
... training dogs in the North isn´t always about the white plains, frozen lakes and snowy mountain peaks..
This is what we have been dealing with most of November and October. Mud, warm temperatures, sleet, rain, icey trails, foggy and dark days.
A real test of determination.
I must say, I don´t remember seeing my dogs so depressed and uncheerful, even when I think back about Czech Republic and it´s warm, muddy and rainy winters.
They generally refuse to leave the cozyness of their dry dog houses, and there is no wonder it is hard to keep their spirits up when they are wet and dirty every day.
They are wonderful though, anyway, and wag their tails at stops, and we play games together, and I sing or whistle to them their favourite tunes.




We ended up driving one side in the ditch, where we found snow and grip, comparing to the road, which was just pure ice. And since turning the team around so early would be very risky, especially on such icey place, we´ve decided to drive the whole 20mile loop, hoping the dogs will be tired enough on the way back.





I told Jachym the strategy steps: When we are few hundred meters before the descent, we will unhook eight of the team dogs, leaving just the first six dogs and the two wheel dogs (to help steering the team). We will attach an extra neckline to each of the unhooked dogs, for safety reasons, in case the necklines break, there will be another one to hold them. I wouldn´t normally do this, but we will be descending down to the main road, where timber trucks drive like crazy, and have no control over the team whatsoever.
Step two will be to slow down and shift to the lowest gear, trying to keep the machine moving forward, not using breaks at all.
We did all as a well trained team, and silently worked our way to step 2. Jachym got off the atv, to hold the leaders and help "dictating" the pace. We hit the final stretch - glare ice, steep bank to the creek on the left side, steep ditch on the other, the main road a few hundreds of meters infront of us.
The ATV started dangerously nearing the creek. We aproached the fairly long and sharp right hand curve. I tried to manuver the team to the center of the trail, with no luck. I yelled at Galena and Tazlina (our best leaders - coincidence that they ran lead today, you ask? No way :)) to go "gee". They manuvered the team toward the other side of the trail. Good girls. The ATV was still sliding towards the creek, the more I tried to have the wheels turned the oposite way, the worse.
With jerking of both brakes at different times, and moving the wheels straight and right, straight and right, I finally got the atv to move from the edge of the creek. It was just a few centimeters from it then. Pheew.
One of the right wheels reached the center of the forrest road, where I noticed some gravel stones sticking out of the ice. We got a grip on it. I managed to stop the ATV. Pheew. I could feel my legs were shaking. Jachym was trying to keep himself in the upright position, holding the leaders´s tuglines, standing on the glare ice. We have made it over the first 100m or so. Oh dear!
This time I tried To drive only a meter or so at a time, which surprising worked, until the gravel that gave us some grip, dissapeared under a thicker layer of ice. Now what?! All solutions ran out. The only one left was a voice control of the team and situation and we had nothing left, than trying it.
So I started a confusing series of "gee-gee" and "haw" commands towards my beloved leaders. And guess what? It worked. The girls, including Tazlina, who is so stubborn during most trainings and demanding to be the "only one or nothing", cooperated with Galena. They worked simultaneously and navigated their teammates so that they kept the ATV and the whole team in the middle. Somehow, we made it over the worst part and I finally saw the right side of the trail, where snow, gravel and grass was visible. I manuvered the ATV towards the side, where we safely got a real grip and thus control of the team. Jachym could relax and walk the leaders over the icey crossing to the main road, without falling on the ground and being dragged by the team.
Once safely on the raod, I hooked back the eight dogs to their tuglines before we could relax. I was sweating and my legs were made of rubber and rags. Never again!
The moral of the story is that sometimes it is more worth it to just stay home, play with the dogs in the yard, give them treats or massage, or focuss on something else. And definitely another one, which many experienced mushers of course know -- good lead dogs are higher in value than their own weight in gold!
Katerina

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