Puppy Photos

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Kalyn took some glamour shots of Fly, Fox, and Spitfire yesterday. They’re 5 1/2 weeks old now and are becoming so much more animated and feisty. Right now, Spitfire is the most adventurous. He’s comfortable exploring on his own and taking on the big dogs. Fly is the most “playful.” I put playful in quotes because her playing sometimes comes across as pestering to her brothers. Fox is the laziest. He sleeps more than his siblings and during play time, he likes to stay close to the human. All that being said, they’re growing and changing so quickly that it’ll probably be different tomorrow!

Fox

Fox

Spitfire and Blue (Kalyn’s dog)

Fly

Fly

Fly

Spitfire with Fox in the background.

Spitfire, Fox, then Fly

Fox and Fly

Aurora over the kennel

What are we up to?

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Like many folks around the world, we’re pretty baffled by all that’s happening. In some ways, life hasn’t changed. We start every day by feeding the dogs, scooping the yard, feeding the reindeer. We end every day in the same way. We exercise the dogs, play with the puppies, and train the reindeer. We haul firewood to heat our cabins and enjoy the longer and longer days (13 hours and 28 mintues)! We mush the dogs to the post office to pick up the mail and chip away at projects around the kennel. People tell us we need to socially distance ourselves, and we change very little in our daily lives.

Then we open up social media and BAM! The world is in chaos. Our tourism season has ended. We must stay at home due to a statewide mandate to shelter in place. We feel the same pressures as everyone else. Will we have jobs? Will dog food still be accessible? Is it safe to go into town? Realistically, we’re very fortunate about our situation. We’re healthy. Derek has a job in firefighting. We have plenty of dog food. We have regular Zoom and Facetime dates with friends and family. Whenever I begin to pity myself, I remember all the healthcare workers putting in overtime to curb this pandemic, potentially exposing themselves to the virus. So in an effort to say thank you (and distract everyone else from their anxieties) I’m going to try to post more blog updates with fun things: reindeer tricks, puppy videos, dog runs, training videos. If there’s anything in particular you’d like to see, send us an email or respond in the comments. (Also, I recently mailed all Yukon Quest tags to the dog sponsors whose dogs raced. Keep an eye on the mail!)

Here’s a video taken yesterday of Fox, Fly, and Spitfire. They are getting sassy! Fly is definitely the sassiest at the moment. She barks at the big dogs and likes to terrorize her brothers. Spitfire is adventurous. He enjoys exploring behind the couches and searching out every nook and cranny. Fox is adorable and rather lazy. If Kalyn or I want a dog to cuddle with, he’s the one we grab. He loves to sleep.

Puppy Pile!

Fox tapping a sun nap.

Cartel, Sasha, and Jezzy just chillin.

The reindeer have been a real pleasure to work with. They’re goofy and fun, and make it very clear they only like to do tricks for food. Pilot enjoys rearing up. He just starts jumping around, even when not prompted. Sailor is lazy and prefers to keep all four feet firmly on the ground. He’s best at “giving kisses.” After my second slobbery reindeer kiss, I wonder if this is actually a good trick to teach them or not.

Pilot rearing for the target (the purple tennis ball).

We’ve been using the clicker training method, much the same way people train dogs and horses. We’ve been focusing on targeting, meaning the touch a particular target with their nose. We started with our hands as targets and now use a purple tennis ball on a stick.

Sailor making a silly face.

Sailor has recently dropped his antlers. Both female and male caribou and reindeer have antlers. Typically mature bulls drop their antlers in the winter. Females drop them after they give birth in the spring, and calves drop them sometime in the spring. That being said, these are just guidelines, and it’s not uncommon to find a reindeer not following the rules of antler shedding.

We heat all the cabins (our home, Stormy Cabin where Kalyn and Saeward live, and Lakefront Cabin where Tom lived) with wood. Wood puts off an intense, dry heat. One of the biggest chores in winter is firewood collection. We scour the surrounding land for standing dead trees. Dead trees are exceptionally dry and burn the cleanest. Typically, we haul the firewood back by snowmachine. Sasha LOVES getting firewood and sprints ahead of the snowmachine. This is one of her favorite chores.

