Holidays and Year's End 2020

 Hey Tribe,

'Twas a simple and quiet holiday season for our pack this year.  We enjoyed our own company, warm and comfortable in our own home.

A new trick the KBD's learned this year is one I call "Buddies" and I really wanted to show it off for this year's Christmas photo.  Well, in true form, it didn't turn out as I envisioned because the dogs enjoy going rogue on me, but it turned out adorable anyway!

Then, just like that, the year is done and we're already at the tail end of 2020.

Stay tuned for our 2020 re-cap and what we're looking forward to in 2021.  I have a photo reveal I'm extremely excited to share with you!

Esla Kicksled Review

Hey Tribe,

Our Esla Kicksled has hit the trails quite a bit since the Karelian Bear Dogs and I set it up; if you follow @flyexplores on Instagram, you know last winter was a flurry of posts and stories about our kicksledding adventures.

So, now that we've used the Esla Kicksled for a full Alaskan winter, I am excited to share our experience with it thus far - the good, the not so good, and the bottom line.

The Good:

It is super simple to use - step on the runners and go.  If you're using it as intended (by kicking to move forward), it glides across snow faster than walking, so you can travel further in less time.  Hard packed snow is even easier to glide across and I feel like I'm flying.  If you're using it with dog power, it pulls easily and tracks well behind the dogs.

We can go for miles and miles.

It folds down sort-of flat, so transportation is easier if you want to put it inside your car or strap it on the roof.

It is lightweight.  I can easily pick the sled up at the truck and carry it to a trail, or pick the sled up on the trail to get over a log.  Though I typically run two dogs, you all know it's Rex who does most of the pulling as Fly runs along beside him pretending to do the work, so the lightness of the sled makes it easier for one dog to pull.

Fly thinks this is where she belongs.

It has a seat.  This one may sound silly, but that seat is a great place to carry a bag to store my gear or haul stuff - it's also a nice place to actually sit when we stop somewhere to rest or have a snack.  I'm excited to do an overnight kicksled trip and plan to use that seat to hold my compact/lightweight camping gear.

Ready for extended journeys!

It has several modes of propulsion.  This may seem like a "duh" statement, but stay with me: the dogs can pull the sled, but in the horrible event that a dog is injured, I can move the sled myself by kicking and won't be stuck out in the middle of nowhere.  Likewise, if I decide to use the sled without a dog, I can do that too.  I'm not limited to just one use for the sled; I like the duality of the kicksled.

I'm always going to use it with the dogs.

It comes in a variety of sizes and colors.  We get compliments and questions about the sled everywhere we go and every time I make a post.  It's super cute and super fun!

Finnish sled, Finnish dog - Red sled, Red harness

The Not so Good:

It doesn't come with a brake.  This is one of the biggest drawbacks for me.  I know, it is designed to be human powered, so the likelihood of a person kicking the sled so fast as to need a brake is unlikely, so I'm not being fair to the sled design by saying this is a negative.  However, as a dog pulled sled, as I primarily use it, I wish it had a brake.

It's just a chair on runners.

It folds down, but remains very long.  Sure the sled folds flat, but it is still super long with the runners, which makes it a challenge for transportation.  Happily, it juuuust barely fits in the back of my Ford truck and I can close the tailgate.  Folks with cars on the other hand, I think you'll have to get creative with transportation.

Those runners are designed to glide, but they're loooooong.

It isn't super, super light.  I mentioned it was lightweight, but at 20lbs, there are lighter sleds out there.  It's made of wood, after all.  I'd like a sled that I know one dog (Rex) can really easily pull and not strain himself under normal conditions.

One of these dogs only pulls when she wants to.

It's going to break.  I'm super afraid my reckless dogs are going to break the sled, since it's wooden.  The KBDs run like devils and have little regard for safety - we smash through brush, take turns that defy the laws of physics, and go over some seriously rough terrain; I fear one of these days they're going to pull the sled somewhere crazy and we will smash it.  Of course, this danger could be minimized with better training and better handling, but still, we're pretty rough on our equipment.

They are unruly beasts!

It did break - sort of.  The plastic runners are held in place by zip ties at the top.  This is awesome, because it makes it super easy to remove a runner to replace or to clean the blade so it doesn't rust.  However, plastic zip ties snap and break at the slightest jostle when in negative F temps.  The dogs and I lost a runner while out on a recent run.  I'll carry more zip ties in my basket until I figure out better attachments.  Little bungees maybe?

Oh snap.

The Bottom Line:

Would I buy this kicksled if I had to do it over again? Absolutely!  Would I recommend it to other newbies?  For sure!  It is a terrific way to get outside and play during winter and an easy introduction into the sport of dog sledding.

