Signs of Spring

Rhododendrons blooming.

Baby birds.

Dakota "blowing" her coat.

Hanmer Race

Hello all. Georgia here. We have been a bit slow with posting about our last sanctioned race of the season at Hanmer Springs. Mom and Dad bought a new camera, and it took them a week to figure out how to download the photos. If I had opposable thumbs, I would have had it figured out...

Here we are, relaxing on the drive. Dakota makes a nice soft pillow.

Mom and dad stayed at a place where we pupperoos were allowed inside, but we were not allowed on the furniture. Of course, I immediately jumped on the bed.

Mom and dad's new camera has a "panorama" option, so they took lots of cool photos. Here is the place we stayed, some old alpine cabins.

We asked mom to take some close-up shots of us, and here's Dakota looking quite regal.

Here I am, not quite as regal.

Relaxing on the grass together.

Relaxing on the bed together (but we're not allowed on the furniture).

Waiting for our races to begin.

It looks like a fast action shot, but actually we're walking normally. It was early in the morning (we had to be at the race by 6.30 AM), and there wasn't much light, so the photo is just blurry.

The very picturesque race start line.

Some fancy competitors.

Two-dog scooters lining up to start.

Mentally preparing for the race.

Dad and Dakota coming in to the finish line.

Dakota after her race. She only ran 4km, but she acts like she ran a marathon. Freight. She is such a drama queen.

Our winnings. Mom and I took second in canicross, and Dakota and dad took first in bikejor.

No more official races this season, just some fun club races. I have decided I want to try weightpull, and there's an event in October that we're planning to go to. I'll keep everyone posted about my training and progress.

Some Sleddoggery Viewing

Hello all. D&G here. Here's a clip from TV yesterday talking about our sleddogery sport here in New Zealand. Mark is a friend of ours, and we like him because he gives us some of that yummy food he sells.

http://tvnz.co.nz/breakfast-news/sled-dog-nationals-in-taupo-preview-3-05-video-4319278

Christchurch Race!

Hello everyone. Dakota here this time to report on our most recent race. We went to Christchurch last weekend, and it was a special trip for me because that's where I was born. My sister Sophie lives there, but I didn't get to visit her.

Here I am on the drive, concentrating hard on my strategy for the upcoming races. 

Of course, sometimes I needed to take a break from all that thinking to stick my head out the window and enjoy some fresh air.

Mom and Georgia competed in canicross. They took fourth on Saturday and fifth on Sunday, but they were competing against some very fast runners. Saturday was too warm for Georgia, so with that warm fluffy coat she wasn't able to run as fast as she wanted to.

Dad and I competed in bikejor both days. We had a big challenge because there was a guy with a really fast pointer who wanted to win. Dad and I beat him at our club's Naseby race. Now we were on his home turf. On Saturday he changed his bike, but dad and I still beat him. Here we are about to cross the finish line to take first. You can see the other guy waaaaaaay behind us. On Sunday our rival changed his dog, and we came in second place, but we only lost by one second. It was an exciting photo finish.

 

I won a bag of dog food for coming in first, a box of dog treats for coming in second and a trophy for being the overall winner for bikejor on the two days.

Only one more big race for us pupperooos next month, then our season is over. Dad and I are going to do bikejor again against our rival. Can the fat huskador beat the fast pointer and finish the season as the unofficial New Zealand South Island bikejor champ? Wish me luck!



Some famous doggies

Our mom came across this photo at work the other day. It's some of Admiral Byrd's huskies on board the ship 'Eleanor Boling' in 1928. The ship was docked in New Zealand before it headed off to Antarctica on an expedition. Our mom says if you look closely, you can see at least eight pupperoos in the photo. They're just some of the 94 huskies that were sent along.

My Second Official Race!!

Georgia here. I competed in my second official race on the weekend. It was our club's annual race, 'The Origin', and it was held in an old goldrush town called Naseby. It's a two hour drive from home, so we had to spend a couple of nights away.

Luckily mom and dad were able to rent a house that let us pupperoos inside. We're yuppy puppies, you see, and we are not accustomed to sleeping outside like other doggies. It even had a fenced yard next door for us to safely play in. A local doggie often hangs out in there, and that's his dog house.

And Dakota found his bone.

But this wasn't a holiday for us--we were there to compete. And compete we did. Mom and I ran a canicross race together. No one took any photos of us running, so the only thing I can show you is a stunning portrait of me.

Okay, I look pretty goofy. But this is me showing off my first place ribbon. That's right, mom and I won our canicross race.

Dakota was not to be outdone. She and dad won their bike-jor race. Unfortunately, Dakota is afraid of her ribbon and ran and hid under a bush when she saw it, so this is the best we could do for her portrait.

