Spring is here at Miortuk with warm temperatures the snow is melting fast and the lake's ice is breaking up.
However, now is a great time to go back and review the seasons runs.
Here at Miortuk, we video every run with our GoPro.
By doing this, we can review the run and look for ways to improve our training.
This gives a great insight on how to work with our athletes to get their best performance.
Studying the videos, we can see which dogs works best with their pairings, what position are they most comfortable, which side of the gangline they prefer, what harness size makes them most comfortable allowing free movement, the length of the tugline gives them maximum pulling power and what conditions each dog runs best ( hard trails, soft conditions etc.).
All these little nuances can lead to maximum performance of our canine athletes.
Training here is now more of a science due to the new tools available.
The fine tuning of a team makes all the difference in producing consistent great runs. 
This season goal was to train new Leaders and with the use of these videos we can see the trainees progress.
Of coarse, these videos can be a great way to escape the daily routine in the offseason and enjoy again the wonderful adventures of the past season.
The above video is an excerpt from a training run on January the 18th on a beautiful Winters day.
This is the Second team consisting of Louis/Tira at Lead, Point: Pippin/Lance and at Wheel: Hok'ee/Lloyd.
The running of dogs here is always a pleasure, even after more than 40 years doing it.
​Until next week......
​

Dreams can come true with foresight, perseverance, hard work and determination.
This weeks post is all about Lila Pratt who honored Miortuk with coming here to get her foundation female to start her kennel and to pursue her dream.
It all started with a puppy named Katie!
Katie even as a puppy had the presence to be an outstanding dog with personality plus. She grew into a beautiful dog leading my team here at a race in Saint Michel Des Saints in her yearling year.
When Lila contacted me from France looking for a foundation bitch to start her kennel, I knew right away Katie was the one for her.
This little dog travelled from here in the Northern Forest to France to start her adventures in Europe.
Katie's first litter produced a litter of future Superstars.
Lila's determination in handling many challenges including a move last September to Finland to fulfill her dream, paid off  with winning a Mid Distance Race (two days 15 miles per day) in Finland over an entry of 50 teams.
Her and her team not only won the race, but beat the second place team by over 6 minutes!
Her four dogs Gretzky, Nebraska, Cochise (all three Katie offspring's) and Rosie along with Lila working her butt off were the class of the field.
Lila's dedication and perseverance following a rigid training schedule persevering though all conditions proved that she and her team had what it takes to be Champions!
Congratulations Lila! 
I am very proud of you and your magnificant Team!
​Until next week......

The "A" Team is like a machine giving the same excellent performance on every run. The team consists of Venus/Lilly at Lead, Pearle/Merry at Point and Blue/Levis at Wheel. Lilly and Levis are Blue's daughter & son. Blue is 9 years old.
The "B" Team is also showing consistency with each run. However, this is the team that we have been working with new Leaders. On this particular day, both teams ran the 4.5 miles in under 15 minutes. The difference in times between these teams was less the 10 seconds. On this day, Louis/Tira at Lead, Pippin/Lance at Point and Hok'ee/Lloyd at Wheel. Louis, Lance and Lloyd are Blue's sons.
The "C" Team is also running consistent runs only a little slower due to Bergen's age and she is a little slower now. Bergen has been my race Leader and a top Leader here in the kennel all her life. She is now 10 years old and although she still loves to run only now a little slower.
Tepeu & Saphir would like to run faster, probably as fast as the "A" & "B" Teams.
However, this is just the first season that Saphir has run Lead for the whole season. Tepeu/Saphir at Lead, Sam at Point and Bergen/Frodo at Wheel.
The weather here has changed with warm temperatures and some rainy days. The snow on the trails are now bare in places and ice on the balance.
The running here is finished for another season.
It has been a great one with a lot of wonderful times running these amazing athletes.
Valentin ( handler) left here last week for more adventures here in Canada.
​Valentin has been a great help here, thank you!
Until next week......

So far this season, we have introduced some young Leaders to the lead position.
Now is the time to match them with experienced leaders to find who they are most comfortable to run with.
This week, we ran Lance with Kira and were satisfied that they run well together. Lance has no problem up at lead although he is still not comfortable setting a desired pace on the whole run. This will probably come better with more experience next season as he matures.
On the other hand, Louis & Lloyd are a great match with both dogs driving hard and each being more competitive with each other.
Louis adds stability and giving Lloyd more confidence and less influenced by distractions.
Very happy with this pairing.
The weather here this week has been crazy with cold temperatures and good trail conditions on Monday & Tuesday.
Warm temperatures arrived here on Wednesday and Thursday with temperatures reaching the mid twenties.
Heavy winds and rain Thursday night along with temperatures falling below zero has created bare spots on the trail and all of the trails are ice.
Also some trees have fallen on the trail.
It looks like next week will be a quiet one with no running until we get a significant snow fall.
Spring time here in the Northern Forest!
​Until next week.......