Does This GoPro Make My Nose Look Big?

 Hey Tribe!

Guess what we got ourselves for Christmas?!

Yep, a GoPro Hero9 Black. 

It's name is Little Buddy.  

Naturally, we had to take Little Buddy out and give it a literal test run with the kicksled.  A temperature of 1*F meant we had the Palmer Hayflats to ourselves, which was great since the Karelians are out of practice with their sled pulling skills and manners.

Open water from the river across the flats created a thin fog that clung to our faces as we cruised.  Fly and Rex think they look tougher with frost on their bodies. Do you agree?

Wasilla Creek's unpredictable wandering rudely severed the trail, so we stopped for a play session while I assessed the possibility of carrying the kicksled across the ice floes and creek channel.  Would I slip and crash the sled and get wet and frozen?  Yes, most likely.

I decided discretion would be our motto for this trip, so we turned around and retraced our snowy tracks back toward the truck.  As we were navigating a particularly uneven and icy patch along the creek, the kicksled began making a slightly odd sound as it slid across the snow.  Imagine my surprise when I glanced down and saw we were missing an entire sled runner!  How far back had we lost it?!  I looked over my shoulder and to my relief the rogue runner was a mere 15 yards behind us. Whew.

The runner was simple to push back in place and remained obediently steadfast for the duration of our journey, but its attachment will need to be reassessed at some point soon.  Right now though, I'm too busy learning how to use our new GoPro, Little Buddy, and how to edit the movie clips and photos it captures.

Someone is all tuckered out from the adventure.

Rex's First Poster

 Hey Tribe!

Rex is feeling pretty cool, now that his breeder made a poster for him.

Doesn't he look great?!  My handsome boy.

The poster is in light of Da Villa Saloia's upcoming planned second breeding: Litter B.

I am so excited for Nadia, Leonardo, Cobra, and Sheldon and can't wait to see new little Rexy siblings.  If you're ready for your own stunning KBD pup, send Da Villa Saloia a message: I highly recommend them.  Tell Nadia I say hello!

Fly Flew to Kotzebue

Hey Tribe,

How was that title rhyme?!  It's true though, we did travel up to the Arctic Circle to the village of Kotzebue for several days: we saw some wonderful Alaskan landscape and made some wonderful Alaskan friends.

We were deployed there for a search mission and were honored to be able to assist in bringing the family and community some closure.  I will not write about the mission, but I would like to share our travel experience, because it has been a memorable trip and I am very proud of my Fly girl.

This was Fly's first time flying in cabin and she was an excellent travel companion.  Airline travel spacing meant we had an entire row to ourselves: Fly took advantage by stretching full out on the floor to better look up and down the aisle; she also put her front paws on my lap so she could look out the window.  Do you think she wondered why I rudely didn't roll the window down for her?

Kotzebue is picturesquely situated along the ocean's shore and the first day we were there we enjoyed lovely sunrise/sunset pink coloring across the ice.  On the second and third days we saw herds of caribou crossing the Sound, but I was too busy to get photos of them.

"Windy" is the primary word that has always come to mind when I hear the name 'Kotzebue' and I was not misguided: it is indeed a very windy place and endures countless blizzards during the winter months - one of which we experienced first hand, though it mercifully began to dissipate as we ventured out for the day.

The Kotzebue fire station hosted us during our stay and the entire crew was welcoming and made us feel right at home after we worked so hard each day.

New smells abounded in the garage, including 3 caribou that a crew member pulled in to butcher while we were there.  Fly loved exploring our home away from home.

There was a funny moment one evening at the fire station: Fly had been looking out the window while standing on a table (agility dog that she is) when she turned around and noticed a mannequin baby - as a lover of small humans, she had to go investigate and gave baby a kiss to cheer him.

In the mornings, before most of the village was active and rapping around on snowmachines, we would go for walks on the lake.

The cold is pervasive above the Arctic Circle, especially if you enjoy running and rolling in the snow, but it makes the air so crisp and clear.

Sunrises are completely worth bundling up and getting outside for a lake wander - especially since they don't occur until around 10am!  It's wondrous how the colors could be so pink in one direction and so yellow in the other direction.  Fly didn't care, she was more interested in digging for the fish that were buried under the snow - the ice fishers forgot some of their catch.

The sunset on the hour and a half flight home was equally glorious.  It was a fitting end to our Kotzebue deployment.  I hope to one day return to Kotz for pleasure, so we can fully explore the area and see more of the beautiful scenery and people.

