October 18th and 19th we were in Bayfield, WI again for the 2006 Apostle Islands Sled Dog Symposium put on by the Northern Wisconsin Dog Musher's Association. Eric (and others) always puts a lot of time in to this event and it's been interesting these first 3 years.

This year's theme was "Dryland Mushing", which is basically mushing without sleds. While this sport is huge in Europe, and growing on the east and west coasts, it's still relatively unknown here in the Midwest. That's really too bad since it's much more accessible than traditional mushing. Dryland mushing easily be experienced using simpler equipment, fewer dogs, and it doesn't require snow! What's more, just about any breed of dog can participate in the fun.

With as few as 1 to 3 dogs you can have fun using scooters, small carts, or even just biking or jogging with your dog. Carts, or "rigs", can handle teams up to about 8 dogs. Common fall training for larger teams usually involves a 4-wheeler. Dryland races are starting to pop up in more and more places, and I hope it really takes off. I had no idea it could be so much fun or be so easy to get started.

I've got a scooter by a company called Diggler on order, and I can't wait to get started. I had tried bikejoring with Alex (my Alaskan Husky) when she was young, but it didn't go over too well. I was laking in experience, she was too interested in stopping to sniff everything, and I found it took a little more patience and coordination than I had at the time. Now Alex is older and calmer, and the scooters are very easy to handle. If you need to you can just step off to get control of your dog(s).

Amy Cooper was the keynote speaker, and she shared her experiences running, biking, and scootering with her dogs. Those of you who read our January 2006 newsletter may recall her article on traveling to Belgium for an international dryland competition. Jim Benson was next and talked about all the different equipment options and gear available. He brought along quite a few examples for us to look at and try out. In the afternoon we heard from Nick Vukich, DVM; he gave a great talk about canine health issues related to dryland. Everyone there found his talk especially informative. Finally, Lloyd Gilbertson shared some advice on interval training.

Many companies were very generous in donating items for door prizes, and everyone went home with at least one. My wife, Michelle, entered and won a raffle for a fabulous Russian fur hat donated by Cindy Erickson.

See my pictures and video clips from the training run here.

I'd like to take a moment to remind our readers that this newsletter is about active and working dogs of all kinds, not just mushing. Since we tend to write baout what we know, it's been almost entirely mushing for content. We'd love to have more articles about other activities, so please, tell us about what you love to do with your dogs! Anyone is welcome to submit articles or pictures, so bring it on.

November, 2006

Just like that, a new mushing season is upon us. It's been an abnormally warm Fall up here in interior Alaska but we've finally fallen over the edge the last two weeks into freeze-up. One thing we are blessed with here is that when the temperature finally drops below freezing it usually doesn't return above freezing until Spring. Every day for the last week it's been threatening to snow heavy but as of now we only have about six inches of accumulated snowfall.

Along with freeze-up, another part of the coming winter is the annual ADMA symposium. I haven't missed a symposium for the thirteen years that I've lived in Alaska and always look forward to it as a Fairbanks welcome to the new mushing season. For those of you that couldn't make it, I thought I'd take this opportunity to share with you some of the highlights of the weekend. Audio copies of the symposium can also be purchased through ADMA (www.sleddog.org)

The weekend started out with a panel discussion about families in mushing. The panel consisted of Helen Lundberg (Egil couldn't make it), Aliy Zirkle and her husband Allen Moore, and myself (Gwen couldn't make it either). One of the main messages that came out of the discussion was that you need to identify your strengths and weaknesses as members of the couple and respect that to work more efficiently as a team. We also got lots of questions about families where only one member of the household is into mushing. The overriding advice that came from the panel was that with the huge demand of time and money needed to chase this sport, you have to be constantly vigilant and respectful of the non-participating member's needs. Helen and I both made the point that so many divorces happen over mushing because it can turn all-consuming financially, emotionally, and time-wise for the musher.

