Klaus and Sweet Pea Turn 8 Years Old!

Smiley Sweet Pea is forever gazing into our eyes asking, "What are we going to do next?!"

Klaus is still the boss and plays, as if he were still a puppy, with his understudy and kennel mate, Oken.

Today is Klaus and Sweet Pea's eighth birthday! What an amazing couple of dogs from an excellent litter of leaders. Sweet Pea doesn't enjoy leading as much but will do it in a pinch. She would prefer to take commands from just behind the leaders in "point" position.

Klaus is not the least bit concerned about the stress associated with being a leader and just does it naturally. Interesting word, "naturally". I recall a conversation I had years ago with a new musher that had just acquired a gee/haw leader. She expected the dog to instantly join her team, hop in front and turn "on". Not a very realistic expectation. A dog needs ample time to adjust, which is sometimes more than a year, to new circumstances before being able to feel relaxed enough to tap into its memory bank and then possibly lead for a new musher. You can acquire a leader and never really see the dog's full potential or the results of his/her prior training in action because of musher error.

If the musher doesn't know what they're doing, they certainly can't consistently support a good trained leader and they won't get the best results. Then what do you do? The best thing to do is go into the situation knowing what you know and knowing what you don't know. Then learn what you don't know. Talk to other mushers and get as much input as possible. You don't have to use it all or agree with it all. Just pick what works for you. This could take a while so that gives your new leader a while to settle in and rest before you even attempt to put him/her in lead.

I recall bringing Zulu, Klaus and Sweet Pea's dad, home years ago when he was 5 years old. He was reported to be a superior gee/haw leader who had done some open country leading. I was so excited and immediately put him up in lead. Imagine my disappointment with that dog when not one command was followed. I couldn't believe that I had been duped into believing he was a leader. I tried and tried for a few weeks until I got so frustrated that I put him right back in the team and all but wrote him off as just another mediocre leader and sled dog. Wrong! Interesting how we judge other things, people, dogs and situations when we're really looking into a "mirror" many times in life. I was relatively new to dog mushing and was a mediocre musher.

The next year, after gaining a lot more experience and talking with a lot more people, I tried him again. A light bulb clicked for both of us and together, our abilities grew. Now, I'd like to think that I became a pretty darn good musher with Zulu as one of my main mentors, but I can say with certainty that Zulu became the absolute best open country leader I could have ever hoped for. Klaus followed in his foot steps and now we've got a whole kennel of dogs in various stages of leadership training and each and everyone can lead if asked. Interesting, isn't it, how knowledge and experience can bring us so far. And yes, a dog must have some abilities to lead, but it is not always just "natural". That is too high an expectation. It is the musher's responsibility to bring each dog to their full potential so they are allowed to shine.

This goes for all facets of being in the company of dogs. When first bringing any dog into your life, keep expectations low while setting strong boundaries for desired behavior. Keep things structured and keep training sessions brief. Be consistent. Most of all have fun!

So back to Klaus and Sweet Pea. They are from the generation after Zulu and were able to reap the benefits of my gradual enlightenment(which is an ongoing process). They are both such assets to the kennel and deeply ingrained in our hearts.

Happy Birthday Sweet Pea and Klaus!

It's Coming Along!

The honeybee stencil my mother made.

Honey candy booth!

You get the first sneak preview of the newly painted main honey booth.

The honey ice cream and honey lemonade booth

As mentioned in earlier posts, one recently acquired venture is helping to keep my and the sled dogs' heads above water and it is coming along nicely! My mother flew up from Arkansas where they have chosen to retire, to help paint the Minnesota Honey Producers State Fair Booth. We began painting last Thursday and just finished yesterday. Hailey even pitched in for a day.

It has been an exhausting but fulfilling spring and summer trying to create the inner workings of this booth that dates back to the early 1900s, from sourcing products to contacting and getting to know producers to hiring employees (11 of them!) and working with independent contractors.

For this contract I have had to learn all about employee laws, payroll, state and federal label requirements, health codes and safe food handling procedure and new business computer programs. All of this on top of a busy lifestyle with the sled dogs and our Points Unknown business, my beeswax candle business, my appraisal business and just my basic day to day happenings renders me a zombie by the end of each day. I find myself wandering around the house with the "on" button stuck "on" when I do have a few minutes, thinking to myself that this just can't be for real. There has to be something else that needs to be done. I couldn't possibly have done everything on my list for the day.

I am thankful for all of you who lend a hand when you can. It may not seem like much, but every little thing does count and makes my day and week a lot easier. You know who you are. Thank you.

If you would like to support the Minnesota Honey Producers and indirectly, the Points Unknown Sled Dogs, please visit the MN Honey Producers State Fair Booth where you'll find many unique bee products that you will not likely find all in one place and some things you can't find anywhere else! We've got honey ice cream, honey lemonade, honey taffy, honey caramel corn (on-a-stick of course!), honey filled candy, honey stix, honey shortbread cookies, beeswax candles, pollen, lotions, balms, salves, honey BBQ sauces and honey mustards and honey, honey and more HONEY! The special honey varieties you will find at our booth include clover, basswood, sage, orange blossom, buckwheat, blueberry blossom, cranberry blossom, sunflower and more! We're in the Ag-Hort building right across the street from the food court. Our friends the MN Hobby Beekeepers have a wonderful display along side our booth where they have beekeeping and honey extracting demonstrations. Pretty exciting stuff!

