A days training!!! by zaki

Well last weekend we had a super day, we were all showing off, us n all our pals, 18 of us!!! and we pulled uncle hughs heavy quad, him and my mum (phew and theyre no feather weights either I tell ya...they could do with staying off the xmas chocs if they expect us to do that again!!!!)round nearly 5miles, up and down some hills as well!!

We had gorgeous minnie and reiger leading the team, with nakki, mac, boomer and woody just behind. At wheel was the real workers, toddy and moose, they kept us all goin up the back, me n my bro rocco were just in front of them...oooohhh, I had sooo much fun!! And then aunty Luisas team were just in front of us, so many new pals to run with!!!!

Iditarod...here we come.....maybe ;)

See all our fab pics......see how tired we all are now!!!!!!

heres reiger n minnie, awwwww

and mad moose!, and my new running pal taggart

i guess woody needs no introductions!!!

spooky above and wanna be husky , the noisy pest boomer!!

rocco my bro below and another one of minnie just cos she is gorgeous!!

lots of luv n pawz
zaki, sled dog extraordinaire!! (see me above!!!)

(well i think so anyway, even tho they all call me pesky and the baby with the dodgy back end hmmmm!!)

We all think this is really funny. Hope you like it.

lots of love

Woody Woo and his gang xxxx

Toddy's son Togan

This is Toddy's son, Togan

i'm relaxed!

Hi miss W, wee one and Granny Donna

i'm relaxed, snuggled into my pal Boomer. Its well below freezing tonight so i have to keep Boomer warm!

Lots of love

Woody Woo xxxxxx

Toddy's Family

Here is Cousin Toddy and his latest 'misses', Jubin, and their children.

Above is Tilly Pip named after Great Granny natalie. This lovely black boy is Nuk.

And this is Jack.

And this is Pearl.

Here are Nuk and Tia playing after their run.

Uncle Matt and Shionach took 5 of the pups for a run. Jack is at lead next to Shionach, then Pearl and Tilly, then Nuk and Tia. Its a shame Ed, Bear and Misty werent there too.

My First race

Hi everyone

Sorry i have been quiet recently, i have been very busy working. And then we went on holiday to Culbin forest near Nairn and Forres. Can you find it on your map Miss W?

Here is Mac and Minnie at lead and me and Toddy at wheel with my dad.

Our Grandfather, STORMY!

This is our Grandsire, Stormy. He is Rainy's dad! Ruby went all the way to Alaska to "visit" Stormy.

Alaskan's Snowstorm of Anadyr, veteran Iditarod leader from 1998. Born April 28 1990. His dad and mom were: Alaskan's Jodi of Anadyr and Alaskan's Snowflake of Anadyr. Stormy was owned and bred by Earl and Natalie Norris of Willow AK.

These photos were taken in July of 2000.

Our great Grandfather OTIS, and then great great Grandafather OTTIS!

This is Ruby's father, our great grandfather, Northstar's Alaskan Otis SDO. (Can Ch. Northomes Snowmist Ottis SDX x Alaskan's Gray Mouse of Anadyr). He was born May 16, 1987. He ran single lead! Wow! He was bred and owned by Peter and Donna Johnson of Blackwater (formerly Northstar) kennel.


This photo is from the Yankee Specialty Show in 1993. That is Donna with him.











This is taken April of 1991, showing that Otis had some coat! Again Donna is with him.









This photo had no date, but noted on the back of the photo is that he finished the Labradors 400 twice.











This is Otis's sire, Northomes Snowmist Ottis SDX, at 9 years of age. He was born march 27, 1978. Photo date is June 11, 1987. His handler and owner was CKC judge Kim LeBlanc of Coldwater Ontario, Snowmist Kennel. His breeders were Art and Judy Allen - Natomah kennel. He was a stud fee puppy to the Steads.

Our Great Grandmother, Natalie!

This is Natalie, our great grandmother. She was Ruby's mother.
She was out of Northomes Snowmist Ottis SDX and Alaskan's Gray Mouse of Anadyr.
Her registered name is Northstar's Alaskan Natalie SD. (Northstar was the Johnson's original kennel name, now it is Blackwater). Her birthday was May 16, 1987. She was a first string dog and also ran lead. She ran lead in parts of the movie Iron Will! She was one of Donna's favorite dogs, and I have heard Donna describe Natalie with such words as vivacious, and to quote Donna:

I really loved running her, as she has been my favorite female (so far) in the years that we have owned dogs.

This photo was taken in 1992 in Alaska. She has recently had puppies, including our grandma Ruby!


