Basically, a snack for the dogs can be anything - fish, liver, heart, beef, lamb, fat, tripe, etc - that is frozen or cut into chunks. But it can also be a wet snack, like soaked dog food, given in bowls or on the snow. For Wet snacks, that will be in the cooler for a while, it's a good idea to use a trash compactor bag inside the cooler (really helps cleanliness for any meal put in the cooler) and then just use a dipper to dish it out to your hungry canines!
If the first rule of dog mushing is "Never let go", then the second rule is "Take care of yourself...so you can take care of your dogs". Taking care of yourself means making sure you have a thermos with water (and drink some!) and trail food. I'm not a big fan of granola bars, since they are basically just sugar, so I've been using dried fruit or nuts and sometimes, chocolate (I know, I know...so much for staying away from sugar!). Leila told me about an awesome, wholesome (organic) trail snack which is like a cinnamon role with nuts and stuff all folded in. Both she and Scott used them on the Knik 200 and liked them.
It's also important to keep from sweating, so whenever you get off the sled for a prolonged amount of time you have to make sure you unzip your parka and take down your hood. Today, as I dealt with leader issues in the first mile, I actually took off my parka so I didn't get soaked before we got going again. I still got sweaty, but my new X-system base-layer shirt kept me drier than my other base layers. So far, I've used the X-system gear twice and both times it's worked great. X-system has Silver weaved into the fabric and has lots of other cool features. I've been wearing the sock liners and pants all season.
I mentioned leader problems...they seem to be never-ending at the moment! I know we'll get through them, but the last week's runs have required moving 3-5 dogs in and out of lead every run...today was no exception. Ruger just isn't interested in leaving the kennel, although he ran fine yesterday when we followed Leila on a run. So, I put Rocky (yes, my wheel dog from home!) up with Roxy. He's never stayed in lead for more than a mile in the past - gets too distracted - but he actually ran the whole run in lead. I'm trying to wait to get excited until he does a few more runs up there, but it's not going so well...
Here's proof he ran lead:
More pictures from our run (I ran two wheel dogs today, with a single point dog):
Rocky
Rocky here in AK
Rocky at home in ID this summer
Happy Rocky!
Rocky 2010
In other news, I just finished reading Lance Mackey's book. Now, I know I'm probably the last musher to have read it, but I've just been busy... It was a very, very good read and if you haven't read it, I highly reccomend it!
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