The Natural Way Webinars For All Animal Lovers

Ok folks,
it´s been what feels like a century since I last properly blogged. Time is of essence and my lack of it is to be blamed :)

Loads of things are and have been happening around the Kipp d´Amundsen kennels and our home in the woods, and I will make an effort to keep you up-to-date, as I have luckily documented a bunch of the goings and doings around here :)
For that matter, I actually highly recommend you to visit my FB page Katerina´s Journal as it is far more frequently updated with loads of pictures of the dogs, herbs, food, health tips, musings from the wilderness, and you know, the usual stuff :)

BUT....! For now, I have an exciting announcement to make, one big enough to make me finally break the no-time loop loop of doom and get back to the blog.

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Amundsen Race 2013

The Amundsen Race 300 (200 miles) starts this Saturday, February 23, 2013 at 11:00 AM in our home town of Stromsund, Sweden!

Unfortunately, we had to withdraw from this race we´ve been looking forward to the whole year, and training hard for the entire fall and part of winter season. It literally runs over our training trails and would have been fun to see the dogs race on their home ground. 

But I couldn´t stay away from the race, with teams crossing close by our house and kennel, so I decided to volunteer and give a hand with various task during the entire race. It is a nice way to give back to the mushing community when I have a chance and time. It isn´t very often that I could spare time in the middle of training and racing season. So it´s a payback time now :)

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The Blacks And The Grays And A Big Circus On The Road

Tolly, Cora, Finn, their mom Lucky, Granite, three border collies and one Dutch shepherd on a walk.

Crazy? For us, just another day in the woods, actually :)

It was actually the puppies´ first time in harness and have a look for yourself on the video and pictures how they did. Pulling and leaning into their harnesses like pros :)

Lots of dogs - lots of crazy dogs :) We often divide them in two groups: "The Black Ones" and "The Grays" to be able to count them when they roam through the woods :)

We laughed pretty much all the way once we hit the road with this "commando" :-)
If anyone (and fortunately no cars drove by while we hiked) met us, they would for sure question our sanity. Or their sanity.

Circus on the road! :)

After a while, we did form into three groups of three dogs plus one human. This is my three (l to r: Lucky, Finn and Granite). Look how neatly they marched! :)

Tug Of War, Water Games And Other Fun

This time we decided to take the babies and mama to the pond. We (the pups and us) really like to crawl into the woods, off the trail, rather than following the well known path. It´s definitely more fun! :)

So this time, I headed into the thick bush quite shortly after reaching the forest, and I told Toly Rose to "lead us". She is such an independent cute little puppy! I just love giving her the chance to show us what "she´s got" and watch how she solves different situations she faces and how she chooses where to go and how to proceed forward.

We took several stops to play tug of war with some sticks and to see who from the babies has the biggest focus.

Cora seems to be the winner of that one :)

After tug of war, we headed straight for the water of the "First Pond" as we call this little spot beside the trail.

 

This was another new experience for the kids. After last week´s experience at the creek, the pond was very different - being calm and still, so they decided to try their paws at it a bit more.

Toly Rose was a definite "winner" of the water games. She seemed to especially enjoy it and taking a little bath made her run crazy fast around, before going for another splash.

 

 There she goes! :)

On the way back we also played our favorite hide and seek game. This time both Jachym and I, together with mama Lucky, hid in the bushes alongside the trail. We walked towards home, the kids of course ahead of us, and then we quickly "disappeared" without a word. And we watched and waited.

The three stormed back on the trail towards us, as soon as they found out we are not following them. They passed us in our hideaway, but quickly realized we are not further back and returned. Using their noses and ears, they dove into the bush and - found us! I swear, the biggest reward for them is always the fact that they find you. No need for treats. 

Satisfied with themselves and their afternoon game time in the woods, the little huskies jumped into their kennel joyfully and settled down to dream of their next adventure.

Exploring The Creek

Few days ago we took the Love puppies aka Cora, Finn and Toly-Rose, and of course their mom Lucky, for a trip. Not that we drove a car somewhere, but our usual puppy walks are around half an hour long. This time we headed out into a new direction for the munchkins and explored a bit for an hour and a half. 

The goal was to reach the nearby creek, by conquering the melting snow and getting over many obstacles such as rotting trees, laying across the path, which once used to be a narrow power line, now abandoned, grown over by thick brush at places and visited mostly by deer and our other wild neighbors.

 
First, a little warm up at the garden :)

Then a little practice of jumping over dead trees and other stuff, on the meadow.

And into the wild! :)

The rotting trees where highly appreciated by the kids. They loved jumping and running back and forth, so we stopped for a while, taking pictures, shooting a short video and mainly "practicing" a little with the little guys. Who knows, maybe one day they might try their paws at agility....:)

 They seem quite skilled jumpers for sure! :)

Our little Miss Wild & Crazy Cora. After jumping over obstacles, she decided it was time to SIT ON TOP of obstacles :) She´s such a smart, crazy girl. Her zest for life is so infectious!

And a bit of obedience practice. What can be a better environment, full of distractions, than the wild woods that surround us?

 

The deeper we got into the thick forest and neared the creek, the more remaining snow we found. And the kids of course loved it, using it for some wild and free, full speed running.

The creek was very busy, rushing it´s waters down the hill toward the Vattudalen lake.

It was a completely new experience for the little ones, open and running water wasn´t something they would know during their first three months of live, being born in the middle of winter.

At first glance, they were surprised, but very curious, although cautious. Smart babies!

It was cool to see them how they interact with this new "thing". They watched us carefully, and did what they saw us doing. A complete trust. When Jachym jumped over to the other side, Finn went immediately, without hesitation after him. Soon they will be running through the water and jumping back and forth :)

It´s amazing seeing them trust us and follow us as their pack leaders. They are strongly bonded to humans and take every new experience with an awesome stride.

On the way back, I let Jachym with Lucky (this time on the leash most of the way, as we have a deer couple hanging around) and the kids go ahead, and hid quite some distance off the path, behind a large fallen spruce. Then I called them up. It was the first time I let them go so far away from me and first time I hid myself so far and well. It was a great game, it took the kids quite a while to find me. At first they were quite confused when they heard me call them but had no traces of me when they kept running back on the path. Cora got my scent first and the moment she "switched her nose ON", she dove down the hill, the correct direction, straight towards my hiding spot.
Toly Rose followed closely from another direction and poor little Finn passed all three of us and took him a while to spot us. The happier he was when he finally spotted "mom". :)

Lucky is an expert in finding me in the woods, and she always gets super excited when we unite, dancing around and swirling. But today we were afraid she could take off after the deer nearby.

I also told Toly to "lead" us out of the hideway back onto the path, as she is quite the little explorer. She is so cool, finding paths and clearings and is an independent gal. So different from Cora, but definitely very interesting character as well.
And she did lead us back onto the path, in a quite clever, well thought out way!

When we hit a nice sunny, drier spot, we took a little break. The kids immediately settled for games such as finding sticks, cones and other treasures, chewing them and wrestling over them.

Now the plan is to do more leash training so we can take them further and for trips across the road. Stay tuned for their next adventures! :)