Dog Scootering a journey

[MPbandmom]

I have been thinking about pulling my hybrid bicycle out of the shed and taking it to the bike shop for a check up/tune up. Then taking it out some this summer to get my bicycling legs and stuff back into some semblance of condition. Some of the scooter crowd with single dogs have been switching to bikejoring and have given the experience favorable reviews. Even from those who, like me, are rather wary of the idea of combining bicycle and dog power. I figure Sky is essentially well trained. Bikejoring uses the tugline like scootering, so no feeling of being pulled over sideways at any moment that was the case with the walkey dog which turned me off of the bicycle and onto the scooter in the first place. I think it will be easier for Sky, and subsequently also me, should we encounter hills. It might re-open the possibility of trying another race.

I want to try the canal towpath with my bike this summer to determine whether a hybrid is suitable for the dirt surface, or whether I need to see if I can fit/borrow my daughter's mountain bike which seems to have been abandoned for lack of storage space and fear of theft where she is currently living.

[Nettle]

Might as well make use of it then, MPb - maybe take some waterwings for canalside work.

[MPbandmom]

maybe take some waterwings for canalside work.

That may well be some very good advice. I've heard the waterfowl that Sky wanted to go after the couple of times we scootered along the canal are not present in the deep winter. Hoping for a more normal for us winter this year, which should allow more mushing without the lure of the waterfowl.

[MPbandmom]

I have pulled my bike out of the tangle. Aired up the tires, taken a look at the pedals and thought those toe clips are probably going to have to go, I have the old racing style with the strap that one would tighten across one's foot. I never tighten them down, but it still requires sliding one's foot into and out of the toe clips in a front to back manner. Not the throw one's feet out to the side to catch oneself manner. My children's bicycles have "mountain bike" toe clips which just provide a bit of stability to keep one's foot from slipping off of the pedals while allowing quick and easy removal of feet from pedals.

Consultation with other bikejorers on the to clip or not to clip topic indicates a lot depends on the dog being run. Reliable dogs can be run with clips and the clips are an asset to the bicyclist. Less reliable dogs should be run with out the use of clips to allow for quick and easy removal of feet from pedals.

I think I am going to try without any toe clips first, but I have some memory of trying that with my bicycle shoes and my feet slipping off of the pedals because bicycling shoes don't really have any tread to speak of. I am thinking I may have to buy a pair of cross trainers for bikejoring. I would sacrifice some stiffness in the toe area in favor of better overall grip and walkability. If I still have trouble keeping my feet on the pedals when I want to, I will probably get some of the mountain bike clips. Of course, if I end up riding my daughter's bike, it already has that style of clip on it. Further looking at her bicycle has me wondering if it is a mountain bike or a larger framed, suspension hybrid. It has street style tires that don't appear to be significantly wider than what is on my bike.

We buy our bicycles from the used bike section of our local bike shop. We learned when we first bought the kids "adult" multispeed bicycles that one can get year end models for a lower rate. We bought 3 new bicycles this way one year. Then I was looking for something other than my old 10 turned 15 speed road bike and happened to spot a used hybrid available at the shop. This is the bike I am considering doing bikejoring with. When I made the switch, I immediately fell in love with the hybrid. It had been owned by a woman, who had done some upgrades to it and it is so much more of a pleasant ride than my old road bike was. I am definitely sold on buying used. One can get a much higher quality bicycle for about the same price as a lower quality new one. They are gone over by the store mechanics and are sound rides. I have had mine for at least 15 years now and have had no problems with it whatsoever.

Of the 3 "adult" multispeed bikes we bought that year, two have been replaced with used large tube frame, suspension bikes. One of which is the one belonging to my daughter that is under consideration for bikejoring. The kids were large enough at the time that we bought the bikes that it was estimated that only our daughter, being the youngest, would likely eventually outgrow the bikes. Only our oldest has held onto the bike he received, although I have told him several times that he should consider getting a bike with a taller frame as he is 6' tall and riding a bicycle with the same frame size as his 5'4" mother. Of course he has his seat higher and it works, but I think a taller frame would work better for him.

Just something to think about if you are looking to buy a bicycle. The only bicycles I have ever regretted buying were from a store other than a bicycle shop. My first 10 speed, and a small first bike for my oldest. Department stores bicycles are not the same quality that you would find at your local bike shop. If price is an issue, see if your bike shop has used or clearance models. Like cars, new models come out every year. Our bike shop will even check out and adjust our bikes for free. Obviously any actual repairs requiring parts cost, but a basic tune up to keep the bike running well and lasting a long time is free. You don't get that from a department store.

