This past week I decided to take my small team on a run with my sled at my house – due to the large quantities of snow we were so graciously being gifted. I would have to agree that it wasn’t the smartest choice to take a dog team by sled on only four inches of snow, buy hey, what could happen? Right?

In short – the run went flawlessly. No problems, mess ups, or injuries. I watered the dogs, and got them back into their enclosures. It kept snowing.

It snowed another two inches throughout the day so I decided to go on a second run at dusk. I mounted the sled, pulled the hook, and we were off. At this point I was expecting the dogs to be a bit more tired because of the morning’s run, so I wasn't prepared for how fast we took the first corner. The sled tipped - and I was drug on the ground for about ten mud filled feet. As my face was meeting the non-friendly sticks and rocks on the ground – I quickly up righted the sled and jumped back onto the runners. All while running as fast as I could to not fall again.

We got onto the trail - things were going fine, and I was using the drag mat to slow the team. At about halfway through the run I decided to put up the drag mat - as it was quickly gathering snow and wasn't needed at that time. Later in the run I put my foot down where the mat should have been and WOOSH! My foot caught on the ground (since I had put up my drag mat), and I tripped. I regained my balance, and we were off again. Tripping due to something so simple put yet another dent in my dwindling amount of confidence.

On the way back home I stopped in a field to fix some twisted lines, and as I was bending down to fix a dog - WOOSH! The dogs were gone. I lost my dog team for the very first time. For those that have lost a dog team - the following scene beholds a mixture of humor and fear. It's almost humorous to see this terribly fast team speeding along the trail in perfect sync - with a little, lightweight sled tracking nicely behind the dogs. I quickly pursued the dogs in fear of a tangle or bad crash.

I ran for approximately a quarter mile and joyously found them at a Y in the trail - deciding where they should take their adventure next. I jumped onto the sled, caught my breath, and we made our way home.

Now I know to never let my guard – and never, ever underestimate the power of a dog team, no matter how small it may seem.

Hopefully my little mishaps and adventures brought a smile into your day – and remember that sometimes we just have those training runs that never seem to relent in the amount of precarious problems they present.

I know you will find this month’s Monthly Bark to be filled with humor and laughs – and that you consider sending in your own mushing adventures to be published for the mushing community.

Thank you for reading, advertising, and sending in your excellent materials.

Cheerful Trails,

Christian Hollingsworth, Editor in Chief
www.sleddoggin.com

Email: editor@...

The Brand New Sleddoggin.com Merchandise Store

You've been asking for it - and now you've got it. The Sleddoggin.com Merchandise store is now in business and taking orders for apparel and other knick knacks with the Sleddoggin.com logo printed on each product. We are also in the process of producing unique mushing related designs for the dog sledding community to enjoy. (Notice the Junior Musher baby bib on the bottom left)

Products offered include shirts, hats, bags, sweaters, mugs, mousepads, stickers, magnets, and MUSH more!

Take a look at the new store and start showing off your mushing pride!

Click to Visit Now!

On Dec 10th out of the blue I got an email from a Melissa Nicefaro, she wrote:

Hello,
I write for the new New Haven Magazine - January will be our fourth issue - and I'm working on an article about winter activities. I thought you would be an interesting person to speak with. Do you have a few moments for a phone call tomorrow?

I thought "Sure what the heck" we conducted a few phone calls, wrote a few emails and before long, arrangements were made for a photographer to come out and take photos of the dogs in action. Two days later, again out of the blue, I get an email from a Stacy Sears, she wrote:

Hi
I am a producer for a TV show called Crossroads Magazine. I would like to do a story about dog sledding and was wondering if you would be interested in helping me out. We would love to come out with our TV camera and interview you and go for a ride and learn about this unique pass time. We are doing a series on different winter activities people can try.

