Nature's Kennel Sled Dog Racing & Adventures

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Wednesday, June 19th, 2013

Nature's Kennel

PO Box 5
McMillan, MI 49853
Tel: 1-906-748-0513
Email: info@natureskennel.com

Dog Blog

Adventure Journals

Welcome to the Nature's Kennel Dog Blog! Check out the latest kennel news, stories of your favorite sled dogs, Iditarod training adventures, and more!

Saturday, January 31st, 2009 Big news from Julie and the wonder dog Pan..."Pan is home! After two weeks of vet stay, I was able to close her account yesterday and bring her under our care at Natures Kennel. With help, she is eating and drinking with vigor and able to sit up on her haunches to stare at us with foggy eyes. Her coordination amounts to some spastic repositioning and sporadic crawling which requires immense effort. While her full recovery requires a lot of patience, she has passed the plateau of the coma state and is progressing at rate that resembles that of the regression. So now I sit beside her, feeling more eager than a child waiting to open presents, waiting for the dog I knew to be ready to run and play and wag her tale. We hope that by the beginning of next week she will be wobbling around on all fours, though she probably will resemble a baby giraffe more than a dog for a while after that. We do expect that after full recovery there will be no long term brain damage and Pan will be the same sweet and quirky dog she was born as. Thanks again for everyone’s concern, she was a special dog before this incident, and will now definitely be a marvel if she continues to pull through." Posted by Tasha

Friday, January 30th, 2009 This just in from Trent, who has our yearlings out in Sun Valley, Idaho and is training the team for the Iditarod: "YAHOO! I just got an email from the Siskyou Sled Dog race in California, and your kennel now can add another "VETS CHOICE BEST CARED FOR TEAM AWARD" http://www.siskiyousleddograces.net/SSDSA.Race.Results.2009.htm I am so stoked. I have never won anything in this sport, but today I feel like I won the big one."--Trent Posted by Tasha

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 There haven’t been too many dull moments around here the past few days. Well actually, I take that back, there have been a couple of dull moments as we haven’t had to deal with freshly fallen snow, which MUST have freed up a few spare minutes. We’ve still been running strong with tours, I’ve been keeping busy inside as I let the leg heal (I got the knobby green cast off today and am in a “waking boot” that I can’t really walk in yet), and Ed has been planning for drop bag logistics around running his main team. My parents have been up for about a week to help with the little things. Julie thinks we need to have a “mother in residence” all the time as she improves our sensibility and keeps us nurtured with warm meals and clean laundry. The puppies and birds also feel loved as she’s keep all the food dishes full. Jenny and Julie have also appreciated all the help my parents have been giving them at camp. Dad and I took a road trip to Iron Mountain yesterday to meet Trent Herbst’s dad to do a doggie drop off. Trent has all our young females and has discovered a few weak links so we sent out some “big boys” to him. Bonfire, Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Dent, Cupid and Ero should be arriving in Sun Valley any minute. The news this week from Jenny: “What a week! I’ve met a lot of nice and diverse people on tours. I guided a couple that came all the way from Maryland just for the mini-drive, along with hot air balloonists, healthcare professionals and a couple of senior ladies from Newberry. The dogs also had quite a week as well. My main leader, Hank, seems to have been taking lessons from Mr. Incredible. He has decided that stopping the whole team when they are loping or when I’m looking back is great fun. He also has been turning around on our photo stops when I’m not looking and tangling the gangline around the team dogs. I’m positive this is a game to him. I’ve caught him looking back and slowing down several times. When I catch him, he’ll take off like a shot. If he is able to complete a tangle, he will stand facing me, smiling, and wagging his tail. So on the short drives, I’ve borrowed Hedgie, Ed and Tasha’s sweet, old, semi-retired dog to keep Hank in line. She has been great. She only missed one turn this week but I later found out she didn’t like the crowd of people standing by the trail as we were coming into the kennel. Mr. Inc had one day of near perfection. I briefly thought maybe I was getting through to him. Little did I know he was regrouping and planning his next move. During the next tour, instead of skimming the snow banks on the sides of the trail for a drink (“called dipping”), he did several full body launches into the snow off to the side of the trail. He never ceases to amaze me with his antics. Our weather for tours has been great. The temps have been in the high teens to mid-20’s most of the week with brilliant sunshine and little snow. Our last overnight tour had a light rain the first night, then blowing snow the following morning. Yesterday we had some sun and I even spotted fresh snowshoe hare tracks across the trail. A few crows seemed to play with my team for part of our run. They would fly in front of the team, get them loping, then land in a tree over the trail. They did it several times during our run. It was fun having “crow power” to get my team excited but I had to stop several times to let the guests catch up. I was also able to show my guests that even guides can be dragged on occasion. My guests loved it. Luckily didn’t loose my team but they certainly didn’t want to stop and I got to show off my face full of snow."--Jenny Posted by Tasha