[MPbandmom]

I have now started contemplating the possibility of bikejoring the entire length of the canal which is 169 miles. Years ago when my children were in Scouts I became aware of a patch program for various sections of the canal towpath and for completing the entire length. I have learned that a member of one of the local mushing groups has biked the entire length, but only bikejored the northern portion. She did this utilizing a trailer so the dog ran part time and when the temperatures were too high to work dogs, the dog got to chill and ride in the trailer.

I even have a potential partner for this venture. I'm thinking training and testing rides this fall and winter in the local area and then possibly next spring heading to the northern end and having a go from there. Then I just need to figure out how to complete the middle. That is assuming I don't spend one night in a tent sleeping on the ground and decide there is absolutely no way my body will tolerate such abuse. I will also need to save up to buy a new bike trailer as I currently only have a frame and the hitch system is not compatible with my hybrid anyway. The first new piece of equipment that I want to buy is an inflatable canoe. It will be another month or two before I am able to swing that.

[MPbandmom]

Well, so far, all I have accomplished on the bikejoring front is that airing up of the tires.

The club held a scooter clinic today. We had one experienced scooter person give lots of good safety tips for newbies and oldsters alike and another person who talked about the equipment and how to measure for harnesses. They had several scooters for people to try and harnesses for dogs to try. I was very impressed with the way the newbie testing of equipment was run. Dog owner was handed a scooter to try out. Dog was hooked up to experienced musher's rig. Dog owner tried out riding scooter in front of dog who was then encouraged to follow "mom" or "dad" and thus start to get the hang of pulling. Once dog owner was more comfortable riding the scooter and dog had gotten something of an idea that s/he could run, dog was hooked to scooter owner was riding.

I didn't take my scooter because I originally was going to go by myself in my car. But, my car has been in the shop just about every day this week and OH decided to join me, so I ended up taking dogs and van, but still didn't really have any plans to scooter because it is August after all and the clinic was scheduled for mid-day. It turned out to be a cloudy, much cooler than normal day, although rather humid. After helping a couple of newbies get started by sharing some of my other equipment (harness and tug lines) that just kind of live in the van anyway, I was starting to get the itch to try out one of the new larger scooters that were there. I love my scooter, but it is a tad short on the handlebars. The disadvantage to the larger scooters is that they have a much higher platform and are generally heavier than my scooter is.

So, I harnessed Sky up and we took one for a spin. The owner of the one we tried out, has experience with sledding but is new to scootering and having some confidence issues with the balance on the scooter. She commented that it was nice to see the scooter moving with a dog in front of it like it should be. I suggested that the balance improves with speed and she tested that theory out just coasting down a hill with no dog attached. She came back and confirmed that the balance did indeed improve with additional speed, but that the additional speed in and of itself was a bit nerve wracking. She kept at it though and I believe she will eventually get to the point of being confident and adding a dog to the set up.

I believe I still prefer my scooter over the larger one. Riding a scooter just felt right. I will admit that I am having confidence issues with the prospect of bikejoring. I got my bike out and it seemed so big. I had planned on taking it out and just trying to get the feel back of riding it, but so far, that hasn't happened. Part of the problem is that unlike the scooter, it won't fit handily in the back of the van. The bike rack I have doesn't really work on the doors on the van. Last time, I tried using it with the van, I almost lost the rack, scooter included, while crossing railroad tracks.

Sky did fine with the scooter today. Of course, it was running downhill and then we walked back up the hill. I find myself wondering if we should stick to the scooter and just walk when the pulling gets harder like we have been doing. Then I also find myself thinking that i need to pull the bike back out of the shed and give it a go. I need to come up with a way to transport the bike. I also still need to get the toe clips off of the pedals. Maybe I'll work it out over Labor Day weekend. Fall and scootering season are on the way.

[MPbandmom]

Here we are, the beginning of Fall. A couple of the sammys have already taken advantage of a few cool mornings that we have had recently and gotten out for some scootering. Some that are planning on attending several dryland races this season have been heading north to seek out cooler weather to train in.

