May 2015 – themushingmamablog

With the abrupt ending of winter, the spring showers have brought more than just mud. We’ve now had our sled-dogs for over a year so it’s been interesting to watch them as they’ve changed throughout the seasons. Around Thanksgiving last year, their demeanor changed with the temperature. They instantly knew that their season had begun – and their drive to run and pull kicked into high gear. With limited snow and only one race to run, they proved themselves by coming in first place! And with that, spring seemed to reign in; a quick end to a pretty nonexistent winter. I’m not sure if the the dogs are retaliating, bored, or just a little depressed. They’ve started digging holes, breaking chains, becoming finicky eaters, and for some reason… peeing on more things than usual. When I gave one of the boys clean water a few days ago, he walked over and peed in the bucket – apparently saying, “take that.” I said, “Umm… that’s your water, buddy… not mine.” And concluded that we’ve never claimed to have the brightest team of dogs! Still, I decided to get their buckets off the ground and hang them from their houses just to help keep them from drinking their own urine. I broke at least two fingernails in the process. Now that’s love. Pearl and Eddie have also decided to become kibble connoisseurs. Pearl will only eat her food if it’s placed on top of her house – if we put her bowl on the ground, she scoops hay into it. Must be an Alaskan thing. And ever since Eddie he won his race, he’s developed an ego. He lounges around and prefers his food to be dry – not soaked. We all concede because, well, he is awesome. We’ve also come to terms with the seemingly never ending spring mud and have come up with a simple solution – we dress accordingly. I’m guessing summer will be a time of play, along with a little training if the weather permits. Hopefully this aging team can pull out many more races next year. When that late November wind blows, I have every confidence that their innate senses will kick in and give us a few more victories!