarod & Quest team. We bred two of our females to him this year.

• Well, I've definetly been slacking on our kennel blog. We have been busy, as usual. You'd think that I would have lots of time to do this, now that our race season is over. The projects keep piling up though, so we are never without something to do.

• Our first litter of the year from Prophet/Tefa arrived 3.5 weeks ago. Things didn't go smoothly. Tefa went off of her food 7 days before her due date and didn't want to come out of her house that day. I was worried about an early labor, but hoped for the best. She held off until the next day, still 6 days early. But, the outcome was not what we had hoped. Two of the pups were dead after they came out and Tefa seemed listless, so I rushed her to the vet. They did xrays and found two pups still inside of her. One was for sure dead, as they could see the air in it's chest cavity. The other they thought would be dead too. The vet thought one of these pups died a day or so before this and that caused the early labor. They did an emergency C-section on Tefa and had to spay her since she had an infection and could die if they didn't. Tefa made it through surgery just fine and to our surprise, one white male pup survived. We were so happy!!! We named him Zeus, since his dad is Prophet and his grandpa is named Buddha. We thought we'd stay with the "religion" theme. He is doing great and is now 3.5 weeks old!

• We also have two more litters of pups on the way. We bred two of our best females, Fender & Zoey to Lance Mackey's Hobo. Hobo was one of Lance's incredible leaders that helped take his team to a Yukon Quest & Iditarod win in 2007, less than 10 days separated both races. Nobody in history has EVER done that! To top it off, Lance has won the last 4 Iditarods in a row! We have known for a long time that we wanted these bloodlines in our kennel. Hobo now resides in John Stetson's kennel in Minnesota, making this wonderful breeding combination of our Swingley lines and the Mackey lines possible. We are so excited to see what we get. Fender's litter is due to arrive in late July. Zoey's will arrive in early Aug.
  

• We also have many projects to get done before training resumes in late August. We are STILL finishing our basement, slowly but surely. We are also building a patio under our deck and another puppy pen. We also have to finish putting the wood lament flooring in our office and Ana's room upstairs. So, hopefully we can get all this done by the end of summer. We are enjoying our "off" season and spending time with family and friends, because when training begins, our social life takes a back seat to our dogs. Have a great week everyone!!
  
  
  
  
  

Copper Dog 150 3rd Place!!!

Larry, right before the start with Boston & George

Tefa (left) and George, waiting patiently in the starting chute

Curlin, one of our top yearlings. He raced every race with the main team this year!

Our team in the starting chute, ready to GO!

Some of our team before the start

Manny, another yearling that did so awesome in the 2nd team this year, he was moved to the main team for the last race of the season.

Larry, finishing the 137 mile race with Jackson (left) and Georgie in lead!

When we were packing to go to this race, we were shocked at the weather. All week long, we were scrambling to find trails with enough snow to run on. Spring was coming, quickly! It was almost 60 degrees when we left Gaylord to drive to Calumet, Michigan. This was to be our last race of the season. The Copper Dog 150, a 137 mile, 10 dog race. It was Larry's turn to run the main team and he was very excited to begin!

The race started at 7:30 pm on Friday, March 12th. The temp was 38 degrees and it was raining! The downtown start was amazing! A couple thousand people lined the streets to watch the teams charge out of the chute.

The first leg was 37 miles. Larry and the team had a super run, despite the trail! The warm temperatures melted a lot of snow, so teams ran over snow, ice, dirt and mud. At one point, Larry was using the drag pad to slow the team down. He caught something in the trail (we later found part of a log in his sled bag), and he flew over the handle bars of the sled and landed behind the wheel dogs. He held onto the front of the sled and drug down the trail until he finally got the team to stop long enough for him to jump back on the runners. He still had the fastest time on the first leg and came into the checkpoint with the team looking great! We quickly took care of the dogs at the checkpoint and put them into their boxes for a 5 hour rest.
The next leg was 55 miles. I woke Larry up from his nap, we got the team ready and off he and the team went into the darkness for the next leg. Everyone was skeptical on what kind of trail there would be after the first leg.
The 2nd leg turned out to be the toughest leg of all. There was dirt, rocks and overflow running over the trail. One of our biggest dogs tired out on Larry and also had to be carried in the sled bag for 30 miles. Larry worked his butt off, ran up every hill and ran beside the sled over the dirt and mud to make up for the extra 65 pounds in his sled. He went from 1st to 4th after that.