Probably the highlight for the weekend for me was hearing Jeff King speak about his new training techniques. His talk was by far the most attended. Jeff shared some video and photos that his wife and kids put together on what's going on at Goose Lake Kennel. Most of you have probably all heard about his swimming of the dogs (if not, go to cabelasiditarod.com and read Jon Little's article or read his interview in Mushing magazine). He said his team is by far in better shape at this point than they've ever been. Alongside of swimming, Jeff was also doing some hour-long 4-wheeler runs this summer to tone-up the dogs' pulling muscles. He said at this time he's already running 50 miles straight out to his camp and returning, all within 24 hours. He said he's steadily built up to that and is yet to see his dogs tired. His limiting factor has been taking care of their feet. He's been double-booting and has already gone through more booties to date than all of last year. Last year he had the dogs built up to 100-mile straight runs before Iditarod. Lance Mackey asked if he felt his dogs won't peak too soon. Jeff openly admitted he doesn't know exactly how it's all going to pan out and that his dogs just might "jump in the Yukon River and swim away" but also feels like he's going to be "very hard to beat". He's also not entirely sure how he is going to manage this essential asset he's developed in his team from here on in to the racing season. But said he would like to get to where he's doing 150-200-mile camping trips regularly while giving the dogs 4-5 days off in between. He said last year his threshold wound up being 100-mile straight runs but hopes his pre-season conditioning will allow him to push that to 130-150 mile straight runs.

Aliy Zirkle asked him to talk about the genetic background of his dogs. Jeff half-heartedly obliged while saying he doesn't think he's got breeding figured out and doesn't think it's necessarily his gentics that are the key to his success. Although, his main stud Uksi, that came from Susan Butcher, is in 90% of his dogs and has thrown very consistent dogs that work well for him. Along this line of thinking, he also stated that last year he didn't feel his was the team to beat but rather felt he won by out-smarting his opponents. When I talked personally with many of the other top mushers, we all agreed Jeff will be hard to beat, but Doug Swingley is the main target. Doug consistently had the fastest checkpoint times until the very end and his team right now is in its prime. He made a few tactical errors that many feel (I think Jeff included) probably cost him the race.

Jeff also talked some about his harnesses and taildragger sled being keys to his success as well as training and racing at a slower cruising speed. He said dropping his average training MPH from 11.5 down to 10.5 has dramatically reduced his injuries, even though it sometimes takes an extra hour to do his runs. To be honest, I still don't understand his logic for using the harnesses he does. He had a chalkboard and drew a few sketches but many of us left there not fully grasping why he uses those harnesses.

It doesn't stop there. Jeff is also incorporating swimming into his re-hab program. He bought a 1000-gallon steel tank and keeps the water temperature at around 85 degrees and puts individual dogs in there that may be recuperating from a muscle strain. His idea is to just let them paddle around for a while to help rehabilitate them. This concept of rehab, as well as conditioning with swimming is simply something he's borrowed from horse racing. Although he said his rudimentary steel tank is nothing like the underwater treadmills he's seen for horses.

Another huge leap he's taking is the use of a barometric chamber for altitude conditioning. He's taken his old dog barn we've read about for years, sealed it super air-tight and installed a machine that brings the air pressure down to similate about 8500 feet elevation. His dogs stay in there overnight or "as long as they can hold their pee", which is 6-7 hours. He's working closely with Dr Arleigh Reynolds and doing bloodwork. Arleigh said he saw a statistically significant increase in RBC within 3 days of sleeping the dogs at elevation. He said he never wanted to believe that Doug had that elevation edge against us because he simply didn't want to move! Upon reading a lot on the internet about human athletes sleeping at elevation and its effects, he's sold on this concept.

Jeff's wife, Donna, is also into agility training with her herding dogs. Jeff built her a huge enclosed, heated arena to exercise her dogs year-round. They are also using the arena to loose-run dogs after hard runs to give them a chance to loosen-up sore muscles, play and have a good time.