The samoyed club has come up with a motivational competition to help sammy owners earn the National breed club titles for working dogs. It is strictly sammies only and yet somehow my name has been included on the list of interested parties. I just don't have a dog listed with my name. I am certain, I would not run Sky to the extent that the Sammys are required to run for the title, so I will need to borrow a sammy to run for somebody who maybe can't run their own dog. The only thing that worries me about that is that my dogs are trained (mostly) and samoyeds are generally much stronger than even Sky is. On the plus side, it means I could run a single dog with my scooter. On the minus side, I could end up being drug into the canal. Not that Sky didn't try that herself last time I ran her along there. On the downside, it means spending time with somebody else's dog and not running my own dog. On the up side, it means helping somebody's dog to attain something my dogs wouldn't even be qualified for even if I did feel like the distance was appropriate for them. Also on the upside, I can probably get assistance getting my two through the DSA Canicross/scootering merit badge. The sammys have to run 53 miles for the first level of their title. Sky and Sirius only have to run a mile for the merit badge. They also have to demonstrate that they know the scootering commands. I have to demonstrate that I know how to properly care for the canine athlete. In my mind, the ideal would be to borrow a go pro from a fellow club member to record the run. I will also need to borrow another dog and scooter team to run in front of us. Sky could pass the 1 mile run with little trouble. Sirius is another matter. Sirius will run with Sky, but doesn't pull unless there is something up ahead that she wants to get to. Thus, I believe that in order to show her pulling in harness for the mile distance, I will need another team in front of us for her to chase. For her, I will be quite content with the badge. Then she can stay at home while Sky has other opportunities to run.

The Samoyed challenge is running from October 1 to April. The nearness of this prompted me go pull my hybrid out of the shed again. The tires were still inflated from last time, Yay! This time, I took the toe clips off of the pedals. I am now watching an auction for an aerobar as that is what is commonly used by club members as a tugline gadget to keep the tugline from getting tangled up in the front wheel.

I am still wary of bikejoring. OH expressed reservations about me running the dogs with the bike today which really didn't help ease my mind any. The bike just looks so tall and big, and far away from the ground compared to my little scooter. I keep telling myself that others have discovered that it isn't as scary as they had imagined and it is for the benefit of Sky to reduce the pulling she has to do as a single dog.

Off to check my auction.

[MPbandmom]

Well, I didn't manage to snag that aerobar, but I have managed to snag a different one. I have determined that they come in two different mount sizes and the one I secured has the larger size. If for some reason it is way too big for the bike handlebars, maybe it will fit on the scooter handlebars and I will go in search of one of the smaller ones for the bike. If it is too large for the bike but not large enough for the scooter, I will just come up with spacers and use it on the bike.

The sammys started out at 5 miles, then jumped to 7 miles, and think 10 miles will be no problem. And here I'm concerned about running Sky as far as 5 miles. Of course the difference is these particular sammys are able to run during the week and multiple days during the week and thus can build up strength and endurance. Sky on the other hand, is stuck more towards the weekend warrior type thing, which limits her ability to build up strength and endurance.

Heck, I don't even know if I could bikejor 5 miles. Typically when I was riding more, I would start each season with a few 3 miles rides before stretching the distance a bit. Usually over the riding season, I would work up to 25 miles. I haven't ridden for a couple of years and last time I rode was with a local bike group that thought 15 miles was an easy short ride. (They were really nice, but I was struggling with the distance and felt like I was really holding the group up. There was also the matter of that group mentality that seems to ignore the concept of each individual stopping for stop signs. Something that I have real issues with having spent years teaching children and youth how to ride safely following the rules and regulations of the road, which in Virginia, categorize the bicycle as a vehicle subject to the same rights and responsibilities as a motorized vehicle.) Yeah, but anyway, I am likely to have a bit of weekend warrior syndrome with this too.

[MPbandmom]

The aerobar arrived just before a camping trip that the dogs, my husband and I were doing with the Dog Scout Troop in PA that I am loosely affiliated with. They didn't have much of an agenda and had asked if anybody had any ideas or suggestions for things. I asked if anyone was interested in learning about scootering. It turned out that they were very interested. I took my scooter and did a little talk and demo about scootering. It was actually one of those rare environments where I felt comfortable running both dogs together. Then I let others try out my scooter with their dogs. They had to try the scooter first, to be certain they had a good feel for it before hooking their dog up to it. Most of these dogs are well trained freestyle or otherwise very owner focused types of dogs. It took all of them a little bit to grasp the concept that they were expected to run out in front, but once they figured it out, their owners had a blast. So much so that the troop is considering buying a troop scooter. One dog was obviously wary of the scooter and trotted away from it sideways. The owner commented that if she would move away from it in a forward direction they would actually get somewhere. Her turn was very short.

