Klondike Ventures

Blaze spent his last 3 months with our daughter Juli and her little pack. Spa days, vet checks with blood work and meds, toys, toys, toys, walks with the pack, treats, treats, treats, and a life indoors with belly rubs and ear scratches. Such a lucky boy. He failed quickly this week and with one last blood check Juli accepted [with difficulty] that it was his time to go. We brought him home to be buried with his siblings and the rest of the dog sledding pack. In his 16th year and the last to go, it is a sad closure to our dogsledding life.
RIP Blaze

Blaze living the good life of an outside / house dog with Juli [our vet daughter] and Jamie. Happy with his new pack on walks and nap time in the house! Not to mention the abundance of toys and dog beds to choose from!! Oh and treats galore!!
As the last dog, he could not be in the dog yard on his own due to cayotes etc. as well as loneliness The large pen blocked him off from Katori playtime [1 year old husky rescue] when she was out. We are very blessed that Juli was willing to add him to her pack!
He is deaf with other medical issues that Juli is dealing with happily.
He enjoys going to the vet clinic with her and has gone for a bath at the pet store! One lucky boy!
He will be 15 years old on Feb 9, 2024.

The dog yard is silent, sleds are idle and harnesses and ganglines are hung up. Over 40 years of fun and adventure with dogs and new friends [clients], comes to an end.
Blaze is our last man standing. He has gone to live the good life with our daughter and her pack of 3 dogs on her acreage near Edmonton. [more later]

Kodiak ... R.I.P.
[see previous post including Kodiak with Rudy]

Once again we had a very sad day on Feb 9th as our vet helped us say goodbye to two of our boys from our last litter [2010 from Mistaya and Whitefang]. Rudy and Kodiak were the big boys who ran wheel. As puppies they were both a little ball of white fur with the difference being Rudy had a pink nose [Rudolph] and Kodiak a little black nose [polar bear] They were best buds for years running side by side until they had an altracation in the yard when one got off one day. After that we did not run them together. Age did a number on their back ends plus deafness and allergies to pain meds that caused bare patches. We felt it was not fair to put them through another Alberta winter when they can't run. Their siblings Bandit, Missy and Taya went before them.
Our dog yard is now put to rest. [Blaze is our Last Man Standing, but can not be in the yard by himself with cayotes etc. ...more on him another time] Times they are a changing as we say goodbye to a wonderful shared life with our sled dogs for close to 40 years.

Another sad day and especially for Juli who was dog sitting for us the last weekend of October so Jeff could get to Rosebery. Seebee was not going to wait any longer and Juli helped him on his way. Seebee was a special boy who would run anywhere in the team and also skijored with me. He would lead out, but being a bigger boy he could also run next to the sled in wheel as needed. His last few days were spent in the pen as his back end could no longer handle the chain, but his lack of eyesight made it difficult. Seebee was the last of the 2008 litter, with his siblings Aurora, Boris, Whitefang and Kuny going before him.

Sad to report that we said good bye to Aurora in August with Juli's help. As she was in her 16th year with physical ailments it was time to let her go in peace. In her day she filled in as a lead dog and kept all in line! With her passing we say goodbye to our last female. Four boys are left in the yard, including her brother Seebee and her pup Blaze, along with Rudy and Kodiak from our last litter and now in their 14th year.

Kingmik runs out of Lake Louise on the trails towards the Lake O'Hara Road. The only place I recommend to folks when they call us for a dog sled experience. Not what we offerred [learn to mush] but a quieter start area compared to Canmore Spray Lakes with many companies and sleds in the one area. Beautiful setting in the mountains.

Dog Sledding in Banff National Park - with @KingmikDogSledTours I recently had an opportunity to go out to shoot with and it was incredible! The dogs were amazing and the guides were so knowledgeable....

Thinking of all our Alaskan Huskies that have passed on after years of running the trails with us and bringing so many people such an amazing winter experience sharing their energy and love for sledding, while showing such patience with newbies.