Friday, January 23rd, 2009 Mike and Julie’s 10 month old dog, Pan, has been keeping the girls (and Dr. Tim) at Bayshore Vet Hospital in Marquette busy this past week…here is the latest "Pan" report from Julie: “First off, I would like to thank everyone who has kept our dog Pandora in their thoughts and prayers since her Ivermetin toxicity last Thursday. After 72 hours of heavy anxiety, we received news of Pan’s progress, which was almost nil. Still in a coma, blinking, involuntary peeing, and shivering was all the life she had. Feeling deep despair, Mike and I were able to visit her Monday evening, expecting the worst. Fortunately, Dr. Tim Hunt revived our confidence in her success and we agreed to wait out the duration of Pan passing the toxin. In hopes it would help, I took one of Mike’s smelliest fleeces and bunched it around her nose. I figured if there was anything potent enough to trigger something, it would be Mike’s ordorific stench. So thanks to everyone’s patience at the Bayshore vet we have gotten updates daily on here very slow but steady progress. The most recent news is probably to the most exciting piece of information that I have heard since Obama was elected president; Pan took a poop…. ON PURPOSE! YAY! Never have I been so elated to her about a bowel movement! As of today, Friday, she is still on some medication and IV, but she can slightly reposition herself, and can intentionally defecate! Wahoo! If progress continues and her dependence on the meds wanes she may be able to return to us sometime next week. Thanks again for all the loving support and thoughts that have gone out her, for Tasha making many phone calls for me and for those at the vet clinic giving incredible care to our dog. She is truly one of the finest living creatures I know on this earth, and I hope to be blessed with her presence again soon.” The past few days have been declared “snow removal madness days” at Nature’s Kennel. We get such significant snowfall here, that we rely on heavy equipment to move snow around. We have a John Deere 4400 that had transmission problems in November, so I took it to a local tractor repair place to have it fixed. Over two months later, the report is that the tractor is put back together, but is not fixed. It’s kind of hard to blow snow with a rear snow blower if we can’t drive in reverse. We’d reached the limit of patience with repair prospects, so called Skinner’s Sales in Pickford, purchased a new Kubota tractor, and had it delivered last Monday. The old (or not so old 7 year old John Deere) is still sitting in the shop, we’ll deal with it later, and we are thrilled to have a new machine that works like a charm. Until this point, our neighbor Mike has been plowing with his truck, but we still had quite a bit of snow packed on the driveway and had never been able to widen out the driveway, clear out the kennel, keep the snow off the buildings, and clear around the puppy pens and house. We’ve had nearly 12 FEET of snow fall to date, so there’s a bit to deal with right now (and 12 more inches are expected in the next 24 hours). We hate to curse the snow, especially after hearing the discouraging trail reports coming out of Alaska where snow is in seriously short supply, but keeping up with the snow is nearly a full time job. We laughed at people when we first moved here when they suggested that we build our puppy pens with 8 foot fences as the snow gets so deep that the puppies can climb out of the fence as winter progresses. We are no longer laughing…we moved our six 12-week old puppies out of the smaller pens today (as there was only about feet of visible fence left ) and moved them into the 8 foot high puppy condo. We’ve got feet to spare now…so bring it on!! Photo note: Yes, it's a small town we live in. This was the sight when we were at the gas station today, have child, will travel! Posted by Tasha



