Finally busted out the 4-wheeler

I decided to get out all dogs the other day on the 4-wheeler. It was a bit icy (in hindsight, TOO icy) for 11 dogs. That and the fact that all the neighborhood horses are out on the trails now made for an interesting run. My 4-wheeler is just a little Honda 250 which needs new tires and brakes no doubt. 4-wheeler brakes get quite the workout while you're running a dogteam. The thing is also not that heavy and 11 dogs can sure yank it around - especially on ice. My thinking was that there will be at least a couple dogs not pulling too hard...

Ok, this time they all decided to really pull! It could have been that it was colder, or the bigger team=bigger excitement, or that some of those slackers had been off for a few days. The only *tense* moments we had though were at the end of my driveway where it is really icy and bumpy, and at the road crossing where I realized there was nice big patch of ice where we usually cross. At this spot I saw a vehicle coming - although it was a ways away I wanted to wait just in case. I had Kate & Ripper in lead and they went over the ice and they hit pavement in this little drivway-type thing just off the highway. Here we usually go one of three ways - out to the river, down the ditch, or across the hwy. At this point I was just trying to get them to stop as the last 8 dogs and I were on ice. I yelled the "whoa!" command which I really want my dogs to know. And they are getting pretty good with it. Anytime I stop them on the trail I say "whoa" and collectively you can see the whole (or most of them) team slow down and stop. The hardest thing is getting a new dog to understand this command. Ripper has been quite stubborn in trying his best not to understand this new command, but I think skijoring has really helped. And he's steadily been improving at this in the last part of the season.

Well, they lunged forward dragging the 4-wheeler on the ice for a bit till I got more firm with the "WHOA!" (as in "WHOA-I'm-not-freakin'-kidding" command). And to my surprise Ripper looked back and just stopped the whole team. He stopped lunging forward, he calmed down, and he just stood there patiently watching me. And this is no easy feat for a hyper maniac of a dog, who is only a mile into the run. I was really proud of this guy who is turning out to be invaluable to us!

Then it was dealing with the chewed up trail from horses. I was able to really slow them down here and the dogs really had to watch where they were stepping. These holes can be really dangerous as a dog can twist their wrist or hurt their shoulder from stepping in one of these holes - some of which were pretty huge. Luckily the trail was bad only in a small section and the rest of it was nice and smooth. Loki did great once again running beside Octane.

We are now taking a break from running till the snow melts a bit. We can do short runs on gravel roads around here but that's about it. Time to do some dogyard work!

And this was one rare time I didn't have my camera! I don't think I could have taken a pic on the trail even if I tried though. It's easy to be thrown off the 4-wheeler if you're not hanging on tight!
I do however have some funny pictures of my almost 13-year old, Kate, CHASING HER TAIL and spinning in circles, and certainly not acting her age the other day...



That's her in behind Rupert. I love how he is totally ignoring her and practically looking superior.