With the financial backing of his extremely successful summertime tour business, coupled with a burning competitive drive and creative mind, Jeff is steadily poising himself as the "Goliath" of our sport. His efforts are certainly to be commended and I wonder if we'll look back on our sport twenty years from now and mark Jeff and this year as the pinnacle year that changed our sport forever.

After leaving Jeff's talk somewhat overwhelmed by what's in store for the future of our sport, we finished the weekend off by taking a step back in time to listen to two legends, George Attla and Jerry Riley. The topic was "Stories of the good 'ol days". They compared and contrasted some of the dogs and equipment from today and yesterday and told some great stories. However both men made a few points on racing that I think pertain. Jerry said the key to winning is having a great leader, one that's extremely competitive. He told the story of his 80-pound lead dog "Puppy" that used to bowl-over every dog he'd pass, just hitting them with his chest. George's message was particularly strong, in light of what Jeff King is doing. He said it doesn't take a lot of money. He never had great financial backing. It just takes top-notch dogs and a winning attitude. He said he never entered a race thinking he wasn't going to win. Many times he wouldn't win and was still happy with his performance, but he always believed in his mind that he COULD win. He said one of the biggest challenges to a human is to maintain a line of thinking. He said if you can walk into your dog yard every day believing you can win the race you're training for, it makes a huge difference because the dogs pick up on your attitude.

The symposium, if nothing else, always serves the purpose of psyching you up for the coming season. This year should be a very exciting one.

An journal excerpt, February 2004.

The Rocks

I am heading towards the portion of the run we so affectionately call "THE ROCKS". I stop to wrap a long piece of rope around one runner to help slow me down before I reach the beginning of the daunting rocky moguls. I'm all set. Rope around runner. Drag pad in place. Heavy duty steel brake ready and waiting. We begin the decent. Down the rocks we go! But wait... There's a problem! Now the sled is on its side and I am hanging on to the brake bar, sliding down the rocks, behind the sled, on my stomach. After much struggle, I finally righted the sled. As soon as I thought all was well, I find myself on my stomach again, skiing down the rocks AND my drag pad is caught up in my heavy duty steel brake. I can't even lean on the brake with my elbow to try and slow us down. The dogs don't seem to hear all of the commotion. If they can, they really don't seem to care that they can't see me and there is a strange looking object swishing along attached to the sled. All they want to do is run and run pretty darn fast for a bunch of freight dogs that must pretend they like to go slow because they sure aren't now!

So I know that at the bottom of "THE ROCKS", which is possibly 400 more feet, there is a "T" in the trail and I had planned to take a left. So I am yelling to Zulu, who, keep in mind, can't see me, "Haw! Haw! Zulu, Haw!!!" "Well", I can imagine him thinking, "I guess she is still with us, I don't know where but I can tell she's in trouble." So we get down to the bottom of the hill and just about to the "T", and remember, I had originally decided to go left so I again, shout "HAW!" as I am cruising behind the sled on my stomach, hanging on for dear life. (Because the first rule of dog mushing is NEVER LOSE YOUR TEAM.). Zulu takes a quick right at the "T". "What?!" I say to myself. "Zulu is disobeying me?!" I set aside the fact that I now had arms that are at least several inches longer than they once were, from being dragged and the fact that I had large amounts of snow packed in my hood and around my head, to discuss with myself how upset I was that I had just been dissed by my ever so sweet and usually obedient leader. I knew I said "Haw" and I believe I said it at least 25 times. (After a while, it become "blah, blah, blah, blah" to my infamous leader) Well, the second I ended the dialogue with myself, the sled got caught up on a tree like it does EVERY time we take a right in this section. Perfect! I now have time to get up, untangle my brake pad and plant myself firmly on the back of the runners, not even remembering the anger I had seconds earlier knowing that Zulu had just disobeyed me. Disobeyed me? He did indeed but that wonderfully intuitive leader of mine KNEW that I was in trouble and he KNEW that every time we take a right the sled gets caught up in a tree. So, that is why he disobeyed me because the second I got myself untangled, he looked back at me as if to say, "You alright now, mom?" and took an immediate left or the original HAW I had asked of him and didn't even skip a beat. Talk about the bond between dog and (wo)man...