There were a lot of angry, tired mushers after that leg. We had to have a meeting to decide whether the race would continue. They decided to re-route and shorten the 3rd leg, start earlier since it was going to be so warm on Sunday and they also added a dog drop 25 miles into the leg. A few teams pulled out of the race due to the conditions of the trail.

Sunday morning came and we were the first ones to the starting area, wondering whether we would be the only team there. About a half hour later teams started rolling in and getting ready to depart on the last leg of the race, a 42 mile run to the finish. Larry was in 3rd place on the 3rd leg, since one of the top teams dropped out due to the trail. He was 14 min out of first and 7 min out of 2nd. The 4th place team was only a minute behind. Our dogs were ready to go. We had a couple of sore dogs from the day before, but they looked good on Sunday.

After Larry and the team left on the 3rd and final leg, I drove to the dog drop just incase Larry would need to drop a dog. I was surprised to see that Larry got to the dog drop first and had passed two teams. The team looked awesome! He stopped and dropped Tefa, our super star leader. She had a sore wrist and he didn't want to risk having to carry her in the sled. He put Fender in lead with George and took off down the trail. At this point, he had made a lot of time on the first two teams.

A little while later though, he ended up having to load a 2nd dog in the sled to be carried for about 10 miles. Larry worked his butt off to keep from being passed.

He also had to take Fender out of lead because she didn't like all the people at the road crossings. We just discovered that her brother, Jackson leads well in training. We have never put him up there in a race. He had no other choice, so he put Jackson in lead with George. He ran lead like a super star! He handled everything with ease and finished the race in lead!

I was so proud of Larry and the dogs. He faced so many obsticles in this race, and always kept a positive attidude. It also greatly helped that we are sponsored by the POWER HOUSE GYM. Larry probably lost 10 pounds working his butt off on this race! Our team finished in 3rd place, about 2 min, 45 seconds out of 1st! Also our super 2 year old, George, lead from start to finish and was AWESOME! If we had just made one less mistake, we could have won. Oh well, that is racing. We learned so much for next year. Larry is looking forward to racing the Copper Dog 150 again and improving his finish. With snow, that will be a beautiful trail!

Midnight Run 1st Place!!!!!!!!!!!

My team and I leaving the starting chute.

I drew bib #1, so I started first and finished 1st! Not bad!

Me at the finish line, early Saturday morning, getting a "bag check" and signing in. I was VERY happy!

Larry's team finishing a strong 9th place!

Larry's team waiting at the finish line. Boston (right) and Cowgirl in lead. Boston really surprised us this year by leading the entire 91 miles!

What a fantastic race and magical run for my team! I was a little nervous about drawing bib number one, but I quickly decided it could be an advantage on a tight trail with nobody to pass infront of me. The first leg is a challenging 49 miles. We left the starting chute like a rocket! I was worried about the first few miles because we run right next to a major highway. My team tried pulling me into the road last year, so I was hoping it wouldn't happen again. To my surprise, they didn't even try and stayed on the trail, thank god! Hurdle #1 down, now a few more to go! I rode the drag mat (the brake) for about 15 miles to keep them from going too fast. Hurdle #2 was getting through both road crossings without getting held up by traffic. We blazed right through the first one and only got held up for about 1 minute at the 2nd one. After the gravel pit, I just let them go their own pace and protected them on the down hills. They really flew! I was in shock and awe watching my team perform so beautifully. This is a very hilly section of trail and I am usually exhausted after, but this year it was incredibly easy with this team. They powered up the hills! I only ran up about 3 and just kicked up the rest. I think I ran up every one last year. We got through the hills and went down Marquette Mountain. For those who don't know, this is a gigantic ski hill that you have to go down and hope you don't run over your dogs in the process. I stood on my metal brake with BOTH feet and safely made it to the bottoem. Hurdle #3 down! Then, we run through another short series of hills before coming to an overpass where the dogs have to run under it. There is a highway overtop with passing cars, so each year, my team usually gets in a huge ball underneath it since the sound of the cars overhead terrifies them. Not this year! My team charged underneath like a freight train! When you come out the other side, you have to make a sharp 90 degree turn and pull your sled around a guard rail. Well, the dogs went around it, me and the sled crashed into the barrels they place infront of there for safety. We did this same thing last year! My team got in a small tangle, so a spectator stood on my snowhook so they wouldn't get away from me. I quickly untangled the

front 4 dogs and sped away! Hurdle #4 down!

