idigadog

I'm hoping we'll have a few budding photographers out there Esky

CANBERRA SLED DOG CLASSIC There’s more to this weekend than just the election. So if you are looking for something more exciting to do, something to thrill the kids, if you have them, the Canberra Sled Dog Classic Races are on both days at Kowen Forest. This is now a World Cup event. The 4 dog teams start at 7am which makes it a bleary eyed start, but if you sleep in and can’t get out until 8 or 9am you will still catch some fast and furious action. But its all done by about 10.30-ish. Stroll around the campsite to see the pups relaxing after their race and grab a bacon and egg roll from the café together with a qualified barista-made coffee. Not a morning person? Then why not come out at 5pm on Saturday and watch the 6 and 8 dog teams preparing for their night run and see them speed off into the forest under lights at 6pm. It’s fast, it’s noisy and the dogs love it! Kowen Forest is located off Sutton Rd towards the Queanbeyan end. Once through the gate (gold coin donation to ARF) it is about 5 km into the forest. The road is good and signposted.

CANBERRA SLED DOG CLASSIC There’s more to this weekend than just the election. So if you are looking for something more exciting to do, something to thrill the kids, if you have them, the Canberra Sled Dog Classic Races are on both days at Kowen Forest. This is now a World Cup event. The 4 dog teams start at 7am which makes it a bleary eyed start, but if you sleep in and can’t get out until 8 or 9am you will still catch some fast and furious action. But its all done by about 10.30-ish. Stroll around the campsite to see the pups relaxing after their race and grab a bacon and egg roll from the café together with a qualified barista-made coffee. Not a morning person? Then why not come out at 5pm on Saturday and watch the 6 and 8 dog teams preparing for their night run and see them speed off into the forest under lights at 6pm. It’s fast, it’s noisy and the dogs love it! Kowen Forest is located off Sutton Rd towards the Queanbeyan end. Once through the gate (gold coin donation to ARF) it is about 5 km into the forest. The road is good and signposted.

Just back from a training run in the forest. 9 out of 10 dogs happy and the old girl content to just have a trip out in the trailer Very brrrr out at Kowen this morning and was only 6c when we left there at noon!

Abrham Appollo Archie Armand Bailey x 3 Balou Bandit Banjo Bardigrub Bart Barton Baxter Bear x2 Benji Benny Benson Bertie Billy Bing Bluey Boss Boxer Brady Brock Brockie Brody Bronson Bruce Bud Bundy Caleb Caramel Carl Cash Champ Charlie x 4 Chevy Chip Coco Cobber Connor Cooper x 2 Cowan x 2 Cuba Dakota Danny Darcy x 3 Dashx2 Deakin Dean Declan Delgado Diablo Diesel Digby Digger Dinky Douglas Drifter Dumas Dylan Ebon Eddie Elijah Elliott Edge Esky FlashBazil Frank Franky J Holden Gandor Greedy Gus Hail Harley Harrison Henry Hudson Hugo Ivan Jack x 1 Jake Jasper x 2 JayDee Jethro Jett Joe Jonty Jordan Joshua Judd Juggie Kahn Kaiser Kasper Kaos Kiba Kei Kippy Kisho Kyzer Leroy Lestat Logan Luca Lughie Lukas MacKenzie Max x 3 Maxie Mel Merlot Merry Milky Milosh Minook Mistral Mogwai Mr Darcy Mungo Murray Nammu Napoleon Nelson Nigel Nipper Noah Nova Nudge Nugget Odin Ollie Onslow Oscar Oz Payton Piikki Porsha Punch Quick Raffy Ralph Rambo Randy Reeve Rex x 2 Riku Riley Ripley Roary Rocks Rolly Rookie Rory Rove Rover Roy Jones Jnr Ruff Ryan Rupert Rusty x2 Sam Scout Scrap Scratch Shadow x2 Silas Snitch Sonny Speed Spencer x 2 Spike x 2 Sport Spud Stanley Sterling Storm Sully Swanky Tazz x 2 Ted Teddy Tey Dog Theo Thunder Tiger Tirra Toby Tub Tusca Tye Tyson Ulf Wade Wags Walker Walter Watson Weave Will Willy Woody Zac Zedley Zephyr Zeus

In the right hands, a team of GSP's would be phenomenal. What it boils down to, and this is something my husband always says to newbies, "Anyone can run a dog team but not many people know how to drive one!" This is totally relevant to what has happened here with those who pushed their GSP's too hard, too fast. They wanted to win at all costs and didn't think about the consequences of hammering these dogs at an early age. One of the best GSP's competing here right now is a boy called Ollie. He wasn't trained or raced until he was over 2 years old. His owner did all the right things and it has paid off because now at an age when most dogs have burnt out already, he is kicking butt and absolutely loving it. His owner has a son of Ollie and again, he won't put him in harness until he is done with his growing and has his head into gear.