One Village

By Kyle Belleque
kbelleque@hotmail.com

Above three photos: According to Roger these particular dogs are representative of a few specific lines in Koliganek in 1975.

Roger and the author's daughter hauling wood with a sled Roger built for all his daughter's families.

Above two photos: Most mushers made their own sleds out of oak or hand milled birch. Roger made these sleds. He was taught by an elder named Elia Ishnook. These are the type of sleds used in 1975 (although those sleds had steel runners and a few didn't have a brake). The barrel behind the sled is what the "dog pot" was cooked in. It's a 30 gallon drum inside of a 55 gallon drum.

Roger Skogen moved to his wife's home village of Koliganek, Alaska (Southwest Alaska) in 1975 with their first daughter. Koliganek was in a state of transition with Western culture, ideas, and technology was becoming more and more a part of daily life. Roger (my father-in-law) and Vera (my mother-in-law) sat down with me to discuss their memories of Koliganek and its sled dogs 30 years ago.

They began.

Every family had a team of 8-12 dogs (15-17 teams). Most families had their own line of dogs with distinct characteristics. Roger recalled five such lines that he described for me as follows: 1. Rangy brown heavy set dogs with deep barrel chests weighing 65-70 pounds; 2. Black/Gray very wolfy, rangy and muscular 80 pound dogs; 3. A team of white eyed black and white 60 to 70 pound stocky and very muscular dogs; 4. Long lean rangy gray dogs weighing 70-75 pounds; 5. Huge 100 pound huskies much like today's Malamutes and McKenzie River Huskies.

No matter how the dogs were built, every one of them was as hard as a rock. They worked every day. Dogs hauled wood, hunted, and helped trappers run their trap lines. Every man in the village trapped with dogs. Only those willing to pull their share were allowed to survive. The dogs were calm when stopped and patient in harness. Some trappers could even stop to check a set and leave their dogs standing in harness with no snow hook or snub line of any type. They were working dogs, not pets.

Roger recalled the dogs as being "one man dogs". The team responded well to their musher, but not to others. Vera said she helped feed and care for her family's team, but would never approach someone else's team. Her father would bring young puppies in the house to be held and given attention. Kids were not allowed to go near strange dog teams. She recalled one instance as a girl when she got too close to a dog and was bitten in the face. She pulled away from the dog. Its chain stopped it from grabbing her. She may have been killed if it had gotten a hold of her. Again, the dogs were not pets.

The dogs were chained to a stake in the ground with a steel drum on a stand for a dog house. Houses were insulated with dead grass collected in the fall and stored through the winter. Spruce bows could be used as bedding if the grass ran out.

Dogs were fed a high protein low fat diet mainly consisting of locally caught fish. Families would split and dry 1500-2000 fish to get the dogs through the winter. Corn meal, purchased and flown into the village, was added along with "stinky eggs". Stinky eggs were fish eggs collected in 55 gallon drums throughout the summer. The eggs would decompose into a thick oily orange liquid. The stinky eggs served as a fat source. These three ingredients, dry fish, stinky eggs, and corn meal, were cooked in a big pot each day during winter months. Dogs were fed boiled dry fish or raw fish heads in the summer.

They were fed other things as well, but were never fed red meat that the family could eat themselves. Dogs were often fed the "guts" of beaver, muskrat, moose, caribou, etc. A hunter would always bring home the guts from a moose or caribou kill to boil up for the dogs. Nothing was wasted. Every now and then a bear was shot and the meat cooked for the dogs.

