• Zipper on snowsuit broke.
• Lost team.
• Scratched. Ran 100 of the 213 mile course.
• Frostbite on six fingertips.

The Team

• Chevy & Nikki (Lead)
• Maude & Zeus (Point)
• Snowball & Moe (Team)
• Ahab & Shrek (Team)
• Spike & Luke (Team)
• Capella & Phanty (Wheel)

The Story

The race began with a mass start for the women’s division at 11am and men’s at 11:30am, December 28, 2011.  I was one of the last women’s team to leave the Meiers Roadhouse parking lot. As soon as we got onto Paxson lake (around 1 minute after starting) Phanty’s collar fell off and I needed to stop the team to re-collar him. Stopping the team immediately after starting is a difficult thing to do. My hooks wouldn’t hold the team, but somehow, after several tries I was able to stop long enough to run up to wheel position and put on Phanty’s collar and untangle the rope from his hind legs.

Around 5 miles into the race the wind started blowing and we hit deep snow. Two teams were ahead of me stuck in the snow and I was behind another team that was waiting. It seemed like we waited quite a long time for the teams stuck in the snow to take off. Once they took off they got stuck again. The women were polite, and waited for each other. There really wasn’t anywhere to go because the snow on each side of the trail was deep.  Soon the men caught up to us and they weren’t so polite. They plowed passed us, making more tangles between the teams that were stopped.  I noticed one of my leaders run away. We were stopped for so long that Maude, positioned in point, chewed the lines. Since I was already stopped with no where to go, so I left my sled to run after Chevy. He came to me when I called and I put a new line on for him. Then Nikki, my other leader ran free. I ran after her, caught her and put on a new line. The men kept passing. Finally the women in front of me got unstuck and mushed on.

Once we got off of Paxson Lake, we were on a nice little up/down section that went through spruce. Shrek vomited. Then he vomited again, fell down, twitched his feet and stood up. I had already experienced this with him and had brought him to the vet.  The conclusion was that perhaps he was working too hard and when he vomited he had some kind of vagus nerve response. I decided not to drop him at Paxson Lodge (18 miles into the run). If Greg had been there, I would have dropped him, but I didn’t see Greg and figured that Shrek would be okay. It was hot out and the dogs were working hard mushing through deep snow.

We turned onto the Denali Highway and all was well– for a little while. I’m using a tail dragger on my sled— it’s a device that hooks onto the back runners so that you can store gear on top. Some how when we stopped for a 30 second break, I pinned my right foot under the tail dragger and couldn’t get my foot out. I was worried if the dogs took off I’d break my foot. I spent between 10-20 minutes trying to unpin my foot and finally freed it. We started going and the wind picked up. I felt a draft and went to zip up my zipper and noticed that my zipper on my Apocalypse Design snow suit was broken. F#$%^&K! I had an extra parka packed away– if I didn’t have that with me I’d have to scratch right then and there.

We mushed along for several hours and came across a team in the ditch. Some snow machiners were helping her out. Right when I came up behind her she was out of the ditch and took off (this was Lance Mackey’s handler’s puppy team– and man those pups were fast!)  I snacked the dogs a couple of times and was counting miles to the hospitality stop, looked at my watch and was pretty well on target. The hospitality stop was at 42 mile Denali Highway. I went into the ditch at around 36 mile. I tried and tried to push the sled out of the ditch, but it was too heavy. I took everything out of my sled, pushed the sled onto the road, and repacked. Off we went, only again to go into the ditch. This time I wasn’t so lucky. I tried getting unstuck without taking everything out, but it didn’t work. Once again I took everything out of my sled. I was on the downslope side pushing the sled out of the ditch and the sled freed itself and the dogs took off– without me.  All I could do was walk after them and hope they got hung up somewhere. I was very worried. I walked around 1/2-3/4 a mile when I found them waiting for me. I turned them around, untangled everyone and mushed back to our gear. I turned them around again, untangled everyone and souped them– they were very hungry, and repacked the sled. Then we mushed on to the 42 mile hospitality stop. I arrived at around 10:30pm.

