Ready to Race!

Today is the day! After work, we are headed to Iron County, Michigan to participate in The IronLine dogsled race. This will be our first chance to race on the snow, and we know the dogs will be pumped to run on something other than dirt.

Training has been going well. The team has done several 20 or 22 mile runs on the Frisco Highline Trail. We have been doing speed work with the dogs while running, and have been working hard on their commands while training. We are looking forward to seeing how this weekend goes, and are hoping for a great experience.

January 20 marked a fun day for us as well. The County Neighbor publication was released and featured a story on our team. Calypso even made the front page.

Last weekend we met up with a few other teams for training to work on passing and socialization. We had a chance to camp out and enjoy the beautiful winter weather.

So - our next post should have a recap of the race with lots of photos!

Photo Credit: Lori Tack (Ozark Greenways)

Photo Credit: Mary Morris (Cedar County Republican)

Calypso is on the front page!

Snow!

We have snow. Just not enough to sled on. But that's okay! We headed to the Frisco Trail (Walnut Grove) on Saturday morning for a long run. There was enough snow to make everything white and beautiful, and to make the dogs overly excited to run!

Nick took the dogs 18.25 miles on the dryland rig, while Joy logged some peaceful running miles in the snow. He switched the dogs out a few times to ensure Prudhoe had a chance to work in lead position for a bit. Overall, the dogs did very well and enjoyed the snow. Calypso did exceptionally well, and wanted to go even farther once the run was over!

Hopefully we'll have a chance to get the sled out later this winter.

Dogs and New Friends

It's been a while since our last post, but a lot has been happening! We hope you all had a wonderful holiday and that you stayed safe and dry.

In mid December, we were fortunate enough to meet up with teams from St. Louis, Tulsa, and Kansas City. We spent the weekend dryland mushing on the Frisco Highline Trail (Walnut Grove Trailhead) as well as on the Lakeview Trail at Stockton State Park. We camped at Stockton State Park and enjoyed a bit of peace with our pups. We have a North Face tent meant for winter camping/mountain camping and we had a chance to try it out in the heavy rain. Needless to say, it is built well and we stayed very dry (and warm thanks to the dogs who crawled in our sleeping bags).
Our guests enjoyed the new trails, and will be returning the weekend of January 23 for another adventure! We are looking forward to this, as it allows us a chance to work on passing other teams.

Here's the big news! We have officially registered for our first sled race! While we've raced canicross and the dryland rig before, we haven't had a chance to race on snow. Nick will be mushing the team in The IronLine 12 mile sled race in Iron County, Michigan at the end of January. We are looking forward to exploring the UP and participating in the race.

Ruger and Prudhoe really enjoy opening Christmas gifts. On Christmas morning, both mals were extremely excited to tear into our gifts. They believe all gifts have their names on them, and that they're entitled to open them all. The pups received some upgrades to the sled as their Christmas gift.

We traveled to Florida over the holidays to visit Joy's family. The dogs stayed home and enjoyed the monsoon we had. Digging in the muddy yard is incredibly fun! Thanks to our amazing dog sitter for giving them all baths, and for mopping the floors :)

As far as training, we are trying to up our miles, but it's been slightly difficult as many of our trails are still soaked and muddy from the extensive rain we had between Christmas and January 1. We are headed to St. Louis this weekend for a dryland rig practice with the Gateway Sled Dog Club, followed by a long run on the gorgeous Katy Trail.

One more shout out - Happy 14th Birthday to sweet, Fox.

Thank you for following us, and keep your eyes and ears peeled for further updates! Don't forget about our new website: www.luckyfoxkennel.com.
Happy Trails to you.