A week of eating bear meat was a rare chance to fatten the dogs. The dogs were normally very lean. They were fed a low fat diet, worked hard every day, and usually had intestinal parasites. Roger described three different worming methods. The first method involved shoving chewed up Black Bull leaf tobacco down the dog's throat. Second, put some Buhach in the cooked dog food. Third, lichens were collected from cotton wood trees and also boiled with the dog food. Each of these methods was followed with a "caribou or moose fur chaser". Dogs were given a one foot square section of fur to eat. The fur helped shove the parasites out of the intestines. The methods did work for a while, but none were as good as modern medications.

In 1979 or 1980 distemper came to Koliganek. It decimated many teams. One man lost every single dog he owned. Another had 2 dogs left. Roger estimated that half the dogs in the village were lost. He had vaccinated his dogs, but lost a litter of pups. Much of the village's breeding stock disappeared. This outbreak quickened the transition from dogs to snow machines. The people had always had dogs. It was a way of life, but practicality ruled. The people worked to survive and any tool that would help them to do so was welcomed. By the late 1980's two working teams remained in the village. With snow machines doing the jobs of the old working teams, those who did keep teams chose to raise sprint dogs. Today only two teams remain in the village, neither used very often. The teams never perform the duties of the past.

This is one story collected in one evening about one village on one river in one corner of North America. Each community has its own story. I offer this article as a snapshot of from where our working dogs came. It is not meant as a social commentary, but a factual series of events. Things have undoubtedly changed in just a few decades. However, the memories remain and I've enjoyed many cups of tea hearing about "them old working dogs". Go out and hear the stories in your area. Collect the knowledge of working dogs where you live. If we want to build teams of working sled dogs we must learn the stories of these old breeds...both dog and man.

Rope, Rope Products, and Towlines

We get many calls and e-mails every year about towlines, types and thicknesses for necklines, tuglines, and centerlines, reflective or non-reflective, colors, distances between dogs, cable versus non-cable centerlines and even the difference between a towline and a gangline. The truth is, whether you call it a gangline or a towline, they are both the same and have the same confusing components. We will use the word towline when referring to the entire line consisting of necklines, tuglines, and centerlines in this article.

Sharing information about towlines is fun for us. There are so many new products, colors, and different feels to the rope.

We use almost exclusively polyethylene rope for our towlines. You can always buy polypropylene at the hardware store or elsewhere but you will most definitely not be happy with it. It is harder to splice, breaks down in the sun, isn't as strong, performs poorly in cold temperatures, and doesn't wear as well. We sell polyethylene either by the spool (at a discount) so you can splice it yourself, by the foot, or as already made up towlines to your specifications. That way beginners can get towlines all made up and safely start using them right away. There isn't the worry that they forgot a step while splicing and the team will break lose. Or, the experienced splicer can get some fids and make their own towlines.

There are options for rope for your neck, towlines and centerlines. We offer polyethylene rope in reflective or standard sizes. The reflective strands are actually woven into the rope. The reflective is especially nice when night training and is very visible. We love the new reflective rope. The entire towline can be done in reflective or just parts of it. The regular polyethylene rope works great and performs well in the cold weather, has good breaking strengths and working loads as well as the reflective. Same rope, one has reflective strands woven into it and the standard doesn't. They both come in cool colors, and even though it isn't important to must mushers, it can all be coordinated to match harnesses so you have a nice matched team at races, if you like.

For snub ropes or snow hook ropes, we also offer a solid braid nylon or multi-filament poly. This is great rope when you use a slip knot because it isn't hollow and is less likely to have the slip knot jam like the hollow braid ropes. You can't splice the solid brain nylon, though. You must rely on good knots. If you are good at tieing knots, solid braid nylon gives you a little more strength and stretch for snub and snow hook ropes.

One option for necklines and lead tugs is what we call the "no chew" rope. It is a high tech poly rope that is stronger than Kevlar. It is very, very hard to cut and make lines out of. An alligator jaw chewer could chew through it but he/she would have to work at it.

