Hollingsworth Huskies

Today I decided to take the dogs on a run in the pouring rain, and it was a blast. We only did 2.5 miles, but that was because my brother was also riding along on the cart with me. So altogether we had a combined total weight (rig included), of around 400 lbs. So each dog was roughly pulling 130 lbs. That’s good! It was a bit much and we had to help at times, but if we continue to work on this weight for a little while, and then remove my brother in the next month or so, they will be flying!

The rain was fun, though not fun to cleanup afterwards. It was also WAY too hot in my carharts, plus my rain jacket. It was only 48 degrees, so it was still a tad warm.

As for my brand new Voyager NEOS, I LOVE them! I wore them over my hiking boots, and just loved how they kept my feet 100% dry, and kept my carhart pant bottoms nice and clean as well. No more stepping on the back of my carharts. LOL

The nice thing about bringing my brother along was that I let him ride the cart for about a half mile, and while he was doing that I took an extra tugline, attached it to my leader’s neckline, and then corrected them whenever they would try and sniff things, stop, etc…I think that this is a good way for now to teach them that stopping to smell things just isn’t acceptable. I also worked with “Over Gee” to slowly start teaching them to stay on the right of the trail. This is also a good habit as well, as I have heard that when you are out on the trail and a snowmobiler comes flying at you, their first reaction will be to turn right. So you better be on the right side of the trail as well.

Well, that’s all for now. Things are going well with the pups, and will continue to post updates. Soon enough I will post some more photos as well.

Cheerful Trails,

Christian

This past week my Mom brought home a brand new computerized sewing machine, and I just can’t wait to use it for booties, harnesses, collars, etc…yes, I know I can be made fun of because I am a male, but who cares! I am excited to learn how to make all of these things, as sewing could come in handy.

I am first going to start off with making some booties, then I will probably graduate up to making a collar. We will see how that goes!

Today I figured out how to load the machine with thread, and actually get a stitch going on some practice fabric. So I actually accomplishd quite a bit with it today.

If I end up successfully making a bootie, I will definately post photos here!

Christian

There has been an incredibly amount of coolness wafting around our area the past couple of days. We actually saw temperatures last night that were in the 30’s. Just a second, let me go and check the thermometer real quick…

…10 seconds later…

Okay, I am back. The thermometer says it’s 42 degrees (Fahrenheit) outside! Hopefully this cool weather continues, and I can get some good training in with the dogs.

Christian

On Wednesday I decided to run another 10k, and this time I pushed myself really hard to get a better time. I did a lot better, but at the cost of my body….I am terribly sore. Still!!!

After all of my pain and anguish while training, I am looking forward to the reward that will follow. Which is to be able to be healthier, run faster, and be able to chase down my dogs if they decide to leave me while out on the trail…15 miles from the nearest car.

Let’s just hope I don’t have to run a full 15 miles this winter, as I don’t think my training will allow me to accomplish such a feat. lol

Cheerful Trails,

Christian

It was asked of me that I post a photo of each of my pups, as well as a dryland and snow photo. So here they are!

This is the team. From left to right…

Cabo - Male, slightly related to the next female over. Very hard worker, and fast becoming a good leader. Learns very quickly, and SUPER obedient. Unlike the disobedient girls….

Keeva - Female. Very hard worker as well, but sometimes likes to “take a look” at the world around her. She is my smallest at about 40 lbs. She definitely is the princess of the group.

Kia - Female. Mutt. She is mostly just a mutt, but I would compare her to an Alaskan. She has very long legs, and very hard head. LOL. She likes to get her own way, so she doesn’t do all that well in lead. Sometimes does well in lead. When you throw her into wheel though, she will pull pull pull! She was my first sled dog.

All of my pups have been trained from scratch, as they all had no mushing experience when they came to me. So it has been a great learning experience, training these dogs how to mush! I don’t think I would have done it any other way, as I have gained a lot of knowledge from teaching these dogs. Yes, I have made a lot of mistakes, but it sure is an awesome feeling when you see your own trained dogs taking commands, and running as a pack.

If I were to recommend the path for a new musher to take, I think I would recommend getting a trained leader though. It would definitely make it a ton easier, and you would learn a lot from a leader. Trained leaders are also much better at teaching other dogs, than you are at teaching them. Maybe because of the whole language barrier thing…lol

Photos of the team and I in the snow, and on dryland. The dryland photo is a photo taken at my house, and the snow photo is us in the mountains near us, where we do our snow training. Yes, there are actually three dogs there in the dryland photo, even though it only looks like two!

I hope you have enjoyed the photos! Remember that you can click on them for a larger view.

Cheerful Trails,

Christian