A whole month, compressed to a few paragraphs.

On my ride back from Montreal last weekend, I was lamenting to my friend the fact that my training 4-wheeler is broken. It's tires won't hold air and even if they did, the brakes are in pretty rough shape. Also, the new-to-us-but-in-reality-ancient 4-wheeler that we have just bought is in the shop getting fixed. It, too, has very little stopping power, but unlike our old one, this ATV has tires that hold air and an engine. The weather has been extremely cooperative of late; with the exception of some rain earlier on, it has been overcast to sunny and cool: perfect for running our dogs -- which brings me back to my trip to Montreal.

We had gone down to Montreal to pick up our winter's worth of meat for the dogs. Since it would cost about $1,000 to have it delivered in a refridgerated truck, we decided that we'd go down together and split the driving duties, that way, we'd only have to pay for gas. We took his truck, since it can hold more than mine, and a trailer, too. Jenn and I bought 1,400 lbs of meat while my friend bought 2,600 lbs. The trailer and truck were pretty heavily loaded on our return trip and in case you were wondering, 1,400 lbs of meat in 40 lb blocks fit into two full-sized chest freezers with only two cubic feet to spare between them.

My friend, also a musher, was talking about how his training has been going this year. He is a bit behind in milage from years past, but he has a handler helping him now, so he will catch up soon he thinks. When he asked about my training runs with the dogs, I told him that we were looking to start as soon as we got our new four wheeler running and that up to this point, I had been taking out a pair of dogs on my mountain bike. I also gave my rant about the need of job and how this job really cuts into training time. My friend was unable to do anything about my job, but he did offer the use of his working 4-wheeler until ours is fixed. I told him we'd be over the next day.

I probably woke Jenn up earlier than she would have liked, but she was excited to go when I told her what I had arranged the day before. We loaded up eight of our dogs, including our new one, Hope, and we drove the few minutes up the road to my friends place. When we pulled into the driveway, my friend and his new handler were already harnessing up a team. This handler had come from Montreal with us the night before: no time to rest and it will be all hands-on learning for him. I wonder if he knows what he's agreed to...

Jenn began to unload our dogs as I readied the 4-wheeler. What a joy it is to be able to lock the brakes and know that the ATV will not go anywhere. Once the dogs had been harnessed, I started to hook them up: the calm, reliable ones first and the nutty, exuberant ones last. Our new dog, Hope, is one of these nutballs. So is Baby, one of our two youngest dogs. Although Hope had been harnessed and run by another musher, we had only had a harness on Baby once before, so it was going to be interesting, we thought, to see how he did. Baby, it should be noted, falls on the ground as though he's been shot when anyone tries to lead him somewhere by the collar so to get him anywhere either takes a great deal of patience or a firm grip and enough resolve to get him to where he's supposed to go. Both methods produce the same result and Baby doesn't seem to care one way or the other, although I'd rather him just figure out on his own that the whole collar-as-a-handle thing is okay and to get over it, already.

I hooked up Baby last and, apart from one minor tangle, Baby took to the harness and tugline thing like he'd be run a thousand miles already. We were off! The first serious run of the year.

Going around a corner on my friend's trails. Baby is the black one at the back, on the right. Notice his focus, and then compare it to his partner, Horton, who is not paying attention at all.

All went well, the dogs came back a bit tired but happy. Hope was really good (stay tuned for more on her, once I get to know her better) and Baby surprised both Jenn and I with his focus and natural ability.

Our new dog, Hope, is the one standing. Lacey is laying on the ground

Baby, all proud of himself, after our run. He is really a sweet dog. He'd be a great addition to our team.