Some folks use chain for necklines and tuglines. A word of caution about chain, it solves the chewing problem but creates a new set of problems. If you use it for necklines, add a weak break away point such as a light key chain or plastic wire tire strip that will break if your dog hooks a fence post or tree or you could seriously hurt your dog. There are no circumstances where you should use chain or cable for tuglines. It is way too easy for a dog to get it wrapped around a leg and get hurt especially if you have to stop and turn a team around or have a big tangle where the team accordions up then stretches back out with a snap.

If you have a chewing dog, hook the dog up LAST in the team and try to always have someone there to correct the dog when he gets excited or bored waiting and starts chewing necklines. It is a pattern that should be corrected when the dog is young but it does take repetition, consistency, and correction until you do break the dog of chewing.

A comparison of the different breaking strengths of ropes that we carry might be useful.

Working loads are very different than breaking strength.

So why not use solid braid nylon instead of polyethylene? Simple, it can't be spliced.

This should make sense to you. The bottom line for the comparisons is that each dog is pulling very hard and you don't want to use rope that isn't made for such constant, tough pulling. Beware of places that sell you polypropylene rope and call it just "poly". They are not the same.

Centerlines, usually made with 3/8" polyethylene rope are the mainstay for your team. If the centerline is frayed or worn, chances are very good that your team will break it and you will be chasing them down the trail. Pay close attention to the wear point where your carabiner connects at the rearmost loop of the wheel dog section. This section can be rotated forward during the season so it isn't taking all the strain for the whole year. As the smooth, waxy feel of the polyethylene rope gives way to brittle and frayed rope, it is time to replace it. Don't wait until it breaks!

Each manufacturer makes their centerlines differently. We prefer to put keeper loops on our polyethylene lines to snap the tugline and neckline snaps to when not in use. It is more of a convenience than anything else. There is nothing worse than a tangled line from the day before and anxious dogs waiting to be hooked up.

Centerlines filled with cable (cable filled centerlines) are mandatory for some races but not all. The cable is completely buried in the rope for some equipment makers. We prefer to have expansion space for ours. This allows the rope centerline some room to stretch before any strain is put on the cable inside. That way the cable backs up the rope instead of the cable bearing all the strain and the rope is there just for looks. There is no stretch in the cable at all. It also gives the musher a "view" of what is going on inside the rope with the cable.

Any musher can go to their local hardware store and purchase snaps, carabiners, and various other pieces of hardware that you need to hook up dogs. Some of it is perfectly fine but others are not. If it's inexpensive, there is usually a good reason and it will become apparent during hard use when it breaks.

Most companies can make up whatever type of towline you would like. Think about what you will be doing with the team. Generally speaking, the heavier the load and slower the speed, the shorter the tuglines and spacing. For faster speed and lighter loads, more space and longer lines are used to a point. Don't stray too far from the proven dimensions in your experiments. It's pretty safe to say someone has already tried it before.

Combine this with a few no chew necklines for those alligators on your team and perhaps a bungee neckline for that dog on the team that goes ballistic during hookup. The bungee neckline decreases cervical trauma, eases shock and strain during hookup or stops along the train or for the persistent snow dipper. Simply replace a regular neckline for that particular dog.

For our team, two lead dogs that we run together may have different personalities. One might be ballistic, always jumping and pulling the other lead dog around, jerking his neck, and causing him stress and the other calm. We attach a bungee lead coupler between them to alleviate some of the jerking on the calm dog.

Speaking of necklines, we sometimes get asked to make up longer necklines and our recommendation again is, don't stray too far from what is proven to work:12-14". Something longer, even though it angles back to the dog's collar still increases the chances that the dog will step over it while running and become susceptible to injury. The bungee necklines will give the dog some additional freedom to swing wide around holes in the trail or obstacles without increasing the chance of getting a front leg over the neckline.

It is interesting to note what some of the Iditarod mushers are doing with their towlines. Some are lengthening them, others are shortening the tuglines, some are going without necklines, still others are using dog jackets to attach tuglines and necklines to. They are all fun innovations that may or may not work for your team. We have written about generalities today to give the reader an idea of some of the products out there.

