Nature's Kennel Sled Dog Racing & Adventures

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Wednesday, September 8th, 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.

Monday, November 23rd, 2009 Congratulations to Here and There Acres and your favorite "retried" Nature's Kennel Sled Dogs. Cliff and Darlene Henning and friends participated in the Dirty Dog Dryland Derby in early November. Darlene finished 1st in the 1-dog scooter race with Quill, Cliff finished 3rd in the (pro) 2-dog bikejoring class with Razzle and Sage, 8-year old AJ finished 3rd in the junior scooter race with Patrick and Vinnie and Michaela finished 3rd in the 2-dog bikejoring race with Mouse and Takonea. Way to go all old dogs!! Momo, Tasha Canine and I finished another week of school programs, and are all happy to be back in our own beds here at home. Momo and TC have barely moved from their giant dog bed next to the woodstove. I’m beginning to feel like I can barely move as well, as I struggle to bend over to tie my shoes and have to grunt to thrust myself into the big truck. The baby is growing, moving around, and becoming more “real” everyday as it’s getting harder to hide the growing belly. Mom and I did a bit of shopping this week (might as well take advantage of the road trip) and purchased an infant car seat and the “Cadillac” of baby joggers, with full suspension and knobby tires for all-terrain performance. Looks like we’ll be able to hook up Momo for the dryland race next year in the “1-dog stroller” division. Watch out Vinnie!! Posted by Tasha



Friday, November 13th, 2009 Happy 1st Birthday to The Scientist Puppies: Einstein, Carver, Edison, Leaky, Ride and Fossey. They are the easiest puppies we’ve worked with in years. They are already working toward running tours this winter, have spent a practice night at winter camp on straw and picket lines, can run back to their own houses after a run, and Ride ran lead for a 12-dog team with Yooper this morning. Yes, I am bragging! Rifle season opens for deer hunting on Sunday, so we have pulled out the orange vests and have put some extra miles on the dogs the past few days so they can have a few days off. We have great neighbors, whom we rarely see, so we try to respect their time in the woods since it only happens once a year. Besides, it’s a great excuse for us to take a few days off. Ed headed to Los Angeles yesterday to meet up with his younger brother, Chad. They head to Phoenix this afternoon to meet up with their mom, Phyllis, for a weekend of NASCAR fun. Last year Ed and I went to Miami to Homestead Speedway to attend a Busch series race, so I guess Phyllis thinks that this is now Ed’s official NASCAR weekend. I don’t think this race will be nearly as exciting as sitting in the pits with Team Rensi Motorsports, but I’m sure mom will be happy to have her boys with her. Pat headed home to Chicago for his hunting break. We had quite a busy weekend last weekend at Skidazzle so I’m sure he’s glad to he home without spending all of it at the Rosemont Convention center! Momo, Hera, and TC were troopers at the event. We shared a booth with the Green Valley Dog Mushers (www.gv-dd.com) and their “pretty dogs” certainly helped draw in the crowd. It’s still so funny how three Siberians can overrule three Alaskan Huskies. It was interesting to watch people come into the sled dog area, and like a magnet, get pulled to the Siberians as they nearly tripped over the sleeping NK dogs! Sam headed to the Twin Cities this weekend for his break. He will stop by Matt and Paula Rossi’s and Tim Hunt’s on the way home to pick up a few loaner tour dogs for the winter. It’s hard to imagine that we own 94 dogs and are still short on dogs for tours! Ryne and Maliko are going to spend a relaxing weekend here in Newberry, and Doug is on kennel duty with me. He’ll be headed home to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving, so we talked him into helping out around here. I leave Sunday morning for a week of school presentations in the Grand Rapids area, with trusty companions Momo and TC. Never a dull moment!! Posted by Tasha


Thursday, November 5th, 2009 Pat and I are headed to the Windy City today for a weekend of fun at Skidazzle, a Chicago Ski and Snowboard show. Momo, Tasha Canine, and Hera have been selected as the "show dogs" to help promote Sled Dog Tours and Pat's Iditaord Team. They have no idea how long their days will be, how many people they will be entertaining, and how well they will sleep at the end of the weekend! Ed and I are headed into town this morning for our 20 week baby ultrasound. We've been asked by just about everyone if we are going to find out the sex of the baby. We've decided to wait...pretty much because I'm still a bit in denial that this is baby stuff is happening and if I know the sex it will make it more real! I need a bit more time to adjust. Although, since bending over is getting tougher and tougher, it's a hard thing to ignore. I am still able to ride my bike with the puppies, and just when I thought things were going spectacular, with 15 puppies crusing through the woods and having a blast, Ed forwarded me this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFP28ANXLLA We are not as amazing as I once thought! Posted by Tasha

Sunday, November 1st, 2009 Today was the best November day ever in the life of Bradshaw, Stallworth, Lambert, and Franco. The four "Pittsburgh Steeler" boys got to run with the big dogs in harness today. They will be 7 months old on November 9th, so are at prime training age. The team was led by Raven (who was visiting for the weekend and who will be 12 years old on November 9th) and Chocoloate, with super role models Starman (yes, he was well behaved today) and Clove, and puppy trainers Clair and Cheerio. They made it 1.6 miles. Puppy training can be quite a lesson in patience, but this group made it seem easy. All the boys were super cooperative when harnessing, stood very quietly, no chewing or thrashing, and took right off with the team. Bradshaw had the most difficult time getting used to the feel of the "tug" of the harness, so he ran the first 1/2 of the run without his tug line, just running along using only his neckline. After he adjusted to the moving team, we hooked up his tug, and he pulled the rest of the way home. I've found that it's sometime too overwhelming for the puppies to have to learn to both run straight and pull at the same time. So, by unhooking the tug, they can just run along for a while before actually pulling. It was a great day for training, with sunshine, blue skies, and NO RAIN!! Posted by Tasha

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