Winter Diary Extract 2004 - 2005

My door leads out to a little balcony and steps down to my dogs. Thule sits beside Saxon on the stakeout. She also loves to sit on top of her kennel just to make sure everything is in order. At night and early morning I’ve always loved the gentle rattle of a stakeout chain as dogs stir. On the ocean it reassures me I’m not totally alone. Wagging tails and hug or two usually follow.
 

The puppies are busy learning to sit on command and lead training while looking incredibly cute. Spoons will have all the boys whistling at her I’m sure. She has infectiously happy eyes that make me want to hold her tight. Blitz looks a very serious young man.
 

Twizzle is generating into a mighty powerful pup. He’s an awesome size for a puppy approaching four months of age. He’s fast to learn and I’ve not been afraid of allowing him to run in out and around his elders on the stakeout. He’s as black as a sack of coal and it’s not always easy to make out if he’s looking my way or not. When I was a kid there was a famous gorilla in London zoo called Guy. I remember not being able to fathom out whether he was looking at me either. Twizzle will be 6 months old around Christmas. I’ve some harnesses of various sizes ordered. I plan to get him out for the first time over Christmas.
 

Saxon took to being in harness instantly today. He’s eager to pull and was interested in the river’s open running water. I wasn’t and told him he can wait for that experience a little while longer. I plan to get them all out on the Beaufort next spring where we’ll cross one or two leads (open water). Before that the plan is for my dogs to thrive on all the love and attention that’s coming their way.

-22°C. Twizzle is 4 months old today. Worked out calendar dates for everyone’s future worming and booster sessions. Rested adults but puppies went on their first expedition today, walking across a frozen lake. Snowed all day.

A -25°C morning. Carl was keen to be rid of some free standing shelving from an old workshop he had for building a hovercraft. Washed and scrubbed my gear is at last now racked and ordered. I’ve a semblance of a cook area too. Dog food preparation one side, my grub the other.

Took Thule out with just Kavik. She sat, stayed and kept the mainline tight. Vital to perform in the future with a whole team behind her, else dogs tend to bunch with an inclination to rip each others throat’s out. I had Thule concentrating on her right hand turns too. She did well. Took Saxon out and let him off the lead. There wasn’t anything to distract his attention. Crunch time will be his reaction to a cur dog.

Arranged to collect five rabies vaccines provided by the Environmental Health Authority, a good scheme especially as they’re free. South you’d pay $40 a shot. Three months is the minimum age to administer. I’ll wait until Spoons and Blitz are four months old. Thule and Twizzle will be done collectively.

The road from Inuvik to Tuktoyuktuk is the longest ice road in the world, a hundred miles where vehicles up to 100,000lb can drive over ice. The maze of waterways that makes up the intricate Mackenzie Delta, have been used by the Inuit for thousands of years as a form of communication between communities and hunting grounds. By boat in the summer and by dog team during the winter. Vehicles replace dog teams. From November to March, sees the east and middle of the Mackenzie River used as a temporary road system. Not so dangerous when you consider the average thickness of the ice reaches fifteen feet thick, on these ice road by mid-December. Walked Twizzle and Saxon together this afternoon.

Still feed pups twice daily making sure there’s plenty of water with feed. Bowls of water left out are of no value. You can watch them freeze. By 11am the sun was up, big and bright but radiated no heat at - 26°C. Rested Saxon and Thule.