Siberians In Harness
If I have one regret re the Siberians it is that it took me until 1991 to get involved in running my dogs in harness. Although I had a few years of being able to run my own team, arthritis all too quickly made this task difficult as least on a competitive level. I am still able to train them with a bike or ATV but just not strong enough to handle them on a sled by myself. While this is disappointing as running them with a sled is the most fun, I have been very fortunate for the most part to be able to find younger, more athletic individuals to do this for me.
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INTRODUCTION TO SLEDDING
I meant Karen Armstrong in 1991. She had moved here from Winnipeg with her husband Steve. It was Karen that first introduced me to running the dogs. I can still remember my first sled ride. At the time she had three male Siberians that she ran in harness and I had Tasy and Katie who were still young enough to run. We decided to put a team together by combining her and my dogs. We even took the dogs to a race in PEI during an incredible snow storm. The storm was so bad that the first day of the race was cancelled. They went ahead with the race the second day but there was no time to properly groom the trails so it would be very hard going for the team and |
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Karen who drove the team. This experience turned out to be my first lesson in realizing that just because a Siberian can run a few miles in harness that doesn't mean that it can do the job they were originally bred to do.
Of our 5 dogs in the "racing pool" we had two that were very different in type but both had issues that prevented them from ever becoming really good sled dogs. The first was one of Karen's boys, NAME. If you looked at NAME, you would think he would make an excellent sled dog. He was from working lines and had the structure and the length of leg to do the job. However, he did not like to pull, at least not hard. So in working terms he did not have the "head", for the job. The one dog was my girl Katie. Katie liked to pull, at least well enough to do 4 or 5 miles with our little team but she did not have the structure or length of leg to work in anything other than ideal conditions (ie a nicely groomed trail). When we got to the race and saw the trail conditions we seriously questioned Katie's ability to go through that type of snow conditions so she was dropped from the team. Even though we knew NAME would not pull that hard he was able to remain on the team.
Karen was a great teacher re running the dogs and I'm very grateful to have had her experience in the beginning. Steve and Karen moved back to Winnipeg a few years later but re have remained friends until this day and in 1995 she bought Ch. Chimini's Remmington Steele WSjD from me. Steele went on to be the first Siberian in Canada to obtain his Working Skijoring Title pulling Karen on ski by himself for 50 miles in five 10 mile runs.
Of our 5 dogs in the "racing pool" we had two that were very different in type but both had issues that prevented them from ever becoming really good sled dogs. The first was one of Karen's boys, NAME. If you looked at NAME, you would think he would make an excellent sled dog. He was from working lines and had the structure and the length of leg to do the job. However, he did not like to pull, at least not hard. So in working terms he did not have the "head", for the job. The one dog was my girl Katie. Katie liked to pull, at least well enough to do 4 or 5 miles with our little team but she did not have the structure or length of leg to work in anything other than ideal conditions (ie a nicely groomed trail). When we got to the race and saw the trail conditions we seriously questioned Katie's ability to go through that type of snow conditions so she was dropped from the team. Even though we knew NAME would not pull that hard he was able to remain on the team.
Karen was a great teacher re running the dogs and I'm very grateful to have had her experience in the beginning. Steve and Karen moved back to Winnipeg a few years later but re have remained friends until this day and in 1995 she bought Ch. Chimini's Remmington Steele WSjD from me. Steele went on to be the first Siberian in Canada to obtain his Working Skijoring Title pulling Karen on ski by himself for 50 miles in five 10 mile runs.
1995-2000
After Karen left I ran the dogs by myself sometimes getting together with friends to put together larger teams. Karen and I had formed a Siberian Club during her years here to help people who were new to the breed. One person I meant through this club was Wayne Slade. He had a Siberian boy, Max, and eventually got two other Siberians from me Jenna and Valor and we ran dogs together up until Wayne moved around 2000. During this time period I still had Tasy, along with Siri and by 1998 I also had Levi so between us we were able to put together a 6 dog team, sometimes more when we got together with other friends with my dogs. This was the first time that we started to train the dogs with an ATV. We were also able to get some more races over in PEI and a couple here in Nova Scotia.
After Karen left I ran the dogs by myself sometimes getting together with friends to put together larger teams. Karen and I had formed a Siberian Club during her years here to help people who were new to the breed. One person I meant through this club was Wayne Slade. He had a Siberian boy, Max, and eventually got two other Siberians from me Jenna and Valor and we ran dogs together up until Wayne moved around 2000. During this time period I still had Tasy, along with Siri and by 1998 I also had Levi so between us we were able to put together a 6 dog team, sometimes more when we got together with other friends with my dogs. This was the first time that we started to train the dogs with an ATV. We were also able to get some more races over in PEI and a couple here in Nova Scotia.
2000-2008
Between this years I either ran the dogs myself or got together with friends such as Kevin and Margaret MC During the winter of 2003/2004 we were actually getting the dogs out running enough that we were able to put Working Sled Dog titles on Siri, Levi, Freya (who I had got from Karen Ramstead in the fall 2003), and Reba (Siri's daughter owned by Margaret). Another non-purebred husky, Niko, who belonged to friend also ran on the team.
Between this years I either ran the dogs myself or got together with friends such as Kevin and Margaret MC During the winter of 2003/2004 we were actually getting the dogs out running enough that we were able to put Working Sled Dog titles on Siri, Levi, Freya (who I had got from Karen Ramstead in the fall 2003), and Reba (Siri's daughter owned by Margaret). Another non-purebred husky, Niko, who belonged to friend also ran on the team.
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2008-2013
In 2008 Carolyn Martin bought Josie, Ch. Chimini's Dancing With T'Stars, from me and this was the start of another combined effort to run the dogs. Even though Carolyn lived in New Brunswick for the first couple years we were still able to run the dogs separately and and then got together as much as possible to run a combined team. |
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2014-2015
As Carolyn is spending more time with her studies in the pre-veterinary program at the Agricultural College, there has unfortunately been less time for us to be able to run the dogs together. So rather then training to get to races or to put Working Dog titles on the dogs our focus has been on training things like "gee over" and working with future leaders. In 2015 we started putting Cupid and River up in lead with our experienced leaders, mostly Pippin. Both of these girls are showing a lot of promise. Carolyn also traded in her 350 automatic ATV for a smaller 250 manual. This means the dog are capable of actually pulling the ATV even up hills and we can adjust the gears which is also helpful in training the dogs to pull.
As Carolyn is spending more time with her studies in the pre-veterinary program at the Agricultural College, there has unfortunately been less time for us to be able to run the dogs together. So rather then training to get to races or to put Working Dog titles on the dogs our focus has been on training things like "gee over" and working with future leaders. In 2015 we started putting Cupid and River up in lead with our experienced leaders, mostly Pippin. Both of these girls are showing a lot of promise. Carolyn also traded in her 350 automatic ATV for a smaller 250 manual. This means the dog are capable of actually pulling the ATV even up hills and we can adjust the gears which is also helpful in training the dogs to pull.
The dogs getting the ATV moving.