Web Kennel System

Besty is such a trooper. Although she hates leading out in soft sugar snow, she stayed up there for me on the 1st 30+ mile leg,trying her best to get the rest of the team passed all of the (#$)#($#8 snowmobiles. Besty is so funny when she passes other teams. She gets this crazy determined look on her face, looking sideways at the dogs we are passing as she digs in and drives hard- it reminds me of that scene in Seabiscuit when he came up on War Admiral with that wild look in his eye as he passed him and went on to win....

Romie had another flawless run throughout the race. Completely stress free, ate and drank everything. He is absolutely wild to go. After 100+ miles he was still jumping and screaming to keep going when we crossed the finish line. He does need to learn to rest better at the checkpoints. He sits there watching the world go by until he starts falling asleep, swaying back and forth, as if he doesn't want to give in to sleep?!?!?!!

Somewhere between Finland and Tofte I dubbed Cooper our "don't worry be happy" dog and even started singing the song to the dogs out there. Anything we ask of him, he does. He was the most animated after these 100+ miles, ate and drank through the entire race, worked up all the hills. I can't look at Cooper and not have a smile on my face.

Prudie did a great job in lead for most of the race. On the last leg she started showing some signs of lameness - not bad enough to load her but enough that she was holding back a little so I switched her to wheel.

Fuji ran flawlessly. Ate and drank well, rested hard and ran hard.

Jasper and I have traveled so many thousands of miles together - from his very 1st hook-up at 6mnths old to this, the last major race of his career. Although we ended up dropping him at Finland - it wasn't for any other reason except that I felt he'd had enough and I wanted him to end his racing career on a high note, still feeling good.

I canot say enough of how much I admire him and am humbled by him. Sweet, stoic, silly, Jasper will always be my #1 guy.

Poppy ran lead the last leg with her sister Sesame. She did a great job overall though doesn't drive as hard in lead as she does when in point. She ate and drank like a pig throughout the race but still needs to learn to rest better.

Sesame's fear of snowmobles pretty much sunk the 1st leg of the race. Even when not in lead she puts the brakes on in such a way that the entire team has to stop. Then it takes a few minutes to get the momentum going again and a few minutes later we'd see another snowmobile and so on and so forth. I tried to do lots of positive reinforcement with her out there... to no avail. But talk about flipping the switch - she led the next two legs perfectly. I knew we wouldn't see any machines on the night run from Hwy2-Finland so I put her up there with Best and they drove hard the entire way. She also finished the race with her sister Poppy in lead. We are very proud of her!