It's been hectic both at work and at home, training and hunting are pretty much mutually exclusive, but I've been trying to do both. We had the 11th and 12th off, so I got in some bike runs since I will be running the novice class 2 dog bikejore at Kirtland this coming weekend. My two racers will be Freya and Bandit, and I'll probably take Princess as a sub in case one of them is injured or gets worn paws.
Freya and Bandit went out on a 5 miler with me Thursday and man can those dogs pull! It was very difficult for me to get started as they kept pulling the bike out from under me before I could get on it. But finally I was able to get them to stand still long enough to throw my leg over the bar and stand on a pedal. I'm sure I don't need to rave again about how great they are, but I so truly love those two as a team! Only once did Freya get a wild look in her eye as her ears perked and her head came up to sniff the wind. A quick "Leave it" was enough to keep her from chasing whatever it was she detected. We flew past the mile and then the two mile, and almost to the top of the mountain before I asked Freya to turn around. She executed a neat come around, and it was racing down the mountain, back around by the mini-railroad, past the hunting trail and to the house. They only slowed as we approached the driveway. Bandit had run so fast and pulled so hard, he had worn one of his rear nails down to the quick. It had barely had a couple of drops of blood, but I fussed over him as he ate his frozen meat patty.
Friday I took out Yukon and Buck, but Jim got up to help control the dogs long enough for me to get on. I only took them four miles as I did not want to see a repeat of the ground down nails. Buck and Yukon though enthusiastic runners are not real good at "leave it", so we ended up stopping a couple of times due to squirrels and a deer. Even so, our time was incredibly fast, and I'm very proud of my dogs!
Saturday was the first day of modern gun deer season, so I took the morning off to try to get us some venison. However, I was up a little late, and watched the small herd take off before I had even loaded. Didn't see another deer all day. Sunday I was up early enough, but the dogs kept whining, and fidgeting, and the wind kept changing directions. by around 11 it was plenty clear there would be no deer, so I came in gathered up the hubby and went on our weekly grocery excursion.
Princess is a very well behaved show dog, but she can run like the wind, so she is ideal to take as she will sit quietly and calmly on the sidelines as well as be more than capable in the harness. She loves people and attention, and is a perfect ambassador for the Siberian breed. So tonight the packing begins.
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