It has always been a goal here to produce leaders ether in training new dogs to the kennel or through our own breeding program.
Not all dogs are cut out to be leaders and not all leaders are Race Leaders.
But leaders can run anywhere in the team from Point to Wheel.
Having multiple leaders allows a musher an opportunity to keep the stress of this position off the leaders by having the flexibility to rotate them.
It is one thing to have a philosophy about breeding leaders or dogs with a strong leader pedigree and to prove the results of that philosophy.
In the above video the two dogs running wheel (Louis on the left and Lilly on the right) are only seven months old and running their 6th time in harness.
You can see their desire to run even at this early stage in their development.
Both have very different personalities with Lilly being crazy, outgoing and the center of attraction and Louis very reserved, gentle and quiet.
Lilly last year finished her second year at lead and last year was the partner of Venus running lead every second run in rotation.
Louis started lead in around December, just a check to see how interested he was in the lead position.
To our surprise he relished in that position, showing his desire to be up there.
He was paired with Kira and the two became regulars in the lead rotation for the balance of the season.
The other dogs from that litter were also tried at lead and showed leader abilities.
This coming season, they will continue their leader training on a regular schedule.
This is not the first litter that has produced leaders from breeding leaders.
It is proven here that breeding leaders will produce leaders!
​Until next week......

It was a great week here with nice day time temperatures and cool nights for sleeping.
The dogs also enjoyed the nice reprieve from the hot/humid conditions of the week before.
The dogs are all looking great putting on some weight and will be ready for the start of Fall Conditioning/Training.
I like the dogs  to have a little more weight going into the Fall as they quickly muscle up and loose the excess weight when the running starts.
It is always easier to take weight off rather than going into running underweight.
It is very difficult to put weight on when running starts and can lead to a whole season with the dogs underweight and makes it difficult to build up the muscles required for them to perform to utmost.
To have a good, healthy kennel of dogs; it takes constant monitoring all year long.
​Until next week......

This week was hot & humid!
Temperatures this week were all in the high 20's/low 30's and culminating on Friday with temperature in the mid 30's.
The heat/humidity made doing chores exhausting!
However, the dogs were looked after: feeding, watering and the kennel cleaned every day.
We started feeding the dogs earlier in the morning before the temperatures got to hot.
The dogs all ate well and with enthusiasm. They always are excited to see me and their food.
We had a thunder storm pass through here on Friday afternoon.
Although the temperature was still high the humidity eased up.
Saturday morning, it was raining and the temperature had dropped to the low 20's.
A welcome relief! 
Next week the temperatures here are forecast to be back to normal.
​Until next week.......

The week started off stormy and then mid-week hot and humid.
So far this Summer, the main theme of this year is Changeable!
From cool O degrees Celsius to +30's!
From extremely dry to heavy downpours of rain.
Every day is a new adventure!
This week, a day trip to stock up the freezers with meat for the dogs on Tuesday before the next heat wave arrived.
We are now well stocked and no need to venture out of here for another month.
Through all of this the dogs are happy and enthusiastic for their daily meals and personal attention.
The Black Flies are almost finished for another year.
However, the mosquitoes are plentiful.
This week, the Dragonflies have returned and are enjoying the plentiful harvest of their favorite meal, mosquitoes.
Ah, the beauty of Nature!
Until next week......