September 14th Weekend Run

Saturday I hooked up Samantha and Moon in lead with Princess and Buck in wheel to the pedal cart. Since Samantha doesn't like the x-back harnesses and is slower than the race team, this turned out to be a good match for Princess and Buck's first run and Moon's second. She kept a good steady slow lope that was easy for the puppies to keep up with and still pull on their harnesses. The pups and Samantha had a blast, almost as much fun as I did! Princess was whining to get going, and as soon as she is done with her show career, she's definitely moving up to the race team. In the meantime Buck will get his shot on the fast team this coming weekend hopefully (weather and time allowing).

Sunday I took out Freya and Yukon in lead with Demon and Bandit. WOW! What a team! Bandit is as frisky and eager to get moving as Freya, but thankfully more controllable! He had no problems keeping the pace with Freya and Yukon! What a powerhouse runner! Demon, on the other hand, was having definite trouble keeping up. He's a great dog and a strong puller, he just doesn't have the fast build. By the 3/4 mile mark, I halted the team to unhook Demon's tug line and let him just run along. He barely kept up, poor guy, so he is going on the puppy team for now. In a way that is a bit of a relief, as he is so shy he would be a lot of trouble taking to a race and I'm not sure I would be able to recover him should he ever get loose in an unfamiliar area.

The race team now consists of Freya, Yukon and Bandit with a possible inclusion of Buck. One thing is clear, though, as fast as they ran, they wore their pads slightly, so it is time to get booties for them. They are ready to hit up the circuit this year! So I'm planning on attending one or two non-pro events to see how they do and get them some experience before hitting the real competition. Their progress is so exciting! I wish I had a radar to clock our speed, cause man did we fly!

Trying to plan out what events to attend, though is a real kicker. The budget is the main constraint, and none of them are very near to where I live. So it's going to be tough.