After we returned, I took the scooter to the bike shop to see about how to put the aerobar on. It turned out to be too large for the scooter handlebars, so I returned home with scooter and aerobar still not connected. There were spacers that came with the aerobar which I hadn't thought to take with me, so once back at home I added the spacers and was able to get the aerobar installed. I never got around to testing this arrangement out.

I took a day off of work to meet with one of the samoyed owners for a scooter run. OH had been giving me something of a guilt trip about how Sky was too old to run, that dogs ideal age for running was 2 - 5. (One of the disadvantages apparently of taking OH to the Samoyed scootering clinic. ) The mornings have been cool and those who don't work the M-F 9-5 kind of thing were taking advantage of the cool mornings and racking up mileage on the samtona 100. The day I had taken off of work, there was a major rainstorm the day before, so the trail would not have been in rideable condition. So, instead I had a catch up day here, but had to go back to work the following day. The following day was absolutely perfect for a morning scooter run. Several sammys added mileage to the samtona 100 and others posted pictures of their runs. Every single one of them was bikejoring.

The next day would be Saturday and my friend and I would try the scooter run again. She was going to be bikejoring with her older dog that can run just fine, but every time he ran with the scooter, he would come up lame. Now matter how short the run, every time he was pulling, he would come up limping. Like me, she was very wary of making the switch from Scooter to Bike, but had good things to say about the switch, and switching had totally resolved the problem with her dog limping.

With all of these factors in my mind, I went to the shed and pulled out my hybrid. I aired up the tires and then tried to figure out how to carry it in the van. We had taken my daughter's bike to her back in the summer and had to take the front tire off to get it into the van. I wasn't going to mess with doing that every time with my bike. I figured I would have to lie it on top of the dog boxes. I took it into the center of the van and realized that it almost fit. The wheel wells were obviously making the space more narrow, so the thought occurred to me to try the back where there were no wheel wells. Again, it almost fit.

I decided to remove the 2 x pens that kind of live in the back of the van and try again. It went in. My daughter is taller than I am and thus had a larger framed bicycle, so where her bike was too large to fit, my bike is smaller and actually does fit. I also put the scooter in as it had the aerobar and I still wasn't decided on what I was going to ride.

I arrived before my friend and had taken the bike and scooter out and decided to switch the aerobar to the bike and give bikejoring a go. Given a 2 dog team, I would definitely stick with the scooter. The further we went, the better things seemed to be except for Sky trying to go into the canal at one point after some ducks and then other times trying to go after a few squirrels in trees and other critters (I'm not sure what.) I changed the angle of the aerobar at our halfway point and the trip back felt more stable. I'm not certain if that was because of the shift in the aerobar position, Sky being tired and not going as fast, or me just generally getting my bicycle balance back or maybe the combination of the three. There are definitely advantages to bikejoring when running one dog, but it is a trade off of the perks of pedals and a seat, with the stability and closeness of feet to ground with the scooter. I will likely continue for Sky's sake.

We had one incident with another dog on the trail. He was jogging with his owner and appeared too quickly for me to get off of the bike and get Sky fully in hand. (another disadvantage of bike over scooter. The scooter I would have jumped off of and let fall wherever. The bike I am more protective of. I was holding the bike while trying to also control Sky.) Sky and the other dog ended up neck to neck and telling each other what for. Just a bunch of noise and head flailing from both of them, but had I been on the scooter, I might have been able to grab her more quickly before she was able to get that close to the other dog. It was kind of a joint owner failure. I wasn't at all certain who had started the rumble, but it ended as soon as the dogs were separated. The friend I was running with was a fair ways behind me and her assessment of the other dog was that he was looking for trouble. She managed to keep her dog away from him. The couple of other dogs we encountered, I saw far enough in advance to be able to lay the bike down off of the towpath, move Sky over to the side and get a grip with one hand on the back end of her harness and the other hand on her collar. Then I stood between her and the towpath. This worked fairly well. There was only one dog that she tried to get by me for while s/he passed.

