Nature's Kennel Sled Dog Racing & Adventures - Racing

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Friday, July 30th, 2010

Nature's Kennel

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

Where Are They Now

Where Are They Now
Where are they now? What happens if a sled dog doesn't make the team? What do you do with the old dogs when they retire????? Here's a glimpse into the "other" lives of ex-Nature's Kennel sled dogs... (Are you an owner of an ex-Nature's Kennel sled dog? If so, we'd love to hear from you--send us an update and photos so we can add you to the list!)
Murphy Marquette, MI, Murphy is completely spoiled by Nate and Lindsay Demers. I believe there was a short conversation abot her coming in the house. You can probably guess the result of that conversation. When not out romping around the yard with her beagle friends, Murphy is in the house! She is supposed to be a skijor dog for Nate this winter, so hopefully she fulfills his expectations!	Sheep Manistee, MI Sheep is the new beach buddy for the Savich family. He loves to help Michele garden and helps with the puppies. He is still the charmer that he was here!	Lumber Chicago, IL When not travelling through the Smokie Mountains, Lumber is busy entertaining Brian and the rest of the city of Chicago. Lumber now enjoys being displayed as "the Iditarod dog" at local dog parks and Petsmarts. Also, she would like to add that she thinks couches are amazing!

Peanut Butter Midland, MI Peanut Butter has a new best friend...Sam the dog! PB is now keeping Jim and Connie Levline busy as he and Sam wrestle around the yard. PB is definately loving his new life of social butterfly!	Kazoo Birmingham, MI Kazoo loves his new buddy Rupert! Kazoo has taken great to house life with Debbi and Fred Austin. He thinks that car rides are so much easier than sled rides!	Whistle Malvern , AK Whistle is living the high life with Opal Krout and her puppies Daisy and Nikishka. She loves the "southern life" and keeps Opal's crew on their toes!

Yooper Malvern, AK Yooper is living the good life with Opal Krout and her "girls"--Whistle, Daisy, and Nikishka. Yooper thinks this is what heaven must be like...girls to play with, a king sized bed to sleep in, and no more snow to chill his bones!	Count Chocula Ionia, MI Count has settled very well into family life and loves his new puppy! He's such a great "dad". He is thrilled to be living the counrty life filled with lots of walks and couch time with Daisy and Curtis Cook.	Chocolate Naubinway, MI Chocloate is keeping his new family busy with trips to the beach and walks along the sand. He lives with the Bomber family in Naubinway, Michigan and I'm sure loves free running around the neighborhood much better than he liked pulling sled! He was one of those dogs whose heart was never quite in it...but he sure loves roaming around the house!

Tongass Rockford, MI Tongass is doing well, my dad loves him, Tongass follows him everywhere, and gets very sad when he leaves, so he usually gets to ride along...he hates being in his pen alone, he has chewed his way out through the metal just as Colby did, and even has gone over the top. He doesn't go anywhere, he just prefers to be on the other side of the fence, don't we all? He chewed the garage door sensors, a door knob, and a nightlight and tried to get the top off a bottle of pop, but yet mother still loves him to death, like we all said she would! He has done exceptionally well in the house, only one accident(on the couch that colby always slept on) They are very thrilled with him and how he is working out, he is very pleasant in the house, and everyone who comes over just adores him! He is able to run around without a leash on and listens and obeys my dad great.	Happy Sheep Mountain and elsewhere..., AK Happy and Jake...need we say more? Happy LOVES her new diet of Alaskan fish!	Honeymoon Springbrook, WI Honeymoon (aka Honey) has made her way into the house with Ms. Kitty (the large dog next to her). She's now quite old, one of our first sled dogs. Thanks Lynn for taking good care of her!

Mush Yakov has since been re-named "Mush". He was scared to death of my wife and I for the first 48 hours, but has since become an intregal part of our new family. He is a loyal and affectionate dog and a constant source of entertainment (see the attached picture for an example, we have no idea how he got the shoe stuck on his collar). He sleeps at the foot of our bed and insists on cuddling on the couch whether there is room or not. He is incredibly smart, ridiculously inquisitive, and remarkably trainable. I have owned and been around dogs my entire life, but I have never felt the bond that I feel with Mush. While trusting Johnny to pick anything out for you is always a very risky decision, letting him pick our dog was one of the better ones I have made. Thanks for the great dog!	Q-Tip YMCA Camp Takodah, New Hampshire Life at Camp Takodah has been a great match for QT - she loves wandering the grounds, but never too far from me, and joins me in the office every day over the winter months when I'm office-bound. She sleeps by my desk all day and gets very fired up for our hour of outside time at lunch and at the end of the day. Summer, spring and fall she gets to run off leash at camp most of the day and loves it. Lots of kids to meet, petting from the campers and chipmunks to chase.The only things she doesn't seem to like at camp are swimming (not a fan) and thunderstorms (terrified, hides under my bed or in a closet!). Thank you for sending Q-Tip my way. She is a great dog - we've had a blast together! --Willy	Daisy Lowell, MI "She is doing great! We love her to pieces. She is a handful at times, she keeps her big brother busy!! Note how she is sitting on her brother while playing with a toy in one of these pics!!! He gets along with her great!"--Tom and Krissy Sperry

