4 teams, two 8 dogs, two five dogs

PHOTO: Lead, Matilda, left in photo, LilleN right lead; Buffy , left swing, Ruthie , right); Zoom with pulled harness, left team, Medio, right team; Kiddo , wheel left; Sherpa, wheel right.

Our purpose today was to get dogs running, to look at each dog individually and to give Matilda some leader training.

We ran two eight dog teams and two five dog teams. Matilda ran in lead with Lillen and with Ruthie. She more than pulled her weight, running fullout with a taut tug line. Ruthie, on the other hand , was not 'with it' today, unusual for her. LilleN is an excellent leader trainer as are Skinny and LilleR.

We did a rating just for kennel purposes and this is how they ranked:

l. Matilda (for all out effort and meeting expectations) (Lead, twice, team once)

2. Skinny (for being great,giving it his all) (Lead)

3. Medio (for being ready/steady every time/willing to run anywhere with any dog (four times in team)

4. Herman ( steady , ready, sturdy) (Wheel, once)

5. Kiddo ( good, ready/steady as always) (Wheel, once, pulled hard)

6. LilleN (for being great) (Lead, once)

7. LilleR (for coming back from surgery and being willing, eager and great) (Lead, once)

8. Sherpa (for great effort and focus and enthusiasm) (Wheel, once)

9 .Buffy ( not in lead as usual, but steady, eager, tough) (Swing, twice)

10. Zoom (running with a pulled harness, but steady) (Team)

11. Quattro (tangling a bit, but she finishes happy, she gets there) (Wheel, once)

12. Ruthie (good, but off her stride) (Lead,three times; swing, once)

13. Rosie (she'd rank higher but too many dogs did well; she was remarkable in being unremarkable) (Team)

14. Tsunami, (hard to hook up, but good once on his way, just needs more time) (Team , paired with Medio)

15. Josie ( for ONCE she did not pull out of harness, go Josie!) (Paired with Medio)

16. Buddy (steady and good, nothing wrong, just steady/unremarkable, he did bite my pants and the gangline))

17. Yeti ( ate one good harness; tried to eat a 2nd harness; ran completely without a harness,

solo, in wheel, just neckline, but he finished!)

Those who say mushers force dogs to run should have been around today... everyone wanted to go, everyone gave it great effort and didn't want to quit.