Shadowbox Kennels

I had hoped a friend of ours would help run today, but unfortunately, she couldn’t come. And with Jess still sore (apparently she sprained something), that didn’t leave me with much help. But I haven’t bikejored for a long time, so I thought, hey, let’s give it a shot! So I took Slate bikejoring for his first time today. He did so good! I knew he would, and have been wanting to take him. We didn’t go far for his first time, maybe a mile, but it went really well. He pulled hard the whole time, and most of the time I had the brakes on!

The puppies are doing good. They’re getting so big! They’re almost four weeks old now, and are eating three meals a day. I might start them on a fourth meal soon. Tomorrow I’ll likely deworm them for the first time, and give their yard a good cleaning. I’m still considering keeping one, and I’ve narrowed it down to two. But I can pretty much tell them all apart now. I still have trouble with two of the black boys.

Here they all are, coming out to eat.

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Today is an awesome day for running, overcast, 0*c, and nice and dry. We just took one team out, since Jess is still sore. Apparently she’s a bit more sore now, but hey, no pain, no gain, right? Sorry bout that, Jess! 8-P Mom said next time I should get someone else to help, so Jess can actually heal. But we just took three dogs, Ruger, Slate, and Blacky. There were all happy to get out. We’ve given Blacky a break from lead the last few runs. Usually I run him up front with Slate, but last time we ran Mufasa in lead, and this time Ruger. They all did good. Blacky ran hard and pulled with all his might, as usual. Slate did too, and did awesome in lead. Ruger, well, pulled most of the time, but I had to keep on him. He’s gotten away with slacking, but no more. When I run him with Sierra in lead, he doesn’t really pull, and she’s not a very hard-driving leader. She does much better in team. But with Slate actually working hard, if I slow down enough, Ruger has to pull. He just needs a bit of reminder! He’s such a big dog. His harness is huge, and I still think it could be bigger. It’s hard to tell, with all of his fur! But overall the run went very well. I’m very pleased with how Blacky’s coming along. He pulls great in any position, and is doing much better standing in line. Slate’s amazing, and a real workhorse. Listen well, too. Blacky and Sierra listen well, and seem to know what I want. Ruger, well, doesn’t really pay much attention to me unless I have food. He’s a good dog though. I like him.

I went to visit the people that have Rainy last night, and she was so excited to see me! I took her for a walk, because she was all hyper and wouldn’t stay still. After that, she calmed down and was settled when I left. She’s so cute! She loves being a house dog though.

The puppies are growing so fast! They’re all growling and playing in the dog house. None of them have ventured out on their own yet. They come about halfway out of the house, and then decide it’s too cold, or bright, or scary or something, and turn around. But we’ve taken them out to play with. They’ll be three weeks tomorrow, so we might start to try weaning them. I know Foxy would appreciate it! Poor girl, just gives me this look as she tries to make room for them all to nurse, like, ‘pity me!’ That’s when I look at Blacky and say, ‘you’re the one that did this to her!’ He doesn’t seem to care. I gave Foxy some milk and syrup the other day, and she grabbed the cup and started carrying it around. Here’s a pic:

Isn’t she cute? Four of the boys will look a lot like her. Same colour, anyway.

On the chicken front, we got eight eggs this morning. Not bad, eh� Usually after a year they only lay every couple of days, so twelve chickens laying eight eggs isn’t bad. Yesterday we got seven. We’ll likely get twelve laying chicks in the spring, plus two roosters. Seems to be a good number for the coop we built.

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First off, I’d like to thank Christian for providing this blogging venue. Very cool that we as dogsledders can have our own blogworld.

So far fall training has been a bit sporadic. We’ve had a few good solid runs in, despite having been house-sitting for the last few weekends. This weekend will be my last for awhile, so that’ll be a nice break. Our last run, we tried Mufasa in lead. She did so good! I was so impressed with our little girl. That’s a pic of her below, resting after the run.

Foxy’s pups are getting so big! They were born Sunday, Oct. 21, 2007. She had eight pups, but unfortunately one didn’t make it. So we have two girls, five boys! The part that blows my mind is that she was one of two black pups in her litter of seven, and the dad was the only black pup in a litter of eight, and all the pups were born black! Three have lightened up to be grey and white, and the other four are black with tan markings, just like the mom. The grey three look like the dad’s brother. For such a little girl, I didn’t expect that many pups. I was in shock for the next few days, walking around mumbling ‘eight black puppies’. Here’s a pic of the group of them in their house at a week old. They’re just over a week and a half now, and they’re starting to open their eyes. I love puppies! We haven’t decided on a theme yet. We were thinking about the Snoopy comic, since the mom’s litter was Foxtrot, or characters from Jane Austen’s books, or my sister wants to name them after characters from ‘Jag’. So we’ll see. I don’t know how we’ll tell them apart anyway!

We’re hoping to get in at least one or two runs this weekend. I’m going to try Mufasa in lead again, with Slate. Dakotah hasn’t been out yet, so I may take her too. We may end up running in three small teams, to make sure everyone gets out. But to do that, we’d have to run a set of lead dogs twice, so I don’t know. I want to start bikejoring with the lead dogs in the morning before work.

Speaking of work, it’s likely about time that I get ready. Another day of pooper-scoopin!

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