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A
Rookies Journey
October 1, 2005
“Some things are not problems to
be solved, they are facts to
be coped with”-- Anonymous
This has been another interesting week. We started with the poker
run last Saturday (you can see pictures at www.chugiakdogmushers.com
). Just a fun 2 mile run and we took third with a pair of 6’s.
Map of cart training
trails. Magenta is normal
5 mile trail. Loop on top is about 2 miles, lavender loop
at bottom allows rerunning trail for 10 miles or more. |
Training is going well and the dogs are
fine. Balu went to the vets to have a cyst removed from his right
shoulder and will be out for 10 days but nothing to worry about. For
this week the goal was two 7 mile runs (the 5 mile trail on the map
doing the loop at the top of the map twice) and two 10 mile runs (run
the 5 mile trail and use the lavender “turn around loop”
at the bottom to run it a second time). Having multiple ways to run
keeps things more interesting for the dogs. There are other trails
shown in yellow, but they either require permission to enter Ft Richardson,
or have 4 wheeler eating mud holes and require frozen ground. All
in all it’s pretty vanilla stuff.
Large mud hole
on the trail where 4 wheeler quit.
There are deep ruts hidden in under the water.
The water is a mixed blessing.
It keeps the dogs cool, but the grit in the
mud is hard on snaps and other equipment.
Quark and Tussock (Bonnie’s dog)
are in wheel. |
Tuesday we are doing the first loop of
a 7 mile run and are at the top of the map on the second loop. I’ve
got Platinum and Dash in lead (Platinum is teaching Dash). There is
a stream that drains Beach Lake there and I stop in the stream to
let the dogs drink when a team comes up from behind us. I’m
blocking the trail and move to get out of the way. It’s kind
of hard to tell on the map, but the outgoing and incoming trails connect
where the arrow points and you can go up either side depending on
your mood.
I swing to the right (upper)
trail and pull off to the side so the other team can pass. They decide
to go up the left (lower) trail instead and as I sit there poor Platinum
decides he’s chosen the wrong trail and brings the team back
to the left trail to follow the other team. I straighten him out on
the proper trail and he drives back to the left again. I tell him
“Platinum, no.” and he wraps in behind the wheel dogs.
This can create knots that no Boy Scout has ever seen, but I quickly
block him from completing the knot and guide him back underneath the
wheel dogs tug lines and back to the front of the team. Of course
in all this back and forth the lines have wrapped around Sisco and
he is patiently waiting for me to fix things and untangle him (thank
heaven for patient understanding dogs!). As I work on Sisco, Platinum
starts back to the left one more time. I get in his way and line him
back out and notice that Dash (his co-leader) is only connected by
her neckline to Platinum. She has broken the large brass snap that
connects her tugline to the harness. Luckily I use three tuglines
for my two leaders so I have a spare line to tie off the front of
the team if I need it. I use this line to connect to Dash’s
harness and see Basil wondering around connected by just her neckline.
A quick check shows she has broken the rope loop from her harness
to the snap (the rope is used to make all the harnesses the same length
so they all fit in the neckline to tug line space). Well that happens
and the quick solution is to connect the snap directly to the back
of the harness. It means that Basil will not have much room to maneuver,
but will work for a temporary fix. Then a third dog (I don’t
remember who) is wondering around connected only by his tugline. Sure
enough he has broken the small snap on the neckline. This is fairly
common and I carry spare necklines with snaps on both ends on the
4 wheeler and sled. I replace this neckline and finally get back to
poor Sisco and untangle him. Everyone is lined out and off we go.
The 4 wheeler was a little hard to start on Monday and on Tuesday
it was very hard to start. I like to run it in 3rd gear and make the
dogs pull against the engine compression and I can also give them
a little help going up the hills. You want the engine already running
so the dogs don’t cue off the change in sounds and every time
the going gets tough look back to you to start the engine and help
them out (tough to do on a sled). As we come up the back side of the
trail we go through several mud holes like the one in the picture.
Sure enough just about where the picture was taken the 4 wheeler slides
into a rut about top of the tire deep, dies and will not restart.
Luckily the dogs are in good enough condition they pull me up the
hills on this trail with the engine in neutral. However I decide that
I don’t want to risk them quitting on me and having to walk
out so as we come to the place where the two trails meet I call a
gee and we go back to the truck (remember this for Friday’s
run). This cuts the second team to 5 miles instead of 7, but that’s
not a big deal. Just before we get back to the truck I get the engine
started again. When I tore into the 4 wheeler on Wednesday it was
nothing more than a fouled plug, but it sure made for an interesting
day Tuesday.
Mocha runs first
time in lead with Platinum.
Doesn't she look happy. |
I
didn’t think anything more of it. On Thursday we ran 10 miles
with Bonnie Foster helping me and half way through the run (turn around
loop on the map) we put Mocha in lead for the first time with Platinum.
Mocha did very well.
Remember that I tried to put Mocha in lead at the start about a week
ago. I hook the leaders up first and I am training them to hold the
line out while I hook the rest of the team from back to front. It
took long enough that Mocha started to get nervous about the entire
thing so I moved her back into team. I want to reinforce the good
job she did in lead on Thursday so I ask Platinum to hold the line
out by himself and hook up the rest of the dogs and add Mocha dead
last. Platinum looks a little stressed, but overall seems to handle
it well.
