Our Exciting Weekend

The girls here. We haven't blogged for a while, so we thought we'd update everyone on our exciting weekend. On Saturday our mom was in a race, and we got to go along and watch.

Our mom was on a team with our Auntie Jo, who is Storm and Wolf's mom. Here's Auntie Jo during her part of the race. We like this forest because sometimes we get to do sleddoggery sport in it. Dad took Dakota for a couple of sleddoggery bike rides, and Georgia got to go for walks.

He we are just relaxing in the sun.

Then on Sunday mom and dad dropped us off at Doggie Club Med for the night. Dakota loves this place because there are dogs to play with EVERYWHERE. This was Georgia's first visit. We're the two grey blobs in the centre towards the back.

 Mom and dad didn't say why we were getting a holiday. It was only later that we learned that they had a holiday as well...

That's right! They went off to do sled doggery stuff without us! They took a long, long drive up a mountain to a place called the Snow Farm. We didn't get to go because mom and dad just wanted to watch and help out, and sometimes we're not very fun to travel with.

Here are some teams preparing for the race on the first day.

Here's the race. It was held in the evening--that's why it looks dark.

Here's a close-up of some of the teams. The two in the front are members of our club. Every year they dress up, and this year they were cheerleaders.

Here's an even closer close-up. They were wearing yellow skirts and long blond wigs. They also carried gold pom poms, but they're kinda hard to race with.

This was the view from the Snow Farm on the first day.

This was the same view on the second day. A storm hit overnight, and it was still snowing the next day. The race had to be cancelled because of snow drifts on the trails and low visibility.

Here's a big husky team hanging out in the snow. They seemed to like it. Mom and dad saw lots of other doggies with coats who didn't seem to like it so much!

And finally here's the view on the way down the mountain. There wasn't any snow in the valley. Just a lot of rain. Mom and dad have promised that we can go next year, and maybe we'll even get to compete!

Don't laugh at my ears!

When Mom looks at my ears, she is reminded of this hideous device from the 1980s:

What do you think?

Sleddoggery Relay Race

Baby G here. Dakota is being her lazy labrador self and can't be bothered to blog about the sleddoggery relay race from a couple of weekends ago, so I will.

I'm still too young to participate in such fun stuff, so I had to stay at the car, but lots of friends came by to say "hello". And I ended up with a couple of admirers, but more on that in a later blog!

Here we are in the car. Even though we have all the room in the back, we insisted on squishing up together on one seat for the loooooong drive. Dak's bottom makes a nice pillow for my fluffy puppy head.

Here are some scenes from before the race:

Storm (Bad Cousin #1) is the black dog.

Look it is Koda's mums car (white) with her bike on the back

Dakota was really nervous, so here she is having a private "moment" next to a tree. She usually waits until she's in the middle of a race to stop for a poo (or two). She thinks it's funny to watch dad crash. But this time she decided she didn't want any distractions during her part of the race.

The first part of the relay was a canicross that mom did with Wolf (Bad Cousin #2). They started off well, but then Wolf froze next to a tree. Mom thought he was having a bit of a spooky-dooky mental breakdown (he is a sensitive show dog after all), but really he was just having a poo. They ended up second to last, only doing better than the girl who got lost!

Dakota did a bikejor leg with dad. Mom was too busy looking after me to take their picture, but here Dak is afterward, very tired but very, very happy. I don't know why I'm smiling, I didn't get to do anything.

Storm did two legs in the relay, a bikejor and scooer. She borrowed Dakota's brand new scooter (from the previous blog) and ended up crashing.

Here's Storm feeling really tired after all her hard work.

Storm and Wolf's mom won this trophy for her crash on the scooter. It's the "Ding of the Week". She's very proud of it.

Our team placed second overall, which we're very proud of since this is our first season doing the sleddoggery thing. Dad says that Dakota was the fastest one in her bikejor leg, and he kept telling her what a good girl she was. I can't wait until next year when he'll say things like that to me.

 We had a great time, as usual!

Georgias New Toy

Dakota here, hows everyone doing?

Well we are nearing the end of the sled dog season, and because Georgia is getting bigger she also needs a people pulling machine. So dad organised one for her ... (although she will only get to use it with me for real short trips until she grows up a bit more)



Now I know what you are thinking, hey that looks like your one, well you would be right but this is not really about G's new sled. Dad has actually taken all the parts off that one, and chucked a few away. Then went to bike shop and came back with a bag of shiney new parts and is gonna get it painted blah blah blah ...

But that is not the exciting news ... dad has finally finished building my blinged out scooter, he keeps raving on about how light it is, all I care about is the handlebar grips match my collar, red really does suit me. And with his fat arse on it, it does not matter how light it is.

Now dad was not totally happy, he rides mountain bikes and is going through a 29er wheel phase, I prefer to call it a mid life crisis though (he is a bit young for a crisis though). So he grabbed one of his 'big' wheels for the front, there that looks way more bling (not). It does mean we will clear obstacles better.

We took it for a short spin this afternoon, dad nearly crashed on the first corner, it turns a wee bit slower with the big wheel.

Now I know what you are thinking, mow your lawn, it looks horrible. Mum reckons she will have better luck convincing dad that he does not need another bike ... maybe she should not let him get another bike until it is tidy.

Woof

Justice for Bear-Bear

We just heard a shocking story about the death of Bear-Bear, a husky in the USA who was shot and killed by an off-duty officer at a neighbourhood dog park. Apparently the officer thought that Bear-Bear was attacking his German Shepherd while the person with Bear-Bear said they were playing. We all know that huskies have a very physical manner of playing, and it could have been an unfortunate misunderstanding. No matter what happened, it's distressing to hear that someone resorted to a firearm. You can read more about the story here:

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/features/mutts/blog/

There is a petition to have the case taken seriously (the police quickly closed the investigation saying there was no criminal activity) which can be found at:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/justice-foe-bear-bear

Twins?

Georgia here--again! Dakota is supposed to blog about our sleddoggery weekend, but she's a lazy huskador and hasn't gotten around to it yet. She had a busy day at doggy daycare playing with a big German shepherd and needs her sleep. So I thought I'd steal the computer and show you some stuff.

Here we are staring out the window when dad left for work the other morning. Don't we look like twins? Lots of people ask if we're related or if Dakota is my mom. We're not related at all. We're not even from the same city. We don't even look like our parents. In fact, the only thing we have in common is that we're half husky--but not even the same colour husky.

This is Dakota's mom Reilly. She's a really big chocolate lab. Dakota's litter was her first one, and she was a really good mom.

This is Dakota's dad Max. He has fathered many, many litters.

This is Dakota's sister Sophie. She doesn't look anything like their parents either, but her face and the way she stands is just like Dakota. Even though they're different colours, you can tell they're sisters.

This is my mom Aurora. She doesn't look too good in this picture. Her stomach and legs are shaved because my litter was delivered cesarean section by a vet. In fact, the nice vet is a member of our sleddoggery club. But I haven't had a chance to meet her yet.

This is my dad Hutch. He's a big slobbery golden retriever and VERY friendly. When my new mom and dad came to visit me, he kept pushing in because he wanted pats.

This is me with my brother Ben. I get to see him whenever I want because his mom owns the pet shop that we go to for biscuits and toys. I used to pin him down when I saw him, but now he pins me down. He and I also look alike even though we're different colours. Can you see the resemblance?

So I am wondering how Dakota and I ended up looking the same when our parents are so different? Maybe we were meant to be together? We'll certainly make a striking two dog sleddoggery team next year!