Both of these requests came as quite a surprise as I am not the type to go looking to do demos or winter fests of any kind. As luck would have it, Connecticut was blessed with a couple of decent snowfalls in the first half of December so the timing of these requests was ideal. I made arrangements to meet the Photographer on Saturday Dec 22 at a local trail. The photographer, Steve Blazo (http://www.blazophoto.com) was there with his 13 year old nephew, Tyler. I figured the best thing to do was go through my usual routine like any other day out on the trail and let Steve do his this thing. While I was hooking up the team, Steve set himself up for the first set of trail shots, I asked if Tyler to hold onto the neck line between King and Gymbo (my lead dogs), he was excited to help and be hands on. As I took off it was really cool to hear the rapid snap snap snap of the camera shutter as I flew past. I ran the team out across these two fields and into the forest, my plan was to run about 100 yards into the forest, turn the team around and run back out for more shots, but the team was running so nice I said to myself “the heck with the photo shoot” and ran a little further into the forest. As I came back out of the woods onto the fields Steve had moved to a different location for different angles. As I passed him, he asked me if I was going to do another run I said no problem. On the way back out after I passed Steve I stopped at the entrance to the forest and called the boy over and let him ride in the sled for the rest of the run. I told him it was his payment for helping line out the team. He had a blast!!
I'm sure Tyler wont soon forget his first ride on a dog sled!!

Taping the TV show wasn’t as easy. My work responsibilities were interfering with the schedule of the camera crews, but eventually we set a date. The show was scheduled to air Jan11th. Jan 4th was our last chance to shoot and to make matters worse it was getting warm in Connecticut and what little snow we had would soon be gone. Every night for a week I drove out to different forest trails trying to find a place that still had enough snow cover. Finally the day before we were set to film I found a snow covered trail. This was going to be difficult to pull off with the short daylight hours we have this time of year, I couldn't really afford to take time off of work so what little daylight left after work would have to suffice. Well at about 1 am McGrath (my son) started vomiting and within a minute Tucker (my other son) started vomiting as well. The boys vomited throughout the rest of the night, so at 6 am I called out from work. By late morning the boys seemed ok, no one had vomited since about 5 am so I called Crossroads and told them what had happened and said lets meet at 2 instead of the scheduled 3:30.

When they arrived, they first had me sit on the couch and be interviewed about mushing, and then we drove out to the trailhead. They filmed while I got the sled set up, the dogs unloaded, lined out and harnessed. They filmed me hooking up the team and I explained what I was doing the entire time. This little trail I took them to is a 0.6 mile loop. I put Mackenzie (my Daughter) in the sled for the first run so they could capture the family aspect of the sport. The second run I took the cameraman on the sled, he filmed while riding and we also staged a few on-bys. The last loop the cameraman walked down the trail and I ran solo. Right where the cameraman was, Tinker started to act up, jumping on Prince so I stopped, switched her out of wheel and put her up in swing, well she kept tu rning around to get to Prince, so I stopped again and thought to myself “you want Prince that bad? Then catch him!” I put her back in wheel and put Prince up in swing. The whole time we were out there I had King running solo lead so for the last lap I put Gymbo up from with him. I explained to the cameraman the rational for all the switches as I made them and in turn showed that sometimes out on the trail changes need to be made.
My main lead dog King has run lead ever since he was 8 months old. He is now 10.5 yrs old and I look at these two experiences as the coup-de-graw of what has been a fabulous career for this dog and I feel very blessed to have had these opportunities where I can look back and remember the moments and the beauty of this sport with the dogs that have played such an important roll in my life.

To see photos from that day or footage of the filming of TV show, please visit my site at www.siberianhusky.com

Trails and Tails
From the Hawkins Family
And Auroralight Kennel

SUPPORT THE NORTHERN BREED

Northern California Sled Dog Rescue (NorSled) is an all-volunteer non-profit group dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating and finding new homes for unwanted, abused and abandoned Siberian Huskies, Alaskan Malamutes, Samoyeds, American Eskimo and Northern-breed mixes in many Northern California counties including Contra Costa, Solano, Sonoma, Marin, Napa, Lake, Mendocino, Humboldt, Glenn, Sutter, Yuba, Butte, and Yolo. Click on About Us for more information.

Help out the northern breed and adopt a dog today!

http://www.norsled.org

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