Beginning to look like winter

You can always tell when someone is not used to winter conditions because they are always wearing more clothes than the folks that live in the area. Unfortunetely, each year when the temperature drops below freezing for the first time, everyone looks like these people. The temperature is 20 degrees outside right now, but it feels as though it is zero or below. It always takes a few weeks to adjust, and eventually all of us will be dreaming of a day when it will once again get up to 20 degrees above. The cold temperatures, which finally came at the beginning of the week, are a welcome change to the rainy, above-normal temperatures we had been experiencing the rest of the month. It even is beginning to look like winter outside: lakes and ponds are frozen over, and there is a thin blanket of snow covering the ground. It's like eating one chocolate chip when you know the whole bag is coming later; this little bit of snow only makes all of us crazy dog mushers want more of it.
My pups and I have been moving along in training quite well. This past weekend was a monumental one for the pups. They experienced many firsts, including their first time riding in the dog trailer (Jeff converted a large snowmobile trailer into a trailer full of dog pens to be able to transport the dogs), their first time camping out, and their longest run of their lives yet. Nicole (another helper for the winter at the kennel) and I took 22 yearlings out to the winter training camp located near the Susitna River on the Denali Highway. We ran them 27 miles on Saturday and 19 miles on Sunday. They looked great on both runs, and they hardly let out a peep the whole night camping out. I was very excited to get them out, and I am looking forward to getting them out there soon again!
The improvement the dogs have shown in the past month has blown me away. The difference between these dogs now and when I arrived a month ago is astounding. One month ago I would not dare run a team of 8 of these dogs by myself; now, I am running teams of 12 with little problems by myself. I already feel like they are my best friends; I know which ones get along, which ones don't, what they look like when they are happy, what they look like when they are unhappy with me, and most of all, I always know I can go to any one of them when I need a little lovin. I truely am living my dream here, and I love coming to the kennel every day.
As always, feel free to leave any comments or email me personally with questions, thoughts, etc. Thank you, and until next time, happy trails!

October in Alaska

The wind is blowing with the force of a blizzard outside as I write this update, but unfortunately the precipitation is falling as rain, and not the white stuff that all dog mushers are dreaming of this time of year. The date is October 8, and I must first apologize for my tardiness in this first update. I settled in at the kennel, which is located right outside the entrance to Denali National Park, on September 26th and have been going full speed ahead with the dogs since. Like I said in a previous entry, I am running Jeff King’s yearling team (could also be referred to as his JV team if you so wish). Right now this means that I have a group of 26 yearlings to work with. This number is a bit much seeing as I will be starting at the starting line in March with 16; thus, several of these yearlings will likely be sold to other mushers in the coming weeks. I am hoping for around 20 dogs to work with in the end.
Training has been going splendid so far, minus the fact that the temperatures have been relatively warm (highs in the 40’s most days). We did receive a couple small snowfalls in my short stay thus far, but neither of them lasted on the ground more than a couple of days. Right now I am running the yearlings behind an All Terrain Vehicle (ATV). The dogs could pull me on the ATV without the help of the engine, but it is easier to maintain control and keep a constant speed by using assistance of the engine. I have been taking the pups (I will often refer to them as pups and not yearlings) for runs of 8-10 miles per day, roughly 5 days a week. They are looking great at this distance and are definitely ready to move up in distance soon. For relative distances, I went with Jeff on a 46 mile training run with his race dogs on Monday.
Jeff King usually has about 5 litters of puppies every summer. This equates to 30-40 puppies, which equates to 30-40 names every year. That’s a lot of names to come up with every summer! So for ease of naming and to be able to easily tell what dog was from what litter, litters are named with themes. The yearlings I am working with came from the Friends litter (named after friends characters; eg. Joey, Ross, Rachel), Irish cities (Dublin, Belfast, etc.), hurricane litter (Betsy, Bonnie), shoe litter (Loafer, Chaco), weather litter (Chinook, Zepher). They are a great bunch of dogs, and I am getting attached to them quickly (some people don’t think you can become attached to 26 dogs all at the same time… try spending 12 hours with the dogs day in and day out).
The time is approaching to put the dogs in the barn for the night, so I must end this update here. Like always, I welcome any comments, questions, etc. Enjoy the week, wherever you might be and whatever you may be doing!
JJ