It seems like the only discussion topic for a musher living Southern Finland is the weather. Will there be snow? Is it going to rain? How warm the day will be? How can I arrange rest of my life, so I can drive the dogs at the best time of a day?
Yesterday I trained dogs in almost perfect weather. We’ve had some chilly mornings earlier, but normally the weather’s been between +5 - +10 Celsius, humidity’s been high and it’s been really dirty. Yesterday we had a wonderful morning. The temperature was -7 Celsius, the sun was shining and scenery was beautiful with frosty grass and tree branches.
The dogs were really eager to go. Kikka couldn’t help herself, the 9 dogs were teamed up too slowly for her taste, and she had to bite her neckline into two. .. Which obviously slowed the start even more. Sometimes I wish the dogs could just stand there and wait, but oh no! All of our teams make a huge fuzz and noise at the start. I’m always listening to soothing music on mp3 player, so I won’t lose my mind.
Of course it’s my choice to let the dogs make a scene. It’s a good warm up and the team gets really excited about running together. They love it, although us people really don’t. There’s only two rules at the start, NO FIGHTING and NO BREAKING UP THINGS. Kikka forgot the last one with her neckline. But sometimes these things happen.
The running was fun. I rediscovered some trails, which I thought were closed, because they’d been building new roads in the forest. Happily there were still all the old grassy hills to find. I drove on ATV without the engine turned on. The fourwheeler is a bit too heavy for my team, as it alone weights about 300kg. Partly the roads were covered in newly laid “beach-sand”, and the ATV got really sucked into it. Actually my intention was indeed, to train the dogs really hard. When the roads were hard, they ran fast and with the “beach-sand” they pulled slow and powerfully.
I did a 20km run. The end was especially hard for the dogs, their muscles were on lactic acid and running up those few last hills, but they gave me everything. Still they galloped the last 0,5km back home about 20km/h.
I am really happy for the training. The dogs did their best and with the weather being so cold, it didn’t get too warm for them. When the weather’s warmer, they gasp to breathe. Still I’m really really hoping for snow, really soon, because all the dogs have really sore feet, their nails are really short and soles of their feet really very worn.
Mimmi was a leading star yesterday. She’s been learning to be a gee-haw leader, always running without a neckline. She’s started taking responsibility really well and she’s becoming confident enough and she trusts herself. All the commands on the new trail went well and she even took us safely past a big truck on a narrow road. She’s learnt well, that no matter what the mate running with her does, she keeps the right side of the road and turns where asked. Because we share the roads with cars and horses etc., it’s important to have an excellent leader.
Have to confess, that whenever I need a really reliable leader, I use Beck. He’s a big and very strong boy and because of that, he normally runs in team. But as a leader he’s like his mother Jade. Very determined and turn the team even from wheel position.
-Kati-
