Where are all the Leaders?

    First off, I want to congratulate everyone who participated in the Knik 200 and Flathead Sled Dog Days (I missed being there with everyone!). The race season is in full swing for most, except where there isn't enough snow!
   
    The past few days have been full of lessons learned, hopefully by my young team as well as by myself! With Scott and Aaron gone, it's been basically just me on the trail - although I do see another "neighbor" almost every run (Jerry Riley). Haven't actually officially met him, but it's great head-on-passing training!
    This has led to some challenges. First, without the extra dogs and teams on the trail, the same trail we've been running all season, the yearlings are excessively board. That's right, they're in a slump. Strangely enough, this time of year is exactly when my team goes through their slump and we are at the same mileage that I usually reach as well. I wonder if that is supposed to mean something? :)
    On the 5th, we did our first run out on the trails alone. For the first time ever, I had two leaders sit down and basically quit - they refused coaxing or discipline to motivate them forward. Even when paired with a veteran leader (who is also in a slump, it would seem), they refused to go. The upside to all this is that when I was soaked with sweat, exhausted and annoyed, I put Razz up in lead and he led the seven miles home. I was very proud of him, especially since he is not very confident and afraid of other teams and snowmobiles - both of which we had to head-on pass! If I'm able to keep using Saffron or another reliable leader, I think I'll try him again.
    After talking it over with Scott, we ruled out everything except that the dogs are in a slump and he reccomended that I drive them through it. So, next day we ran short (14miles) and my more obstinate younger leader ran with Saffron. I was charged to discipline more severely and we had one stop before everyone picked it up and stayed going forward!
    I should add that part of our problem is Rowdy and Kanuti coming into heat. Most of the boys are just fine, but Hawkeye and Rocky are out of their minds...
    It seems to me that half my problem is lack of good leaders. Tyler is running with Leila and Saffron, although she is a sweet little dog, is small and not hard headed enough to always force the unreliable dog next to her into a turn or pull that dog onwards.
    Lest you think I'm expecting too much of a leader, I will use an example:
    Griz is what I'd call a reliable leader.
    As the runs with the yearlings have been stressful, the runs with the little pups have been fun. Scott told me to use Griz and Banshe for the nine giant pups.
    Griz holds out the line and, poor guy, has to break trail in addition to dragging the pups to get them started (not far - the pups found out it is fun and easy to pull. Now I'm having trouble stopping...). In addition, Banshe decided she's too old to run and drags behind him. As if that's not enough, the short one-mile trail we run is different from anything he's run before - and yet, he takes the turn without me needing to get off the sled and brings us right home, where he holds out the line until I unhooked the unruly pups.
    Second edition goes better at hookup, but Banshe decides she'll have none of the leading stuff (surprisingly she used to be one of Aaron's leaders) and slows Griz down enough for the pups to get tangled. This happens a few times so I pup Bluegrass up with Griz. Now, older dogs don't usually like young, ridiculous pups with them, but Griz waited patiently as we got going again and we made it all the way home without problems - except for Sweetwater chewing part of her harness so that she had an interesting version of a Jeff King style shorty harness!
    The moral is that, in my opinion, for a dog to be considered a reliable leader it should be reliable under any circumstances (I should note: I've seen Griz lead the race team and he's a super-start there as well).