We went about 5.7 miles. I think that may have been a bit much for Sky. She was a little iffy on getting in and out of the van. She had done the same distance last year pulling the scooter with seemingly no problem. The bike is of course heavier and I really didn't pedal the whole way out to our turn around point. I did hit the brakes quite a few times. She started out at a run and didn't really settle down into a trot until about 3/4 of the way to the turn around spot. I wasn't pedaling to take the load off of her, because she would have just gone faster and I don't trust her at higher speeds because she is known to stop suddenly or take off perpendicular to our direction of travel after some critter. Her side to side movement was also affecting the steering of the bicycle. Something that I hadn't had any trouble with on the scooter, but I had never run her with the scooter and an aerobar. The steering issue is why I adjusted the aerobar at our halfway point and I think that was likely a large part of that problem as things seemed much better on the return trip.

My friend and her dog were pretty much left in Sky's dust. Sammy's are freight haulers, not speed deamons. Plus her dog is a year older than Sky and had run 7 miles the day before, so he was a tired old fellow. She only brought 1 dog because I still hadn't decided on scooter or bike and she didn't want to leave Sky in the dust by running 2 dogs. The dog she brought is very mellow as opposed to the other possible dog who is much younger and still tends to excitedly get into other dog's faces, which she knew could be an issue with Sky. She has some of the same issues of one dog being faster than the other one that I have with Sky and Sirius and will be taking the younger one out solo tomorrow to give him a good run without having to pull the bike, his owner, and his buddy.

I plan on taking Sky for a quiet walk tomorrow. I need to get Sirius out somewhere now. OH is a bit under the weather and even though the afternoon is lovely, he doesn't want to venture forth for a joint dog walk.

[MPbandmom]

I was afraid Sky had overdone things, but after a bit of rest, she seems fine. I am always uncertain of how long to have her run since, I can't really get her out during the week.

I ran by the bike shop with my bike on the way to take Sirius for a walk at the battlefield. I was greeted warmly by the staff who had helped with trying to put the aerobar on the scooter. The one employee has experience with the Diggler scooters. If not the best of experiences. It seems he was somewhere riding down a mountain trail and wiped out breaking a shoulder. They are going to put new brake pads on and true the wheels. I was having issues with horrible screeching noises coming from the brakes, both when I was using them and when I was turning to the left. The mechanic commented that the brakes on it were the originals and dried rotted and thus hard and not really providing very good stopping power. Ahhhh, that was the problem.

Hopefully the next bikejor trip will go even better with the fixes to the bike and tug line set up.

[MPbandmom]

Third run bikejoring today and I am becoming more comfortable. I still prefer the scooter, if I had 2 dogs to run. I am not yet fully convinced as to whom this arrangement is better for. Given equal distance of travel and no accidents, the bicycle is the easier ride on the human without a doubt. It is also a smoother pull for the dog as pedaling is more even assistance, to kicking which is propel forward, stop propelling forward, and then propel forward again. I have not once had to get off and walk up a hill because Sky stopped pulling due to the resistance, and the effort of kicking up a hill always seemed like more work than it was worth when walking was much easier and still covered ground.

There is still the downside to the dog that when she is actually pulling, she is pulling more weight. Sky doesn't seem to have registered a difference. Perhaps it is a matter that once rolling, the difference is insignificant.

She ran 5 miles today with more assistance from me than last time. She also seemed to have acclimated to me being on a bicycle instead of the scooter and except for the exciting wildlife we encountered, our run was very pleasant. Sky also seemed less worn out at the end of the run than she had with the first one. The fact that she didn't run and pull like crazy for most of the first 2 1/2 miles may have had something to do with that.

We have been very fortunate so far this season with cool crisp mornings rising into comfortable afternoon temperatures.

I have a set up to take video now and if I figure out how to post it here, I will do so.