Sunday, January 18th, 2009 Jenny has been keeping us on our toes with the guest journal entries. Ed had the idea for everyone to post an entry on a different day of the week, but Jenny is the only one who receives the gold stars for keeping to her schedule! I was going to give a leg/couch update, but I see she's even included that. She did mention my moment of monumental improvement: getting up and down the stairs in the house. I can now sleep in my own BED!!! Tours, Boyne, and a record snowfall that has not let up are keeping us all on our toes. Michele Seng (previous guide and step-in-when-help-calls gal) arrived on Friday night to help with the tour this weekend. We’ve certainly kept her on her toes!! Here’s Jenny’s weekly report: "This week sure has been a flurry of activity. Tasha has found her “legs” and is navigating stairs almost effortlessly. She has even made trips to the freezer in the shed. Friday Julie and I came back from camp to find her warming the generator with a torch, her foot wrapped in a Northern Outfitters boot liner. WAY TO GO TASHA!! Unfortunately this week has also seen tragedy. Pan, Julie and Mike’s nine month old Alaskan Husky puppy, had a severe reaction to a heartworm preventative medication. She was given the medication Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning Mike had to rush her to Bayshore Vet Hospital in Marquette. She is in very serious condition. I’m praying she will pull through. She is such a sweet dog. The thought of losing her breaks my heart. I know Julie and Mike are devastated. Each dog has their own spirit and character. Once they are gone they can never be replaced. Being a guide has its ups and downs. We sure don’t do it for the money, it’s mainly our love of the dogs. I wish I could do more to help Julie and Mike with Pan’s vet bill. Her recovery could require an extended time at the clinic. This week’s tour guests have been diverse. All of our guests have had a great time. The dogs have also been having a great time hassling me! Mr. Incredible started my week of. His ego seems to be stuck in overdrive. I demoted him from lead to wheel and renamed him Mr. Stink instead of Mr. Inc. I’m dong my best to pair him with my sassiest girls I have. I’m determined to win with him, but it’s going to be a long battle of wills. Then, Tongass decided he needed to join the mix of “males with issues”. He decided to bully my guests’ team. I tried to correct him, but he gave me a deaf ear. I totally caught him off guard when I tied him to a tree on the trail after one of his “encounters” and left without him. He was an angel when I returned with the snowmobile to get him. He trotted right along behind me all the way to the kennel. Julie and I had some bonding times this week working on the touring trail. Julie rolled the snowmobile on it’s side trying to climb a drifted bank. It was a slow motion trip, luckily she wasn’t hurt. Our first two tries to right the beast were futile, but with a little digging, adrenaline, and the thought of curling up six or seven miles from home in the dark with the iron dog, we righted it. After that, Julie insisted I could drive. It took a little bit of doing not to repeat her wipe out, but we got the trail re-opened and marked. I’ll take a dog team over a snowmachine any day!” --Happy Trails, Jenny Posted by Tasha