Derek and I flew out for a weekend camping trip and some social distancing! We harvested a caribou during the trip as well.

We flew out to the campsite and crossed over Rosebud Summit (one of the summits on the Yukon Quest) along the way. The day we flew it was clear and beautiful, but can you imagine mushing along the summit during a windstorm? Talk about exposed!

And the final video, a little bit of trail breaking down the Chena River.

Spring

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Like many people, we’re enthusiastically following the Iditarod while also trying to do our part to socially distance ourselves during this COVID-19 scare. Our tourism company, Last Frontier Mushing Co-op, has been hit hard, and our season has ended early. Tourism is a major industry in Alaska, so many Alaskans are bracing themselves for a tough year. But, rather than focusing on the challenges and hardships confronting people at this time, I’d like to be the fun distraction with pictures and videos of adorable puppies and dogs. I’ve been known to say things like “I wish the world would just stop for a moment so I can catch up on everything,” and well…..here’s my chance! So rather than panicking, we’re taking time to cuddle puppies, run the youngsters, clicker train the reindeer, clean up gear, catch up on bookkeeping, update the blog, and hopefully take a trip north with the dogs and socially distance ourselves as far away as possible. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy the posts and are taking this pause on life as a chance to read a good book or spend time with your immediate family members.

Beautiful views on our last 3-day expedition! We canceled the remaining expeditions for spring 2020.

Kalyn has extensive experience with clicker training and is currently taking an animal behavior course online. This means, the reindeer are learning cool stuff! Pilot’s favorite is learning to rear. He’s a feisty one and enjoys pawing and rearing. Sailor, on the other hand, is pretty mellow and has yet to be willing to jump off his feet for a treat. We’ll see what his favorite tricks end up being!

Did we mention that we named the puppies?! In honor of their great grandmother and Ryno Kennel’s first main leader, Fire, all three were given names that include Fire. Firefly (“Fly”), Foxfire (“Fox”), and Spitfire.

Spitfire

Foxfire

Firefly

Spitfire helping with office work.

Sherlock and Watson ran in harness for the first time yesterday, and they were naturals! Watson is a bit more sensitive, so the hookup in the middle of the yard was intimidating, but once we hit the trail, he dominated. Sherlock is more of a “meat head” and just screamed and pulled, ignoring all distractions. Way to go boys! Did I mention they’re huuuuuuge? These two will easily be the tallest dogs in the kennel once they’re finished growing. They’re currently 8.5 months old. We also took Rose and Tobin on a run and gave each one a turn in lead. WOW. They’re going to be fantastic. Both where unfazed when in lead and pulled just as hard as if they were in team or wheel. We have high hopes for those two!

Sherlock

Watson

We finished up the Girls to Mushers trip! All the dogs did wonderfully. If you didn’t hear about it, the Girls to Mushers was a free 3-day trip around the Chena River Valley for six girls from all over the United States. Last summer, each girl sent an application essay, and six were selected for the trip. We had such a blast and hope to do it again next year!

Puppy Photos for Your Friday

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Here are some adorable puppy photos taken by Whitney McLaren. I know every puppy is cute, but these guys are too much sometimes. They’re hungry little monsters and eat non-stop. Because there are only three of them, they never have to share, so they’re enormous. Any day now, the pups will open their eyes. Do you think any inherited Wingman’s blue eyes?

Welcome to the Family!

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Loretta is the proud mama to three, big, beautiful puppies! Ryno Kennel welcomed two boys and one girl to the RK Team on Tuesday. Any ideas for names?

Boy

Boy

Girl

A bit more background on the parents:

Loretta

Loretta is from Hey Moose! Kennel. She’s a mix of King and Scheer lines, and Loretta (as well as her littermates) have had great success in the racing world. One thing we look at when selecting potential parents is the success of the entire litter. Is just the dog an individual rockstar or does the whole litter stand out? In Loretta’s case, Loretta, Dolly, Cooke, Smoky, Otis, Hank, Buck (and several others) are all proven race athletes. Loretta has also had one litter before. All of her offspring will be racing with either Brent Sass or Tom Frode Johansen in the 2020 Iditarod, and a few just finished in Brent’s champion Yukon Quest team. As you can see, there is a lot of potential in her genetics!

