Follow our quest for a more simple lifestyle living off grid in the remote north woods of Minnesota's Arrowhead Region, working with traditional sled dogs.
Neil is headed down the steep embankment in front of the house to illustrate how well the new brakes will work.
The brakes are locked and Neil is standing on the back with no forward movement at all. There you have it!
The yellow beast
Huge honkin' tires
Master cylinder
Now that the snow is gone,(Can you believe it? It's only March 15th!) we're ready to begin using the training cart again. Neil has done some amazing improvements that we are anxious to try out behind the dogs. If you recall from previous posts, the band brakes on the cart were so terrible that only one out of four was likely to work at any given time and I had to drag various sizes of tires behind for resistance to help slow the team down. Not to mention the terrible screeching noise made by the one functional brake.
Now, I am happy to report that we have a fully functioning cart with huge honkin' rear tires and hydraulic disk brakes! The new tires and brakes need to be installed on the front, but at the moment we are ready to roll as is!
Face to face crates to ward off separation anxiety
Hardware cloth on the door and cardboard on the side windows
Vast array of Wimzi's puppy toys
Wimzi, having been here for only 3 days, has been exposed to so many new things and is learning very quickly.
Since Wimzi's litter was raised inside, only having been outside three times prior to her arrival, we needed to try to house train her quickly while also slowly introducing her to being outside for longer periods of time. Crate training is the way to go. The crate is not a punishment but a place the puppy beings to identify as a safe and quiet place all of their own.
Upon Wimzi and her sister's arrival, each had to be placed in a crate without their sibling for a short period of time so we could work with them individually. Wimzi's sister, since named Sascha, immediately threw a puppy tantrum and got her lower jaw wedged into the openings in the crate door. This was frightening. Thankfully we were there when it happened. This made the crate an unsafe place and something had to be done. A puppy can not be left alone for a minute without supervision or without being in a safe crate. Neil set out to devise the solutions: hardware cloth on the door and cardboard and duct tape on the side windows. Problem solved. The puppy can see out the door just fine but can not wedge anything in the tiny holes of the hardware cloth.
Crate training basics: Make it a warm, dry and comfortable place for your puppy. Have chew toys and stuffed toys inside to keep them occupied. Place the puppy in the crate and leave them there for no longer than one hour past their age in months. So, an 8 week old puppy can stay in the crate for three hours. There are many exceptions but this is the basic rule. Yes, the puppy WILL likely throw a tantrum. As long as they can't hurt themselves, don't remove them and try and ignore those very sad and pathetic sounding noises. Poor puppy! If you remove the puppy while it is having a tantrum or while making any noise at all, the puppy is training you. She knows that all she has to do to get out is make some noise! And that she will. If the tantrums get to be extensive and you do feel you need to remove the puppy WAIT for even a second of silence, then open the door immediately and praise the puppy for being quiet. Hopefully, the puppy will just get tired and fall to sleep. This is what Wimzi did. Now she is at the point where she will go in her crate to play. This has become her space.
When the puppy is removed from the crate, immediately take them outside and give them whatever command you are using for them to do their business. Our command is "go potty". This may take some time, but when they do, praise like crazy followed by the command. "Good Girl Wimzi! Good Potty!" You will do this over and over and over and over again until they reach the point where you see them waiting by the door to be let out to "go potty". If you take them out and they don't do their business, place them back on the crate for a while longer and repeat. At 7 weeks old and with consistent training, Wimzi is almost at this point.
Wimzi and Sascha slept together in the crate the first night until Chris came to pick up his puppy and now Wimzi was the only baby who desperately needed a canine role model. Since neither Blueberry or Copper, the little house dog mascots were not interested, another willing participant had to be identified. Tuloon, the mother of our recent litter that included Topa and White Feather, was more interested in guarding the toys and her space against the poor little pup. We assumed that she had had enough of the little ones for a while and needed time and space to herself. Her behavior was also not very welcoming to the pup and Wimzi was being slow to come out of her shell around Tuloon.
Zala had shown some good puppy nanny skills with Tuloon's recent litter so we thought we'd give her a try. Perfect! Zala loves and, more importantly, tolerates the little poop monster, as Neil calls her, without being too rough on her during play sessions.
At night, however, Zala and Wimzi need to have their separate space so each has a crate just their size. And so that Wimzi feels her closeness, the crates are placed door to door at night. Once Wimzi is more comfortable being alone after having been one of six puppies, each fighting for their own space, she will be weened away from Zala's kennel door.
