Skijored with Lucy over what appears from calculations done afterward at home about 11 kms. Took lots of breaks and I always let her go at whatever pace she offered, which usually was an easy lope.
Saw two deer on Malamute Loop! I don't think Lucy saw them though. When we got to where they had been, no immediate reaction from Lucy compared to last Saturday's outing, but a bit further on she started her oh-my-goodness-the-deer-were-just-here!!!!! yipping.
Also, at one point on either End Loop or Logging Loop we noticed a lot of longish fur and specks of blood, but no bones or flesh or anything. I wonder what happened there.
Had two uncomfortable falls due to getting a ski tip caught in the edge of the trail, ending up on the ground with each foot/ski pointing in opposite directions. Ouch.
Some differences between skijoring with Lucy vs with Walter:
- Lucy's stamina is great; Walter gets tired much sooner (already knew this from regular walks)
- Verbals (whoa, left, right) for Lucy are pointless since she's so focused on the smells; Walter's very responsive to verbals
- Lucy's nose is usually sniffing out the nearest deer trail; Walter sometimes sniffs but not usually to the point of trying to drag me off the trail
- Lucy sees stops and breaks as an opportunity to see if a deer trail is nearby, and if not, she'll probably sit and relax; Walter sees stops and breaks as a time to roll in the snow, mill about and tangle me, whine about the fact that nothing's happening, then roll in the snow some more
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Larose
Conditions were not quite as nice today as they were yesterday, being more crunchy. Started on the 1st trail with both dogs and quickly decided that that was not fun so returned Walter to the car and just took Lucy out. With both dogs being fresh and raring to go, it's too much on slick conditions and slick skis. I'll try them together again sometime but only when conditions are nice and the dogs aren't fresh.
So back out we went, took the 1st trail to the 4th, up the main trail to End Loop, then back via 4th and 1st. Or something like that. On End Loop my skijoring partner and I switched dogs for the fun of it. Lucy in front and my new dog in the back. I found it very entertaining having this new vantage point on Lucy whose nose was glued to the ground, especially compared to this dog who was trotting happily along not sticking her nose in the bush or sniffing all of the trails. After a while Lucy was entering full hound mode so I spared my companion and we swapped back to our own dog. For the rest of the run she remained in hound mode.
On the way back on the main trail, there were a couple of people going for a walk who had moved over to the side. Lucy couldn't wrap her brain around this and did some barking. Seeing as they were dog people I took her over to them to see that they're just people, not scary abominable snow people, and she was happy to get some good lovin' from them.
Lucy's stamina is so much better than Walter's for some reason even though she gets less offleash exercise.
So back out we went, took the 1st trail to the 4th, up the main trail to End Loop, then back via 4th and 1st. Or something like that. On End Loop my skijoring partner and I switched dogs for the fun of it. Lucy in front and my new dog in the back. I found it very entertaining having this new vantage point on Lucy whose nose was glued to the ground, especially compared to this dog who was trotting happily along not sticking her nose in the bush or sniffing all of the trails. After a while Lucy was entering full hound mode so I spared my companion and we swapped back to our own dog. For the rest of the run she remained in hound mode.
On the way back on the main trail, there were a couple of people going for a walk who had moved over to the side. Lucy couldn't wrap her brain around this and did some barking. Seeing as they were dog people I took her over to them to see that they're just people, not scary abominable snow people, and she was happy to get some good lovin' from them.
Lucy's stamina is so much better than Walter's for some reason even though she gets less offleash exercise.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Skate skijoring!
This was my first time on skate skis and I have three words: What A Difference.
But, since this is a blahg I could never just leave it at three words, so here are some more details.
To get a feel for the skate skis first I went out for a few minutes sans dog. Found out quickly how much difference the extra length in the poles makes for poling.
Then I hitched up Lucy and we hit the trails. It was awesome. The skate skis are infinitely better than classics, in so many ways. For one thing, now I can actually ski fast enough so that I'm not just being towed along by the dog. This is great because it means I get a lot more exercise, and the dogs can run fast without having a lot of pulling pressure on them. For another thing, manoeuverability and control have increased tenfold. Even as a novice skier, I'm now able to corner and snowplow with ease, including in the more icyish areas. I was hoping skate ski equipment would be worlds different from my junky old classic gear, and it sure was.
However, I'm still not exactly proficient at skate skiing and dread to think of what I looked like to my skijoring friend who was following behind us. :-) But, this was a great start and it can only get better from here.
Oh! We had some excitement on the trails today: on the JGL trail, two deer hopped out of the bushes about 100 metres ahead of us and ran down the trail for a bit before dashing back into the woods. The dogs didn't see the deer as they were obscured by a slight rise in the trail, BUT! What a reaction from Lucy when we came to the part the deer had just been on. All of a sudden there were strange yipping sounds and I thought, "Who is that barking? Seems to be coming from Lucy? Has she hurt herself somehow?" No, it was just her going into overdrive at the superfresh deer smell. I'd never heard her make any kind of sound like that before. Our skijoring partner's dog (a herding breed) didn't seem too interested, and neither did Walter (also a herding breed) later on when it was his turn, so I wonder if it's a hound/hunting dog thing?
Looking forward to our next outing and trying both dogs together. The dogs, however, are off in la-la land...
Some more la-la land photos while I'm at it, highlighting the rudolph nose Walter sports in the winter (appropriate for lead reindeer and lead dogs):
But, since this is a blahg I could never just leave it at three words, so here are some more details.
To get a feel for the skate skis first I went out for a few minutes sans dog. Found out quickly how much difference the extra length in the poles makes for poling.