Another Donna quote:

1992 was the year we were training Natalie to be a part of Iditarod! Part-way through training, it was Somewhat Notieceable that Natalie might be pregnant. We were aghast! How could this have happened? Her belly was widening out and 'swaying' a little bit in-harness, while training. Soon it was Definitely Obvious she was pregnant, so we had to stop training her. On Dec. 3rd, she gave birth to 5 beautiful puppies, one of which was grandmother, Ruby (to Woody). This was Natalie's destiny, I suppose. To bring Ruby into this world, instead of running the Iditarod. With time, we forgot the disappointment of having a girl of ours (who we bred) to finish the Iditarod. Ruby was our 'favorite' from this litter, from the start. She was 'feisty' and the 'alpha' of her litter, keeping the rest of the puppies in-line, and respectful of her. She was sweet with humans, but a disciplinarian with her littermates. Anyway, it quickly became clear that Ruby was even a much better runner than her mother, Natalie! She was smaller and a lot better built. We always had plans to breed Ruby, as she seemes such a nicely, built female. She was fast and driven (much more driven than Natalie) as well. We ran her (Ruby) at lead a few times over her career, and she was 'great' if there were no snowmachines around, but she was sound 'sensitive' and turned the team around if she met snowmachines on the trail. So, since we couldn't have that happen, she was a A-number one primo 'point' dog, for the entire 'rest' of her career.

This photo is Donna Johnson driving a team with Natalie in lead. Natalie is leading with Pete. At point were Blackie and Musk, at wheel were Whitey and Red (brothers). Mushing out of Howling Dog Farm in Alaska.




This photo was taken in March 1991. That's Pete Johnson with her.





This photo was taken by Maureen Kent at the Yankee Specialty Show in 1993. She wasn't in full coat, but she still looked gorgeous!


Well, stay tuned for more posts with photos of our relatives!
Lots of Love - Bodhi, Bridget, Java Bean and Pema

Our Beautiful Grandmother RUBY

Hi Woody,
Bodhi here with some photos we got from an email.
This is our grandmother Ruby, isn't she beautiful? I bet ever woman wishes she could look so great at any age, let alone as old as she was in these photos, I think 16? She is no longer with us, so us kids have to keep her memory alive and make sure she is proud of us! Her mom and dad were: Northstar's Alaskan Otis and Northstar's Alaskan Natalie. She was born December 3, 1991.











Some photos of young Ruby, taken in 1995:




















What a beautiful gal..... wow.....


This is our uncle Alder, who can still be found lounging on the couch at Pete and Donna's house.











xoox BODHI

A Fancy White Rosette for Bodhi

Hi Woody,
It's your brother Bodhi here with some good news! I had a fun day yesterday at the Souhegan Kennel Club's Obedience show in Amherst NH.
Miss W and I traveled down with Corina and Scott and their two dogs Lucas and Jadis. It was a little scary for Jadis and I, as we had never done indoor competition. I hated the doorways! Creepy! But I loved seeing all the obedience dogs and all the nice people with treats in every pocket.


I was in Rally novice A, and it was fun! I did great and only lost one point out of 100. Miss W was her usual self, took us the wrong way around a circle and did one other dumb thing and lost 13 points for handler error! But still, we got 86, which was better than our last go and we got a 4rth place and a pretty ribbon, a rosette AND a stuffed sheep!!!!! We are 2/3 of the way to our Rally title.

Everyone was very proud of me, because I did my healing perfect and I paid very close attention to my W the whole time. I was pretty close to perfect, I was just in the mood to do it. I was really hoping for crackers, but Miss W had eaten them all before we went in.


Lucas and Jadis were in Novice B and both also got the special green ribbon that means qualification. They also got very high scores and their mommy is very proud of them. They did not get big fat stuffed sheep like me! Actually, I thought it was cute till Miss W made it squeak and then I was grossed out. I let the puppy Tart have it, who let old Ranger have it, who pulled all the stuffing out. Ranger is helping me type this right now, he is good with computers.

So Corina said she thought maybe our cute little sister Dahlia ought to have a go at this stuff too, seeing how good I am! She thinks Dahlia is not too smart, boy does Dahlia have them fooled...

Well Woody, my ribbon is next to your GORGEOUS red 1st place one's on the Miss W's fridge. I think she is well pleased with us all. I think this means we can start running in harness full time for a while and look forward to lots of chilly adventures now, and warm fun ones next spring and summer!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Love to you all,
Bodhi - wearing a brand new green collar that goes with my green qualifying ribbons!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Happy Birthday Miss W

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday Miss W
Happy Birthday to you

lots of love

Woody Woo xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

hello - we went training today

this is toddy's wee girl Willow on the right

this is Aunty Kirsty and Minnie, taggart and Zaki

amd this is Aunty Kirsty with Toddy, nakki and rocco