[MPbandmom]

A short clip from Siriu's run. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=98 ... =2&theater#

Sky is 80-90% on her on by, but some squirrels just are too tempting. I had arrived to the parking area just as the last of the others headed out to the trail. As a result, I ended up running solo. I knew the next lock and back would be 5 miles, but I don't have an odometer on my bike and didn't start an app on my phone because I was hoping to catch up with the others who were going to be taking a break at that next lock. We went through a stretch where there were ducks in the canal on the right and squirrels all over the place on the left. I was becoming frustrated even though Sky was going on by once commanded MOST of the time. I realized shortly after this clip that I was freaking out over the potential for her to go after something, when she was doing the right thing and passing on by after taking a good moving look. Fortunately the lock was only another 1/8 to 1/4 mile from this point. The scenery was spectacular, the squirrels and ducks just made it a little hard to enjoy. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=99 ... =2&theater#

Once we reached the lock, we waited for the others to come back through as they ran 9 miles. Then we followed them back to the parking area so that they could clear the trail of wildlife. The trip back was much more pleasant for me, although Sky really wanted to be in front of all the samoyeds. I thought I included her running in this clip, but apparently cut it after I had gotten her slowed back down to a trot. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=99 ... =2&theater#

[MPbandmom]

A new record for Sky, 6.9 miles bikejoring. I also got some excellent video of her run. We ran with 4 sammys kind of in groups of 2. The sammy Sky was running with started out having some issues with pulling in front. She is accustomed to running with other family members present and I think she was wondering where they were. I tried to be rabbit with Sky, but I don't think it helped as Sky took off and we pretty well left the little sammy in the dust. I need to take some time and tools and adjust my rearview mirror, although I tend to lie the bicycle down on the side that I have it on, so adjusting it may just be a waste of time.

When I got home, I took Sirius out for a walk at a local park for a couple of hours as OH was not feeling like taking her out. Then when I got back from that, Sky acted like she thought it was now her turn to go out again. She was definitely tired after the 6.9 miles, but recovered quickly. I have increased her meals from 8 oz to somewhere around 10 to 12 oz.

Some of the locks on the canal are nicer rest areas than others. The one we have been starting at recently has a nice picnic table by the canal. The next one up which makes a 5 mile round trip, seems to have less space and seems more like a maintenance area for the park service. The next lock after that is just .7 miles away and has a nice wide area on the river with picnic tables. Definitely a more pleasant area for a break before heading back. The group I have been running with recently usually has doughnuts of some type and we all bring our favorite hot beverage. Did I mention that the canal towpath tends to run between the canal and the river? There are sections of the canal which are no longer watered. I went past one of those sections on Saturday. There were large trees growing in what appeared to be a rather shallow but wide ditch area. I found myself wondering if there was no water there because part of the canal had been filled in, or if the canal was really just that shallow. Because it certainly looks much deeper in the sections where it is watered.

Several of the club members who do scootering and bikejoring tow dog trailers in case a dog is injured or for smaller dogs who may run a short distance and then need a ride while their owners enjoy a longer outing, or for doughnuts and coffee. This recent run, one of the sammy owners brought along her grandson in a type of trailer that I had never seen before. It was a cross between a trailer and one of those tagalong bicycle attachments. It had a nice supportive cloth bucket type seat and comes in one or two child set ups. It also had pedals for the child to assist the adult and hooked up to the bicycle like a tagalong would by the seatpost. It also ran on a single tire like the tagalong. I have been debating getting a dog or child trailer so that I could maybe run Sirius a little and then haul her along while Sky ran. The debate between a dog or child trailer was with thoughts of taking my granddaughter out some come next season when she would be old enough to wear a bicycle helmet. Of course, Sirius riding in a trailer is a big unknown as she might just be like the little eskies who ride in their trailer barking like crazy at everything they pass. I am fairly certain Sirius would only have one trip where she did that and that would be the end of that, so spending money on a trailer to maybe tow her once doesn't seem like the best idea. This makes this newfangled type of trailer more appealing. It would likely transport well since it is basically flat and wouldn't have to be folded up like the modern day bicycle trailers do. (The burley II that I had with my kids, didn't fold and so would ride on the roof of the car.) I like that the child has the ability to assist with pedaling and thus could easily ride until well old enough to ride their own bike and keep up with adult size bicycles. With my children this was generally when they graduated to a 20" tire multispeed bicycle around the age of 6 or 7.

[MPbandmom]

It is winter. The mushing season is well underway, and in our part of the world, nearing to a close in another month or so. So far it has been an interesting season. We started out strong. Early season saw crisp cool mornings that warmed up into glorious late fall days. Sky ran a record 6.something miles on one outing. This after a couple of 3 and 5 mile runs. Because of her age and the fact that we only get out to run about once a week, I try to avoid overdoing things. Then the holidays hit, and the scootering slacked off. Then January and I was focusing on walking mileage for the dogs' Dog Scouts of America Traildog titles. The end of January and early February has seen some show which has turned the local canal towpaths and trails into ice which is neither safe for scootering nor sledding. A little more snow yesterday and some reported trails to the north of us as being in good shape for sledding.