NORTH OF THE RAINBOW BRIDGE
The time comes.
A Siberian Husky lifts up its head. There is an untested adventure beyond. Time to go.
Across the Rainbow Bridge is a place for all dogs. A river runs wide and shallow with tennis balls that fly with their own wings; that is the place for a Labrador or Golden to await its master's arrival.
The Siberian is not content here. Northward is its trail....
There are soft pastures for Aussies and Border Collies, with sheep and geese to pen. Agility equipment grows like trees amid Frisbees and flyball.
But the North continues its sure wild call, and the Siberian's journey continues....
Now the air is colder. Now the moon is always full. Now the light is silver and it breaks and shimmers on fields of bright snow. Now there are no roads, no walls, no pens, just endless space to run.
This is where Siberians gather, North of the Rainbow Bridge.
They wait in this beautiful place, happy, but not complete. Suddenly, a howl begins, as one dog senses someone coming, someone very special. All the Siberians raise their heads and join in the ancient chorus. They dance like moonbeams and sing like winter winds.
There are red ones like dawn streaks, black ones splattered with many colors and silver ones like the first strange hour before light. They line up as if in harness and run together, in a scintillating, many-colored streak.
The leader of the team guides the others past the fields and river, with racing feet and racing heart. They rush to greet the new arrival at the Rainbow Bridge, where the leader is rejoined with its beloved person, never to be parted again.
The glory of the reunion is celebrated by all the Siberians dwelling beyond the Bridge, a glimmering, multicolored team leaping and whirling with joy.
The light from that scene is what we see on magical evenings in the northernmost parts of this Earth:
The Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights beyond the Rainbow Bridge.

(Author Unknown)

Love your thoughts on the race Meghan, it has been a great one, other than sad for Brent Sass having to scratch.

The sun is rising on March 14th and while most of the world is all a'twitter about the Oscars ( I just googled them cause I don't REALLY know what they are exactly...something to do with entertainment industry) I'm fully focused on Alaska, and the great grand odyssey that is winding down in Nome today.
The first phenomenal dog team is about to arrive ... maybe at 10:00 AK time .. .and it is piloted by none other than Ryan Redington, the grandson of the man who dreamed big.. who dreamed the BIGGEST, and made that big dream a reality back in 1973 when he, along with Dorothy Page, orchestrated one of the largest events in the world. .. the Iditarod dog sled race.
Conceived in response to the replacement of dog teams by snow machine, the Iditarod is to Alaskans what the Tour de France is to the French. It is a Great Grand Odyssey, it is the Call of the Wild, it is human and humans' best friend, accomplishing a journey thru the wildest of wild country. It is an enormous test of determination and grit, unimagined by most.
I thank the heavens, ......that in in this weird new world of technology, space travel, AI, and a shrinking planet, .... that there is an Iditarod.

And worth mentioning for some ..
My observations, after all these years, is that all people are not cut from the same cloth. It seems to be that humankind strives mostly to be comfortable, to reduce risk, to stay safe. But there's some that seek to push the limits of their comfort, risk, and safety in favour of experience and adventure....in favour of Grand Odysseys.
And darn it all.. but after 6 and more decades of living with dogs... I see the same division in dogs.
I know a daschund that comes outside when it's t-shirt weather for my sled dogs and that little Weiner dog wants to scamper back inside to the wood stove even before he has a poo. All dogs are not the same either! Sled dogs love to travel. They love to adventure. They want to see around the next corner. And that's why I found my way off the rock walls, off the big ski chutes.... to a life with sleddogs. I can't imagine a life with any other sort of dog. These dogs are go'ers.
Yup, those dogs rolling into Nome are going to be tired, but they're going to be so deeply satisfied on a level most dogs can't even imagine.

The Iditarod, and all mushing events, are so unique, as it is one of few sports in the world that is truly gender-neutral; where men and women compete together on the same playing field, enduring the same challenges and obstacles. While all Iditarod competitors are incredible athletes without a doubt, today, on International Women's Day, we are going to take a moment to give a shout out to these incredbile women of Iditarod 51!