This week both Michele & Ben departed from here after their Winter stay. They are going to be missed by both the dogs & myself. They did a great job here & left with as much knowledge as they wished to absorb. 
However, life goes on & now the dogs & myself are getting back into the normal kennel routine.
Soon the " Hobbit Litter" will be introduced to working in harness. They are growing into beautiful looking dogs & with pleasing personalities. The above photos were taken last week.
Blackie was adopted this week & went to his new home on Friday. He was a fun dog & very affectionate. He loved his alone time with all that would take time to pet him.
There are still four dogs left to be adopted: Goliette, Nicky, Vicky & Cannelle.
The weather is getting more Spring like with nice mild days & still cool nights. The snow is slowly disappearing & the snow on the lake has melted making it look like a large skating rink!
The forest is coming alive after the Winter with the squirrels scampering around looking for food & teasing the dogs. The Woodpeckers are making their new nest & their sounds awake you in the morning. 
Yes, it is Great to enjoy Spring in the forest.
Until next week........

This week, with the arrival of Spring, we had snow every day. Tuesday through to Thursday, we had a total accumulation of 10" of fresh snow! The temperatures at night were quite cold & warmed up during the days to just below freezing.
We ran both Thursday & Friday as the new snow made the trails run-able again covering the icy surfaces. This is a good time of the year to evaluate the dogs & place them at different positions. On Friday, we ran Perle at lead with Bergen for the last half of the run & she did a great job. Angel is getting back into shape after having the puppies & Cosmos is continuing to impress at lead. 
This is the first time in several years that we have enough snow to continue running to the end of March & even possibly into early April.
A new video of part of Thursdays run is available on the Training Page.
Until next week........ 

It is a joke in the Mushing World:" Wait until next season!" Every musher has program in effect to improve his/her team for the next year. After a season of running/racing, we see areas were we have short falls and areas were we can improve. It can be in training, nutrition, equipment, breeding and acquiring position dogs.
This season, I recognized needs for improvement on nutrition, race preparation, breeding and the need for more leaders. I am happy to say that all the needs were met with the exception of leaders.
 I am now happy to say that this week the leader requirement was fulfilled! 
It is my pleasure to announce the addition of Bergen & Perle to the Miortuk Kennel. 
Bergen is a 2 1/2 year old experienced race leader with impeccable lineage. Perle is 18 months old potential leader out of Ellis/T. Streeper breeding. Both of these dogs love to run & fit very well into my team ( they were on loan here for three weeks from Valerie & Laurent Gonsolin). More information on these two dogs can be found on the Profile & Pedigree pages of this website.
I am deeply appreciative of the generosity, friendship & working relationship I have with Valerie & Laurent Gonsolin who made all this possible.
All the puppies here are growing & developing nicely. They show a lot of potential for next season & many seasons to follow. There are a few updated photos of them on the Puppy Page.
This past week, I took Michele & Ben to a Cabane à Sucre as a reward for a great season here & to show appreciation for their assistance. 
A Cabane à Sucre is a Spring  tradition here in Quebec were we gather the sap from the Maple Trees & make Maple Syrup. The meal is a annual feast served  at a small family run sugar farm were they still gather the sap & process it in an old traditional way. It usually consists of Pea Soup, Fried Pork Rinds, Home made Tomato Relish, Pickled Beets, Pickles, Eggs, Bacon, Sausage, Ham, warm Home Made bread, Creton, Boiled Potatoes, Baked Beans & finally Fritters served with Maple Syrup. Of coarse there is a pitcher of Maple Syrup on the table to dress all of the above as you see fit. After the meal, you go to another room where they are boiling the syrup & have a Maple Syrup Taffy served on a stick. The warm syrup is pored on some snow & you roll it up on the stick to eat. Needless to say after all this you are very full & on a Sugar High! 
Until next week....... 

The thing with a Musher's life is you never know what Mother Nature has in store. That is part of what happened this week! We were right on our race preparation schedule & then Mother Nature threw us a curve with the forecast of very warm weather for the race weekend. The temperature in our estimation was too warm (+8 to +9) to race dogs & the original mileage, as of Thursday Morning , for the Open Race was 16 miles each day (2 day race). We found out on Saturday morning they had changed the distance to 11 miles each day. By that time, we had already cancelled our motel reservations. However, we feel we still made the right decision, for our team, not to run in these warm temperatures. It was disappointing not to attend the race as we felt our team was very well prepared. However, it was a great learning experience to follow the tutoring of Laurent Gonsolin on the training, pairing of the team members and the feeding program to prepare the dogs weight for their optimum performance. I will be better prepared for next season's races.
Now that our racing season is finished, it is time to get Michele & Ben some experience running teams of their own. To-date,  they both have had two runs & did great.
This is also that time of the year to reflect upon the season & finish making plans for next season. There is one piece of the equation awaiting to be finalized & I will make the announcement when completed. It will make for a very exciting Summer anticipating the start of Fall Training!
There is a new video of last Tuesday's run on the Lake posted on the Training Page.
Also, I have 5 dogs available for adoption as I have to reduce the size of the kennel making room for the puppies.
Until next week........

The race at Daquaam is one week away & the preparation for it is continuing.
Friday, we ran our last 10 mile run before the race, yesterday 6 miles & Tuesday/Wednesday another two runs of 6 miles.
The team is doing great & physically looking good. The trails this week have been tough with drifting from high winds & a little fresh snow. The trails are in places are drifted back within 1 hour after grooming. That is the challenge of trying to maintain a "lake trail". 
The temperatures this week has been warm around +1 to +3 during the day & only -3 to -6 at night. Very musher friendly, but not too dog friendly!
Ben was off to Laconia Sled Dog Race with Rosaire Perron,upon his request, as he needed a handler for the weekend. I expect Ben's return on Monday or Tuesday morning at the latest to help us finish our preparation for Daquaam.
I have uploaded a video of part of yesterdays run on the Training Page.
The Hobbit Puppies have grown enough to graduate from puppy collars to adult collars. Angel's puppies are also growing nicely & will soon have company with the addition of the two puppies from Bonnie/Nels Litter.
Until next week........