Blake won the 2004 John Beargrease Sleddog Marathon and
Rookie of the Year!

Jenny finished 14th of 52 team in the 2004 Beargrease 8-dog 150 mile race!

Jenny finished 6th at the 2004 Apostle Island Sled Dog Race out of 51 teams

Jenny finished 5th and Blake 12th at the 2004 Emprire Sled Dog Race, averaging over 13 mph for 34 miles per day!

Manitou Kennels: December 24, 2004


MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Snow arrived at Manitou Kennels shortly after our last journal entry, which explains why we have been away from the computer. We started sledding on December 9th, and we now have about 2 feet of snow on the ground. The dogs continue to run beautifully and injury free. They have covered up to 62 miles of trail in a day and been anxious to head out the next day. After Christmas we will begin a series of camping trips with the teams to develop a smooth camping routine.

We have been arranging Blake's drop bags for the Yukon Quest which will need to be shipped to Whitehorse and Fairbanks in mid-Janurary. These bags will be waiting for Blake at the checkpoints, and contain all the food he will need for himself and the dogs for his stay at the checkpoint and the next 200+ miles to the next checkpoint. He will also send supplies such as spare clothing, batteries, booties, foot ointment, and sled runner plastic. We are also working out the logistics of of getting to the team, Blake, and the hanlders to the start line in Whitehorse. Blake, the dogs, and his handler, Ryan, will tenitively begin their drive to Whitehorse shortly after the drop bags are shipped. Time is flying by!

We have some exciting news... Blake and I were engaged on December 21st!

Happy Holidays
Jennifer

Manitou Kennels: December 5, 2004

Seasons Greetings!

Snow has been slow to arrive to the Midwest this winter. We have had up to 7 inches on the ground, which helps cushion the dogs’ feet and legs on our longer runs, but isn’t enough to make us comfortable taking out large teams with the sleds. There is a lot of light snow in the forecast however, so if we get an inch of snow every day, we should be on sleds within a week or so! I hope everyone was able to enjoy the northern lights that were dancing across the sky a few weeks ago. The lights were this spectacular at 5pm, and by 10 pm, while Blake and I were out jogging, the entire sky was seemed alive with dancing lights. The dogs are running great. Our only wish is that we were on sleds by now.

We have basically divided the race dogs up into teams. Twenty dogs, who consist mostly of experienced race dogs 3-years of age and older are training for Blake’s Yukon Quest team. Most of the Beargrease champions are in this group.

My Beargrease team will come from a pool of 19 dogs, 12 of which two-year-olds who haven’t been to a race yet. Six of these young dogs a litter out of Nokita Grommit of Jedeye and by Noekken av Vargevass going back primarily to Igloo Pak dogs. This litter is very different in lineage from the rest of our kennel, and we are pleased with how well they have been performing so far.

The other litter in this same age group is Altoid, Pepper, Ziggy, and Greenie who are out of our excellent leaders, Splatters and Alex.
They have been spending a lot of miles in lead and swing and are learning quickly.

We are also very pleased with our other young leaders such as Baldy, Capri, and Trekkie who have already become quite dependable in front of the team.

Our puppies are growing fast and are very sweet and lovable.

The four 7-week-old Soldotna/Altoid pups have been named after currencies: Peso, Kyat, Yen, and Lira. They join us on daily puppy adventures though the woods and down the trails.
The eight 7-month-old Dewy/Duece pups started running in harness with the older leaders very easily with tons of enthusiasm. It is very exciting to watch the pups take off down the trail so happily and eagerly. This litter has been truly delightful to raise and train since very early on. They all earned to sit and wait for their food in just a couple of days. They have always been very responsive and attentive to us.

Until 6-month of age, the entire litter went on 2-3 mile free-runs down the trails with me on my bicycle, and I still trust the pups in this litter when we they are loose to come and follow me!

