Yukikaze Siberians

22/11/2024

We have nearly 300 miles so far accumulated for the season, and we have many more miles to go! All of my dogs in the race pool are still handling the 20 mile runs with ease and finishing every run with tight tugs. I am officially entered in Midnight Run and Can Am 100, and will submit our entry for Wilderness soon as well. I just hope the snow is a little kinder to us this season so all these beloved races go off successfully, and am eager to hit the trails provided they do! :)

18/11/2024

We had a great weekend at the Ethan Howard Memorial Dryland race! I entered in 4 dog rig and 2 dog bike. I was so proud of how my dogs did! I had Rukia and Deku in lead and Shirou and Brida in wheel for 4 dog rig, and then I had Tira and Comet for 2 dog bike. All six had just come off 3 days of training 15-20 miles Wednesday-Friday. I feel this was a big ask to have them then spend a weekend doing 2 mile sprints, but all of them eagerly took to the trail. Day 1 was 2.3 miles, and day 2 was 1.5 miles (due to the temps). I
My team ended up 9th out of 13 overall and 2nd out of 2 northern breed for 4 dog rig, and then 10th out of 14 overall and 2nd out of 3 for 2 dog bike. Not bad for some mid distance dogs! I also have to shout out that this was Comet and Shirou's first race ever and they both handled it like total pros, and this was the first time I'd ever hooked Comet up to a bike but he handled it like he was an experienced bikejor dog and didn't miss a beat. The race itself was super well organized, it had a great crew of awesome people and I had a lot of fun hanging out with everyone. I'm going to give all my dogs tomorrow off to finally rest, and then we'll be back at it prepping for the longer stuff ;)

10/11/2024

A reminder to listen to your dogs. ♥️

Yesterday we went out to run as usual and hookup itself was uneventful. Jaye usually goes out first and I go out behind her, and we're always swapping the teams each run so the dogs are used to both of us.

Jaye had my Rukia in swing on her team, and as Jaye took off Rukia was braking as hard as she could. Full on sitting down, head back, refusing to budge. I left my team and tried to encourage Rukia forward, thinking perhaps her partner had just scared her but unsure as this was NOT something she'd ever done before. After a couple minutes I decided to pull her from Jaye's team, and I was either going to throw her in the trailer and leave her behind or try her on my team (I had an empty spot as I was running the 15 dog team). Ultimately, I knew something was off with her, and though I couldn't place it I just knew I needed to pull her off Jaye's team and try to figure it out.

Just as I was pulling Rukia off the team, a small tree broke from the wind and fell right over us. I heard a crack and looked over to see the tree coming right at me, though in hindsight it really wasn't that big of a tree, but it still surprised me! I threw the dogs aside to get out of its way and flattened to the ground, but luckily the branches caught on another tree and everyone was ok. I truly believe Rukia heard the tree breaking and was trying to prevent the team from taking off due to that. We were cutting branches right as Kim and Kelly arrived (thankful to them both for helping!) and then I helped Jaye get her team off and running. I returned to my team and Rukia was banging in harness, ready to go like nothing happened.

The dogs all looked great, we ran a brisk 15.5 miles with the wind cold in our faces and the trails gorgeous as ever. I couldnt be prouder of my Rukia for looking out for her team, she really is one in a million. ♥️

04/11/2024

Up to 11 miles - really happy with how the dogs look!

28/10/2024

All our dogs are looking great this season! :)

27/10/2024

We had a great day at the NCM Branchbrook camping weekend. We took small five dog teams to really focus on new leaders with commands and passing. I brought Chise, Tira, Rukia, and Comet as my leaders who I felt needed the practice (purely commands for the first three, and overall experience for Comet). Everyone did a really nice job! I was proud of how they handled all the passes and really felt they were improving through the morning. Then in the evening I brought Saphira just to socialize as we hung around the campfire with great friends. Overall a lovely day ♥️