Then I hitched up Lucy and we hit the trails. It was awesome. The skate skis are infinitely better than classics, in so many ways. For one thing, now I can actually ski fast enough so that I'm not just being towed along by the dog. This is great because it means I get a lot more exercise, and the dogs can run fast without having a lot of pulling pressure on them. For another thing, manoeuverability and control have increased tenfold. Even as a novice skier, I'm now able to corner and snowplow with ease, including in the more icyish areas. I was hoping skate ski equipment would be worlds different from my junky old classic gear, and it sure was.
However, I'm still not exactly proficient at skate skiing and dread to think of what I looked like to my skijoring friend who was following behind us. :-) But, this was a great start and it can only get better from here.
Oh! We had some excitement on the trails today: on the JGL trail, two deer hopped out of the bushes about 100 metres ahead of us and ran down the trail for a bit before dashing back into the woods. The dogs didn't see the deer as they were obscured by a slight rise in the trail, BUT! What a reaction from Lucy when we came to the part the deer had just been on. All of a sudden there were strange yipping sounds and I thought, "Who is that barking? Seems to be coming from Lucy? Has she hurt herself somehow?" No, it was just her going into overdrive at the superfresh deer smell. I'd never heard her make any kind of sound like that before. Our skijoring partner's dog (a herding breed) didn't seem too interested, and neither did Walter (also a herding breed) later on when it was his turn, so I wonder if it's a hound/hunting dog thing?
Looking forward to our next outing and trying both dogs together. The dogs, however, are off in la-la land...
Some more la-la land photos while I'm at it, highlighting the rudolph nose Walter sports in the winter (appropriate for lead reindeer and lead dogs):
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Skate skis!
Finally bit the bullet and bought skate skis/boots/bindings/poles. Haven't had a chance to try them out yet, but here's what I've noticed about them so far:
- the skis (cheapo Fischer LS skate cut) are several inches shorter and a few centimeters narrower than my old classic Karhu skis
- the poles are a lot longer and for now feel awkward compared to the shorter classic poles
- the boots: WHOA what a difference. To compare, I put a new boot on one foot and an old boot on the other. How I managed not to brake an ankle in the old ones, I'm not sure. They had zero, zippo, nada ankle support. The new boots on the other hand feel great; I couldn't flop my ankle to the side no matter how hard I tried.
Can't wait to give it a try this weekend now that some new snow will improve conditions after the major meltdown we had last week.
- the skis (cheapo Fischer LS skate cut) are several inches shorter and a few centimeters narrower than my old classic Karhu skis
- the poles are a lot longer and for now feel awkward compared to the shorter classic poles
- the boots: WHOA what a difference. To compare, I put a new boot on one foot and an old boot on the other. How I managed not to brake an ankle in the old ones, I'm not sure. They had zero, zippo, nada ankle support. The new boots on the other hand feel great; I couldn't flop my ankle to the side no matter how hard I tried.
Can't wait to give it a try this weekend now that some new snow will improve conditions after the major meltdown we had last week.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Skijor clinic
Great skate ski / skijor clinic today at Larose. First half was about skate skiing technique, sans dogs. I had no idea there were so many technical aspects to skiing; it was a real eye-opener. Failed miserably at pretty much everything and I like to think it's due to my pathetic, beat up classic skis (which I hadn't waxed at all) and short classic poles. Needless to say I'm coming closer and closer to deciding once and for all to get skate skis. But I've been saying that for a year now. :-) Hmmm... maybe I'm procrastinating so that I can keep on whining and blaming the equipment instead of my lack of skiing abilities. Heh.
At lunch time a friend and I went out for a short skijor. First I took Lucy out solo, and she was good except when she wanted to stop and sniff. And when we got to the trail leading to the car, she totally forgot how to pull. Then I put her back and took Walter solo. He was a good boy and did his lefts and rights wonderfully at all of the intersections we came to.
The second half of the day was with the dogs. Started with passing distractions (on foot), which at first were a stuffed animal and dog food, then progressing to a bunch of dogs on leash at the side of the trail. Brought Lucy out for the first bit but then decided Walter would get more out of this exercise as Lucy was ignoring the other dogs anyway. He did really great, what a good boy. Also did some left and rights through a snowshoe-created labyrinth, again on foot. Compared to our skijor earlier in the day he was pathetic at the directionals, I'm guessing because it was a very distracting environment with about a dozen teams wandering through the small area at the same time. Then we did a short head-on passing exercise which went fine. Oh yeah and also a line out exercise. Finally we went out for a short group skijor and Walter was fine with being passed (same direction) and we passed one dog as well.
The conditions were excellent, so skijoring was a LOT more enjoyable than our last, icy, outing.
Anyway the dogs have the right idea as I write this: Time for a snooze!
At lunch time a friend and I went out for a short skijor. First I took Lucy out solo, and she was good except when she wanted to stop and sniff. And when we got to the trail leading to the car, she totally forgot how to pull. Then I put her back and took Walter solo. He was a good boy and did his lefts and rights wonderfully at all of the intersections we came to.
The second half of the day was with the dogs. Started with passing distractions (on foot), which at first were a stuffed animal and dog food, then progressing to a bunch of dogs on leash at the side of the trail. Brought Lucy out for the first bit but then decided Walter would get more out of this exercise as Lucy was ignoring the other dogs anyway. He did really great, what a good boy. Also did some left and rights through a snowshoe-created labyrinth, again on foot. Compared to our skijor earlier in the day he was pathetic at the directionals, I'm guessing because it was a very distracting environment with about a dozen teams wandering through the small area at the same time. Then we did a short head-on passing exercise which went fine. Oh yeah and also a line out exercise. Finally we went out for a short group skijor and Walter was fine with being passed (same direction) and we passed one dog as well.
The conditions were excellent, so skijoring was a LOT more enjoyable than our last, icy, outing.
Anyway the dogs have the right idea as I write this: Time for a snooze!
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