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.....

It is amazing how quickly the dogs are getting into shape considering we had no Fall training.
Due to Covid, it has certainly been a challenging season so far.
However, these canine athletes were in great shape through the off season and had a great running season last Winter.
This week, we were able to get the dogs up to close to their racing speeds.
The slower speeds through the conditioning speeds are paying off.
Patients is very important as a musher!
Laura Montmasson, our new Handler from France is doing a great job, has excellent contact with the dogs and is a very quick learner.
We could use some new snow as the trails are very mogally in places which disrupts the dogs rhythm exaggerated by still running with the skidoo.
Life here is good!
​Until next week......

It was great to really get back running the dogs.
We ran two teams of 6 Dogs and one team of 5 Dogs on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. It was great for running new leaders with Lance first time at lead running home from the half way mark of the trail.
Lance was very focused and ran really good with Kira.
On Tuesday, we ran Lloyd at lead straight from the yard with Kira. 
Lloyd had a couple of short runs last Spring. This was the first time running the whole run. He showed great confidence with only a couple of distractions.
Louie continued to improve after last year being his first year at lead. 
Venus & Lilly are a dynamite pair leading Team #1. They are really beautiful running together.
So now all of the "L" Litter runs lead!
Their Parents Indigo/Blue produced the very best litter here at Miortuk!
The team in the video is Venus/Lilly, Pearle/Merry and at Wheel Blue/Levis.
We were lucky to get in the run on Thursday. As soon as we finished it stated to rain which continued through the night and all Christmas Day. 30-40ml in total.
Today was colder with the temperatures tonight dropping tp -18c.
The trails got a light covering of snow today over the ice.
​Until next week........

Finally we are back running dogs here at Miortuk.
Still keeping the teams size to 6 dogs as this gives us more opportunity to train new leaders.
The trails here are good and could use some more snow, which is in the forecast for this following week.
Got the Plow truck back from the garage after having the starter replaced.
Luckily, I got it back a week ago Friday as on Saturday we got 5" of wet snow mixed with rain.
This week, we lost Indigo. She passed away peacefully in her sleep (see more about Indigo on the Reflections Page).
Until next week......

Slowly everything is falling into place here.
This year it seems everything is difficult and complicated.
However, the truck has it snow tires on, the Plow Truck needs a new starter and is scheduled for repair and the new handler is scheduled to arrive next week.
Slowly everything is getting accomplished.
The Covid Virus has made all things more complicated this year.
Hopefully in another week, we will get back to running the dogs!
​Until next week......

As a continuation to the last Blog.
Two more teams were run this week on Wednesday and Thursday getting all the dogs in the kennel run for the first time this season.
Although, would like to get the dogs run more than just once week, this was a start.
The dogs were all excited, as you can see from the above video, they all ran great and you could see the results of last seasons training on all the dogs.
Perfection doesn't happen over night!
It takes time and patience to bring out the best in these Canine Athletes.
However, the strain on me was very evident on Friday were my knees were shot and my back was in pain.
But, Saturday was another day and physically my body felt normal.
Though it was great for the dogs, it was also great for me to get active and not think about the challenges of Covid!!!
I felt relaxed and got great nights sleep.
The dogs are definitely therapeutic!
Yesterday we had rain and mild temperatures causing the disappearance of most of the snow and last night the temperatures dropped below freezing leaving the trail icy.
The forecast is for more snow this week and with it the dogs will be back on the trail.
I also got some good news that my Handler will be arriving soon and then we can get back to running the dogs three to four times a week in two nine dog teams.
​Until next week......