This next section of tail is a flat 19 mile snowmachine trail that runs parallel to Lake Superior before coming into the Deerton checkpoint. At this point, my team was absolutely flying! I was in the process of having that "magical" run that everyone talks about. Nothing was going wrong, the dogs were so strong. They only got stronger and faster the further we went. I was hoping we weren't going too fast, but they looked so comfortable, I just let them do what they were doing. We passed hundreds of people on this stetch. There are bonfires all along the trail and crowds of cheering fans. It is my favorite section of trail. I was beaming ear to ear watching my team perform flawlessly. They were on fire! We came up on about 5 or 6 UP 200 teams at this point and Little Tefa and George just sailed past. I never had to ask for trail or interupt the rythm of the dogs. It was amazing! I usually kick on this section of trail to help the dogs. I didn't even need to this year, so I didn't! Before too long, someone from the crowd told me Deerton was 4 miles away. I was thinking, "already?!" That first leg went by so fast, I couldn't believe we were almost there.

When I pulled into the checkpoint, everyone was in shock at the time my dogs just ran that first leg. We ran it in 3:46, setting a new record for that leg! We ended up being 19 minutes ahead of 2nd place!!! My dad was waiting there for us and he and a group of volunteers grabbed my team and helped us to our truck and trailer so I could take care of the dogs and get them resting for our 5 hour break before starting the last leg of the race. The vets came and looked everyone over and remarked how good they looked. They did too! I had no issues with anyone. I checked all the feet and put ointment in them, massaged their shoulders with a liniment called Accede to help keep the muscles warm, put their dog coats on and wrist wrapped a couple of dogs to make sure their wrists didn't get sore, fed them a warm meal, put straw down for them and let them rest. I was so happy that everyone ate so well! You don't want a dog to not eat because they can become very dehydrated.

About an hour later, Larry's team arrived and looked great! He had no issues with any of his 8 dogs. He was running a couple of yearlings and two year olds mixed with a few veterans. All but 3 of his dogs had never done a race with a checkpoint, so we were very interested to see what would happen. We got his dogs taken care of and then Larry and I got in the truck to try and rest. There was no rest for me! I was way too pumped and excited about what just happened. We couldn't stop talking to each other. My out time was at 3:34 in the morning, so at 1:30 we both just got out of the truck and got to work getting everything ready to run the last leg of the race.

About an hour and a half before my re-start, we watered the dogs with a light beef broth and then walked my dogs around to see if anyone was sore. Usually we have atleast one sore dog after a rest. To my amazement, nobody was sore!!! They looked fantastic! We hooked them back into the team and Larry, my dad, and my brother-in-law, Chad helped my team to the start line. The dogs were very charged up to go again, which is always nice to see!

The 2nd leg is 42 miles of hills and flats, but is less challenging than the first leg. My main focus was to just not screw up my 19 minute lead by taking a wrong turn or doing something stupid! The team flew on the 2nd leg! I ran more conservatively than the first leg to ensure I had a team left for the entire race. They looked great, all 8 dogs performed flawlessly. Our only 3 snags were Having to hook down and turn my leaders twice and at one road crossing. There is one crossing where there is nobody there to help you. There is a good sized bank, you drop down onto a plowed road and have to climb up the bank on the other side. I told the dogs "straight ahead" 3 or 4 times because the trail on the other side was hard to see. We were almost across and BAM, George pulls the team to the left and wants to go down the plowed road! A million things flashed through my mind like, we wouldn't be able to stop the team and turn them around on that road, my race will be over etc. I screamed out "Tefa, GEE, GEE, GEE!" She immidiately lunged into her harness with all her tiny might, pulled George's 65 pound body of muscle up over the bank, and drug the entire team onto the trail on the other side!!!! I was shocked, amazed and filled with joy that she had totally saved us! I then let out a "whoo hooo! Good girl Tefa!!" She amazed me!

The rest of the leg went smoothly. I ran up probably 5 or 6 hills this leg, but just kicked up the rest. The team was strong and the trail a little punchy, so it disrupted the dogs every time I got off to run, so I didn't. The last section of this leg is on a very tight, twisty trail about the width of your sled. We flew through here. You can't be on your brake, since you have to steer around the turns, so you just have to let them go fast. We got in one tangle when my team came abruptly up to some open water that they didn't want to cross. My leaders, George and Tefa, got their neckline hung up around a tree and balled up the rest of the team in a big tangle. I hooked down, grabbed George and pulled him around the tree and pushed him and Tefa across the water. Prophet got turned upside down in the process and drug through the water on his back and had his back leg completely wrapped in the gangline. I ran up, pulled back on the line and thankfully got him untangled without injuring him. About 2 miles later after continuing on through this tight mess, we finally emerged out of the woods behind the football stadium in Munising for our triumphant 1st place finish!! A rush of emotions took over as I passed the crowd of people and watched my team run effortlessly to the finish. I was so choked up I could barlely speak when we came to a screeching halt at the finish line. We finished 19 minutes ahead of 2nd place! What a race! After signing in, a bunch of people helped my team back to the truck and I quickly got them taken care of so I could wait for Larry's team to finish. Larry and team came in looking great in 9th place!! All 8 dogs finished in both teams! We are so proud!! I will never forget this magical race for as long as I live!

