It was great week here for running dogs getting in four days of training!
We received a little fresh snow midweek adding a nice cushion on the trail.
Thursday & Friday, we ran the dogs at racing pace to see how they could handle the increased speed.
They handled the speed with no problem on the 7 mile run and then on Friday on the 4.5 mile run. On the Friday, they were very fast, hard driving and enthusiastic.
Soon we will increase the mileage to 10 miles runs and return to slower speeds until they get used to the longer runs.
This week, Louis had a run up at lead again and did a great job.
We switch him to lead position at the halfway point of the 4.5 mile run so he gets to run the homeward bound part of the trail. After a few more runs, we will try him from the start and do the whole 4.5 mile run at lead.
It is fun to work new dogs in the lead position.
​Until next week......

Crazy week here for weather with snow finally arriving on Wednesday. 
After 6 days without running, the dogs were crazy to go!!!!
We trained both Thursday & Friday and spent Saturday plowing.
On Thursday, we tried Louis at lead for the very first time.
He was absolutely amazing, he took the position with great attitude and was running with enthusiasm the whole way. 
He was hard driving and is proving to be a speed Leader.
He is in the above video running on the right side with Kira on the left.
They look to be an awesome pairing with each trying to outrun the other.
That "L" Litter (Blue/Indigo) has turned out to be a great litter producing two fantastic leaders and three more potential leaders.
Indigo at ten years old is still running lead and doing a great job.
Indigo's father was Brandy a top Leader was still winning races at the age of twelve here in Quebec.
Leaders produce leaders!
Right now of the 18 dogs in the kennel 11 are leaders.
You can never have enough Leaders!!!!
Until next week......

Every run here at Miortuk can be interesting with different challenges!
Tuesdays run tested the focus of the "A" Teams leaders, Venus & Kira!
Shortly after the start of the run a Partridge decided it was a good idea to take flight right in front of a charging team of 10 dogs!
Have seen other Partridge fly up at the side of the trail, try walking across the trail, but never fly in front of the team.
If you look at the video closely, you will see the Partridge (briefly) lead the team in it's daredevil stunt!
Due to the focus of Venus & Kira, the team never broke stride and continued their run as if nothing had happened.
It was so close to the leaders, I thought they were going to have a Partridge for a snack.
Lucky bird and great Leaders!
This week, we had a mixed bag of weather with warm temperatures, nice hard packed trails.
Friday was a different story with rain, freezing rain and then wet snow leaving the trails with thick undercoating of ice!
The result was only three days of running. However, we ran the 7 mile run on Thursday instead of Friday.
The dogs are handling the increased mileage without any problems and are finishing with plenty of enthusiasm.
The dogs are well conditioned and are now showing their speed capacity.
​Until next week........
 

Finally with the arrival of snow, we were able to get in four days of training two teams per day this week.
It was a fun week for the dogs running on the snow and able to open up with some great speed runs.
We also increased the mileage per run on Friday as the dogs are now well conditioned!
The ATV is now put away until next Spring and the Skidoo's are now in operation.
The trails here are now well groomed with a nice snow base.
The lake is now frozen across and with the cold weather will start to increase its thickness.
It is now a Winter Wonderland here at Miortuk.
​Until next week.........

What a difference a few days can make!
From warm, rainy weather to freezing temperatures and now snow.
It started snowing here on Thursday and basically hasn't stopped as of today.
This is the earliest that the Skido has been used!!
The lake has even started to freeze.
The dogs are enjoying the snowy trails and relaxing in their new straw beds in their houses.
We got in three days of running this week and the dogs are in great condition and are increasing their speed.
Soon, we will be increasing the mileage on their runs.
Yesterday, we put Lance up at lead on the homeward bound part of the run.
He had a little experience with lead at the end of last season.
This was the first time this season and he did a very good job running with Pearl.
He will be getting regular runs at lead to further develop his leadership skills.
​Until next week......

This was a week of climatic challenges here at Miortuk!
Wednesday, we had to out to Rawdon & Joliette for some scheduled appointments and supplies. We left here at 9.30 am and returned home at 9 pm.
A very long day partially extended by a one hour trip back travelling 28 km on the Manuwan Road (dirt road). It was a hellish trip with slippery, loose sand, potholes and large rock obstacles! The terrible condition of this road has caused serious damage to the truck over the last several years.
Every year the government promises to fix the road and still nothing has happened.
The trip home was also aggravated by heavy rain the ended up lasting for two days. Along with the rain, we had some gail force winds (in parts of Quebec hitting wind speed of 100+km/hr) and then snow.
The weather caused electrical power outages through Quebec leaving 900,000 homes in the dark!
Luckily for us, the power was only out for 7 hours.
Many places in Montreal and surrounding areas were without power for over 24 hours. Some areas with be without Hydro until Monday!
With heavy rains the lake here is at Spring levels and some areas in Quebec are experiencing flooding.
Here, like many places in the province, trees were blown down.
Yesterday, we spent part of the day cutting trees to remove them from out training trail.
We were lucky here with no damage to the kennel, all the dogs are okay and no damage to the chalet or garage.
Due to all that is described above, we were only able to get in one day of running the dogs.
It was another great run by both teams.
It is not the challenges in life that creates the stress, it is how you manage them!
Until next week........

It was a very busy week here!
Put a new metal roof on the chalet, ran the dogs, Hydro outage and lots of rain.
The chalet needed a new roof, so we went to a new metal roof that will also help with the snow for this Winter and Winters to come. With the new roof, we will not need to shovel off the snow!
We got the dogs out three days this week and they are progressing with their Conditioning/Training Program increasing their speed and stamina.
They are looking great and Pearl is turning into a super Leader.
We are always training new leaders here at Miortuk.
The weather this past week was good for training until Saturday when we received an all day rain. We received so much rain that the lake rose to Spring levels.
Friday night the Hydroelectric Power went off 9pm for a scheduled maintenance update for 8 hours that ended up in a total of 19 hours without electricity. 
A we are on Satellite for both TV and Internet, we were off the grid until Monday morning.
Life's challenges here in the forest!
​Zoe has the last word to sign off!
​Until next week.......

Yes, this is a great time of the year to run dogs.
Cold nights and warm sunny days.
The dogs are all doing great with their conditioning/ training program.
This week, we slowly increased the speed on the runs.
Also at the end of this week, we ran two days consecutively for the first time this season. 
Up to then, we were running on a schedule of one day run and then one day rest.
The dogs handled the two days running without any problem or fatigue.
One of the dogs in the second team (Pippin) was not pulling well as compared to last Winter.
After some analysis, it was decided the the Fall Training Harness was too tight and restricting his breathing. So, we went to the Winter Harness that fits differently allowing no restriction to the rib cage.
​Problem fixed and he is running much better now.
Last week Suvi, from Finland, arrived on the 20th of October to spend the season here learning about Sled Dogs and our way of training/conditioning here at Miortuk. 
Welcome to the Miortuk Team Suvi!
​Until next week.......

It was a busy week here at Miortuk with the arrival of Zoe Knight from France, major shopping trip for human supplies and 30 x 40 lb blocs of meat for the dogs.
We had some great training/conditioning runs with the dogs.
As seen above, they are eager and ready to go!
This was Lila Pratt's last week here visiting from France.
It is going to be difficult seeing Lila leave for home.
However, besides running dogs, her and Zoe were able to get out hiking, running, canoeing and kayaking as well as seeing some of the critters living here in the forest (Red Fox, Partridge, Grey Jays, Blue Jays and Loon).
The temperatures have been great with sub zero nights and nice warm afternoons.
​Until next week.......