I was surprised to see so many teams there since I wasted two hours getting stuck. I tended to the dogs (took off booties, put down straw, started to boil some water– I spilled heet on my fingers). When I walked into the hospitality cabin my fingers tingled. This is normal for me, so I didn’t think much of it.  A couple of mushers told me that “everyone was still hanging around because there isn’t a trail.” Then I heard from some other musher that “it took Brent Sass five hours to mush twenty miles because there wasn’t a trail.”  I did the rest of my dog chores, ate some junk that was in the hospitality cabin and went into a cabin where mushers were sleeping. They weren’t sleeping though, they were talking about the trail that wasn’t there. A couple of mushers who had previously run the trail decided to go forward. Lance Mackey’s handler said she was headed back to Paxson. That left Simon and myself. He was planning on turning around and I was still undecided. I walked over to the lodge to see if I could get details from anyone, but nobody was awake– it was around 4:30am. I decided that for the safety of myself and team, I’d scratch. Since there wasn’t a sweep, and the last teams that took off for Apline lodge left hours ago, I’d be way behind everyone. I just didn’t feel safe thinking there was no trail, no markers, and possibly going into water if I couldn’t see where the trail was.

Simon and I mushed back to Paxson. I’m not sure what time we left, maybe around 8:30am.  I arrived a little after 1pm. Greg was waiting for us! We were very happy to see him.  That’s when I noticed my fingertips were not only very numb, but also gray. On each hand, my thumb, pointer, and index fingers had frostbite. Greg packed everyone and everything up and I warmed up inside Paxson Lodge, and then we headed back to Fairbanks.

It’s a good thing that I scratched because I wouldn’t have realized I had frostbite.

Overall we had a good time and learned a lot.

Frostbite

Ilana & Dog, Paxson, AK

The race started at Pleasant Valley Store in the Two Rivers area of Fairbanks, around mile 23 of Chena Hot Springs Road. The trail started towards the west, and did a loop around Jenny M. mountain. Then, it turned east along the RatStack trail, headed across the Mullen Slew, onto the Baseline trail, and eventually crossed CHSR at mile 27. From there, the trail approximately parallels the road, to Angel Creek Lodge. At the Lodge, there was a required 4-hour break, then the trail returned in reverse (other than taking the loop the same way around Jenny M. as in the start of the race. But otherwise, a reverse trail). Total mileage was 50 miles each leg, for 100 miles.

I drew #7, so started at 11:10 (there was no #6, and start intervals were 2 minutes). Within 90 minutes, all but one of the other teams passed me. But even so, I was happy with my time and team. I arrived at the Lodge at 5:26 pm, for a run time of 6:16, average speed of 8 miles per hour. On the return leg, the average was around 7 miles per hour: I departed at 9:26 pm (after the 10 minute time adjustment for my start time), and got to Pleasant Valley Store around 5:15 am – just under 7 hours. Two other teams had decided to stop along the trail to rest, so I did not end up being the last finisher.

The starting team was:

• Chevy and Nicki in lead
• Ahab and Shrek in point
• Wayne and Capella
• Maude and Zeus
• Moe and Snowball
• Spike and Phanty

I made a few small changes to the team ordering along the way. The biggest was shortly before the road crossing, after 22 miles or so: Wayne had stopped pulling, and stumbled a few times. We just got him from another owner, and since then he collapsed or nearly collapsed on two prior runs, after 24 and 40 miles (despite having been trained for those and longer distances all season!). So, I put him in the sled after he stumbled several times and got dragged a bit (he also had some extensive diarrhea). He was content to stay there for a couple of hours, then managed to jump out of the sled. I tried him again in the team, and he only went a few more miles before starting to stumble again. So, he rode in the sled the rest of the way to the Lodge, and didn’t accompany the team on the return leg.

While getting ready for the return trip, Phanty yelped and had sensitivity in his front left wrist. It seemed like a sprain, so we pulled him from the team too, and returned with 10 dogs. In the last 25 miles or so, Nicky was getting overheated and tired, and kept diving into the snow at the side of the trails (which is not very good lead dog behavior!). Eventually, I moved her back in the team, where she pulled somewhat but not that well, and moved other new dog Maude to the front. This was maybe Maude’s first lead dog experience. It took her a little while to figure things out, but eventually she ran fine. It was clear that Chevy was, and is, our strongest leader. He led for the whole 100 miles.

Dogs were strong throughout. They settled into a steady pace, and just kept going. I’m proud of the gang, and think they are Super Dogs. When Ilana or I run a marathon, we’re pooped and ready to take the rest of the day (or two). On December 17, the StinkyDogs ran nearly 4 marathons, in back-to-back pairs. Amazing!