Here's everyone getting ready to race on day two. It was dawn, and FREEZING. Mom was timekeeping, so she had to stand still for a long time. But I was cozy in my ultra-fluffy goberian fur coat.

I didn't get to compete on the second day because they say I'm still too young. But I got to go for lots of walks.

Here's our car and that's mom's scooter behind it. Dad has to use mom's because he broke his at the last race and hasn't fixed it yet. You can see Dakota in the back seat trying to stick her nose out the window. I'm in there too.

Dakota and dad got to do the single-dog scooter race. They took fourth place, which is pretty good considering she's a fat huskador competing against fast skinny pointers. Look at that tongue!

She was one pooped pup when we got home, and she decided to have a snooze in MY CHAIR.

Our next and probably last race of the season will be in Christchurch in two weeks. I'm really excited because they say I'll be old enough to compete in two races. On day one I'll do canicross with mom again, and Dakota and dad will do bike-jor. But on day two I get to do two-dog scooter with Dakota. We have never run together in a race, so hopefully I don't do something stupid like bite Dakota, which I sometimes do when we're practicing. Wish us luck!

My First Official Race!

Georgia here. This weekend I participated in my first official race. I'm a over a year old and a big girl now, so mom and dad say I can start competing. But they say I need to take it easy because I am still a growing girl. Here I am on the drive. It was nearly a three hour trip, and I have been known to get a little carsick on these long drives.

Here's everyone on the first day before the race started. Our car is the one on the right.

I got to run a canicross race with my mom. We did really well and took second place for the women. Last month my mom and Dakota ran the same course. I made mom run it 43 seconds faster than Dakota did. Dad always thought I would be the faster dog. Here I am with my rosette. I am a bit scared of it.

Here's Dakota after her race on the first day. She did single dog scooter with dad. She doesn't look like a doggie who has just run a 3.5 km race, does she?

Well, that's because the scooter broke just after they started. Dad had to run alongside pushing it most of the way and Dakota couldn't run as fast as she wanted to. You can see where the frame bent at the curved part.

Here's Dakota having a snooze at the motel that evening. She sort of naps like a dog that has just run a race.

Here I am taking my nap. I am definitely napping like a dog that has just run a race. I was absolutely pooped.

Mom took some snaps of some of our friends from down south finishing their races.

Here's Dakota after her race on the second day. She looks very different from the first day, doesn't she? Dad borrowed a scooter, and it didn't break, so Dakota ran her little huskador heart out. But when she looks like this with spit all over her face, I call her a "slobrador".

Here she is hugging her water bowl. Look at the size of that tongue! She and dad took fourth, and I am very proud of my big sister.

Then we had that long drive home. Dakota decided I would make a nice soft pillow for the trip, but I didn't mind because she ran such a good race. At least she wasn't standing on my head like the last time we went away.

 Three weeks until the next race!

Another Sunday Funday

Hi folks. Georgia here. Race season is starting, so that means our weekends are getting busy. Last weekend we had our first club fun race called "The Spectacle". It was a warm weekend, which was great for the humans, but not so good for us. But I am jumping ahead of myself.

Dad took us for a walk Sunday morning, and as we went past the beach, we realised there was something more interesting than usual to sniff in the bushes. We found a bunny!

Dad saw that it wasn't a wild rabbit but someone's pet that must have escaped. So we went home and sent mom down to catch it. She couldn't find it, but luckily some nice community service workers who were stopped at the beach having their morning break spotted it and caught it for her.

My kitty Minni was entertained by it. She says it was like tv for cats. Dakota and I could smell it, but we were locked in the back while Minni and the bunny got to hang out in the front. We tried to dig out, but we weren't very successful. Later that day, after asking at three stores, two houses and one little boy on a bike, mom found where the bunny lived and took it home. It lives in a big tire with two guinea pigs.

Then it was race time. Mom and I did canicross and took second, but there were only three of us running. We beat a little girl but got beat by her fast father. Lazy dad didn't get any pictures of us.

Dad and Dakota did a bike-jor race and took first. But there was only one other dog, so it wasn't a huge victory.

Despite the lack of competition, we were still pooped pooches. But happy ones. Look at the smiles on our faces.

The Bad Cousins were there too, doing two dog stuff. First they ran canicross (boy a human can go FAST when two dogs are pulling), then they did scooter and took second. Here they are posing nicely for a photo with their mom, our Aunty Jo-Jo. Dakota's boyfriend Wolf is on the left. He's a fancy show dog.

Then they saw some other dogs and stopped posing so nicely.

When they were getting ready for their race, Bad Cousin Storm figured out how to back out of her harness and run around. For that they won the prize for the best "Spectacle" of the race.

What adventures will this weekend hold?