GSP's became very popular about 10 years ago. There are still a few that compete on the national circuit however they burn out very quickly. They are not 'designed' for want of a better word, to pull and as you can imagine, it puts alot of pressure on the dog. Some of those who have raced them over the years had very high expectations and did alot of damage to the dogs early on. They are harder to train at sledding as it's not a natural instinct for them. Yes they are bloody fast, but that's no good to you if they can't pull you and don't take corners!! You would need to be extremely dedicated to a training regime and if it were me, I wouldn't race them before 2 years of age when they have finished growing and have actually matured a bit. In Australia, there are now those who are racing Pointer/Alaskan Husky crosses. The work ethic has been bred into them along with things like good feet, natural instinct and the ability to pull in harness. Only time will tell if mushers stick to this mix here but it's certainly popular O/S.

It's unusual for them to be hanging around our dog yards in the middle of the day!

Oh my freakin God I was just up in the dog yards and the kids all took off a million miles an hour to the east end of our yards. I bolted around to the front of the house and what happened to be there, two foxes!! They actually screamed when they saw me and ran off through our paddock, along the edge of our dam and headed up towards the road. I was watching them and actually admiring how bloody quick they can run when a car came along and frightened them so they turned back into our paddock. Again, ran along the dam wall and then under our boundary fence into our neighbours property. This is the first time I've seen them here in broad daylight. Couldn't believe it! They will probably end up like their other friend we had dead in our paddock last week.

We have foxes around here and in fact, we found a dead one in our paddock last week. He was massive! About the same size as our smallest Siberian Beautiful specimen and had obviously been eating very well hence the bullet wound in the back of his neck Obviously someone took offense to him being so sneaky. But now we have it's mate, a vixen I believe, screaming every night looking for her mate. Such an awful cry too. What I can't believe is that our dogs don't ark up over them The foxes have even been so game as to do their business right around the outside of our dog yards. WARNING: DON'T SCROLL DOWN IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE A PICCIE OF THE DEAD FOX

KC can take anything up to 3 weeks to show in your dog. It will usually stay in their system for around 30 days all up (including incubation time). Even after your dog stops coughing, they can still have the virus/bacteria. It sucks big time! 7 out of our 10 dogs have it now. We're just sitting waiting for the other 3 to start coughing and I am loading them up with Vitamin C. The KC vaccine doesn't stop your dog from contracting the disease, however, our vets advise that you give your dog the nasal spray vaccine if they are going to be competing in shows, dog sports or coming into contact with new dogs as it should help to lessen the symptoms if your dog does in fact get KC. I truly wish that we had been advised that KC was active at the race we attended two weekends ago

Our dogs have KC at the moment. First time in 14 years. It was 14 days after exposure before we heard the first cough. We were at the same event as SH and many dogs who were there are now showing signs. Our vet said it can be anything up to 21 days before you hear them coughing. So frustrating especially when like us, there are 10 dogs living together and it will go on for weeks!! Kirty, some dogs are carriers and never develop full blown KC. If you have any a/b's get Tilly onto them and make up a nice warm honey, peppermint and vitamin C mixture that she can drink. Benadryl 2-3 times a day (3-4mls) will help with the coughing. If she gets a temperature, goes off her food or becomes dehydrated, get her to the vet. Sometimes they have to treat them with preds if the virus has spread to their lungs which in turn can develop into pneumonia.

I mean that they wouldn't get put up easily in the ring because they are not 'the norm'. They wouldn't be considered pretty although I think they are stunning. I might be a little biased though :D I like my boys to be fit and athletic

*Flame suit on* - Because that's what wins in the ring. The breeders that breed only for show are hardly going to want to have something like one of my boys in their kennel because it would just be too much hard work. And to be honest, I wouldn't want a show style Sibe in mine because I think they have lost their working ability. That's JMHO though and I am a minority I guess in this country who likes the running style Sibes. Unfortunately, judges can only judge what is put up before them so I guess it's a catch 22 and I certainly don't have the patience to attend shows every week and get knocked out by a judge who thinks my Sibe is a cross breed . Breed specialist Michael Jennings judged the SHCNSW show last year and told exhibitors later on at a seminar that if they didn't inject racing lines into their breeding programs then the state of the Siberian in Australia was heading downhill very quickly. I believe him but I dare say majority wouldn't! I certainly can't see any of the breeders who have been in it for a long time throwing out all their hard work and starting all over again. Phew - I think I might be melting soon or should I be ducking for cover Edited to say: Once again, I state that I have absolutely nothing against those who show their dogs. It's just not my thing :D