Next up, the Copper Dog 150, March 12th in Calumet, Michigan. Larry was supposed to run this, but after having run 3 races this year, he is a little burned out and has decided to hand over the team to me. I will gladly except the challenge!

Beargrease 150 7th place!!!!!

Larry and "Little Tiny Tefa" after the race. We had our doubts about her leading our team for this length of a race. With our main leader, Zoey, out with a toe injury, we had to rely on Tefa to get the job done. She did amazing, we will never doubt her again!! She pulled her heart out and gave it her all the entire race!

Larry & Odessa at the race start

Prophet, ready to go

Our yearling, Curlin, in booties for the first time. The trail was a bit abraisive, so we bootied our entire team to protect their feet for the first 2 legs of the race.

George (front), our super 2 year old main leader, and Gibson (rear), before the race start

Tefa and George leading the team into the starting chute

Larry's team finishing 7th place out of 42 teams. The finish was so icy, they had to stop teams at the top of the hill and undo the tuglines so they couldn't pull as hard coming down to prevent any injuries to the dogs. There was also a bunch of people onhand to grab the teams and stop them at the bottom of the hill. Larry finished the race with all 8 dogs.

Larry (above) and George after the race. George was so awesome! It is amazing that he is that good in lead at only 2 years old. He was excited to see what was around every corner for 106 miles!

With me having a knee injury, Larry got his chance, once again to race the Beargrease 150, a 106 mile race that starts in Duluth, Minnesota and finishes in Tofte. He loves this race and was so excited to start! The first leg is 35 miles. The team starts in Duluth and runs to their first checkpoint in Two Harbors.

While Larry is racing, I get the fun of driving our truck and HUGE dog trailer 40 miles to the checkpoint. When I arrive, I quickly have to find a parking spot. It is a race for the handlers to get all our gear to the actual checkpoint, 1/4 mile away and secure a great spot to rest our teams. This year, I was smart and brought two big plastic sleds to haul everything in one trip. I fit a bale of straw, a huge duffle bag filled with wrist wraps, linement, booties, etc., a chair for me, a shovel, 5 gallons of water, a cooker and a cooler on the sleds and used bungees to secure everything. It was VERY heavy, but I quickly drug it into the checkpoint and found a nice spot next to our friend Dave Turner's team. Thad & Stepanie, Dave's handlers were already busy digging a snow trench for his team. This is my least favorite checkpoint because of all the work involved for the handlers. It is basically a large field filled with snow. So, the handlers (that being me and only me) have to dig a trench in the snow big enough to fit an entire 8 dog team. Not to mention, we had to haul our teams over a gigantic snow bank to get into our trench that was over my head. I got trench dug, supplies ready, boiled water and poured it into the cooler of meat and then went to the finish line to wait for Larry.

I figured he'd be coming through in about a half hour. Well, that came and went, a few teams came in, and about 20 minutes later, Larry came in. The team looked fantastic and frisky, but the look on Larry's face said it all. Something went wrong. We got our team to our trench, took off booties, fed, put down straw, put coats on, and massaged shoulders and wrists and let them rest. Larry then told me he missed the turn coming into Two Harbors. He came to a fork in the trail and couldn't see the turn arrows. Our leaders wanted to go left, but he told them "straight ahead". He went for about 10 minutes the wrong way before realizing he took the wrong trail. He had to turn the team around and go back 10 minutes and turn onto the correct trail. Larry was very disapointed with his error, especially since the team had a flawless run. Our goal at this first checkpoint was 2.5 to 3 hours of rest for the team before continuing on to the 2nd 38 mile leg of the race. Larry was pretty down, so I gave him a pep talk to get him on the right track. There was nothing we could do about the wrong turn now except to go out and run a fantastic race for the last 2 legs. After that, Larry came back to the checkpoint with a good attitude and petted up the team. After 2.5 hours, we got the dogs ready and led them out of the snow trench and over the gigantic snow bank. In the process, I fell down the bank and re-injured my knee. It wasn't as bad as the first time though and me and two other volunteers got Larry started on the 2nd leg of the race. Then, I hauled all our gear 1/4 mile back to the truck and drove another 30-40 miles to Finland, the last checkpoint of the race.

