Nature's Kennel Sled Dog Racing & Adventures

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Friday, September 10th, 2010

Nature's Kennel

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

Journals

Adventure Journals

Welcome to our life of adventure! Check out the latest kennel news, stories of your favorite sled dogs, and more!!
For more journal photos, click on the racing photo gallery.

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 Thanks to everyone who made the 2009 Midwest Sled Dog Symposium a HUGE success! We owe a huge thanks to the sponsors of the event, the Erickson Center for the Arts, the Curtis Chamber of Commerce, and Kim's Tally-Ho. A special thanks goes to all our speakers who donated their time. Thanks Karen Ramstead, Blaine Danley, Tom Knoll, Darlene Henning, Dr. Tim Hunt, Lloyd Gilbertson, Eric Morris, Dr. Jeanie Wilcox, Dr. Nick Vukich, Dr. Tom Gustafson, and Cliff Henning, we could not have done it without you. Thanks also to our vendors, dogbooties.com, Musher's Brand Dog Food, Joyce and Steve Tchozeski, Midd, MUSH, and the Luce County Pet Pals for sharing all your information. Thanks also to those volunteers who went above and beyond...Lee and Claudia Nowak, Jon Brown, Michele Seng, and Mike Varley. We had a great turn out of nearly 100 participants from Minnesota to Missouri and Pennsylvania to Wisconsin--a true Midwestern representation! We'll see you all again next year! Posted by Tasha


Sunday, September 20th, 2009 Don't Forget....The 1st annual Midwest Sled Dog Symposium will take place in Curtis, MI on September 26th. Canadian sled dog driver and Siberian husky breeder Karen Ramstead will be the keynote speaker. Karen has run the Iditarod Sled Dog Race with her team of purebred dogs eight times since 2000. Her "Tales of the Trail" presentation provides an insider's look at what it takes to plan for, train and compete in long-distance sled dog racing. Karen also explains her passion for her chosen breed and why she is committed to maintaining the Siberian husky as a competitor in modern sled dog racing. Additional discussion panels and workshops will take place through out the day, featuring topics such as veterinary care, purebred sled dogs, and atv/snowmobile maintenance. There will also be a "dogs on wheels" demonstration of cart and scooter training. Registration is available at the door, cost is $25 for the day. For more information, call 906-748-0513 or visit www.midwestsleddog.com And new from the "guides" this season...the Nature's Kennel Facebook page!! Yes, our crew is here and is excited to be working on facebook. So log onto facebook, search for Nature's Kennel, check it out, and join in the fun. They are much better at updating photos than I am!! Posted by Tasha

Thursday, September 17th, 2009 Two years ago, on the drive home from Alaska, on the carpeted floor of the "dog truck motor-home" my very spoiled house husky Tasha Canine, gave me my birthday present...nine puppies! So, happy birthday today to Flynt, Wallace, Luther, Gandhi, Krister, Ali, Crazy, Judge, and Ayn. The boys from that litter (except for Ali who now lives in PA) have been delivered to Trent (who has been notified of their birthday) for their Iditarod training and racing this winter. Ayn, the ultimate superstar of the group and only female, will get some special free running time in the kennel today. She finished Iditarod last year with Trent at only a year and a half old. What a gal. My birthday gift this year should be a little less work...Aunt Lynne and Ed have been working on a secret plan, and a new bike was in my living room this morning. I'm a bit apprehensive to ride it. Lynne and Ed also worked together on my Christmas present this past winter, new x-c skis for skijoring...that I had on when I broke my leg this past February. I'd better ride this with helmet, knee pads, wrist guards and all other safety equipment! I received a cute email this morning from Count's new owners, Daisy and Curtis Cook. Count has never really been too much of a sled dog, and it sounds like he's fitting in perfectly to "family life". I thought you would enjoy the update: “Count is fabulous! We love him to pieces. His personality is showing through and through, he romps, he plays, gets beside himself happy when we get home and is an absolute joy. He now groans when we scold him and even bats Buster (see photo of large beagle dog on the couch with Count) in the head when he barks to much (can't scold him for that though, he's the only one Buster will listen to!). Overall, he is becoming a goofy, happy dog. Oh, and he knows how to sit, stay, and sometimes will go "down" for Curtis. I've attached a few pictures just for fun. The first is the down pillow destroyed 1 week after he came to us (Note: less to everyone, dogs and down pillows do not mix!). As you can see his favorite stoop is still the top of the steps but he has not growled or acted agitated when up there. Once Curtis made him stay at the bottom and wait to go upstairs he knew he was no longer the ruler. Finally, the boys sometimes share the couch but we will probably never catch them snuggling...” Posted by Tasha


Saturday, September 12th, 2009 Montana bound...my dad and I are driving Trent's Iditarod team to him this weekend. We spend the night in Moorehead, MN last night, listening to the train go by the Travelodge EVERY 20 minutes. Why someone builds a motel along side the railroad tracks is beyond me! We are about ready to head out to find a good "feeding" spot for the dogs, where they can go to the bathroom and get breakfast. Bonfire is suggesting McDonald's, trying to tell me that the dogs voted for Sausage McMuffins. We have 16 dogs with us, most of whom are young, all of whome excited to be traveliing and are loving their road trip. We have the big trailer with us that holds up to 50 dogs, and since there is only 16 in there, they feel like they are traveling in a roving condo. We'll meet Trent in Billings, MT today, and he'll take them home from there to Ketchum, ID. He's pretty excited about his team, as he should be. His crew this year consists of two of his favorite leaders from last year, Bonfire and Hoover, and then new young dogs Luther, Gandhi, Flynt, Wallace, Judge, Crazy, Krister, Banjo, Fiddle, Uke, Whistle, Kazoo, Meghan and Cindy. He'll have a blast! If anyone needs someting brought home from Montana (or anywhere in between) let me know, we'll have an empty truck and trailer that we can fill up! Posted by Tasha

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 We recently purchased a new camera and have had a blast taking video, puppy photos, and action shots. One of our favorite places to take the pups is to a couple of ponds that are near our kennel. There's quite a steep dune heading into the ponds, which always makes for excitement as the pups rush down into the water. Ed had the brilliant idea of filming this sand flinging, puppy flying event, so check it out for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-TU0LyuUAU He had forgotten that puppies don't have brakes and really don't care what they run in to! The litters in the video are the "Aunts and Uncles" and the "Pittsburgh Steelers". Eventhough they are about 4 weeks apart in age, they now walk and play together. We mix them up into two large puppy pens each day, so they always have new buddies to play with. I'm amazed at how gentle the Steelers (the older pups) are with the younger ones. They are amazingly docile. I've posted moe photos in the summer photo album, http://www.natureskennel.com/racing/photogallery.php?id=8. We also have a nine week old litter of pups here, those which Andrew brought back from Alaska. Jake had been taking care of them up there for us, so we named them after "Things that remind us of Jake": Stinky Feet, Sheldon (his dad), Garbage (from his favorite saying, "That's Garbage!"), Etan (his best friend), Barbie (his mom) and Love (not because he's in love, but becaue he likes to play tennis). The "odd ball" of the group is a ten week old single pup, Murphy. They are quite the little pack. It's a good thing they were handled by summer tours guests because otherwise they would be a handful. Our third, and thankfully final litter of two pups belong to Tuuli, a dog we purhased and few in from Jon Little in Kasilof, AK. Tuuli has two pups, a male named Bolt, and a female named Enzo. They are obese and adorable and just turned two weeks old. It's a good thing our winter guides start arriving this week becuase I'm ready for some help with puppy walking and dog chores! Posted by Tasha

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