What is it like to live with a kennel of sled dogs in the summer? Most people think of sleddogs and imagine lovely runs on the sled in the snow, but what about the rest of the year? These athletes are with me year round and off-season care is just as important as in-season.
Back when I was running shorter distances, I remember being very eager to run dogs in the spring - wanting to prolong the season as best I could. Now that I run distance it's bittersweet to come to the end of spring and feel the heat. On one hand it's nice to relax without the pressure of needing to run...on the other hand it's a bit sad to see the dogs sitting. After a few weeks, all of us get quite eager to go for a run - but now it's too hot. So I sit and watch the weather, hoping for a cool morning or rainy day with 50 degree temperatures.
Life settles into a routine...there's always something to be done in the kennel. I jog to keep myself busy and in shape for the season and spend time with my canine kennel managers - the always on-duty collies, Handsome (and his new assistant, Beren). I know of only a handful of mushers who have no other animals besides sled dogs and having some other breed of dog seems to be the norm.
A typical day starts with waking up around 4:45am...usually to a helpful collie nose in the face when my alarm goes off.
 |
| Handsome and his assistant. |
Then it's getting dressed for chores and out the door...
 |
| Beren |
I tramp up to the dog yard, to the music of dogs barking. If the collies haven't gone on a morning jaunt in the woods, they're at my side.
Even if I'm half-asleep, the noise and happy dog faces are sure to wake you up:
 |
| Owl and Summer (perhaps the happiest dog in the kennel) |
 |
| Jingle - waiting on his house because he knows it's easiest for me to pet him when he's on it. |
As I get through the boys yard, Mouse (the momma of most of the dogs in the kennel and at 13 years old the oldest dog here) comes to say good morning. She gets to be loose and meanders wherever she wants - except when she's babysitting puppies.
 |
| Mouse and her grandson, Tuck, in the background. |
In the morning I feed kibble in water. Although I always feed kibble wet, I don't always soak it in an effort to keep a little variety for the dogs. I moved kibble to the morning meal because this way I can ensure the dogs start the day with at least a quart of water in them - especially if it's hot, because often the dogs will play with their bowls or dump them (even buckets).
 |
| Tuck, apparently, likes his bone more than me! |
Since 2012 I've feed FirstMate High Performance Puppy food with excellent results. One of the reasons I chose FirstMate (besides it being fish/rice based, rather than beef or chicken/corn) was because of the very high kilocalories per cup. This allows me to feed about 20 dogs + the puppies on about 1.3 bags per week. Of course this increases a lot in the winter, but for dogs which aren't in hard training they easily hold wait on about 3/4C of kibble per meal and dogs like Beren/Handsome/Mouse only need about a handful...and they're still fat (of course, that might be because they also clean up after the sled dogs).
 |
| Right now, it takes about 4 days to use up a 5 gallon bucket of food. The blue scoop I use is about 1 1/2C - each adult get's 1/2 scoop but hard-keeper's get a 3/4 to 1 full scoop. |
After feeding, chores are done! Because I have a 45 minute commute, I grab breakfast, pack my lunch and leave the house by 6am...morning chores take about 20-30 minutes, depending on if there's anything else I need to take care of (like a broken chain or food issue).
At this time of year, with Sweetwater's pups not being completely weaned, I also move Sweetwater into her spot in the kennel in the morning...she's typically very happy to get away from the pups after the night - although she still loves seeing them at night.
The dogs start barking as soon as they hear me pull up in the truck and I try to get out to them pretty quick...evening is when I get to spend a lot more time with them because not only do I feed (meat), but I also go through and water (two 5-gallon buckets) and scoop the yard. Sometimes I'll let them out to play and we'll just hang out in the yard.
 |
| Daily I use about 20-30 gallons of water. |
 |
| My meat thaws in an old freezer which works great to protect the kibble and mean from the heat. A 5 gallon bucket of meat lasts about 3 days. |
 |
| Very technologically advanced dog scooping equipment! :) |
 |
| Looking "down" the girl's yard. |
I love evening chores because no matter what the day was like, the dogs take my mind of everything and are always so happy it's hard to be sad around them. There's also a deep sense of satisfaction to look over the yard and see happy, healthy athletes...of all colors, personalities and sizes.
 |
| Belle |
 |
| Sweetwater's pup (Belle's neice) Arrow - so calm and so very much like her momma in looks! |
 |
| Mouse being sassy! She likes to talk to everyone and boss "her pups." |
 |
| Eagle |
 |
| Just kidding about Arrow being calm! She's a wild little thing when it comes to food! |
 |
| Owl |
And then there's the bonus: puppy socializing time!
Although the dog chores definitely take up a good chunk of time each day, even when it's not training time, I had the time to put up a hammock at the bottom edge of the dog yard - in the hopes of a nice place to relax with a book and lemonade...
Unfortunately, when I have a moment of down time, I'm reminded of something else I need to do:
No comments:
Post a Comment