This is where Larry and the team would take their remaining rest (you have to take 8 hours total plus your time differential), approximately 6.5 hours. I arrived at the checkpoint, found a parking spot and busied myself preparing for the team's arrival. When Larry's team arrived, again, they looked fantastic! Fresh and frisky like they never ran! We lead them to the truck (this checkpoint is awesome because you don't have to haul gear or dig snow trenches), and did our checkpoint routine, and then let the dogs rest in the deep straw around the trailer. We put coats and blankets over them to keep them warm and comfortable. We found out shortly after, that even with the wrong turn, Larry's team would be leaving for the finish line after our rest in 7th place out of 42 teams! I was shocked that we were that far up in the standings given our mistake. About an hour before Larry started the last leg, we watered the dogs and then walked them around on leashes to see if anybody was stiff. 7 out of 8 looked great. "Little Tiny Tefa" had a sore wrist, but nothing serious. She is one tough little dog. We massaged her wrist with Accede, and walked her around to stretch it out. We got the rest of the team ready, Tefa & George still in lead and off Larry went on the last 33 miles of the race. I then drove another 30 miles or so to the finish line in Tofte and waited for them to finish.

Larry had an awesome run on the 3rd leg and the team flew! They ran like they were still fresh and Tefa and George really came through and did an awesome job leading the team the entire race! Larry finished in 7th place! I am so proud of Larry and all 8 of our dogs: Tefa, George, Fender, Odessa, Prophet, Curlin, Gibson & Jackson. I can't wait to race this next year. Maybe I'll be healthy by then!

Our next race is the 91 mile Midnight Run in Marquette, Michigan on Feb. 19th. My knee is healing nicely and I've been training the dogs for over a week now. I am racing the main team and Larry is racing the 2nd team. I can't wait!!!

Tahquamenon 2010

1st & 2nd Place!!!

Ana with our trophies

Me with George, my 2 year old super star leader and Larry with "little Tiny Tefa", his super leader that almost caught the main team!!

Larry & Tefa

me and Georgie

My team finishing the 43 mile race

Larry's team finishing the race

Larry's team at the last road crossing, 5 miles from the finish

Me with my main leader, Zoey before the race

Tefa during hookup before one of our last training runs before the race

Larry's team before one of our last training runs. Tefa & Boston in lead.

my team on one of our last training runs before the race. Zoey & George in lead.

We had a very successful first race of the season!! It is always this race, that sets the bar on how our team will do the remainder of the season. We definetly started with a bang! I was VERY nervous, as always, the entire week before Tahquamenon. The dogs were more than ready, we have done everything we could do in training. Nothing left but to race and see what happens. Race day was VERY cold, -17 degrees!! I never start a race with big mitts on. I am always afraid of losing the team if I get drug and cannot hang on. Well, in the first 2 miles my hands were numb, forcing me to put them on. The team was FLYING!! I was on the drag pad for about half of the run, trying to get George, my 2 year old leader, to calm down so he wouldn't tire out the entire team. I was hanging on for my life around all those tight twists and turns. It was a lot of fun though! I started the 8 dog class first and only had to pass a few 12 dog teams that started before me. George did NOT like going past the sleds. Zoey had to drag him past. A couple of times, George put the brakes on and balled up the team. One pass, I had to lead him half way past one of the teams. After that, things went smoothly. The last 5 miles, I had to take my main leader, Zoey out of lead. She was letting the swing dogs catch up, which is VERY unlike her. Prophet ran lead with George the rest of the way and did a wonderful job. We ran the 43 miles in 3:01 and some change and came in first place!! I cannot belive we ran it that fast! Larry had a SUPER run, only stopping twice out there. His team, with Tefa and Cowgirl in lead, passed teams flawlessly. His team ran it in, 3:03 and some change, only 2 min, 45 seconds slower than me with the B team!!! If I would have had any more trouble out there, he would have beaten me! We are so proud of the dogs for racing their hearts out and giving us our 1st & 2nd places.

