Trouble on the Trails

Denali is an incredible dog. She's so awesome in harness, that on bad days (like today), I have to remind myself -- she's only a year and a half. This is only her second season in harness. She's way ahead of the curve, so little slip-ups are to be expected.

We've only done a few runs thus far, but I've noticed her prey drive is way more intense than it was last year. She used to get excited by squirrels or ground hogs, and even try to chase after them -- but I could always call her off. It took 15-30 seconds for her to regain her composure, and we were moving again.

This year, she's way more focused on capturing whatever it is that darted into her line of vision. In fact, she seems to be going after imaginary animals, too. Or she'll stop at places where we saw an animal during a previous run and try to find it.

This behavior throws Knox off and he joins in on the hunt. Dexter either joins in, or stands there pitifully while she yanks at his neckline. Today was pretty frustrating, in particular. I had to get off the bike several times to pull Denali out of the bushes and point her in the right direction.

I don't like screaming my head off at the dogs (especially when I'm around the neighborhood, with the occasional bystander looking on in awe), but they go deaf to my commands when they're chasing something. Sometimes, a stern enough shout breaks them out of it. Most of the time, though, I need to physically pull them away. And that's not good.

Hopefully, with more runs, Denali will settle down and be the leader I know she is. And as the temperatures drop, all the little critters will hopefully be sleeping away in their dens.

2012-2013 Mileage to Date: 18.2

Mushing Season is Here!

Hey everybody! Mushing season is back again, so I think it's time I get back to posting on here. I'm taking a slightly different approach with our runs this season.

When Knox was little, I could manage bikejoring with all three. Not anymore! At least, not around my neighborhood. There are far too many distractions and I cannot stop all three dogs with my brakes. I actually have a pretty hard time stopping with just two. So yea, we bike carefully. Oh, I don't think I mentioned it here yet, but I finally got a new bike! It's a Trek 3700 mountain bike with disc brakes -- a heck of a lot tougher than my previous bikes!

Into mid-October, I'm aiming to run the dogs every other day. There are still some random warm or overly humid days (like today) that I'll skip. I don't want to over-exert anybody after a long, low-key summer. For the most part, I run Denali and Knox first, then Denali and Dexter second. On some occasions, I'll switch it up and run each dog separately.

Denali really is an amazing girl. She's only a year and a half, but she's teaching the boys more than I could ever do alone. Without her, Knox runs in sporadic bursts and doesn't have a clean grasp of commands. Hook him up next to Denali, and she keeps him running steady and muscles him into turns.

Dexter runs well -- in the Pine Barrens. At home, he still wants to sniff and mark. Denali doesn't let him.

As it gets colder, I hope to be biking every day. I'll also be heading down to the Pine Barrens with my new 90-pound rig as soon as the trails are cleared. I plan to eventually use one of my rigs for neighborhood runs, but I want to get the team used to it (safely on the trails) first. They're a lot more difficult to maneuver than my bike, so I need to be very confident with the dogs' abilities.

Oh, one last thing! I'm converting a spare bedroom in my house into a dog room. I'll have photos of the renovation process posted once it's completed.

2012-2013 Mileage to Date: 12.6