Monday, October 17, 2011

The Pumpkin Patch

Ethan was captivated by the curvy stem on this little pumpkin

Ethan and the pumpkin
After our first Maryland Sled Dog Adventures LLC dryland dog sledding programs of the 2011-12 dog sledding season, Eric, Ethan, Ethan's Grandma Sue (my Mom), and I hit the pumpkin patch to pick out a few pumpkins for the mini musher, Ethan. 
Ethan and Grandma Sue

Ethan on the straw horse

Fall Dog Sledding Adventures


This past weekend, Eric, Ethan, the sled dogs and I started our 2011-12 Maryland Sled Dog Adventures LLC dog sledding programs.  First up, were two Girl Scout dog sledding programs

Six sled dog team:  Acadia and Gypsy, Sammamish and Luke, and Okemo and Sobo

Visiting sled dog, Luke, after our dryland (wheeled) dog sled rides
Looks like all of the Girl Scouts had a good time! 
Acadia gets lots of attention from the Girl Scouts
Two Girl Scouts try out dryland (wheeled) dog sledding.  
Lead dog, Acadia, loves to give kisses

Monday, October 3, 2011

Sled Dog Training


The Maryland Sled Dog Adventures sled dogs.


Eric, Ethan and I got the sled dogs out this past Sunday for a 4.5 mile training run. Mother Nature was good enough to give us temperatures in the low to mid 40s so, the Maryland Sled Dog Adventures sled dogs, Eric, Ethan and I headed up to Fair Hill NRMA for a hilly training run.

On this training run were, Acadia and Gypsy in lead, Sammamish and Okemo in team, and Luke and Sobo in wheel. While I would prefer to run Sammi and Sobo in team and Okemo and Luke in wheel, Luke gets extremely excited at hook up as does Okemo. As a result, both dogs can get snarky with each other at hook up and given their personalities, that's just not a good situation. As the season progresses, we'll work with both dogs on this tendency and hopefully will be running Okemo and Luke side by side in no time at all. We'll also be working on Sammi's tendency to bite the lines at hook up. At present, to keep the team safe and hooked, we are running cable gang lines. As soon as possible, we'll be moving Sammamish up to lead where he'll be given a job to do instead of chewing neck lines.

The dogs were VERY excited to be going out to run.

Gypsy and Acadia in lead, Sammi and Okemo in team, and Sobo and Luke in wheel

As we headed into Fair Hill, we bumped into another Maryland musher. We also realized once we arrived at the trail head that a huge field trial with hundreds of off leash dogs was underway. Determining that discretion was the better part of valor, especially this early in the training season, we all headed over to another section of Fair Hill where we could run without disturbing (or being disturbed by) the field trials.

After the run, we headed to a local restaurant for lunch.