I still hope to get the dog's scootering badges accomplished this winter. For that I will need clear trails and not quite so frigid temperatures. Hopefully March will cooperate with that endeavor. Obviously February is going to finish out bitterly cold, with more snowy days. I was also hoping to get 50 miles in on Sky for the Samtona 100. That is looking less likely as the weather continues to be frigid and the end of the Samtona is just over a month away. Dogs must run at least 5 miles for it to count and after all this time of not running, I would be wary of taking Sky out for 5 miles right off the bat. I am not certain that even with ideal weather for the month of March, there remain enough Saturdays to get the additional miles needed to get Sky to 50. I'm rather disappointed that it looks like we will miss this goal. There were days in January, when I could have been running Sky instead of walking, but there was no way to do both and I chose the walking. It was my decision based on a combination of factors. I believe the Samtona ends on April 1. I don't remember exactly how many miles we have. It could be 21 or it could be 26. If it were 26, I would need 5 runs in March to reach 50 miles. If it is 21, I would need 6 runs. There are only 4 Saturdays in March. If I took a day off of work, I could get an extra run in and if I needed a 6th run, I could possibly do back to back Saturday and Sunday runs towards the end of the month, once Sky has had a chance to get a bit more into distance running condition. So, it may still be within reach, but Sky will be the determining factor. She sometimes runs to the point that she has trouble getting into the van. She won't stop until she can't go any more, so it is up to me to be certain she doesn't over do things for the sake of my sense of accomplishment.

While I haven't been running, I have been watching. I have been watching one club member travel to sprint races around the area just about every weekend. Some are dryland, some are sledding. She has teamed her dogs with another musher who runs the same breed and they have made a team of 6. She is reveling in the accomplishments of the team and how much her own dogs have improved and grown into mature sprint racers (at a freight dog kind of pace ) She participates in things like Mush for a Cure, where everyone dresses up crazily in pink, and decorates their dogs and sleds in the same color scheme. I must say of all the dogs running in this event, the Samoyeds have it hands down for being the best dressed. There is just something about all that fluffy white fur that snazzes up any outfit that is put onto them. She posts pictures. Everybody is looking like they are having a great time. The dogs look like they are having a great time. Yet I know this environment isn't for Sky, and all of the entrance fees and travel aren't for me.

There are pictures of dogs sledding, pictures of sleds for sale, pictures and videos of beautiful quiet countryside from the perspective of a musher. These are all very alluring. I find myself longing for a lifestyle and for dogs that just don't fit with my current situation. There is a young male being fostered by a friend. The comment was made that he is a great dog who just needs a dog savy r+ owner who is interested in Agility and mushing. And I thought, "Could I see this dog in my household?" Well, no, he would drive Sky crazy and my OH has stated that he is too old for a samoyed. Since OH is the one home with the dogs all day and the one who takes them out for walks during the day, a samoyed is definately a no go at this time.

I have been giving more thought to the concept of running other people's dogs next season. But I still feel rather strongly that I want to run a dog or dogs that is/are mine, that I can bond with full time. I also feel like running some other dog would be cheating on my own two. And yet, the allure is there.

I look at the samoyeds. I look at huskys. There are elements to the samoyeds that the huskys just don't seem to have. There are aspects to the huskys that make me feel they are the better match for this environment and the kinds of things I would likely be doing with a dog than the samoyeds. Both breeds can be crazy high energy and desctructive chewers and diggers and escape artists.

Some people have mentioned jurisdiction limits on how many dogs can be in a household, but with some leeway given for fosters. It seems that some people foster to fill out their team. So a foster for the winter might be a possibility, but again there are the house dogs and OH to work around.

I suppose ultimately I will just have to learn patience. I need to focus on, embrace, and enjoy these two dears that I have in my household (and OH too) for as long as I can. Then decide where I go from there.

[MPbandmom]

Very good news on the Samtona 100. Due to the dreadful (for us) weather we have had the end of January, whole month of February and now into March, the Samtona has been extended through the month of April. This is getting a little dicey as far as temperatures getting too warm, but the mornings should still be cool enough. I should at least be able to get Sky up to 25 miles with the extension if this weather lets up. Calling for more freezing rain/snow tomorrow and Thursday.