We are off down the trail, cross the creek draining Beach Lake and
come up the back side where we had the big tangle on Tuesday with
no problems. Platinum and Mocha are running well and I very proud
of the dogs. You can guess what that leads too.
As we get to the place where the two trails join and I call a haw
to go left and run that loop at the top of the map a second time Platinum
goes to the right. I didn’t have a camera (and had other things
on my mind) Tuesday so I stopped to take a picture for this story
rather than call Platinum back to the left right away. When I call
the “haw” Platinum ignored me. That’s not common.
But you just get off the 4-wheeler, walk to where you want him and
call the “haw” again. Still no response. Ok, you just
go get him and lead him back to the proper turn. As soon as I let
go of the line he goes right back to the right. Now I know I’ve
got a problem. We continue like this for 5 of 6 times and Mocha starts
to get worried. It is very important that the first few times in lead
are a good experience so I put Mocha back in swing and put Dash in
lead with Platinum. At this point I’m missing Balu who is home
recovering from the cyst removal surgery. I’ve always been able
to count on Platinum so I don’t have another “go to”
leader in this team that I can move up to help out.
Platinum and
Mocha going right back to the
truck instead of left to run the loop at the top
of the map a second time. |
Well Platinum, Dash and I continue to
go around and around on this for about 25 minutes. I lead them over
to the left and they run back to the right. I try standing to block
their path and they go around me. I move as they do and they run back
as soon as I move back to the 4-wheeler. I start to loose my patience
and as they run right I run into the path roaring at them. I definitely
get their attention, half the dogs in the team cringe away from me.
That was a bad idea on my part. The dogs need to know I’m the
boss and will not tolerate misbehavior, but that particular action
was counter productive. The question is, is Platinum telling me he
won’t take the turn or that he can’t take the turn? I
ask him, but I don’t understand the answer.
I have conflicting priorities here. I can keep working on Platinum,
but this is hard on the rest of the team and I’ve got two yearlings,
one in lead and one in swing. So I move Platinum into the team and
put Sisco in lead with Dash. Sisco is a nice steady dog, but not a
strong dominant leader and by now all the back and forth has taken
a toll on Dash and she isn’t helping. After another 5 minutes
I get them moving in the right direction and Platinum pulls the team
back to the right from mid-team. I switch Platinum into wheel where
he has less leverage, but Dash has had it. So I move Dash back into
swing and move Basil into lead with Sisco. Now Basil has had a nasty
temper, but is getting much better this year. However that is why
I didn’t run her in lead last year so she is a real beginner.
Basil surprises me and straightens Sisco out (he was getting nervous
also) and we go off to the left. About 50 feet down the trail I stop
the team to praise them and tell them how much I appreciate them getting
us around the corner. Platinum is now banging his harness in wheel
and wanting to go. I need to know what the problem was so I put him
back in lead with Basil and off we go. Platinum does his usual fine
job in lead for the rest of the run.
So what happened here? Did Platinum stress out because he had to hold
the line out by himself before I put Mocha up with him? Did he remember
that last time we were here the motor quit on the 4-wheeler and he
had a hard pull back to the truck? Did he remember that this was the
short cut to the truck? Did he fix the turn in his mind because I
took the time to take the picture before I corrected him? Was Platinum
being defiant or was he convinced he could not take that turn? I really
don’t know.
Platinum and
Basil after run where
Platinum refused the turn. |
I read a very interesting book called
Animals in She also says that autistic people are so visually oriented
that they can quickly find the problem that non-autistic people miss.
She also says that she cannot work in a room with a computer that
has the screen saver on. She fixates on the screen saver and goes
into a non-functioning mode. SomebTranslation by Temple Grandin who
is a professor of animal science at Colorado State University and
is also autistic. She says that autistic people think in pictures
and that she believes that animals do also. She also says that the
worst thing you can do to an animal is not to physically hurt them,
or even kill them, but you cause the most distress when you scare
them. She has designed most of the slaughter houses in the United
States. She gets called in when there is a house where the cows are
balking at entering the slaughter area. According to her the problem
typically is that the cows are frightened by going from a light area
to a dark one, or by a flash of light reflecting off water or a moving
piece of bright metal, or something similar. This seems very simple
to us, but it can terrify the cows.ody has to turn it off for her.
Animals also fixate on things that we don’t even notice. It
is a very interesting concept. Based on this I don’t think Platinum
was defiant – not when he was that adamant about it. There was
something that bothered him and as soon as we got past the turn he
was fine.
So now I need to work with Platinum, building our relationship and
trust. Next week we will run in Chugach State Park at Lake Eklutna
on the lake side trail (http://www.dnr.state.ak.us/parks/units/chugach/eklutna.htm
). The dogs (and musher) get tired of always going to the same old
place. However we can only run 4-wheelers there Sunday through Wednesday,
so next Thursday I’ll take Platinum back to that scary turn
and try again. But this time I’ll have Base in lead with him
to help him out if there is a problem.
Keep ‘em Northbound
Eric
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