Training In Bruce Crossing

Our vet and fellow dog sledding enthusiast, Matt,  invited us up to Bruce Crossing, Michigan, about an hour drive from home, to train with him and his dogs.  Of course we accepted the invitation whole heartedly, as we don't get many opportunities to expose our dogs to other teams and the excellent training that results.  Passing and being passed by other teams is something that is nice to get the chance to do in preparation for racing in the future.  Our dogs have never gotten the chance to do this, in fact, apart from when we take two teams out in the winter, but then they are only experiencing it with other dogs they already know and are around in the yard all the time.

Right before releasing.  We took off right through his dogyard.  Our leaders, Thunder and Cherry, really impressed us with their ability to hold the team out and take off on the right path with no tethering.

We started out following his team.

We had to get up at 4:30 in the morning to be up there at daybreak.  The crazy things we do for the love of the sport!  The pictures are kinda dark as a result of the sun only just starting to appear.

Another shot of his team in front.

Was hard to see passing him because the sun was against us.

We got in front of him...

 

 

An osprey? we think...observed us and 28 dogs total, go by...

 

It was a change of scenery for our dogs, we went down all dirt roads,through all open fields, instead of two tracks and snowmobile/four wheeler trails that our dogs are used to.  We saw lots of deer, but the dogs were pros and didn't try to chase anything.

Him passing us...

 

All in all, our dogs performed pretty well, the first couple passes were nice and clean, but after a few times, Thunder decided it was getting boring just passing and being passed over and over, so he tried to go visit once or twice, but no problems arose, as with encouragement he continued on and we had no fights or tangles.  For the first time ever doing this, we were impressed with their overall performance.  Afterward, we were invited to eat breakfast with Matt and his wife, so we had a nice chat about dogs and trails near us, always interesting being able to talk with fellow mushers.  We had a really great time and hope to do it again in the near future.

On the way home we were treated with the sight of this nice rainbow to top off a great morning.

In other news, we went on Tuesday to Tomahawk, Wisconsin, to a kennel that is selling out and picked up two new young dogs, ages seven months and five months.  They have excellent bloodlines and we're very excited to add them to our kennel.  Will post pics and more info later.
We are also going this weekend to Newberry, Michigan, about a five hour drive, with 16 dogs loaded up, to a training and fun run where we can practice more passing with many more teams.  Leaving on Friday and coming back Sunday.  We're really looking forward to our mini dog vacation. Will be sure to update on that later as well.