Rogues Gallery Kennel Blog

What a difference a week can make! Since it stopped snowing, we have yet to have a rainy day, so break-up has been progressing quickly this year. Thank goodness! Last year it rained and rained and we had to bring in several hundred dollars of sand to build up our dogyard to keep everyone high and dry, but this year, most of the yard is already ice and water free, and looking good.
Also, unlike last week when all the huge ice boulder prevented us from getting the fourwheelers to the beach, this week they are totally gone, so we have been able to bring the kennel down to stretch their legs for some sprinting in the soft sand (see Butterscotch and Crumb above). Needless to say, they have LOVED it, and it is all part of keeping them happy and healthy in the off season. To us, being a musher doesn’t just mean caring for your dogs from August until Iditarod. It means providing for their physical and mental well-being year-round, and it’s a job we enjoy as much as the dogs do. Here’s some pics. Enjoy.

Hildy, Goliath and Screamer shift into four-high.

Penny booking it.

Zoya (white), Crumb (foreground) and Butterscotch sprinting at around 22 mph by the wheeler speedometer.

Screamer attempting to pass us.

Several dogs made it past us, and then we had to try to keep up with them.

The snow is melting, the sleds have been put away for another season and the days are getting longer here as break-up is in full swing. We have still been treated to a few spectacular northern lights shows in the evening, as evident from this picture above.
We haven’t written in a while because we have been busy with so much. Yeah, I know, we always say that, but its true. We won’t bore you with all the boring details, but with more work than fun happening lately, we just haven’t had much to blog about.
We have done a few tours over the last few weeks, which is a great way of sharing the dogs with people. We have also started to get back into taking the dogs for exploration hikes, since they no longer can pull a sled and it’ll still be months until they can swim. Here’s a few pictures from the beach where we usually post pics during fall training.

You can see with all the ice boulders, it looks quite a bit different at this time of year, but the dogs love jumping off the boulders, running between them, and even climbing up them.

Penny’s face in this above shot is so funny.

Well, all for this week. Thanks to Martha, Susan and our other kennel friends who have sent goodies recently. They are ALWAYS appreciated.