Desire, Drive and Dependability is what I look for in making a great Dog Team!
Firstly, the dogs have to have the desire to run their best every run.
Secondly, they need to have the drive to perform at top speeds.
Thirdly, the team has to display the dependability to perform together on every run to allow them to have the confidence to run at high speeds.
Of coarse, the speed has to come from the Leaders to set the pace for the rest of the team to follow.
Without top performing Leaders, the team couldn't perform to its potential.
You know that your team is performing to its best, when you can see the same consistency on every run. I am not just talking about the speed as that will very on the conditions (weather, trail etc) and , as a musher, not asking them to give their top speed on every run.
Yesterday, both the "A" Team & the "B" Team and the 4.5 miles with only 2 seconds difference in time with an overall time of 15 minutes.
The "C" Team ran with Valintine (Handler) with a sled clocking speeds of 28 km/hour.
It is a great feeling to see all the dogs performing and giving there best.
Running dogs never gets boring!
​Every run is exhilarating!
Until next week......

It is  one thing teaching a new dog to run lead. Now it is time to do some fine tuning to get him to run with another leader to allow him to give his best performance.
This  week, we ran Lloyd with his brother Louis.
Both dogs showed good drive at the leader position, so now we paired them to see how they would run together.
Louis has shown great confidence at lead, that is why we run Lloyd with him to give Lloyd more confidence and competition at the lead position.
The experiment was a great success!!!
Both dogs are perfectly matched size wise, with the same enthusiasm and drive.
This is one of the fun parts of mushing to place two dogs together to get maximum performance.
It looks like these two will become a great pairing at lead.
Until next week..... 

Fresh snow, sunny skies, cold temperatures and a great run = a great day!
We finally got some fresh snow on the trails and a break in the frigid temperatures.
The dogs are running great and getting into  Mid-Season shape.
Now they are running the same as the conclusion of last season and now the start of some 7 mile runs.
The above team lead by Venus & Lilly, point: Pearl & Merry and at wheel Blue (10 years old) and his son Levi.
This team is consistent every run averaging 30kph.
The other teams are also doing great and the leader training continues with Lance & Lloyd.
Louis, who is in his second year at running lead, is maturing and showing that he loves the lead position displaying more confidence and drive!
The third team with Tepeu & Saphir at lead is also showing their ability to be supper leaders.
All in all, it is a fun time running the dogs.
​Until next week.....

"If you do the same things you always do, you will get the same results you always have!"
In other words, if you want to improve you need try different things.
That is why this season we have been working with training new leaders.
The above two videos are of training this week with two rooky leaders, Lloyd & Lance.
In the first video is Lloyd (white dog running left lead) running with Kira.
This is his second time running lead from the start of the run.
Normally, I start new leaders at the half way portion of the run as they know they are running home and will receive a treat at the end of the run (motivation).
Lloyd did a great job up front with only a few stops on the way home.
He needed these stops to build up his confidence at lead.
Of coarse, he received praise for his good work at these stops.
He was running with drive and enthusiasm!
The second video is Lance (right lead) running with his brother Louis (second season running lead).
This is Lances third time at lead.
This was Louis first time running as the #1  leader and this was Lances first time running with Louis.
Normally, I would run Lance with Tira (experienced Leader).
However, I wanted to see how Louis would handle being the #1 leader and also if the pairing with Lance would encourage Lance to drive harder.
The experiment was a great success for both dogs. 
Louis was motivated due to my confidence in him and Lance was motivated by being more competitive with his brother.
This is a first time in 6 years that I had two males running lead together.
This could be a great pairing that I would not have known if I didn't experiment.
As the title of the Blog says: "Expect The Unexpected".
​Until next week......

Even with Covid, the Winter Rhythm of life goes on here at Miortuk.
With the running of the dogs, life here is relatively normal.
Daily the dogs need care of feeding, cleaning the kennel and individual attention. 
We are still attempting to getting in four days a week running the dogs in 6/5 dog teams. The leader training is progressing with some inexperienced leaders getting more experience.
The dogs conditioning is improving and we are starting to see the speed increase.
The goal for this season was to work with new leaders and give last seasons rooky leaders more experience up front.
Very pleased with the progress we are seeing.
In the above video Tepeu is running lead with Saphir (on the right).
Saphir is Zoe Knight's dog, that had to stay here and not return to France with Zoe due to complications with Covid last Spring.
Last year she got some experience at lead and this year has run every run in that position.
Saphir is proving she was born for that position and running with confidence, enthusiasm and drive!
Zoe you should be very proud of her!
​We await your return to here in the Northern Forest!
It is fun to see the young leaders develop.
Until next week......

Due to Covid new challenges were presented here.
First: training didn't start until mid-December
Second: very difficult to get a Handler/Trainee into Canada
Third: the weather this year was unseasonably warm and little snow
However, this created a new opportunity to run smaller teams to spend more time this season on Leader training and development.
Currently, we are running three teams, two of 6 dogs and one of 5 dogs.
Therefore on each run, we are getting experience to 6 dogs on every run running at lead.
We also can change to a new leader during the run giving rookie dogs an opportunity to try the leader position in the team, running with an experienced leader.
This provided to get all the "L" Litter to tryout the position at lead.
So far, very happy with the dogs progress showing that all of them have leader potential with some more mentally mature to handle the pressures up front.
It is a big change from them chasing  the dog in front of them to leading.
Of coarse, it takes time for a new leader to gain confidence up front to run at the dogs full potential speed with consistency.
PATIENCE IS IN ORDER FOR THE TRAINER!!!
The above video is of Lance running lead ( left lead) for his second time.
We usually start a leader at the halfway part of the trail so they can run the last half on the home stretch knowing they will get a treat at the finish.
Lance did a great job up front with only a few distractions.
With more runs at lead, he will gain more confidence.
Until next week.....