You may have heard; DHA, an essential fatty acid in omega-3 fish oil, has been shown to be a key in neural development. In light of this new research showing how omega-3 fish ol supplementation can improve trainability of pups, I am sure that the Sea Pet Omega-3 Fish Oil supplement we gave their mother with throughout her pregnancy and the pups since with 3 weeks of age was a great benefit to them. Learn more about this product at: www.seapet.com Feel free to email us with any questions!

Please check out the Jedeye Siberian print by Dave Totten that is available to support the teams. This would be an excellent Christmas gift! Shirts are also available soon.

Happy Trails, Jennifer

Manitou Kennels: November 19, 2004
Howdy!

Training has been going wonderful! All we need is a little snow the season will be well underway. The gravel roads that we run on are great for training, but this time of year as we stretch the miles out, we need to reduce speed for fear of injuring feet. Our dogs have always had good feet, but we’ve been impressed with how well the dogs’ feet are looking this fall. This is probably because they live on gravel here rather than the sand we had in Cambridge.

We have lots of Snow Buntings moving through the area. They seem to enjoy flying just in front of the leaders, landing on the trail, and taking off again just as the team gets close. They get the entire team fired up much like the loose leader philosophy used in the early 1900’s. It was not uncommon for musher’s to train a leader to run loose with the team to help increase enthusiasm in a tired team and increase speed in the process. A lot of the younger dogs are beginning to show they have what it takes to run with the main crew and some of them are really showing their natural talent in front of the team.
I was invited to give a presentation at Midwest Mountaineering in St. Paul last weekend and had a great time seeing old friends and meeting new ones. I talked about general training and racing, and then fielded questions about more specific training practices.
We have something new at the kennel! In the past, since we live off the electrical grid, when we wanted to run water for the dogs, shower, use power tools, ect. we needed to run the generator. We just got our battery bank, inverter and hundreds of other parts that give us the capability to flip a switch and have light in our cabin and do everything things without having to fire the generator. It was two full days of wiring and assembling but well worth it. Now we will have to run the generator once a week to charge the batteries and live the rest of the week in silence.

Happy Trails!
Blake

Manitou Kennels: October 16th, 2004
Greetings!

It is mid-October and the golden leaves are floating from the Birch trees to the ground and covering the roads. The Tamarack trees have turned golden and the maples are still red. We've had many days of beautiful Fall weather with cold morning for training and warm sunny afternoons. Fortunately, Soldotna gave birth to her litter by Altoid just before the weather became rainy and cold. She and her pups are keeping warm and dry in their insulated dog house. I was also very happy she waited until I returned from my recent trip to Down East Sled Dog Club Trade Fair and Seminar in Oxford, Maine to have her litter!

The Trade Fair was great! I enjoyed visiting old friends and making new ones. If you ever have the opportunity to go to this event, I highly recommend it. They have bike-joring, canicross, and rig races throughout the weekend. Everyone had a wonderful time, and there were only a few wipe-outs with mild road rash! I gave a presentation on Saturday about Mush with PRIDE and kennel management. Mush with P.R.I.D.E. supports the responsible care and humane treatment of all dogs and is dedicated to enhancing the care and treatment of sled dogs in their traditional and modern uses. I encourage everyone to become a member and consider participating in the Kennel Certification program. Participating will give you the opportunity to review your dog husbandry with a veterinarian, shows your dedication to good dog management, and gives credibility to you kennel.

On Sunday, I taught a group how to examine their dogs for injuries and illness and encouraged everyone to examine their dogs after every run. I stressed that it is important to identify and treat any injuries or issues early. Most sled dogs are very stoic and their strong drive to run can make identifying problems more difficult.