Monday, January 12th, 2009 Since I'm pretty much couch-bound for what seems like eternity, I should be able to get a few more journal entries posted. We had a fabulous day at the Tahquamenon Race here in Newberry. We took 51 dogs over with us, and had eight teams entered in the race. Ed took the crew over first thing in the morning, and then came back to pick me up so I could join in all the festivities. I wasn't so sure about going over, but it was so nice to get out, see friends, and cheer on the teams, It was a beautiful sunny day, so unusual for Newberry! Besides feeling clumsy and awkward, and unable to do much, I'm trying to adjust to living-room life. It's amazing how much I've found to do even though I can't even go outside! We thought it would be nice for you to get to know some of our other Nature's Kennel crew members around here, so we are going to start posting a few journal entries from our guides. The first one is from Jenny, who came in late December to help take over some of our tours... "Hi, I'm Jenny Stroh. I ventured to Nature's Kennel from Centerville, New York (located about an hour southeast of Buffalo, NY in the Alleghany Hills) with ten huskies in an old Chevy truck. MapQuest said it would take us about sixteen hours to get here, but we were caught in a snow storm around Saginaw. We were hunkered down at a rest stop for 8-10 hours. At times the wind gusts rocked the truck so hard, I prayed it wouldn’t’ tip over. The dogs had to be coaxed out for their potty break and we all skipped breakfast because none of us wanted to stay outside of the truck very long. (We have wind at home on our hill farm but experiencing it in a truck at a rest stop make it more interesting). It took us almost the whole day to get from our rest area hideout to Nature’s Kennel. Tasha helped me unload my dogs and settle them into the kennel on Sunday evening and I was never so happy to see a couch fro crashing that evening. My adventure at Nature’s Kennel also began Monday evening when Tasha took me out to support Julie on an overnight trip at camp. My first week here was very busy. Talk about on the job training! It felt like do or die the first week. We were sending dog teams right out of the kennel one after the other like being at a NASCAR track! Julie and Tasha and I tried to bring in the New Year with a dog slumber party, but we gave up at 10 pm and went to bed with our six (or more) dogs spread out around the wood stove. My second week wasn’t quite as dog crazy but my truck needed repair and I needed the dentist. Then, Wednesday, Tasha broke her leg. Thursday, my heater gave out but luckily Tasha had been giving me extra fleece blankets and lessons on how to sleep in the cold comfortable. The only problem I have is getting out of my sleeping bag and into the cold! Saturday we all went to the Tahquamenon Race, what a blast!! Nature’s Kennel had eight teams competing. We all packed into the truck and trailer and Subaru. Ed drove the truck and trailer over and the plan was that he’d take the Subaru home, finish a few chores, and then bring Tasha. Just as Ed walked in the door at home, Julie called with a panic message that they had forgot Tara’s sled. So, Ed piled Tasha into the car, threw the sled on top, and raced back to the race to get Tara to the starting chute on time. Wow! What an interesting two weeks!!--Jenny Posted by Tasha





Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 Happy New Year! We made it into 2009 in between sled dog tours, rides, and significant snowfall. It was an incredibly busy week at both Boyne Highlands and Nature's Kennel. We had nearly 2 feet of snow fall during one of our overnight tours here at the kennel, so a big thanks goes to Joe Gutowski for his endless trail grooming and for Julie and Jenny for keeping their smiling faces on as they trudged through the snow with guests. Ed and Mike pulled off a wonder week at Boyne, which could not have been done without the help of Tim VanderMeulen who stepped in to run tours for several days and Lynne Witte who shuttled dogs and people back and forth across the Mighty Mac. We were all looking forward to a relaxing week here at the kennel before the Tahquamenon Race on Saturday. Steve Bronner came up to get some long training runs in as he'll be running some of the younger dogs in the UP 200 this year. We have just an awesome team of young dogs, and it's a shame to waste all that talent, so we decided to make sure they at least get a few races in this winter. In fact, it was so relaxing, that after Ed, Steve and Mike left to take the younger dogs on a long training run, Julie and I decided to have some fun around the kennel. She took the 7 month old pups, Cindy and Meghan, on a short harness training run, and I decided to practice skijoring with my "Tahquamenon Race Team" of Vixen and Bob. After going about 3/4 of a mile at mach-dog speed, my ski clipped a snow bank, twisted my leg around, and I went flying on my face. The dogs immediately stopped and came to kiss me, and I immediately knew something was significantly wrong. I went to the Newberry emergency room last night, found out I broke my fibula near the ankle, and will be having surgery and a plate put into my foot tomorrow in Sault St. Marie. I am not looking forward to spending the next four weeks on the couch. Ed has been a saint getting me back and forth to doctor appointments, and I know he'd much rather be running dogs than sitting in the emergency room. We are going to be indebted to Julie, Mike, Steve, and Jenny for a very long time!! Posted by Tasha

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