A Year Gone By Already!!

   I can't believe its been almost a year since our last post- it's crazy how the time has slipped by us.  So much has happened in our pack, I'm not quite sure where to begin.  Our life has been full of crazy husky moments and covered in husky fur 24/7 and we wouldn't trade a thing.
   Back in June, our German Shepherd, Sarge, went to the CPE agility nationals for the first time in his career.  Unknowingly (until I tripped on it going out the front door from where UPS put it), Sarge had received first place in his jump height in Veteran Games.  Once I opened the box, I did a little happy dance.  A few months later in October, Sarge earned his first CPE championship on a Snooker round of all things.  Now we can refer to him as C-ATCH Sarge.  He has been amazing all year long and just being his crazy self.  There are days when we run and compete that he turns into the class clown and has me laughing the entire way and others where he is so serious about his job, he reminds me of how he got his name.

Sarge's C-ATCH
Judged by Lesa Layman

   Aside from Sarge's achievements, we have also added to our pack, having taken in an owner surrender one day after Thanksgiving.  After learning her personality, we decided to keep her former name and register her AKC name as SilverStar's Saturn Sky.  It is doubtful she had seen a vet previous to this week, but our vet just fell in love with her and saw the same potential in her that we did.  She was chocked full of worms, in need of heartworm prevention, and needed to be vaccinated for everything.  After being wormed and receiving some TLC, Sky is back to being her healthy self and trying to find her place among her new siblings.  She does lacks a lot in dog socialization and isn't sure how to greet them or get them to play with her.  The others are not thrilled with the lack of manners and have kept the play to themselves.  I'm positive with time she will figure it out, but for now the pack seems to be studying her and trying to figure her out.

SilverStar's Saturn Sky: Enjoying her first major snowfall

   Tundra, Mac, & Revvy have all started their conditioning for sled season and are doing an awesome job.   Tundra is maintaining his 2.5 mile runs and working on keeping his speed at a min of 14 km/hr since he seemed to have gained weight on the off season.  Revvy is going back to basics and struggling, but we are hoping she will pull her way back to the top in no time.  This year, we are heavily considering running her in point to give her a break as I worry she might be souring on leading the team.  Last year's addition, Mac, continues to stun and impress me on his work ethic and willingess to go out and get the job done.  He has almost tripled his last year's mileage and is maxing his run out at six miles.  His short runs at 2.5 miles have him doing under 6 min/mi.  Our new addition this year, Sky, has started her pull training and seems to be taking to it like a fish in water, preferring to run while pulling heavy loads and hasn't given up no matter what I've asked.  I will be looking hard at her and Mac as up and coming leaders to replace Revvy and Tundra out front next season and move those two back to team.  Also, in addition to the changes, we are also interviewing with a rescue on a possible sixth addition to the team.  If it comes to fruition, we will have to start calling ourselves the SilverStar Six because every time we go out, the dogs always give their best, usually resulting in us being on someone's six lol.  Overall, we are super-excited to see where this season takes us!
   In addition, we would like to thank those who have been following our doggie adventures.  We really appreciate your loyalty and support more than you will ever know.

Mush Love and Happy Howlidays to everyone!
The SilverStar Team

A Snowy Adventure

     SNOW!!  We finally got enough of the white stuff to hit the trails and the dogs couldn't take off fast enough at the trail head.  They had me off the sled and dragging on the ground for a few good feet after the first turn.  Training a yearling wheel definitely has some drawbacks....like skating along the trail on your belly after your newbie decides to cut the corner turn too tight and you didn't anticipate soon enough to swing the sled wide.  I proudly faced down that tree and managed to avoid it, while still remaining in once piece along with our sled.  From the look of things, Mac and I are gonna have to get used to how to do things together and I have to remember he's not going to run like Tundra in wheel.  Thank goodness my leaders, Revvy and Tundra, decided to obey my whoa! command or I'd still be somewhere on the trail being drug along by my lot of overzealous Sibes.
     Now, while being drug along behind a sled team, belly down, clinging stubbornly to the sled might seem like a bad day to some, I'd still match my worst day on the back of the sled to my worst day at work and still choose a day with the dogs.  Lately, with all the bruises I've been sporting, I've been asked repeatedly, why do you do it?  Why do you mush?  My answer is simple.  Sledding is my zen when I'm having a rough week and need to recharge....being out in nature, removed from people, with only you and a team of your best four-legged friends is hard to put into words.  There are no judgments, just a simple bliss.  My dogs and I are a truly bonded team and I wouldn't change it.  To those who would challenge me that running dogs is cruel and abusive, I return your challenge.  Come out to the races and show me a dog without a smile and one that isn't jumping like crazy at the sight of their harness.  They love it!

Alum Creek State Park 2013
Lead: Tundra (L) & Revvy (R)
Wheel: Mac Truck (L) & Kamrie (R)

Cold Snap!

     Whew!  What a crazy year this has been and we are not even out the first month.  All FOUR of our vehicles quit running after the first of the year, the repair bills and the vet bills from Shelby are killing any surplus funds we managed to save last year, and we didn't even get to enjoy the first snow with our sled due to all the vehicle drama.  My Jeep is slowly being repaired after its accident last February, but it's a slow process because apparently I know how to wreck them.  We replaced three damaged fenders thanks to a local body shop guy.  Then with the help of friends, we replaced both axles, all four rotors, rear brake pads, the fuel pump, front and rear lights, front header panel, rear axle bearings and hubs, and the front shock absorbers.  In addition to all that, we still need to adjust the steering wheel so that straight is actually straight.  One would think that this would get a vehicle up and running for us, but no, of course not! Now, after all this, the Jeep develops a vacuum leak somewhere in the throttle body.  Crazy times to be sure!
     Needless to say we have been busy trying to keep up with life's drama and still have enough of ourselves left over to give to the dogs.  Sarge has been taking time off to recoup from a busy trial season, but now he's restless and rearing to go already for his next season starting in April.  Tundra has moved up from wheel into lead again until I can find another lead dog to run with Revvy.  Tundra's husky ADD is making things interesting and running next to a young pup just increases those "OOOO SQUIRREL" moments.  Mac is settling into wheel and his strength and work attitude are truly a thing of beauty.  Our old team member, Kamrie, has returned to the main team in wheel to show the young pup a thing or two about his new job.  Turning on a dime is no longer a problem and I have the scrapes and bruises to prove it! :)  Despite the circumstances we found ourselves in for November, we went out to the Dryland Challenge in Kirtland and ran some practice runs with the dogs both days after the competitors had raced.  Originally we had planned to race ourselves, but the young, upcoming team wasn't ready without an experienced lead in the front and our hearts wouldn't have been in it.

    This morning was probably the first morning in a couple of years I had to put on almost as much gear to take out the dogs as I do for a full day of trail running with them.  BRRR!! It was certainly cold enough to even make our hardened huskies stand at the door and whine to come back in.  At last check we were running at six degrees farenheit, which is not something we've seen in Ohio in quite some time.  It was definitely a shock to the system to get out from underneath warm covers and walk outside into the frigid air.  However, we have our paws crossed that hopefully this cold will bring some snow in and recover the trails.  Maybe, just maybe, the rolling paperweight that is our truck might be able to get us down the trails and back without breaking down.

Mush on!
SilverStar Kennels