A new arrival and the start of the 2005 Yukon Quest

This is what greeted me this morning when I went out to feed the dogs. Ruby was all curled up around her only puppy, came out quickly to eat and went back inside her house to take care of her newborn.

The puppy is not a day old in this photo. She -- it's a girl -- was born sometime last night and spent the first several hours of her life in temperatures that got down to -24 or so. Originally, we thought that Ruby would have more than one puppy, so it would not have been hard for them to huddle together against their mother for warmth, but since there was only one puppy in the litter, we decided that it would be best if we brought them inside.

This is Ruby's first litter and she is showing signs of being a very attentive mother. She had the puppy all licked clean when I went out in the morning and she nuzzles it to feed. Even though she is in the house, Ruby won't leave the little one and they both seem very comfortable.

We thought that it would be fun if you named the puppy, so we have come up with a contest of sorts. If you think that you have a good name for our newest addition then email us with your suggestion and we will collect all the entries, put them in a hat -- or dog dish -- whichever is closer to hand and we will draw out one name. If it is yours, then you will win a (possibly) fabulous prize, a photo of which will be posted here when we decide what the prize will be. If you are not sure that we have your mailing address, please include it with your email. Enter as often as you like. We just have one rule... No Native or Inuit names, please. Email us at nameoursleddog@canada.com.

One more photo...





The 2005 Yukon Quest

Yesterday we went to Whitehorse to watch the start of the Quest. I won't get into the specifics of the race here. If you are interested in the race, it's history, the trail, the standings and the mushers then go the Quest's website: www.yukonquest.org

It was a great day for a race start. The sun was shining, the temperature was around -28 and there were hundreds of people lining the start chute. We managed to arrive early, so we wandered around the staging area, talking to some mushers that we know and wishing them luck. Cathrine Pinard is using our dogbox and so far, this is as far as Nomad Kennels has come to being in the Quest.



William Kleedhan is wearing bib number six on the right and bent over, just about to undo the snap that holds the sled to the truck is our friend Didier Moggia -- a pretty respectable musher in his own right and one of Cathrines handlers for this race.

Here is another shot of our dog box and Cathrine being mobbed pre-race by her fans.



Just beside Cathrines truck was Williams truck. We wanted to see his well-known lead dog, "Dogmatic" because he is the brother to Blitzi, the female that we have just recently bought. Here he is, although the picture is a little fuzzy -- sorry.



The excitement level in the staging area was pretty high, as one could imagine, and the dogs were barking and howling their eagerness to get the race underway. Many of the mushers were going through their pre-race rituals, others were putting booties on their dogs and the more realaxed veterans were wandering from truck to truck talking to old friends and secretly sizing up this years competition. As we went from truck to truck we managed to capture the expression that sums up the mentality of someone who decides that a one thousand mile race in the middle of winter is just the thing. The wild-eyed and crazed look; the expression that says "you've got to be a little crazy to do this."



Although I can't remember the dogs name, it is one of Hugh Neff's dogs.

Martin Massicotte was a little further down the line and he was looking fairly calm. Our friends, Paul and Josee, were helping him get ready for the race and had put him up at their place for just under a month. Paul will follow Martin on the race and help out where he can. This is one of Martin's dogs and again, I don't know the name.



Amid all the noise, we heard the announcer declare the race officially underway, so we went to the starting chute to see the mushers take off. This is where it can be interesting; imagine 14 dogs attached to your sled and all riled up and ready to go. It usually two people to hold the sled, another on to stand on the brake and another six to hold the gangline. Each racer leaves in two minute intervals which may not seem like a long time, but believe me two minutes can seem like an eternity when all you want to do is get going. As well, imagine a path about five feet wide that is lined with several hundred people, some two or three deep in places. It takes a good lead dog, one that won't go and visit people, to navigate this barely contained mayhem. Now imagine being in your car with the brake pedal pressed all the way in and you're thinking "as long as I go straight, I will be fine. If I go left or right, I can't stop and who know what will happen." This is what it is like to start the race. Here are some shots of the mushers leaving the First and Main intersection:

Sam Perrino:



Martin Massicotte (and Ben, the handler):



Bruce Langmaid:



Once the majority of the mushers had started, we thought that we would go to the Takini River bridge, another great vantage for seeing the race go by. I guess it was such a good place to watch the race that most of Whitehorse turned out. There was close to three miles of cars parked along the side of the road and everyone was down on the river, close enought to reach out and touch the dogs as they went past. This is what the tail end of the race looked like, from down on the river:

Sebastian Schnulle:



The back of Gerry Willowmitzer and Sebastian as they head to Breaburn, 100 miles down the river.



And, with that, the race had passed us by. Now, we will have to rely on CBC Radio and the Quest site for updates.

Just as a little note of interest, we met a couple who were travelling through Whitehorse with a team of Malamutes. We stopped to see them and to talk for a few minutes and was I ever surprised. They had a dog that looked identical to Hudson. For those that know him, see for yourself: