Spring into Summer

I’ve been here for over three weeks now - I’m already halfway into my stay! The time is FLYING by, and every day I’m learning so much.

Weather Report:

The sun is currently rising at 4.39am, and setting at 9.45pm, but it’s not getting fully dark. The weather has been giving us a bit of whiplash, because we get a few gusts of snow/hail per day, but as long as it’s not rain, I’m happy. If April/May/June are mostly dry, the mosquitos won’t be so bad for the rest of summer. The kennel is quite muddy, because we still have negative temperatures overnight, so the ground is frozen in the mornings, and then it thaws throughout the day and the whole process repeats itself come nightfall. Next week is supposed to heat up a bit (15°C), and maybe the UV will be higher than 1!

Left: Mars, Nova and Luna. Middle: Chilling with Sam. Right: Camping by the lake for fun.

Dog Stuff

It only took me two days to learn the names of the 29 dogs here, and of course I liked them all instantly, but within the last week I’ve felt myself start to care more for them. My favourites are: Glöd, Nova, and Jupiter. Apparently I like the weird (“project”) dogs.

In Finland, the laws for dog housing is more lenient than Sweden. Dogs are allowed to be kept on chains (4 dogs including Shieke, Glöd, Aslan and Rocket here), and you can have more dogs in a kennel fence.

• In Sweden, a standard kennel size often legally fits 2 dogs max

• In Finland, the same size might be accepted for 3 dogs if the welfare is good

Stefan likes to mix his kennels with males and females (except obviously when the females are in heat). His reasoning is that if 2 dogs start fighting (e.g. Billy [m] and Predator [m]), the other dog (Sun [f]) is less likely to join in. Most of his dogs get along really well, but we still split up the free-run into two big groups (both around 16-17 dogs). They don’t have so many fights, it’s more ‘arguments’. I’m still learning when to intervene with a watering can, and when to let the dogs sort out the argument amongst themselves.

We have been on a few training runs, and his dogs are so well trained! His leaders (Foxy and Ganda) react instantly to his commands to find the trail that he wants. They also run either side of the gangline, and if Stefan wants them to switch, he says “hoppa”, which tells the dogs to jump over the gangline. They’re so powerful too! At one point he put the ATV in neutral, and the dogs were even pulling us (slightly) uphill at a speed of 16-17km/hr.

Left: I took Ganda for a big walk. Middle: My favourite boy Glöd. Right: Pluto inspecting his house.

Other Jobs

We recently finished chopping and stacking the firewood that he will need for next season - that was a pretty big job that took ~2 weeks. We are now in the process of ensuring that every dog house is insulated for next winter (using finnfoam), and also building some new houses. I’ve also dabbled in painting, gardening and window-cleaning, and of course average dog-work like nail-clipping.

Left: A perfect 10 dog training line. Middle: Granite being indecisive. Right: My measurements are improving.

Spare Time

I’ve started running again! I recently completed a new PB in a 5k (6.02), so I will try to build up to 10k before I leave at the end of May. Stefan also purchased some bicycles, so last week I rode along a 30k loop which was a good workout (I had a mostly flat tyre)! Sometimes I take a kennel dog for a small walk, but mostly catch up on phone calls with family/friends from home or Jessie.

Left: My 30k ride day. Middle: Glöddy Glöd! Right: A common dinner of sausages by the fire.

Warning! Lots of Genetics talk below.

Pedigree and Genetics

Stefan put me on to my new favourite website: The Sleddog Registry: https://www.trekkhundregisteret.no/

Not every dog is registered, but a good portion of the dogs I know are online, with their genetic lineage dating back a few generations. It’s super interesting to look up the pedigrees of dogs that I know (I discovered that Scott is Ilja’s grandfather!), and also look into the COI, which is the ‘inbreeding coefficient’. Stefan said that he wouldn’t breed a dog with a COI >7. It’s quite common to have some crossover a few generations back (e.g. the example below for Kaspi, where Øre is the great-grandfather on both Hog and Kira’s sides), but this is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s known as ‘line-breeding’, and assuming that Øre has desirable qualities, having him appear on both sides of the pedigree would mean that his qualities are more likely to be passed down to Kaspi. Handsome is another dog in this line who is famous - Lance Mackey was a four-time winner of the Iditarod and Yukon Quest, so his lines are held to an extremely high standard.

Above: Kaspi is a dog from the Pojmis kennel, and Øre is the same great-grandfather on both sides.

Of course there are standout dogs that win races and run well with a good temperament, a good appetite and no injuries, but there are also other ‘indicators of success’ - in the racing world, anyway. Many mushers believe darker paws tend to be tougher and less prone to cracking, although this can vary between dogs.