Back at the kennel, the teams are running strong. They are stretching out to 8 mile runs and were especially anxious to run as snowflakes were flying the other morning! Yesterday, our handler, Darian Willete, and I were running the "girl team" down the grade road when we noticed a black thing along side the right side of the road in the distance. Our German shepherd, "Asia" was free running beside the team and I noticed her hackles go up. We were trying to decide if it was a parked ATV, a moose, or a bear. As we approached, we noticed that the "handle bars" were indeed big ears, and two Bull Moose rose to their feet. It is odd for two bull moose to be buddies this time of the year, but I am pretty sure these two boys are a couple of long yearlings that have been hanging out together all year. I stopped the team and the moose stood for a few moments watching the dogs. Asia was going crazy, barking and running about. I'm happy she didn't try to bite one of the moose on the hock! (She made that mistake with a horse once...) Finally, they turned and trotted down the road ahead of us before making their way out into the swamp. They are truly amazing animals! I always enjoy seeing them and have not had any major problems with them and the dogs yet. I should share the story of the moose with meningeal worm last spring sometime...

I better sign off for now!
Happy Trails!
Jennifer

Manitou Kennels: September 18, 2004
The first half of September has been warmer than August, but the teams are still being trained early in the morning at least twice a week. We are anxious for cooler weather and longer runs, but the dogs continue to look great.

Since the Beargrease is about 6 months away, last Thursday the KBJR Channel 6 News crew came to the kennel and joined us on training run. It was about 64 F when we took them out on a two-mile run. The dogs did very nicely and provided the cameraman with great shots of them cooling off in out doggie-pools after the run. I think KBJR did a great job with the their story about sled dog training in the off season. You can download it at:

http://www.kbjr.com.

We would like to introduce a fine group of Siberian Huskies that has joined the Jedeye Siberians: the Shjegge Mann Siberian Huskies bred by Walt Brockman of Wisconsin. Walt began mushing in 1975 after visiting Earl and Natalie Norris at their Howling Dog Farm in Willow Alaska. He stayed at Anadyr kennels and trained and raced dogs from 1978-1979, returning to Wisconsin with the foundation of dogs that he developed into his line of Shjegge Mann Siberians. He raced extensively on the Wisconsin Trailblazers Sled Dog Club sprint circuit throughout the 80's, becoming the Trailblazers 9-dog Champion in 1983. Due to health problems, Walt has placed his young dogs in our care to be trained, raced, and continue his great line of dogs. The 10 females and 8 males range from 3-5 years of age and are from 5 different breedings. They are a tallented group, whom we hope to give the opportunuty to race in the Beargease 150 and other races this season.
Happy Trails!
Jennifer

Manitou Kennels: September 4, 2004
Greetings everyone!
Fall training is underway, and the dogs are looking great. We've been running the teams 4-miles since mid-August and have been impressed with the dogs' stamina and endurance, even after a few months of summer rest. It is exciting to watch the 15 young athletes joining the 25 seasoned race dogs. Hopefully, their training over the first two years of their lives has prepared them well for this season. We have big plans for their first year of racing!

There have been some big changes for the Jedeye Siberians in the past year. In the summer of 2002, Blake purchased 120 acres north of Finland, MN that would become Manitou Kennels. Over the next year, we built a log home, kennel, and began making trails on the land. The dogs were moved to the new kennel in November 2003. All of the hard work seemed to be rewarded with beautiful performance in the 2004 Beargrease Marathon.

This summer has been filled with exciting changes as well. I graduated from the University of Minnesota, College of Veterinary Medicine, and began working at the Ely Veterinary Clinic and Lake County Veterinary Clinic. Blake was hired by the U.S. Forest Service and is working from the ranger station in Isabella, MN. In our spare time, we have been improving our facility by building a pole barn and a bunk house. We have also raised eight very promising puppies this summer out of Alaskan's Dewy of Anadyr (leader) and Duece of Jedeye (leader).

We are gearing up for an exciting race season, so I hope you will follow our experiences through this bi-weekly journal and support our efforts to field competitive Siberian Husky teams in both the 2005 Yukon Quest and John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon.

In our next journal entry, we will introduce the new additions to the kennel, Walt Brockman's Shjeggemann Siberian Huskies.

Happy Trails!
Jennifer