McKenzie Turned 9 Years Old Yesterday!

Accomplishing the "sit" command

And now a "shake"!

McKenzie got to celebrate his birthday with his soon-to-be new family yesterday. When Rich arrived with Wahya and Niwot, his family drove over to meet them. We also had a chance to let McKenzie and Wahya meet. Both got lots of treats for McKenzie's birthday and were tested on their obedience by being asked to "sit". McKenzie surprised all of us when he quickly learned how to shake for a treat!

McKenzie is the father to Journey, White Feather and Topa. He is an extremely calm and mild mannered boy. When being hooked up to a dog sled, however, some of the most strange noises I've ever heard come out of that dog as he proclaims his excitement for the task he was born to do!

Happy Birthday, McKenzie!

Niwot and Wahya Arrive!

Rich with Wahya

Beautiful Wahya

Handsome Niwot

Rich and Niwot

Wahya and Niwot checking out the back yard

Due to some unforeseen events, Niwot and Wahya arrived at Points Unknown yesterday. Rich was kind enough to take a couple days out of his life to drive to help with transport. We are so happy that the dogs are here. Thanks, Rich!

Wahya is a Points Unknown 2007 Tuloon/Bazil puppy. Her owners indicated she would best be suited for a sled "pet" home so she will be placed with Rich and his family once they complete preparations which includes finishing an enormous outdoor kennel for her and McKenzie. Yes, McKenzie. Rich fell in love with McKenzie when he first met the Points Unknown sled dogs a couple seasons ago. It had become apparent over the past year that McKenzie would greatly benefit from a retirement placement with Rich, Kendra, Lexy and JJ. We weren't quite certain when this would occur as the timing had to be right and due to the social nature of sled dogs (and dogs in general), we weren't going to place him alone. Then Wahya came about and the "right time" became now. Rich lives very close to us so both McKenzie and Wahya will physically remain in our lives and will participate in some of our Points Unknown events. We don't place dogs often, but when we do, those receiving the dogs become family. It is very important to us that they remain a part of our lives in some way.

Wahya is a beautiful, intelligent and petite young lady and reminds us of combination of her Mom, Tuloon and her sister, Zala. As she gets more comfortable in her new surroundings, I'm sure her personality will unfold.

Niwot is Phoenix's brother and originally comes from Kim Fitzgerald of Mush Knik Networking in Knik, Alaska. He is a big, athletic and attentive boy. He quickly cuddled up to me as I scratched his thick ruff and head. We met Niwot for the first time when he was transported to Minnesota with Phoenix at 8 weeks old. They both got an immediate introduction to our remote adventures when they came along on one of our women's adventures in northern Minnesota. Niwot will remain with Points Unknown. He and Wahya both seemed relatively at ease upon their arrival. Both were very interested in the other dogs but even more interested in freely wandering around the backyard, checking out all of the smells.

Both dogs are now in a pen together which is detached from the rest of the kennel, however within view. As they become more settled, Niwot will eventually be placed in a pen within the main pack and with Topa. McKenzie will then join Wahya so they can become acquainted before they move to their new home in about a month. We sure will miss McKenzie and Wahya, although we will see them often.

Even though we'd like to keep each and every one of our precious sled dogs for their entire life, it is sometimes in the best interest of the dog to place them in a wonderful and loving home with one of our extended "family" members. We don't take our responsibilities for our canine friends lightly and that responsibility still remains until the end of their lives whether they live with us or with those close to us. We know that Wahya and Niwot's previous owners feel the same way and were deeply saddened to see them go.

Wimzi and Sister Sasha

Sasha and Wimzi

Wimzi and Sasha will be 6 months old on Monday. Although they look a bit alike, they have two completely different body types. It is so fun to see the different lines in one litter express themselves.

Although Sasha appears to be a bit taller in the photos, they are actually within a quarter inch of each other. Wimzi is 25 inches at the shoulder and Sasha is 24 3/4 inches. Sasha continues to take after her grandpa Zulu in body type while Wimzi is more like grandma Jesse, the foundation female for what we call our "Zulu" line. Jesse is more stocky and muscular. So, like grandma Jesse, Wimzi is just plain solid with a little bit of leg versus Sasha who is very leggy!

Jesse's lines originated in a kennel that bred racing endurance dogs for the Beargrease Marathon. Zulu's lines originated with Susan Butcher's famous lead dog Granite. Her lines were bred for the Iditarod. Since our Zulu line began, we have not been selecting for racing traits but for freight and trap line dog characteristics which were more traditionally found in bush villages in Alaska where dogs were used for subsistence living including the type of work done on a trap line team.

Canicross Hike 2010 - Luce Line Trail

Sasha's first Canicross Hike. She leans into her harness just like Uncle Klaus.