Our dogs are finer boned and in most cases, taller than the standard. However, their length to height is in proportion. They have bigger ears, sometimes finer heads and for the most part, slightly cowhocked in the rear. Also their coats are shorter and not 'pluffy' as I call the show coats. No doubt a judge would think that one of my dogs was out of coat when it was actually in all it's glory This is just typical of their lines and anyone from racing kennels can look at our dogs and tell you where they are from. There is no way they would get a look-in under a US or Aussie judge, however, a European judge would take note because our style of Sibe is much more common over there. Most of the people who make enquires about our dogs come from Europe, places like Sweden as well as Scotland and the UK. They just don't seem to have been inundated by the heavier style of the US Sibes like we have been here in recent years. Hey elitest in racing dogs is accepted and admired! How are your dogs different, longer legs lighter bone maybe? The Alaskan husky (is that the right name) who I understand are big winners in the raceing world, seem a much lighter and leggy dog. Yes very leggy and lighter boned. Although I think sometimes the dogs we see in the ring aren't actually heavier in bone, they just have more coat and feathering on their legs and around their cheeks giving the illusion of a bigger dog. Does that make sense? Alaskan huskies are a whole other world. These days they can be a combination of anything really - Sibe, true Alaskan, GSP's, English Pointers, whatever! They are bred to run and that's it. Some kennels have created their own lines over 30 or so years of breeding and they look absolutely nothing like the original Alaskans. Great dogs, just don't think I would ever own one cause I love my Sibes too much

Couldn't agree more. You can have the most well put together, pretty Sibe for the ring, but if it doesn't have that drive to work in harness, it can't perform it's function. Without wanting to sound elitist, we have some of the best performing racing line Sibes in this country and yet I know full well that they don't stand a chance in the ring. Sad but true when you say it is necessary in some breeds to have two distinct lines. Many would argue that it is not the case in our breed but then they'd be pulling themselves

My dogs sleep in during the week but when the alarm goes off on weekends, they whinge and whine because they know we are taking them to the forest for a run. I think they can actually count the days

I don't have a listing of the breeds sorry.

Just to swing the conversation a little, Australia wide there were 168 kennel prefixes approved in March alone It does make me wonder how many of these are actually BYB's covering themselves by obtaining legit prefixes or do you think that they wouldn't bother to do that? Does anyone else think that's a massive amount of new breeders in just one month? Would love to see the yearly figures.

Exactly! Though there is always the debate between those who consider Seppala's not to be Siberians and vice-versa

True. I understand totally what you are saying. I would love for a judge to come to a race though to actually see dogs that are 'outside the square' so to speak. Absolutely, most definately all of the above things count. I would consider myself to be very hard when it comes to placing puppies in homes hence why we have only ever sold two pups to a racing home in NZ, the rest have always been kept between our kennel and that of our co-breeder. The welfare of my dogs is probably evident for anyone who has seen them or been to our kennel. I don't think there would be anyone that we have dealt with over the last 14 years that could argue with that.

Not always though. We compete against many show dogs as well as purpose bred Alaskan Huskies as well as other breeds like GSP's. You can do that in racing! In fact, there are very minimal racing line bred Siberians in Australia which to me is a shame.

Without wanting to get into a debate, we breed and haven't set foot into a show ring for many, many years. Our dogs are bred for harness work. Not only do they have all the necessary health tests performed, but they also have to prove themselves out on the trails before we even consider using one of them for a litter. To be honest, our dogs would be laughed out of the ring because they don't have 'the look' that is normal for show Sibes these days. Does this bother me? Nope! I know my dogs are of sound conformation and temperaments and can do the job that they were originally bred for. We have recently had one of our 'racing boys' used at stud by a show/racing breeder. Obviously we are doing something right and our dog's reputations speak for themselves without having a judge decide that for us. Does it make us a BYB? I certainly don't think so. Do I have anything against those who show their dogs? Not at all. If that's your thing, fill your boots I say

We have 9 entire male Siberians living and working together. Rarely do we have any aggression between them however, we don't have any entire bitches for them to fight over! Before getting into Sibes we had Malamutes. One male, his sister and a younger bitch. Both bitches were desexed and they had some gawd awful fights to the point that we would never leave them together unless we were there to supervise. As silly as this sounds, we could still run them in harness side by side. We have a very relaxed all male pack here that enjoy working and playing together but I'm pretty sure the tables would turn if we were to introduce an entire bitch. Our co-breeder has all the girls at her place and for the most part, she doesn't have any issues either.

We lost one of our babies just 10 weeks ago to a tiger snake. Drifter was only 15 months old. My heart is still breaking and I'm still struggling to come to terms with losing him so young. Actually, I don't know if I'll ever come to terms with it :rolleyes: