The Today Show!!!

Hello all. Well, the first official news from the Today Show folks was today, and we were told that the snipit on Jeff King would be on tommorow morning. We heard again from them later and was told it was bumped to Wednesday morning. So if it stays on that day, it will likely be on between 7:30 and 8:00 AM and will be about 4 minutes long. However, it could get bumped again, so if it isn't on on Wednesday, keep checking. Hope you are able to see it! It will show footage of not only the kennel, but where we train and what we are doing around here.

The life of a professional athlete

When a professional football player becomes injured, he becomes like the sick child. All of a sudden attention to the excess is given to him to do whatever it takes to get him back onto the field. Massages, stretching, exercises, hot tubs; you name it, I am sure they get it. Just like in professional football, in the professional mushing world dogs become injured from time to time as well. It’s just like a human marathon runner: every once in awhile a muscle will be pulled or strained, or there will be sore ankle or knee.
Unfortunately, dogs cannot talk, and they cannot tell us exactly what hurts or is sore. We can often tell when a dog is sore, but being able to tell exactly what muscle is the culprit is another story. Once it is determined what exactly is sore on a dog, the standard procedure has been for a long time to lay the dog off until no sign of lameness can be seen and then stick them back into the team. Obviously there are several issues with this procedure, the first of which is the dog becomes out of shape while he is being laid off.
Here at Goose Lake Kennels we are attempting to change this standard procedure for the better. First of all, we are learning how to properly massage and stretch the dogs. Believe it or not, dogs enjoy a nice muscle rub just as much as we do. The second part we are trying is a doggy hot tub. I told my mom this on the phone the other night, and she proceeded to laugh for the next 5 minutes, so go ahead and get it over with.
In reality, though, it makes perfect sense. We swim injured dogs in the doggy hot tub for 30 minutes daily; not only is this good exercise to keep them in shape while they are laid off, but it also warms the muscles and helps them stretch out. We keep the hot tub between 80 and 90 degrees and are able to swim three dogs at time. We are far from perfecting the doggy hot tub, but we believe it is definitely a step in the right direction.

The rough life

When many people think of dog mushing, they think of standing on a dog sled being pulled by fluffy dogs with blue eyes through snow covered wooded trails; all that can be heard is the patter of the dogs feet on the snow as miles are covered. Amazingly, this is how it is sometimes. However, this is not what life is like at Goose Lake Kennels these days. First of all, there is hardly any snow (about 2 inches on the ground at the current moment), and second, there is a much more efficient way to run dogs this time of year. You must prepare yourself, though, because you will likely not even want to call this dog mushing.
Until we get more snow, we will be running the dogs hooked in front of Jeff King's 1 ton Dodge pickup truck. Yup, it's true. And we don't just run 8, 10, or even 12 dogs at a time. We hook up anywhere from 20 to 28 dogs up to the truck at once. We then take the dogs for runs of up to 80 miles (my puppies aren't going this far); this equates to about 9 hours of sitting in the truck at speeds of about 9-10 mph. Doesn't sound too romantic, hu? It's not romantic, but it's efficient. I can take my 20 puppies out by myself safely for overnight trips for this reason. On top of this there is nothing like heat blasting on your hands and face, Johhny Cash blaring over the radio, and 20 dogs strung out in front of you.
Don't get me wrong, though, I am looking forward to snow just as much as the next musher. However, until it comes, this is how life will continue. I took my pups out for an overnight trip at the beginning of this week and they did fantastic. I feel that when we all camp out together is when we really grow as a team.
The Iditarod start is less than 4 months away; it seems like a long ways away, yet when I think about it, my nerves start to run. There are many miles between then and now, but I know the day will be here before I know it.

Just how famous is an Iditarod champion?

Famous enough to be on a "Got Milk" poster. Famous enough to sent to states across the lower 48 for motivational and informational speaches. Famous enough to be on the Conan O'brian show. And now, famous enough to be on the Today Show. Yup, the one that used to have Katie Couric as the host. A crew of 4 members from the Today Show were here for the last three days filming Jeff King, his dogs, and his crew to display to the viewers what life is like training dogs for the Iditarod in the heart of Alaska. Most people have no clue what this is truely like; thus, the 4 minute snipit that 6 million people will be viewing sometime in the next couple weeks (keep tuned in for the date) will be some of the best coverage this sport has ever recieved.
How does this relate to the preparations for my Iditarod run? Not at all actually, but it is how I spent my last few days. We brought the crew, 30 dogs, Jeff King, and I out to our training camp on the Denali Highway for the night. The full moon, along with clear skies throughout the day and night should allow for some amazing video.
Winter has officially arrived in the great north. We have yet to recieve much snow, as there is still only about 1 inch of snow on the ground, but temperatures dipped to 30 below this past week. For those of you who have not been in this temperature, it is cold enough that when you breathe in through your mouth, your teeth get the cold sensation. It's cold, but it's part of life up here. It's only the beginning of Nov., and it is only going to get colder, so we deal. It's the same concept as someone is Austin, Texas surviving in temperatures that reach 100+ degrees. I couldn't survive in that, and they probably couldn't survive in this.
My pups and I had a great overnight trip last Thursday and Friday. We did back to back 25 mile runs, and they looked wonderfully afterwards. This tells me that they are ready for longer runs. My goal is to have them doing back to back 50 mile runs by Thanksgiving, and we are well on our way to reaching this goal. They had the last few days off to rest and cause trouble (they are good at this), so they should be raring to go for back to back 35 mile runs tommorow and the next day. It all continues to be a dream, and I know that it will only keep getting better.