Cute "little" Sasha

A tangle of happy dogs

There we go. A little more straight.

Marilyn with our German Sled Dog member(German Shepherd). Conan is cooling off with a wet shammy on his back. What a great idea!

Kristen and Ziggy lead the way. Ziggy is a black lab/pointer cross and leans into his harness like a pro.

Diane and Sierra take a rest. Sierra has a huge beautiful coat and did well with the heat.

Chad and Katsu. Chad adopted Katsu from Adopt-A-Husky 6 years ago.

Our bicycle training moment

Rich took Oken out today so he could get his dog "fix". He doesn't have any dogs.... yet.

Horses approach as we practice our "haw over" command. This means to stay to the left.

Although the road is closed no one seems to believe it and they continue on until there are barricades. Our biker friends passed by twice which gave White Feather another exposure to this type of vehicle and how to behave when one approaches.

Last but not least, the cyclers! We caught Sasha misbehaving as she ventured out to get a closer look.

Temps were in the mid 60s when we began our hike at the Points Unknown Kennel this morning. Oken and White Feather where the chosen ones for this hike because they were two of only a few that were fully shed. We would love to work with others but this heat only allows for the "naked" dogs to be relatively comfortable. The humidity has been higher than ideal so we planned to meet at 8AM.

The county road near the kennel is closed for construction so we headed out on this route to catch the Luce Line Trail. Three water stops were planned and each time, they were much needed as the humidity and temperature slowly crept up.

There were some great training moments on the trail with bicycle traffic and folks with dogs on leash. Thankfully on leash! When we hit the county road on the return, bikers, horses and groups of bicyclists created even more distraction. Oken didn't bat an eye at any of the distraction and is becoming a seasoned lead dog. White Feather, just having turned a year old, is still learning about such distractions and nearly jumped out of her skin when the first group of bicyclists came rushing by.

All in all, it was a great 2 hour hike. We had TWO dogs in attendance that were not northern breed dogs! We'd love to have more! You can teach any dog how to pull!

Hail!

Hail!

The pounding on the roof was intense

Hail became tiny missiles as it dropped into the Oake Lake

Leaves shredded from trees

A pocket of pea size and dime size hail

The dogs made it through without injury!

What a mess

Hail! When a southern accent is applied to the expletive, it sounds the same, and it was one of several uttered when I realized there was a dangerous storm on the way yesterday and I had no time to move the sled dogs to a safe location. I had 10 minutes to get myself and the house dogs to the basement before reported rotating clouds and baseball size hail were to literally hit the area.

I was beside myself as I watched the clock, hoping for a quick arrival and an even quicker departure of this storm. I remember hoping that the sled dogs would have the sense to duck into their dogs houses and I was hoping like "hail" that if there was a tornado touch down, it wasn't any where near my dogs. There was nothing that could be done but wait. I rushed upstairs to check radar and take photos of the storm's progression then swiftly returned to the basement. Each time I went up, it increased in intensity to the point I remained in the basement. Last trip up and it was indicated that there was no longer a tornado threat. Thank goodness. At least that worry is gone. Later I found out a tornado did indeed touch down about 3 miles south of the Points Unknown kennels.

The hail went from dime size to golf ball size quickly and lasted for, what seemed like an eternity. When it appeared as though the golf ball size hail subsided, I ran out to check on the sled dogs and tried not to show my intense concern as I greeted them with a light "Hey guys! How is everybody doing?". Many of them were sopping wet. Their eyes were like saucers and they were alert. They appeared to be physically fine. So I told them I would be back in a while and after a big sigh of relief, I ran back to the house. On the way, I caught a glimpse of my two year old Toyota Tacoma. It had been pummeled by hail. It's only a truck. That's what insurance is for. Sadly, the apple and pear orchard was devastated with nearly 60% of all of the fruit on the ground. The remainder is hanging on the trees bruised and broken wide open. The dogs and people are just fine which is the most important thing. Even though it stings, everything else is meaningless in the bigger scope of things.

The storm ended and I spent the next couple hours out playing with the dogs to try and assess their condition. No bumps on the head or other injuries were noted. They were indeed just fine. Can you believe that within a half an hour of the end of the storm, before anyone could have possibly absorbed the magnitude of it, someone pulled up in my driveway trying to sell me a new roof?! I remember saying, what I thought was under my breath, something about the arrival of the vultures as he handed me a brochure. Looking at his face, I'm not so certain it was under my breath and I quickly felt bad that my attitude may be adversely affecting him. I'm sorry, but this is just not the right time to try to push your business. There is something called tact and I didn't feel it was being exhibited here. And I'm sure he was wishing he would have caught me on a different day. Try again the day after the storm like the rest of the vultures did. I was in a much better mood today!

After feeding the dogs, I attempted to wind down when word of another band of storms was on the way. This time there were winds reported as high as 80mph. Geez. Not more. Thankfully, we only got some rain out of the latest storm which then gave way to a much needed decline in the humidity which had been sky high for weeks.

Today was a glorious day and the way I would like all summer days to be - mid 70s and breezy. If I wanted to live in Florida......