07/10/2024

Lovely pups from Jaye's litter. MM and Hughie are still looking for homes after last minute back outs. MM is a SPS1 carrier, SHPN1 clear and Hughie is a SPS1 carrier, SHPN1 carrier. MM has lovely handler focus and would make a wonderful sport/mono dog prospect. Hughie has a gorgeous build and would do well on any team. Either would be wonderful working additions! Contact Jaye/Sibersong if interested, I am just sharing. :)

06/10/2024

Very proud of Solstice from my Yona x Shaman Galaxy litter who got his first time in lead today. Solstice has a wonderful natural gee over and is very focused, so we figured we'd give him a shot and he was a natural. :)

05/10/2024

Squinty eyes = eye clinic day! Today Jaye and I took several of our dogs and everyone passed. I had all four of the Galaxies (Astral, Comet, Stellar, Solstice) cleared and Rumple, Chise, Deku, and Rukia cleared again.

28/09/2024

I want to thank my beautiful friend and work bestie Darian Chapman for sponsoring my handsome Deku! Arguably my current #1 race dog. ♥️

Deku is 3 years old and a silly sassy male. He hangs out in the day with his uncle Shirou and loves to give roos roos whenever I walk by. He also gives the best hugs!! Deku is from my friend Tasha and has been an absolute force in harness. He has been on my race team the past two seasons and moved his way up to lead my Wilderness 35 team last season, and thanks to his enthusiasm and drive with his co lead Flint we had a good time despite the heat. Deku doesn't injure and doesn't seem to tire. He can go forever! He logged 1017 miles last season and has been just such an impressive youngster. Deku is a reliable leader on training runs and is shaping up on his commands. He is over halfway to his SD title and should earn it this season so long as the races go off! I plan for him to lead a lot this season as well and expect to see him leading my team as I move to the longer races. ♥️

https://yukikazesiberians.weebly.com/meet-deku.html

04/09/2024

27/08/2024

Happy International Dog Day ♥️

21/08/2024

Today it was Yona's turn to bikejor. She sure showed off as if to remind me why she's my foundation dog. Love my best girl! ♥️

20/08/2024

Took advantage of this short little tease of fall with a 1.3 mile bikejor with Chise.

16/08/2024

I want to thank my kind friend and work bestie Darian Chapman for sponsoring my beautiful Chise! Darian is Chise's #1 fan (and has memorized all of our dogs 😂)

Chise is 5 years old and is a goofy and easy going female. She can usually be found hanging around my work desk or sun bathing during the day, and loves to snuggle on the couch with me once I'm done with work. Often times she is belly up in some form of husky pretzel position. Chise is Yona's daughter from the Desserts litter and was on my race team three seasons in a row for all sprint races, but hasn't quite yet made the team for the 30+ mile races. She is a leader and team dog. Last season Chise logged 581 miles. This mileage is lower than my other race team dogs as she was dropped later in the season due to a chronic wrist issue. Ultimately though, I didn't push her too hard to try to keep up with the race team given her background. Chise was one of my original Ohio trained dogs (meaning she didn't get the proper training and muscling that my youngsters get nowadays), plus the conditions last season were incredibly tough and unforgiving on the dogs with a lot of ice and hard trails. Being a dog I initially trained to do sprint with sub 5 mile runs, I was incredibly happy with how Chise performed last season and that she often finished strong. Some runs I didn't know she had a sore wrist until I was unharnessing her, even on a 33 mile camping run. Chise is often a leader on training runs or shorter races, but since all of the Desserts litter think the left side of the trail is better, I can only put her in lead if I can pair her with someone who can keep her gee over. (Yes, just like her sister Tira!). Chise is about halfway to her SD title, she could easily earn it this upcoming season, pending the weather's cooperation, if she ends up being able to handle the longer distances this time around. I haven't counted Chise out yet, she earned a spot in this season's race pool due to her determination. She is happy girl who tries her best and enjoys being on the trail with me. I have hope that she will do well this season.

https://yukikazesiberians.weebly.com/meet-chise.html

16/08/2024

I want to thank my friend Lee Morgan for sponsoring my handsome Shirou!

