Woody Goes to Scotland: 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.