Winter Tales

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This was the crappiest winter ever,  so little snow, and when it did come it was followed hard on the heels by rain, then ice. Nonetheless, by the end of it, which came all too soon - February! -- Nico and Benny were a sledding team.   That made me very happy. It was a long process. I spent a lot of time  running the boys making sure Benny understood his job was to stay on the trail and pull, while developing Nico's confidence as leader.     Rick was on the sled, and since he's never done any of this before with me, it was a totally new learning experience for him too.  Needless to say we had our moments.  The story below describes one of them.

I found this on a web site* "Tell a Golden Retriever to sit and he will. Tell an Alaskan Malamute (or a Siberian) to sit and he may run in a circle around you. He may woo-woo at you. He may ignore you. He may jump up, jump over the gates, retrieve the dumbbell from the next ring, jump back across the gates, and present it to you. He may actually sit. However, harness a Golden and tell him "Gee" and he will turn right. The Malamute will wait for the opening in the trees... " 
*http://www.wayeh.com/aboutsleddogs/description.htm


 So true! A few weeks back my husband was manning the sled, I was still running alongside to make sure my boys understood what was required. My husband is very new at this (only recruited this winter for this training) and isn't too sure of his command words. He wanted them to pick up so started shouting in a very loud excited voice "Haw Haw Haw". Ummm... there were trees to the right and trees to the left, no fork in the trail. Fortunately my dogs are Malamutes not Golden Retrievers. Nico stopped. Benny stopped, I stopped. And all three of us turned as one and looked at Rick who said, "Woops. I meant hike?" Nobody died. I love my Mallies!