The route we took was Ratstack to Mullen Slough and then I trusted in “dog” and Chevy and Nikki led me through the maze of Two Rivers trails to the road crossing at Rosehip Campground. We turned around at Twin Bears– which was somewhat of a fiasco and the dogs ended up in a big knot. We took the Baseline (instead of the slough) to Jenny M and down the third turn.

The line up was:

• Chevy & Nikki (Lead)
• Ahab & Roo (after 30 miles it was Ahab & Moe) (Point)
• Capella & Shrek (Team)
• Phanty & Zeus (Team)
• Snowball & Moe (after 30 miles it was Snow & Roo except when she sat in the sled)
• Spike & Luke (Wheel)

Wow. I graduated to 12 dogs in these conditions. What was I thinking????

When I came home from the mush, Greg had moved the dogs to the downtown yard. :)

My neighbor told me that she was moving the sheep, so I figured it was safe to mush on the field. Ha. I got to a turn in the field and 5-6 loose sheep– were coming toward me. The sheep weren’t even on her property. I stopped the machine and cursed many times. I was able to turn the team around, but turning a 500lb ATV is without hurting the team or myself was challenging , but do-able. We trotted home.

Spike looked like she was having a hard time. She was in wheel position and took the brunt of the force when turning around. I think she had minor heat exhaustion. I’ve seen it before with Peetie.  When overheating the dogs tend to stumble. Spike jumped in the baby pool, but was stumbling and had her back left foot turned over without noticing. I put the gang away, gave everyone raw hide, and tended to Spike with an ice pack and ice cubes.

I need to stick to my rule. No running dogs unless it’s 40 degrees or below.

Roo and Capella are in adjacent pens. Roo shares a pen with her sissy Nikki. Capella shares a pen with her brothers Phanty and Zeus. After a brief fight several weeks ago where Capella was the target and Roo was one of the chief instigators, things have gotten out of hand with them barking at each other and fence fighting. Fence fighting is where dogs in adjacent pens attempt to fight with each other through a fence, in this case a chain link fence.

We’ve put up some “Privacy Panels” for Roo. Three stylish 4 X 8 sheets of plywood now lean against the fence in Capella’s pen and are intended to prevent the girlies from seeing each other and fence fighting. For the most part, the privacy screens work well. Perhaps I’ll paint calming images on the screens to create a serene atmosphere for the girls.

Nikki: Right before the KC epidemic Nikki cut her foot on something. It was sliced open badly– not something that I could fix. She went to the vet and received several stitches in her paw pad. Healing time was estimated at 10 days and she was to wear a bootie and take cephalexin for an antibiotic.  Nikki appeared to be depressed that she couldn’t run with the team– at least this is what we thought because she wasn’t eating much and moped about. Then the KC came and she plummeted further into the doggie dumples. It’s been around four weeks of picking at food or not eating. I brought her to the vet today and she’s lost around 6 pounds since her visit to the vet four weeks ago. Doc felt a loopy intestine, so she’s scheduled for a barium test tomorrow. Possible obstructed bowel.

Chez: Last week I noticed a hole in Chez’s neck when I got home from work. There were drops of blood on the floor and his wound was actively bleeding. It was a regular puncture wound, but in a unique location. After speaking with a vet, I cleaned the wound and attempted to staple it closed. Stapling a dog by yourself is doable, but stapling a dog’s neck is tough. I placed one in a good spot and the other wasn’t very good– one end of the staple was in the skin and the other in the hole of the wound. I left it because he didn’t want me fussing with it. He too was put on cephalexin.

Magic: Around the time I noticed Chez’s wound, I also noticed a small puncture wound in Magic’s tush. I shaved part of it and cleaned it out. I put him on cephalexin because he tends to get infections.

Roo: Yesterday while we were saddling up the gang to go for a run, I noticed Roo’s back foot was bleeding.  We brought her inside to defrost the frozen iceberg of blood and saw her toenail was torn and instead of pointing vertical (like a normal toenail should) it was horizontal (pretty cool looking actually!). She must have caught it on the fence. She went to the vet today to have the toenail removed. The doc called me at work to check and see if she could cut her other toenails. I said “Yes!” Her toenails were pretty long and she was on the list for clipping– but I hadn’t gotten to it yet. It’s kinda embarrassing when your vet notes that your dog’s toenails are gnarly.

King Neptune: Neppy went to the vet today because of his on/off eating. His bloodwork was mostly normal, except for his pancreatic levels. We’re sending his medical files from one vet to the other, so the vet can examine his previous blood levels. Stay tuned.