Shirou is 1 year old and is from my friends Kelly and Kim at Kelim Siberians. He stands out in the dog yard between his markings and his beautiful gait. Shirou is the uncle to my best male Deku. Shirou is a little more on the reserved side as far as my Siberians go, but he's really opened up with me over the past few months. He especially gets jealous if I'm petting Deku, as Deku is his BFF, and loves to snuggle his head into me to get attention as well. Shirou only got a couple runs last season on the B team, but he will go right into training on the race team this fall. On the runs he did, Shirou was overly enthusiastic and loved to "alligator roll" in his impatience, so we may have to work on his manners a little bit. 🤭 However once we got going he gave 120% and never wanted to stop. He really seems to be a very eager and forward focused dog. I'm excited to see how he performs this season!
https://yukikazesiberians.weebly.com/meet-shirou.html

15/08/2024

I want to thank my sweet friend Heather Walls for sponsoring my girls Ame and Yona!! Heather and Dan owned Boo, who is in a couple of the sled pictures and was an experienced leader and iditarod veteran. They lent me Boo to lead my novice team for my first sled race ever in 2018. She was incredible and focused, and to this day I cherish the memory and being able to borrow her.

Ame and Yona are full sisters from two separate litters. Ame is 9 years old and is from Kelim's Supernatural litter. Yona is 8 years old and is from Sibersong's coffee litter. Ame is the first working Siberian I got and is also the first dog I got into dog sports with. We did everything from bikejor to CAT to fast CAT to dock diving. She loved it all!! Ame can be very dramatic and gives very extreme "looks" that you can't help but laugh at. Yona I got when the litter was repeated a year later since I loved Ame so much. Yona didn't have as much of the sportiness Ame had, but she did have some fun with CGC, trick dog, and rally. Yona has a wonderful temperament, she truly would never hurt a fly and is non confrontational. Ame was a great leader, and then Yona was a super leader. Both girls just had inherently incredible abilities that my small team really needed at that time. I could be in an open field and say haw, and they'd haw. They'd listen when I needed them to take turns wider, and even go under dogs to take the correct commands. I compared it to having cruise control with the level of leading ability they when they led my smaller team years ago. Yona went on to be my foundation dog, with my race team being compromised with five of her kids and one grandkid. Additionally, my logo for Yukikaze Siberians was created with Ame and Yona being the model dogs, as they were truly the start of what is Yukikaze. Ame has retired since I moved to NH and my team became more competitive, she prefers being lazy and laying on the couch all day. Yona still loves running, but she can't keep up with my more competitive team so she runs on the B team, teaching puppies on shorter and slower runs.

https://yukikazesiberians.weebly.com/meet-ame.html

https://yukikazesiberians.weebly.com/meet-yona.html

15/08/2024

I want to thank my friend Richard Palm for sponsoring my handsome Comet!!

Comet is 2 years old and is Yona's son from my Galaxy litter. He is a unique guy who - as you can see - has floppy ears that aren't to breed standard. The ugly dogs community insisted they were going to stay floppy, while I insisted they'd eventually stand up. Well surprise, they never stood up. Comet's ears are a funny story because initially, I was bothered that they didn't stand. But I came to love his natural ears that flopped up and down as he trotted down the trail, and now I can only see them as adorable. Comet is a giant as a 24.5 inch tall 65 pound male. The bad news is that despite his size, he loves to give me bear hugs (him and his brother Solstice both). The good news is he doesn't have a mean bone in his body with an incredibly gentle temperament. Comet and Solstice are currently the dogs puppies "graduate" to living with when they're ready to learn tether training, as they get along with anyone and are great for being great role dogs. Comet only ran on the B team for short runs last season, no fault of his own but we had a lot of race dogs and didn't want to try fitting yearlings into the pool. This season Comet and the other galaxies will make their debut! I'm so excited to see how he does. On the B team runs Comet was always easy to walk to the line and patient at hook up, had a great gee over like his mother, and was a dog that really disappeared in the team and worked hard, so I have high hopes for him.

https://yukikazesiberians.weebly.com/meet-comet.html