Pooh Pellston, MI Pooh continues to adjust to retirement very well. Maverick and he have begun to really enjoy each other and had a little competition over mom's attention for awhile. He is definitely a momma's dog. Won't come inside until I am home which created some problems for Dave! We absolutely love him. --Lori and Dave Schiller	Raven Raven, ex-sled dog, is now the reading specialist at St. Peter Luthern School in Macomb Township. I guess that good teachers are hard to come by these days and it appears the students pay much better attention to Raven than to their previous reading teacher, Ms. Witte.	Boodler Boodler and Scully, two of Whistle's puppies, now live on Beaver Island with John and Beth McCafferty. They love riding around in the "trunk". I think these are supposed to be sled dogs!!

Raven, Clove, Xena Mt. Clemens, MI It's back to school and fall training in metro Detroit!! "This picture of some Alaskan girls remind me of my class.... Xena looking out the window- Recess? And Clove needing some direction from Teacher Ms. Raven!"--Lynne Witte	Shimshon Escanaba, MI "I know he wasn't a real sled dog, but he thinks he is in his heart. He likes to come inside and lay by one of the kennels in the house. He doesn't want to be in it, just sit by it. He is a happy dog."--Brandee (Note: We rescued Shim a couple years ago from another kennel. He was extremely shy, blind in one eye, and had trouble running with the team. We thought we'd never find a home for him, but Brandee and Joe were up for the challenge and shoud be truely credited for saving his life!)	Mouse Wausau, WI "Cliff told me you were looking for some new pictures of Mouse ? because he looked a little sad in the one I sent you. He really doesn?t like the little grey box pointed at him for some reason..." --Darlene Henning

Canelo Washington, DC (Canelo--formally Hellboy) "He’s doing really well. Gotten a little pudgy, learned to eat a lot of things like shoes, purses, stuffed animals, random Tupperware, and a wooden rabbit sculpture that has been in my living room for a while and now has three legs, one ear, and half a face. I don’t know what he liked about it, but at this point we just keep it in there so he has that to gnaw on and doesn’t move on to, say, the television."--Isabel Kaldenbach	Cello Lowell, MI "Cello is doing great!Over the past couple months she's been hiking and camping with us all over the Lower Peninsula in Michigan and in May we spent a week in West Virginia backpacking and fly fishing. Her day-to-day life here in Lowell usually consists of either going on a trail run with me and our other dogs or occasionally swimming in the Flat River. ...at the local dog park, Cello acts like a little energizer bunny and tries to get all the fat house dogs to chase her (with no hope of ever being caught - she's supper fast). She has a beautiful looking run and we get lots of compliments on her."--Matt Rowbotham	Michigan Tapiola, MI "Kind of a clown and very happy-go-lucky, pulls like a horse and also as we've come to find out (not on purpose) a really great mother."--Gary Kaunonen

Stratus and Lucy Billings, MT "Stratus and Lucy (note: Lucy is a sister to Lady Bird, Martha, George, and Hoover who are here at Nature's Kennel) have been spending a lot of time on the Beartooth Pass. We have been playing ball and frisbee. We call it cross-training but mostly we are trying to wear them out. The Busch family motto is : Tired Dogs are Good Dogs".--Kim and Bryan Busch	Tornado's Crew Goodrich, MI "This is my 6 dog team from two years ago; Paige and Tornado are in lead, Elasti and Zip are in the middle and of course Monte & Munster are in wheel."--Joe Gutowski (all dogs are formerly Nature's Kennel dogs, and are now Joe's kids!	Honey and Claudia Union City, PA We are often asked about two of the kennel favorites, Claudia and Honeycomb...they are now all-stars at their new home!

Stratus Billings, MT Need we say more??	Fir Duluth, MN "I figured it was time to say hi, and to give you an update on Fir--my favorite dog ever!! He has become a sailing-dog, a running buddy, a party regular, and most of all a cuddly "bed-dog"."--Sierra Jefferson (Note: Fir is now 9 years old, and was given to Sierra when he was a young pup!)	Sage, Patrick, Razz Cleveland, WI "Living with the dogs is great. They seem to like the new home, although they are not all fond of the house. We had some severe weather here last week and when they spotted some funnel clouds just west of here me, Diane and all 5 dogs went downstairs in the basement. Needless to say it was a new experience for the dogs. Razzle and Sage really did not want to go in the basement and were nervous the whole time. Patrick however walked downstairs and laid down."--Cliff Henning

Santa Westerville, OH "He is now up to 35 lbs, but still seems pretty small in size. I am hoping he grows more! He is getting better about not chewing on walls, but still has his moments. He knows how to open cabinets and LOVES to counter surf! His favorite place to sleep is on top of his crate..."--Erin Ramirez	Butter Frankenmuth, MI "Butter has been doing great...she stays near off-lead, obeys commands well and is very affectionate. We couldn't be more happy with her. As this photo indicates, she fits into the family life pretty easily."--Kli and Alan

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