Kicksled Setup and Beginnings

 Hey Tribe,

Snow seems to be sticking to the ground now and the night temperatures are in the single digits (F), so I think winter has truly arrived. 

Time to bring the kicksled out of its summer slumber!  We don't yet have enough snow near the house to begin using the kicksled, but I believe it won't be long until we have decent snow cover and frozen surfaces on which to play.  I want to give the sled a once or twice over, to make sure we are all prepped and ready to run, so I thought now would be the perfect time to fill you in on how we have it set up for the dogs to pull.  If you need some background about the kicksled, you can read about our purchase and then come back to finish reading this post!

Okay, where shall I begin?  As savvy readers, you know that my Esla Kicksled is meant to be leg powered, not dog powered, but I have dogs, so dog power is what I wanted. 

To set the sled up to be pulled by dogs some additional equipment was needed.

Eye bolts were added to either side of the brush bar: it was easy to remove the regular bolts and replace them with the eye bolts.  They hold the rope in place.

The rope (called the bridle) is attached to the stanchions, which is where the sled will be pulled - attaching the bridle to the stanchions will also help with steering, since this is where the sled flexes for that.  The rope is then fed through the eye bolts - or more exact, rope is attached to one side, fed through the eye bolts and then attached to the other side.

Then, the gangline is attached to the bridle.  Mine is about 8 feet in length (including the stuff below).

I wanted something dual purpose at this point: line to attach the dogs to the gangline that could also serve as a leash, in case I wanted to leave the sled and take the dogs with me while we are out.  So I have two "leashes" that attach to a locking carabiner at the end of the gangline.

Having a neckline is important too, though not necessary if your dogs are well trained, and not technically part of the kicksled setup, but here I am writing about it anyway...  It is a short, homemade, line with clasps on either side that connect to each dog's collar.  This short line keeps the dogs together, so one doesn't zig while the other zags.  I keep fiddling with the neckline length and think I have found a good length for how my dogs run together.

Fly offered to include her foot in the photo for scale - she's so helpful.

Another nonessential, but incredibly handy item, is a basket or container to attach to the kicksled's seat.  Mine is soft-sided, so it won't scratch the lovely birch paint.  I put emergency items in there, as well as a few items I might need while out adventuring (snacks).  It is such a useful place to toss my gloves or hat when I get too hot and I don't have to worry about losing them.

So, that's the setup. 

Now, the beginning runs:

While waiting for our kicksled to arrive, I worked to teach the dogs the commands we would use.  There are a lot of internet sources out there: I found the blog All Dogs Are Smart and their videos to be extremely helpful.  

Initially, our runs occurred along a mile straight bit of dead end, gravel (now snowy) road that folks primarily use to run their dogs.  I wanted to practice using the sled and working the dogs at an easily accessible location, in case things went awry.  Things tend to get, um, hairy, when my dogs are involved.  However, our first few runs went surprisingly well and the dogs easily caught on to what we were doing.  Rex wanted to stop and pee on shrubs every 15 feet or so and Fly wanted to cut off the road to sniff something in the bushes, but I'd growl at them, give the 'Pull' command, and they'd run again.  The sled is decently light and maneuverable, so it was easy to stop the trotting dogs from dragging me into the bushes or off the road.

Our second evening out they stopped fewer times; the third evening out they stopped even less, but we encountered other dogs on the road and the KBDs went into a barking, growling, frothing frenzy.  That was unpleasant.  I managed to stop them by flopping to the ground and using my body as dead weight to slow the beasts to a stop in order to get them under control.  Clearly we need to work on ignoring and passing other dogs.  

Then, when we I had built up some sledding confidence, we ran down a similarly used road, but with curves.  I would call out directions (Gee and Haw) as we took the curves, even though they were running that way anyway.  Never hurts to reinforce directions.  The road was snowy and packed smooth and we were fast.  The dogs ran and ran.

Here's a video of that run:

After that evening run, I knew we were ready to hit the trails!  We had a lot of fun last winter with our kicklsed and I can't wait to get back on those runners and find new trails.

Howloween 2020

Hey Tribe,

Raise your hand if you like doing tricks for treats!

This girl is becoming a pretty decent trick dog - something I never imagined she would do.  I put limits on what I thought were her interests and abilities and didn't ever bother to try to go beyond what I assumed about her.  Boy was I wrong.  We almost missed out on a "sweet" new way to bond; stay tuned for a video of Fly doing tricks for treats.  Maybe she'll wear her halloween ballerina outfit, because it's pretty cute, isn't it?!

Love the bandana? It's from Remi & Me and is our new favorite accessory!  Use code FlyRex10 for a discount.

Happy Howloween!