Dog Food and Other Things

Distance	Moving Time	Average Speed	Maximum Speed
3.96 miles	0:25.52	9.18 mph	19.31 mph

It seems like every time I speculate a run will be our last of the season, we're able to sneak another in. I went out to the Pine Barrens last Saturday with the gang and had my favorite run so far. Knox has been handling our short one to two mile runs without any problem, so I decided to try the longer trail. After all, if this was going to be our last run of the season, I wanted to make the most of it.

I was the first to arrive and set up on Saturday. Luckily, I had my new quick release (thanks to Roy of Adirondack Kennel), so I didn't need anyone to hold the dogs while I hooked them up. Denali has an impeccable line-out for a yearling, so that helped too.

It was about 38 degrees with very low humidity, so the dogs ran very well. I stopped them twice for water breaks and to let Knox rest, since this was his longest run yet. Overall it was a very smooth run. The sand was loose in some spots, so they had to work a bit to pull through. We saw some deer right as the trail split in one area, which made Denali want to haw instead of gee. I stopped and waited for her to cool off, and surprisingly, she didn't take long to regain her composure and gee over. Glad I was on the rig and not my bike, though, or it may have been a different story.

Other than our run on Saturday, we haven't been doing too much. I've been slacking on the daily walks, but the dogs don't seem to mind as long as they get to hang outside. Denali and Knox chase each other around the yard in the morning and evening. They are a good match for tiring each other out.

It doesn't look like we'll be getting a Pine Barrens trip in this weekend, as temperatures aren't falling below 50. I will be more vigilant about getting some loose leash walks in, though, before they forget all the progress we've made so far.

In other-dog related news, I've started transitioning my pack away from Canidae and on to Annamaet. I've stuck with Canidae for a long time because it's affordable, available locally, and most importantly, decent quality. However, I always felt like the dogs could be doing a little better.

I've been interested in Annamaet for awhile, but couldn't get it anywhere close by. Shipping it wasn't really worthwhile because it added on almost $15 to the price. However, I recently realized that with my auto-ship discount from PetFoodDirect, I can get almost $8 off a 40-pound bag, which basically cuts the shipping in half. I did the math, and I'll be paying about $0.20 more per pound for the 40-pound adult formula Annamaet versus the 35-pound all-life-stages formula Canidae. It's a small price jump, so I'm willing to give it a shot.

I started the dogs off by mixing an 8-pound bag of Annamaet in with their old kibble, and they really liked it. They even began picking out the Annamaet and leaving the Canidae behind. I plan to stick to the Adult 23% formula for the time being, and then blend in the Ultra 32% when mushing season picks up again.

Annamaet supports a lot of the mushing and husky rescue events I participate in, so it's nice to return the favor and feed their food. I'm planning a blog post about my experiences with different dog foods (dry, canned, and raw)... this is just the tip of the iceberg. Stay tuned!

2011-2012 Mileage to Date: 133.66

Summer Activities

I've been looking into various training classes for the dogs this summer. I want to do something to keep them stimulated, mentally and physically. Plus, I'd like for my team to be well-rounded pets, not just sled dogs.

I want all of my dogs to earn their Canine Good Citizenship certificate. This summer, I'm going to start with Dexter. I found a CGC training course, which he'll definitely need if he has any hope of passing the test. In order to pass the examination, he'll be judged on the following:

Accepting a friendly stranger. Sitting politely for petting.  Allowing basic grooming procedures. Walking on a loose lead.  Walking through a crowd.

Sitting and lying down on command and staying in place. Coming when called.  Reacting appropriately to another dog. Reacting appropriately to distractions. Calmly enduring supervised separation from the owner.

He should be able to do all of the above, but it really depends on the distractions around him. When there are lots of other dogs around, he can get overexcited and not listen. However, weekly training classes should help with that. I hope.

Denali isn't ready for CGC, but I think she'd benefit from some beginner agility. It's something I've always wanted to do with a dog and I think she might be the perfect candidate. She listens surprisingly well for a Siberian and her recall isn't too bad. 

Yesterday, I was walking her around the park and she was being extra pull-y. It was cooler out and she wanted to run. In order to divert her attention from yanking me, I decided to teach her some spur-of-the-moment agility. The park has benches every 100 feet or so. First, I taught her to hop up on the bench and climb over the other side. Once she had that down, I had her jumping over the back of the bench. She's extremely athletic and agile, so these commands were a piece of cake.

The park also has three bridges. At the sides of each bridge are cement walls, about 3 and 1/2 to 4 feet tall, with a broad, flat top. When Dexter was little, I taught him to walk on the top of the wall like a ramp, which he still does. I taught Denali to do the same yesterday, and she seemed to enjoy it. These are very simple little activities, but I think she could handle more complicated stuff with some practice. I found an agility training facility, I just need to wait for a beginners course to open up.

I'm not quite sure what I want to do with Knox. He'll benefit from a summer of just basic training with me, but I would like to do something "extra" with him. I think he might do well with some kind of weight-pull training. He's really strong and, well, beefy. A different kind of strength and build than Denali, but equally acceptable in my mind. I think he'll make a really great wheel dog next season. I wouldn't mind honing that ability with some weight-pulling. I wouldn't do too much with him since he's still growing, but I'd like to learn more about the beginner stuff.

Those are my tentative plans for the next few months. It will be nice to have some one-on-one goals with each dog, instead of working with all three as a team.