Dog Day Afternoon

Finally, I've got the pictures from the Open House organized into a nice little slideshow for your viewing pleasure. I had at least 50 photos that I thought might be a little much here on the wee blog, so hopefully this works.

The day went off without a hitch, and if you've seen Tamara's blog, you'll no doubt already know that (plus she has great pics of Gracie and Pooh Bear!). We were originally only going to have the dog rides from 1-3 to limit the time because we knew it would be warm out. Well, that all flew out the window in the first hour, since we started unloading dogs around noon. By 12:30 I think Ray and I were out with our first teams. It was crazy. We went pretty much non-stop right until 4:00 when the dogs were finally tuckered out. I was beyond tuckered out, I was freakin' exhausted!! Turns out it would have been a GREAT idea to keep the trail packed all winter, instead of the week before. That meant we had to slog through (sometimes) thigh-deep snow to turn teams around (doh! We forgot to have a turnaround... whupps! I blame that one on the trail guru, Ray).

For me, everything was going smashingly well, until one ride. During that ride, this poor woman in my sled witnessed EVERYTHING that can go wrong with sled dogs. Lucky for her, it all happened on her run. She laughed her head off through the whole thing, so that's a good sign, but it was still a bit frustrating. First, Pooh Bear snapped her collar off (why would I use a collar PLASTIC snaps on that dog, I have no idea - oh yeah, it was cute and reflected in the dark!), she went running right to me so that was good. Then Ivy and Sage, who were on a break for this run, started beating the crap out of each other at the truck!! They never fight with each other (sure with others...), so I had to try to get to them as I flailed through the deep, sugary snow, it felt like it took me an hour to get to them. Did I mention I was exhausted??

So then, Esther or Loki (they blamed each other), decided it would be great fun to chew the leader lines. I had Ivy and Sage in lead at that point (before the fight), and off Ivy went down the trail. She ran right into Ray (who she HATES for some reason) and he tried to save the day by grabbing her. Not a good idea, as she turned around and bit him!! I'm still shocked about that, but she is just not a fan of men, esp. this Ray guy who keeps taking her place on the couch in the cabin. He was fine, it was just a flesh wound. And as he was returning her to me, he left his team with the snow hook in(which was useless on sugary snow) and as he's handing the evil one off to me, we both panicked and realized he should get back to his team. As he went running, it all happened in slow motion in my mind... adn then it happened - his team popped the hook and off they went!! They weren't waiting for anyone. Then I realized agh! My dogs, Gracie and George were in that team too. And a runaway team is an instant panick attack, no matter who's dogs are in it!

So I hurried off one way after them, while Ray ran across the parking lot to divert them. Luckily it wasn't too dangerous, they were just going to do the loop they'd already done a half a dozen times. By the time we got to the field (after the hill, which the kids dubbed the "rollercoaster hill!") Ray had his team and even though it was a small disaster getting our teams past his team... we managed.

Keep in mind we are not even halfway down the trail at this point! Something happened at about the halfway mark, I think Ivy got loose again after I tied up her tugline with a knot, then they almost popped the hook... what a ride!! By this point, I was done and ready to load up the truck, but the woman who was in my sled was totally enjoying every choatic moment. She couldnt' get enough! So of course, we had to keep going. The only thing that stopped us at the end was the dogs getting tired and the trails becoming dangerous - in fact, I had trouble slowing down on the hills and started accidentally dumping people out of the sled. Whupps! That's when you know to call it a day...

Anyways, all in all, it was totally successful. The best part (aside from having a whopping 200 people visit the Centre that day!!) was having all these kids and adults get on a dogsled for the first time and feel the absolute THRILL of riding with a team of eager, crazy huskies. And I must mention that the dogs were great, other than the chewing, the minor fight, Ray's flesh wound, etc. Those were minor things that are a part of our daily lives (ok, not the "biting the human" part). For the most part the dogs ran their little hearts out and did way more than I thought they could. They amazed me. Except for Gracie, who pretty much told Ray she was done after about 3 runs. That's no shocker. Later she was content to get pets from all the kids while guarding the truck. Kuna came along and guarded my chicken sandwich, which was on top of the truck. How nice of him. Oh, he liked the people too. As long as they didn't get too close to the sandwich. Pooh Bear entertained many people to no end, and kids were just drawn to her. I'm not sure why, because her incessant screeching normally send people the OTHER way!

So, I've blabbed enough and I'll let the pictures do the talking now!! Enjoy them and the song "Ordinary Day" by Great Big Sea. This is kind of an ordinary day for us, well, with about 200 less people that is! :)