Wingman

Wingman is a Ryno Kennel standout. He’s a smooth mover, aggressive eater, and the biggest cheerleader on the team. He’d be happily barking and wagging his tail every time we left or arrived at a checkpoint. His litter doesn’t have quite as high of a success rate as Loretta’s litter, but there are still several strong thousand-mile athletes, mostly in Riley Dyche’s team. Also, there is a sentimental element to Wingman. He’s Fire’s grandson. For longtime kennel followers, you’ll probably recognize Fire’s name. She was THE LEADER of Ryno Kennel for our first few years. She led my entire rookie Yukon Quest and was a big reason for our successful Copper Basin finishes. And she’s literally the best leader I’ve ever met. She wants to be in lead. Nothing deterrs her. At ten years and 6 months, she’s the oldest dog at Ryno Kennel right now. These puppies are her great grandpups. Nowadays, Fire lives the good life mostly sleeping inside and running the occasional tour.

Fire and her son Ham at the finish of my rookie run- the 2015 Yukon Quest. Fire led the entire race.

Puppies!!

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Loretta

We’re SO SO SO excited to announce that Ryno Kennel will soon be welcoming new teammates! It’s been a few years since we’ve had our own litter of puppies, so we can’t wait for the arrival of Loretta x Wingman pups!

Loretta is siblings to Cooke, Dolly, Smoky, and Otis (all of whom are rockstars). Loretta herself has finished several Quests and one Iditarod with Hey Moose! Kennel.

Wingman is one of the biggest cheerleaders and smoothest movers at the kennel. His parents and siblings are also very accomplished with wonderful attitudes and personalities.

The pups are due anytime in the next 5-10 days, so we’re all on pup-watch!

Any guesses of how many puppies Loretta will have?

2020 Yukon Quest Finish & Awards Banquet

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Fun night celebrating all the mushers and their amazing athletes, especially Cooke, Goblin, Dolly, Thresher, Mario, Wingman, Bull, Oryx, King Louie, Otis, Smoky, Lefty, Uno, Elmer, and Ryne!

Amazing framed art work given to all the mushers sewn by Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre Sewing group!

Ryne is the winner of 1 oz Canadian Maple Gold Coin, donated by Earl and Sandy from Clinton Creek! Not only do they open up their home as an amazing hospitality stop, but they’ve donated the gold coin (distributed Willy Wonka style) to one lucky musher- Ryne!

Live music by Canyon Mountain Band

ANTICIPATION

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Are you as excited as we are?! Ryne and her amazing 10 athletes (Goblin, Cooke, Dolly, King Louie, Oryx, Wingman, Thresher, Mario, Otis, and Bull) left Braeburn in high spirits this morning for their final push to Whitehorse — the finish line! Approximately 100 miles and word from incoming mushers is this is one of the toughest sections this year with blowing snow, high winds, and constant trail breaking, some sections waist deep. Each musher has said they have had to break trail. We know that our team planned to break the run up into two sections with a camp out in the middle, and so far their times have been good.

We’ve been cheering from near and far:

Elmer & Smoky received extra protein (ham!) from Kalyn this morning to get their congratulatory yelps ready!

Lefty and Uno will be cheering from back home with the rest of the Ryno Kennel pups.

And the wonderful folks at Braeburn made sure Ryne had plenty of carbs and protein to sustain herself for this final push.

Ever cheerful Jezzy has been on high alert, too!

So pull out your bells and whistles to help us cheer Ryne and her amazing athletes across the finish line.

If you have access to Facebook, the “Yukon Quest - Official Site” will be live streaming the finish or you can follow the live tracker on their website:

https://www.yukonquest.com/race-central/current-standings/live-tracking

To help keep you awake for this early arrival, please enjoy some more clips from the trail: