Amazing Gracie

A couple years ago a family moved to Glennallen from Kentucky. Little did either of us know what the full impact of this move would be for both of our families.

I was teaching in Glennallen when the Crowe family arrived and enrolled Connor and Gracie in school. I taught both Gracie and Connor that year. I ended up being more than a teacher that year, I became Gracie's introduction to her addiction of dog mushing thus becoming her doggie dealer. 

Gracie fell in love with the dogs and voiced interest in becoming a junior musher. Of course mom and dad told her it was a lot of work and she alone would have to do all this work. Gracie readily agreed. At the time we had two dogs that had completed many races,  and were still pretty young. Bug and Ebner were very much part of our team; traveling, training, hauling wood and camping with like everyone else. When the Crowe family called and asked if I knew anyone with a dog for Gracie, well I had just the dog for her; Bug. Bug is a total gee haw leader who happens to also be the biggest lover ever. Soon Ebner went to join the Crowe family; because you can't just have one sled dog. I have since added becoming Gracie's mentor to my list. In working with her and her dad, Lee, Gracie has become a young, confident, strong young lady. 

Gracie getting some final pointers from Heidi at her first sprint race

Gracie poses with her pink dogbooties.com harnesses

In February of 2013, Gracie entered her first race. In our village we have 2 days of sprint races known as Chistochina Fun Days. There are many events for children and one for the adults. Gracie entered the 2-dog and 1-dog class. Known as the pink flash around Glennallen, due to her pink harnesses, pink sled and pink winter clothes, Gracie was a flash on the trail.  Her success comes from both her dedication to her dogs and from the amazing support from her parents, Lee and Deborah. 

The village hall

Gracie comes to the finish line strong with Ebner and Bug

Gracie now takes care of 10 dogs. (It's amazing how quickly they multiply...1dog...2 dogs now 10) like any other musher, when not on sled, she's on a 4-wheeler training for the winter season. In preparation for this up coming season I have started "Ms Heidi's Mushing Boot Camp." The best way for me to teach is to show and do.

Gracie give Ebner some loving before starting

Being a junior musher is hard work

Although Gracie and her family have been out to our place numerous times, the first official day of "boot camp" was on a Wednesday this September. Lee came out solo and went for a run with me. We discussed such topics as harnesses, feeding and brothing and different ways to run dogs with a 4-wheeler. We also cooked up a huge pot of meat scraps for the dogs. Yummy!! "Boot camp" will continue throughout the winter for Gracie and her handler-dad, Lee.

Lee and Heidi zooming down the trail

Norway, Glacier, Inca, Hopper and Lee during a water break

The Crowes are an amazing family. Now that Emily, my own daughter, is all big and off doing her own thing in Italy this year, it's nice to have Gracie around. There's nothing better than hearing, "MISS HEIDIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!" Followed by a leaping Gracie and a full body hug. 

Heidi and Gracie at the Gulkana River this summer for Gracie's baptism

Darrin and Gracie at the Yukon Quest finish banquet 2013

Darrin and Heidi pump Gracie up for her first run Chistochina Fun Days

If you happen to be driving through Glennallen this winter, be on the look out for my girl Gracie, The Pink Flash!

Norbert

Taking a quick break during a free run

Meet Norbert. He is a soon to be 5 month old puppy. Norbert's dad is Kayak (one of our males) and his mom is Cosmo (our friend Michelle's female). Norbert is a very cool little guy, and it has been fun raising a solo puppy. This is a first for us. All of our other puppies have been born and raised in our kennel.

 Norbert acts just like a big dog and runs through the yard loose like he owns the place. All of the adults love playing with him. We have large socialization pens where we put dogs at different times to play. When Norbert's in a pen, everyone runs over to the door to play with him. It's really heartwarming to see all of the adults take care of little Norbert. The most amazing thing has been to watch Kayak and Norbert interact. Norbert was not born at our kennel. He arrived here in August, so he had never met Kayak, his dad, before. Norbert ran to him first, out of any other dogs in the kennel. When he's loose in the yard, he runs to Kayak before going to see the other adults. It's been very interesting to watch those two together. Kayak seems to know Norbert is his son too. It's difficult to explain their interaction, and how they differ from their interactions with others in the yard. It's a good thing though. 

Norbert running down the banks of the Maclaren River

We took Norbert out to Maclaren River Lodge (our other home) located on the Denali Highway. Emily, our daughter, was working their this summer and needed to meet Norbert. What a ham he was! There were 3 Princess buses there that day and Norbert was working the crowd. I had to make sure he didn't get on the bus and drive off! He LOVES people...and people really love him. Norbert is a talker. A trait that endeared him to the people off the bus right away. He was telling all sorts of stories. 

Norbert poses with Caribou antlers at Maclaren River Lodge

Norbert is growing up fast. It's hard to believe this picture was taken one month ago when we were out at the lodge. His red collar seemed so big, just like his paws and his head. Now Norbert is the same size as 3 of our females. I have a sneaky feeling he's going to be a big, powerful boy. 

Norbert dashing through the Chistochina River during a free run

Norbert likes to go for free runs. What this means is, we take him out where we run teams, with the 4 wheeler, and he chases us. At first, he ran kind of back and to the side of the 4 wheeler. Now he runs in front most of the time. He is really good about staying close and never runs off. During the free run we will stop and go for walks where a 4 wheeler can't go. Watching a puppy grow, develop and become a big dog is just one of the many pleasures of raising our own dogs. 

Norbert in his favorite place...the bed

Norbert comes in the house a lot too. He likes to nap on the bed after his free run. He prefers to snuggle up on the pillows, or along my side, to catch a little shut eye. Yes, it's tough being a puppy. 

Like dogs in a blizzard, we are breaking trail with this blog AND a website. Not only that,  you can find us on Faceboook too.

Training continues to go awesome. The dogs continue to stay in great shape and leader training has been lots of fun this summer and fall.

We are looking forward to the upcoming racing season. We are bummed that one of our favorite races, the Sheep Mountain 150 will not be happening. I have already signed up for the Yukon Quest 300 and also plan to run the Copper Basin 300. My biggest goal is to run the Kobuk 440 this year. I am a preschool-12th grade special education and regular education teacher in a small school. Taking the time off that is required to run the Kobuk 440 needs to go through the superintendent for his approval. Since it will be leave without pay, I am hoping for the best. Keep your paws crossed!

Summer training provides amazing views of Mt Sanford (left) and Mt Drum (rt)