Storm: This one isn’t vet related, but spring related. Now that it’s getting lighter out and late in the winter season, the moose are out and about. Storm decided to chase one this morning.

Nikki is one of our super-duper lead dogs and really wants to run, so she is quite bummed that she has to be on bed rest.

Other news at Stinkypup is Decker’s radial subluxation. On Monday June 21st, Decker got beat up during a puppy party. Greg wasn’t around, so it was just me who pulled one dog off & hooked them up, pulled another dog off & hooked them up, and so on. I’m not sure who started the fight, but many snouts were involved, including Monkey, Pumpkin, Capella, Spike, Chester, Rocket, Ahab, Zeus, Nikki and Roo. All ten dogs were pulling and jumping and tugging on poor little Decker. Dog fights suck.

After I got everyone back on their chains I fed them, and then tended to Decker’s wounds. She had a couple of puncture wounds, which I shaved and cleaned. When Greg came home he helped me tend to the rest of her wounds. She had a long laceration on her back leg and bleeding puncture wound near her left armpit. We cleaned her up, gave her Rimadyl, Tramodol & Cephlex and put her in the pen. We’ve seen a lot worse, but were keeping an eye on her. She didn’t eat much on Tues. Wed. she ate a little and her wrist began to swell. We put ice on her wrist, which helped the swelling a lot. On Thurs. her entire arm began to swell. We iced it and the swelling went down, but she wasn’t getting better.

On Fri. we brought her to the emergency vet, who thought she just had a bad infection. She gave us Clavamox (a stronger antibiotic). Although the swelling went down, we now noticed she wasn’t bearing any weight on her leg and her wrist was floppy. She was breathing hard (a sign of pain in dogs), but I thought she was just too hot.

On Tues. we brought her to Dr. Flemme at Mt. McKinley animal hospital. Flemme is an expert in canine orthopaedics. He diagnosed her with lateral radial subluxation. He took e-xrays to confirm the problem. We left her at the vet and he was able to manually reduce the injury (meaning put the bones back where they were supposed to be without having to do surgery).

She needs to stay in a crate for 10 days and she’s quite uncomfortable. After that we’ll move her outside to the pen. I already told her she can move inside, but I think she prefers living outside with her sisters. She’s a shy girl.

Decker sporting a $200 cast.

Decker

So, that’s the current news from the StinkyPup ranch. Magic is adjusting to his cropped tail (I still need to take some pics), and of course, we all desperately miss Sam.

Another 100 yards, and Nicki suddenly ran ahead. I saw a mother and baby moose cross the path, then the mother ran left and the baby ran right. Nicki ran after the baby. Immediately, I heard some sounds that were a little like goats, sort of “mmaaahhh, mmaaaahhhhh.” Another second or two, and I caught up with Nicki. She was just off the trail, and had grabbed the baby moose by the neck and was shaking it. I yelled “no,” and went to grab Nicki by the collar. She backed away, then bit the moose on the haunch. All the time, the baby was calling, “mmaaahhh, mmaaaahhhh” and was looking at me with big brown eyes full of fear. I heard the mother in the woods behind me, but she was (I think) afraid of me, and didn’t come close.

I caught Nicki’s collar and lifter her off the moose. The moose immediately ran away, and I hooked Nicki to the leash again. The baby was gone, though I could hear the mother moving around in the woods behind me. I yelled out an apology to the baby & mother, and we left. Total elapsed time was maybe 15 seconds.

Although the baby almost certainly got some puncture wounds, I did not see any blood or torn skin. I hope infection doesn’t set in, since otherwise there didn’t appear to be any life-threatening injuries. We passed the same spot on the way back, an hour later, and there was no sign of either moose.

Two days earlier, I had seen a mother and adolescent moose about a mile further up the trail. After the incident with the baby, maybe 15 minutes later, I saw at least one of the moose in the same area as the earlier day. So, there were at least three moose out that day. I think the baby was 3-5 weeks old. Not much bigger than one of our dogs (maybe 70 pounds?), it had a full coat of hair. It was standing fairly upright and had substantial legs, versus newborns that are very spindly, and seem to not be standing fully upright.

This was a nature encounter I would rather have not had. It looks like I’ll be keeping dogs on the leash, even when we’re in the deep woods. We did hear report of bear sightings in Chena Lakes, which is at the other end of my run if I do the fully 12-mile loop. Plus, there are wolf signs. Many pheasants, squirrels, and hare. Plenty of distraction, and some associated dangers.