An important note about your towlines. Ultraviolet light fades the color and causes the towlines to become brittle. Always store them away from direct sunlight, especially in the bright days of summer, and hose them down to clean the grit from the soft brass snaps during dirt training to extend the life of your snaps.

We have already talked about locking carabiners in a previous article. Locking carabiners are invaluable for attaching and quickly detaching your towlines, snub ropes, snow hooks, and shock absorbers. Don't skimp and get one that doesn't lock or is too small for your team. When your team opens it and runs away, you will wish you spent just a dollar or two more to get one that holds them securely. Some mushers even use two carabiners for extra protection with large teams.

We hope this answers some of your questions about rope products. If we can answer any other questions, please let us know.

"Walk up, Raff. Raff, walk up." But he couldn't. Eyes fixed on the wall of woolly bodies in front of him, the big Collie stood as though rooted to the ground, paralyzed by the conflict of emotions within him. Once, obeying the voice he loved had been his life's work. He was Lochranza Lionheart, the King, the best sheepdog she had ever owned. But that was before the Black Time, before the pain and the fear. Now even Pride, her new eight-month-old puppy, could outwork him. As if able to read the dog's thoughts, the big white ram shook his horns and pawed the ground. Slowly, Raff turned and walked away. The lion had turned coward, and the shame of it broke his heart.

He had always been a fighter. So premature at birth that his body was almost hairless, he was given next to no chance to survive. But he wouldn't give up, and neither did she. The bond that was formed then would carry them through the next three years. On the farm or at a stockdog trial, they were a team to be reckoned with. Together, they could do anything. He didn't know she had written a story about them, didn't know that people all over the world had read about the duo even Death couldn't beat. He only knew that she loved him, and her wish was his command. Life was good.

Then came the Black Time. Like a fog in the night, an insidious Something crept in, and Death came calling. For two terrible weeks, they fought to pull their small flock from the Grim Reaper's grasp. All day long and sometimes through the night they worked, moving ewes and lambs, separating those that needed medication or supplemental feeding, treating each one, then returning it to the flock. During the most critical period, they worked straight through more than thirty-six hours. At one point, Raff's gallant heart faltered. Exhausted, famished, battered and bruised by those ewes that still felt well enough to stand guard over their lambs, he ran out of the barn. He'd had all he could stand. He was through. "Raff, please! Help me, please!" she cried in desperation. A moment later, a bedraggled sable head appeared at the door. She could see the pain and exhaustion in his eyes. But behind all that still burned the "look of eagles" she knew so well. More clearly than any words could, those eyes said, "If you need me, I'll be there." Win or lose, they would finish this fight together. In the end, most of the flock would be saved, but the price of victory came high. For in winning the battle, the great dog lost his heart.

At first, she didn't seem to notice. Raff did his everyday chores with the same ease he always had. Then, on a late spring afternoon, a big black ewe with a new lamb faced him down. Bent on protecting her baby, the ewe charged at him. Raff gave ground. Too many memories of too much pain. Head down, tail drooping, he slunk into the barn. For the first time in his life, he had failed to carry out an order. He had let her down, and he knew it. After that, the failures snowballed, piling one on top of the other. Soon, even the simplest tasks were beyond him. On the day he could no longer move the sheep out of the barn, the lion's heart broke.

But in Raff's darkest hour, the lady who loved him would see the light. Ever since his downward spiral had begun, she had tried every strategy she could think of to bring him back. Nothing had worked, and she was as miserable as he was. There, she found her answer. In the beginning, fear of physical injury had held him back. Now, it was only a minor part of the problem. It was she herself who was killing him, drowning him in her own disappointment. Each time he failed, he could hear it in her voice, see it in her eyes. No more! They had weathered too many storms together, had too many more worlds to conquer. Praying that the damage done wasn't permanent, she began the second round of his rehabilitation. One step at a time - encouraging, coaxing, cheering each tiny victory. She didn't have to hurry. It would be a long, cold winter. They had all the time in the world.

