| It all began six years ago when I made a | | | | three be? The home were we got Misty still |
| visit to a local dog sled race and was | | | | had four dogs looking for homes. We visited |
| intrigued with the skijoring event. I had one | | | | again and came home with Aiko. Of course the |
| mix breed from the shelter and had convinced | | | | obvious next step is to get a fourth, then we |
| myself that she really looked like she had | | | | could both skijor with two dogs each and we |
| some Alaskan in her. Other people seemed to | | | | could even get a sled and try dogsledding |
| think she was a Shepard mix. Not deterred I | | | | with a team of four! |
| signed up for a skijoring lesson and fitted | | | | |
| her with a harness. She did alright as long | | | | Once I started sledding I began to think |
| as the instructor was skiing ahead of us | | | | about how much faster I would be able to go |
| holding out biscuits, but when I tried it at | | | | if I was running six dogs rather than four. |
| home on our own she was having nothing to do | | | | This led to buying a pair of dogs from a |
| with it. We tried a few more times before I | | | | gentleman out of state who had been breeding |
| realized that I should just let her chase | | | | racing Siberians for around thirty years. |
| Frisbees which was her real passion in life. | | | | Toots and Nemo gave me a taste of a whole new |
| Plan "B" was to visit the shelter and look | | | | level of performance. I also bought them |
| for a "real" sled dog. As luck would have it | | | | knowing there was a possibility to breed and |
| my partner stopped by the local shelter and | | | | we wanted to build on this line of dogs. The |
| there was Jake the Siberian husky. She | | | | following spring we did our first breeding |
| thought he was gorgeous and he sure pulled on | | | | between Toots and Nemo and ended up with four |
| the leash when she took him for a walk. I | | | | beautiful pups. We were only planning on |
| stopped by to check him out and had to agree, | | | | keeping two but we had issues with Toots not |
| he was a handsome devil and he really did | | | | caring for the pups and we had to bottle feed |
| pull on the leash. We brought him home the | | | | all four of them. After that experience we |
| next day for a trial visit and he's still | | | | just couldn't part with any. That bumped our |
| with us today. | | | | dog yard from six to ten in one shot. |
| | | | |
| Jake took to skijoring pretty well due to his | | | | Misty has moved on to our friends home where |
| basic Siberian pulling instinct which was an | | | | she can enjoy semi retirement. Jake has taken |
| improvement over my other dog. We had a great | | | | a spot in on the couch and is much happier |
| winter with both of us learning how to | | | | sleeping on our bed than being a "real" sled |
| skijor. It looked like so much fun that my | | | | dog. We have purchased two other adults as a |
| partner was envious and we decided we really | | | | couple of our first dogs are nearing |
| should get another dog so we could both | | | | retirement age so we're holding at eleven |
| skijor at the same time. There just happened | | | | now. I am giving tours now so I need to |
| to be a woman near by looking to place her | | | | maintain a solid eight to ten dog team. |
| entire dog team so we went to visit. No, we | | | | |
| did not come home with the entire team. We | | | | You can see the slippery slope you can start |
| exercised restraint and only brought home | | | | down when you pick up that first innocent |
| one, a pretty female named Misty. Now we each | | | | little Siberian Husky! Some folks keep going |
| had a dog to skijor with and I got to go out | | | | and have dog yards with forty, fifty, or even |
| with two a few times. That was a mistake | | | | one hundred dogs. I don't intend to go that |
| because I found out how much fun it is to | | | | far and feel like eleven or twelve (alright, |
| skijor with two. Now I thought since we were | | | | maybe fifteen) is plenty to handle. That |
| doing fine with two dogs (our first had | | | | said, beware, they are contagious! |
| passed away) how much more difficult could | | | | |