Bikejoring Greyhounds!

I have been so bad at keeping this blog up to date as there has been so much going on at the Furkid Palace!

The sledding season is over for the year and so maybe I will have more time to write. I am now trying to train Mouse up for bikejoring. Hopefully WA Sleddog Sports Association will offer a bikejoring class in at least some races next season. We are heading interstate to compete in some other races next year, so if it turns out that Mouse is a keen bikejoring dog we will enter some races.

Mouse and I competing in canicross at the last race of the season, the Jarrahwood Jaunt

Mouse has been bikejoring twice so far, and the second video shows the improvement she has made. Running canicross with her in that harness connected to a waist belt has helped her get the idea of pulling, though being a little greyhound with a high centre of gravity she still can't pull very hard.


Mouse and Jim (first time bikejoring)


Mouse running alone (second time bikejoring)

Bender is still running short tracks as a veteran but I am not sure he will still be up to it next year. He will be 10 years old in March and he really is mellowing out. He may just go into retirement.

Lure coursing for Mouse will continue on through summer. She is only one qualifying score away from becoming an ACLA Field Champion. I am also aiming to enter Mouse in another Dances With Dogs trial in December. Hopefully we will be able to make time for some more dog shows for Barbie, as she is the show pony of the Palace. She is turning 8 very soon and she still shapes up pretty well despite a few grey hairs on her face.

Mouse & I have also gotten back to obedience classes now that it is getting a bit warm for sled training. We are still working our way up the ranks but if I can schedule it in we will enter some Rally-O trials before the end of the year.

What have we been up to! A lot!

This winter I decided to give Bender a go at dryland dog sledding. I joined West Australia Sleddog Sports Association (WASSA) and we entered our first race, the Hampton Hoon, last weekend. I have been well and truly bitten by the bug. Without Nic's steady influence I think I would have gotten a sled puppy to train up for next year already!

I have decided that our team will be called "Team Planet Express" - as Bender is always going to be my very first sleddog. I have ordered a sticker for the car and the scooter, as well as an iron on patch for Bender's dog coat!

Bender and I at the mock race at beginner's camp

I also took a friend's dog along (Poppy), as her mother and aunty are certainly good sleddogs. Mouse came to participate in the canicross and I was just hoping that we wouldn't win the Red Lantern (the red lantern is the prize you get for coming last - you can read about the tradition of the red lantern here).

Poppy and I starting our first race!

It was a quite a drive out to the Hamptonview Homestead where the race was held, but it's beautiful country out there. It seemed perhaps a little dry, and in fact, it was so dry that there was no condensation at all on my tent in the mornings. This made for very pleasant camping despite the cold temperatures (which are a necessity for the sport), and the very early starts.

I decided that I would buy myself a new airbed for the trip. Well that was a mistake. It was great on the first night but sometime on Sunday it sprung a leak and so it was useless on Sunday night. I ended up stealing Mouse's bed and making her share it with me and Bender.

As for the racing, well it went as well as I expected. Bender's an old man and he ran pretty well in Novice - he definitely had the idea it was a race by the second heat and he even vocalised a bit on the start line when he was being revved up by Vanessa who was handling him for me. We finished 8th overall in Novice with an average speed over the two, 2 km heats of 14.09 kph.

He pulled up really well and this video is of his second heat. He was certainly tired after the weekend and wanted to eat more so I'd say that is a good sign. I have to complete two races as a novice before  I can enter him in any other classes but I plan to move to veteran with him when I am eligible.

Poppy is a pup, almost a year old but a large mixed breed so a long way from being a mature dog. She ran in puppy class and she ran *like* a puppy! I think she probably ran an extra kilometre from all the zig zagging she did all over the track! Poppy and I finished 5th out of 6 dogs, so this was the closest I got to getting the red lantern. Her average speed was 11.5kph. Her litter sister Lily won the red lantern instead.

Hampton Hoon 2015 - Puppy Edit Heat 1 from Jet Ska on Vimeo.
Mouse ran better than expected in the canicross. By the end of 4 heats of racing with Poppy and Bender as well as the 6k walk I did with Mouse on the Saturday to keep her happy, my feet were killing me, so I think I held us back a bit. We ran the 2 kilometres at 9.78 kph and Mouse trotted the whole way, finishing 15th. We could definitely improve in canicross as a team.

The next race is at the end of the month. I'm not sure if I will be taking Poppy along or not but I will definitely post about how we go.