The winter wore on. Ever so slowly, Raff began to respond. Don't push she told herself. When he's ready, you'll know. That April day dawned cool and misty, like so many others. But this morning had a different feeling to it. She knew the time had come. As the sun dried the dew on the grass, Raff stood facing a flock of sheep. At the head of the flock stood the white ram. It was now or never. "Walk up, Raff." The dog stood motionless. Then she saw it - a brief flash of the old fire in his eyes. "Get him, Raff!" And the cowardly lion roared. As the big dog's teeth met in his right ear, the ram jumped and fled, taking the rest of the flock with him. In a flash, Raff had them gathered again. Steady and strong, he fetched the sheep to her. He seemed to have grown a little taller, his shoulders a little broader. As his woolly charges trotted through the pasture gate, he heard the voice he loved. "That'll do, Raff." As she bent down and hugged him around the neck, he felt a tear fall on his head. He could feel the pride and the love in it. He was the King again, and all was right with his world.

Life was good. Lambing time had ended, and the long days of summer stretched ahead. As he lounged in the afternoon sun, he heard her call, "Raff, let's go. I need you." As they approached the training pen, he saw why he'd been summoned. Shep, a young Border Collie being trained as a sheepdog, stood tied to the fence. Inside the pen were seven sheep. The white ram was one of them.

In the days before the Black Time, she had proudly dubbed Raff Professor Emeritus, Sheepdog 101. If a dog in training showed a lack of confidence while working the sheep, Raff would be called in to help. Sometimes just his presence in the pen would give the novice dog the morale boost it needed. Other trainees learned what to do and where to be by following Raff as he moved the sheep around the pen. This would be his first teaching assignment since his rehabilitation.

The three of them walked into the pen. "Away, Raff," she whispered, and he sailed off on a right-hand outrun, the younger dog by his side. Directly behind the flock, they came to a stop. The white ram faced them, but only for an instant. At the sight of Raff, the ram turned and walked away, the ewes clustered around him. Shep, his confidence soaring, boldly pushed them on. "Shep, Raff, that'll do," she called. Raff trotted up, eyes alight, tail waving slowly back and forth. The Professor was back in his classroom. She smiled; looking down at the dog she loved, and loving him all the more. As they left the pen, the last verse of Charlie Daniels' classic "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" played on the barn radio.

Johnny said, "Devil, just come on back. If you ever want to try it again...

'Cause I told you once, you son-of-a-gun, I'm the best that's ever been!'"

He was Lochranza Lionheart, the King, the look of eagles shining in his eyes. Life was good.

Editors's note: Meredith is a Collie customer of Ron Hevener's (Lochranza Kennels www.RonHevener.com) and wrote a story a while back entitled "Miracle Worker". This is a different story about the same dog. You can read that article here: http://www.canadasguidetodogs.com/breedermiracle.htm

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Midwest Skijorers

A non profit organization that strives to promote dog sports and work to gain community trail access for other dog sport enthusiasts.

Midwest Skijorers Club is committed to advancing the sport of skijoring in the Twin Cities and upper Midwest.

We endeavor to develop and promote events and activities related to Skijoring.

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We work with communities to expand trail access and improve trail safety.

We assist beginning Skijorers with seminars and novice events so they may more fully enjoy this unique sport.

http://www.skijor.org

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A Siberian Husky Rescue Serving
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P.R.I.D.E. stands for Providing Responsible Information on a Dog's Environment. The relationship between sled dogs and humans is one of the oldest bonds of its kind. Modern sled dog owners are proud of their dogs as canine athletes that are bred and trained to do what they love: run as part of a team. Mush with P.R.I.D.E. supports the responsible care and humane treatment of all dogs and is dedicated to enhancing the care and treatment of sled dogs in their traditional and modern uses.