Next up on the race schedule, less than 2 weeks away is the Beargrease 150. Larry ran it last year and got 4th place and "rookie of the year", while I had a terrible bout of bronchitis. My main leader, Zoey will be out for this race with a sprained toe. I am VERY disapointed, but Larry's super leader, Tefa will take her place leading the team with George. Hopefully Zoey will be able to resume training after we get back. I was really looking forward to racing it this year, since I had to miss out last year. On our last long run of the season this past Sunday, 5 miles into our run, we were turning off of a plowed road, onto a snowmobile trail. Tefa was turning me the correct way, George pulled the team the opposite way. Trying to stop the team, I slammed both feet onto the brake. In the same moment, Tefa pulled George the correct way, causing me to lose my balance, fall and get drug. In the process, I fell on my knee, and hyper-extended it to the side, hearing my knee pop in and out. It hurt so bad, it felt like I broke my leg. My dad (who was following our teams on the snowmachine), dove in the middle of my team to stop them. I righted the sled and hooked down for a few minutes, until I got the feeling back into my leg. I stretched it out, then continued on for the remainder of the run, 38 more miles. My leg was sore, but I was still able to control the team. When I got back to the kennel, I was trying to put a wrist wrap on one of our craziest dogs, she went between my legs, out to the side, I slipped on the ice and did the exact same thing to my knee, hearing it pop in and out again!! This time it really hurt and I could barely walk all night! This is so disapointing because I was really looking forward to the Beargrease this year. I am going to the doctor tomorrow to assess the damage. It is getting a little better each day. I HOPE I will be fine by race day. If not, Larry will be piloting the team for the 2nd year in a row.

Happy New Year!!!!!

Our crazy main team during hookup

Another pic of our crazy team

Larry coming home from taking the main team on a run on Monday

Me running the main team yesterday

Another pic of my team yesterday

my team crusin yesterday

We had a wonderful Christmas with both of our families this year. We also survived our annual Christmas freezing rain by doing BOTH of our long runs with the dogs BEFORE Christmas so we didn't have to worry. I am very glad we did, we were off for a few days because of the icy trail conditions. We really enjoyed our time off and relaxed with our families. It was nice! Now, we are back to work with the dogs, getting them ready for our first race of the year, the Tahquamenon Country Sled Dog Race in Newberry, Michigan. It is next weekend, January 9th. Both Larry and I will run two teams in the 8 dog, 43 miler. We can't wait to get our first race out of the way!! I am always very nervous, until I get out on the trail. If you would like to follow our races this year, go to our website: http://www.coyoterunkennel.com/

and click on "races". We have provided the web links so you can follow us on our journeys. We hope you all have a

VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Let it Snow!!!!!!we woke up this morning to yet another snow storm last night, bringing us over 2 feet of snow in all!!

This is Larry running an 8 dog team on the 6th in 10 inches of new snow. This was our first sled runs of the year!

Ana, so happy to have gotten to run "her team"

Ana's team consisted of Windows, our 10.5 year old retired leader (left) and Serra, our 2 year old promising young female out of Strider/Zoey.

We are so excited to finally have gotten a ton of snow! We have run the dogs with sleds twice now. I took my main 10 out for a 20 mile run last night, breaking trail through 18 inches of snow! Surprisingly, they kept an awesome pace and I was very thankful for the extra weight I put in the sled and the new snow to slow the team down. They were on fire! I was standing on the drag mat for the first 8 miles until they finally settled into a nice pace. They really looked good and are exactly where they need to be right now. The only difference I notice from last year's team is the power. Last year's team was powerful, but with 7 of the 10 being big, strong males this year, I could really FEEL how strong they were last night. On the way home, I had Larry go ahead on the snowmachine to make a track up the "huge" hill. This hill is like a ski hill, so I didn't want the team to have to break trail the entire way up it. Well, Larry buried the machine 1/4 of the way up. I yelled "get out of the way", charged past with the dogs, hooked my snowhook into the ski, and called the team up. I really didn't think they'd pull it out. It was REALLY stuck! They surged forward, put their heads down and miraculously hauled, Larry, Ana, me, a sled, and a snowmobile up that gigantic hill. I was so proud of them! After all that work, they still came charging into the driveway and finished happy and rolling around in the snow, wagging their tails. That is what we like to see!
It is Ana's birthday today! I can't belive 5 years have passed so quickly! We are celebrating with cake and subway that Larry is bringing home since it has been so bad out for the last 2 days, Ana and I have been snowed in and haven't left the house. Larry is also taking his team of 12 out for the same 20 miler I did last night. Ana and I will be following on the snowmachine just incase!
We also just created our website. Check it out: http://www.coyoterunkennel.com/