Wimzi needs to be occupied 100% of the time when out of her crate. This is why we made sure she has numerous items that are hers so that she learns what is acceptable to chew on and play with and what is not. Some of these items spend the night with her in the crate in case she feels the need to chew. One item is specifically for separation anxiety. It is a stuffed animal that is microwavable. Placing it in the microwave for 30 seconds heats the buckwheat inside to about the body temperature of a puppy. They can sleep on or next to it and it mimics the feeling of laying next to litter mates. The majority of the toys are for teething puppies -nylabones, bones that are rubbery and specifically for babies and various Kong toys that treats are placed in that keep puppies occupied for hours. These toys are also to act as replacements if she decides to begin chewing on something that isn't hers. One of them is placed in front of her and used as a lure to remove her from the chair leg or the couch cushion. If she bites at people flesh or clothes, which doesn't happen anymore, a two finger light pinch to the scruff right behind her head with a gentle shake and a low toned "no" does the trick.
We began taking Wimzi outside during the big dog feeding on day two. She screamed and cried. What a poor puppy! Today we spent several hours doing dog yard chores. Wimzi spent this time in an outdoor kennel with Zala where we could keep an eye on her. The time wasn't without a few puppy screams but, for the most part, she did extremely well and even curled up on some fresh straw inside one of the dog houses for a nap.
This routine will continue for the next few weeks until we add the next lesson. Once Wimzi has had a shot at roughly 10 weeks old, she will be going to puppy class for socialization!
"Being on this Points Unknown adventure touched my soul. Everything I love and seek in life was here: incredible dogs, passionate people, the beautiful, peaceful north woods, good company, learning something new and amazingly delicious food."
Jenny Minton Stone Lake, WI
Regarding a recent advanced adventure where those participants had attended a previous adventure:
"I just wanted to thank you for giving us such an amazing weekend!...." "The weekend was so well laid out to remind us what to do, help us feel more confident, and then go for it! It was truly memorable!"
Lisa's team with Phoenix in single lead, on the turn around loop
April's team
Jenny's team
First of the 90 degree turn series of photos. Leaning way to the right or into the turn
Wonderful shot of me as I brace for the potential impact with the tree on the opposite side of the trail.
Still bracing but no impact! Wonderful execution by Lisa!
The wheel dogs do their job and straighten the sled out to head down the trail.
The looks on our faces say it all....
The 90 degree turn is the biggest challenge for our new mushers and they did beautifully. The technique sounds fairly simple, however executing it can be a challenge.
The idea is to go into the turn slowly with your foot on the drag pad. As the point dogs(dogs behind the leaders) enter the turn and pass the tree on the corner, you quickly remove your foot from the drag pad, squat down, thus lowering your center of gravity and lean. A "crack the whip" effect happens and you are safely brought back on course by your burly wheel dogs as you then quickly place your foot back on the drag pad to slow them down. What happens, however, is your gut instinct tells you to keep your foot on the brake as you enter the turn so it can be taken slower and so that you don't hit the tree at the corner. This action however, will provide you with the opposite effect and you will run directly into the tree unless you allow the dogs to take you around the tree without resistance.
Since I managed to catch a few participants off guard (Lisa) and posted some very candid photos, I thought I had better then post a few of myself as I was the passenger in Lisa's sled going around that 90 degree turn.
Lisa served up braised venison on a bed of beautifully prepared kale and pumpkin puree.
The intense concentration on the back of the sled runners.
Yikes! I can't believe she just took my picture!
Our wonderful chef, Lisa, joined us at the very last minute when our friend JD couldn't make the trip. She came highly recommended by JD and met all of our culinary expectations. She also made a great participant and took part in all of the activities, even though she is allergic to dogs. (What?! She did jump at this opportunity and I only saw her breakout once during her stay!)
She quickly learned that dog mushing is not a necessarily a leisurely activity where one stands on the back of the runners for an uninvolved "ride". It can be an intense workout, both mentally and physically, as you can see above by the look in her face on the above photos. Just had to post them, of course!
Neil is headed down the steep embankment in front of the house to illustrate how well the new brakes will work.
The brakes are locked and Neil is standing on the back with no forward movement at all. There you have it!
The yellow beast
Huge honkin' tires
Master cylinder
