2020-2021 Logo!
/She’s done it again! Roxanne with RJB Graphics has designed a new logo for our 2020-2021 race season! What do you think? We LOVE it!
Time to Run!
/We’ve officially started fall training! The past couple mornings have been just barely cold enough to hit the trails and give the dogs their first workout of the season!
We’ve also been trying to finish up projects and basic maintainence at the kennel. In this photo, Rucu and Boone are enjoying an afternoon nap on the fresh stain.
We’ve also been working with the reindeer! Peeps and Captain Kirk are learning how to wear a halter, while Sailor is in the advanced class- pulling the pony cart!
Dracula's Puppies
/Yesterday, Scott Chesney with Tailspin Media came to the kennel for our annual Athlete Portraits! I can’t wait to share them with you! Of course, this meant that I had to make the final picks for the four puppies from Dracula’s litter that would be staying at the kennel. After much hemming and hawing, we decided on these four!
From left to right:
Cheddar- She’s the lightest colored girl in the litter. She is Liz’s favorite. She is cute and adventurous.
Havarti- I picked Havarti pretty early on. She has a beautiful build and loves attention. Plus I could easily tell her apart from the others because she has the long sock on her front right foot (insert laughing face emoji here).
Mozzarella aka Mozzie- This guy was another early pick. He was the first to come out of the puppy house and explore the pen. He was the first to the food bowl. He was always out romping through the deep grass and the least afraid of the big dogs. All that being said, he’s going through a little fear stage right now and has been a bit more timid recently. We just keep taking the pups on walks, socializing them, and letting them see the world to help them through all their stages in development.
Muenster- Muenster is very snuggly. He was a definite pick for a week early on, but then Cartel sneezed and he ran screaming all the way back to the puppy pen. It was quite humorous, and it goes to show that all puppies develop through different stages at different times.
Basically, I’m inclined to think that picking puppies is a bit like a spin of the roulette wheel. Sure there are certain traits that seem the most desirable (boldness, appetite, thick coat). At eight weeks old, their conformation is similar to their final build, so that’s helpful. But really, who knows. Thresher was a shy puppy who was least connected with us humans. Now he loves everyone and leads the team. Lefty was a weirdo. He still is a weirdo, but he’s a weirdo who leads us over Eagle Summit into 40 mph headwinds. Cartel was a tiny runt. But she’s a Copper Basin Champion lead dog. So while we try to make educated picks, it’s a crapshoot. I just make the other mushers who adopt Ryno pups sign a waiver that says they can’t pass me on the race trail with that dog in lead (just kidding).
It's Late August?
/Wowza. And just like that it’s late August! Where did the time go? The puppies have been growing. The adult dogs lounging. The reindeer eating and pooping. I’ve been helping a neighbor build houses. Liz has been doing her doctorate projects remotely from the kennel. Kalyn has been working fire dispatch in the Lower 48. Derek has been doing fire projects in the Lower 48. And the summer zipped by! Below are some of the happenings in the past few weeks.
Derek and I managed to take a sheep hunting vacation! Since Derek and I have opposite “busy seasons”, we don’t often get to spend time together. The past few years, sheep hunting has been one of the few times we step away, disconnect, and spend time together. I have yet to actually harvest a sheep (though I hike a long ways and try really hard!), but the beauty of the mountains and the trip itself always make it worthwhile regardless of the outcome. Derek, on the other hand, is almost always successful at harvesting a sheep. I guess I have a few things to learn yet.
One of my favorite parts of being in the Brooks Range is its vast, wild nature. There are no established trails. Growing up in Colorado, we often followed hiking trails created and maintained by trail crews. In the Brooks Range, we follow animal trails or blaze our own. Trails up steep scree fields give the appearance that mountains have veins. Oftentimes we’re walking in the footprints of wolves, moose, bear, and caribou. Caribou, moose, and Dall sheep antlers and horns are scattered throughout the valleys. For moose and caribou, they shed their antlers every year. For the Dall sheep, finding their horns means they were a meal for a wolf or bear. Birds of prey circle above us and battle it out in the sky. Ground squirrels dart across dry creek beds. Sometimes we find an area that is freshly dug up, most likely from a bear trying to find the ground squirrel in their maze of tunnels. Blueberries cover the landscape and are added to our peanut butter and tortillas to make a PB&J.
Here’s a short video with views from our trip. A big thank you to Liz for watching the Ryno crew while I was away for a few days!
The puppies have been growing SO FAST. I know I say that every time, but they really do. Dracula’s pups are now eight weeks old. Four will be staying at Ryno Kennel, the others will be going to various kennels and friends. Shaynee and Jeremy of Howling Ridge Kennel picked up their two new additions last night!
Our reindeer herd has grown! What?! Yeah! We’re still deciding his name, but we’ve narrowed it down to Tank or Captain Kirk. Tank/Captain Kirk is the future bull of the herd. Both Sailor and Pilot are steers, so Tank/Captain Kirk joined the herd to hopefully keep it growing. I get a lot of questions about why reindeer. And truthfully, it’s a very fair question. For our herd, their primary job will be tourism. So basically be nice, eat snacks from guests, show off some tricks, and hopefully* pull a cart or sleigh. Beyond tourism, reindeer are the ultimate Arctic animal. Here are some interesting reindeer and caribou facts I’ve compiled:
While they might resemble their cousins the caribou, they are different subspecies. There are approximately 55 different species and subspecies of reindeer and caribou across the world with four subspecies of caribou in North America.
Caribou Rangifer tarandus granti
Caribou play an important role in Alaska both culturally and environmentally. There are approximately 750,000 wild caribou in Alaska separated into 31 different herds. The Porcupine Caribou Herd boasts one of the longest documented land migrations of any terrestrial mammal, sometimes exceeding 3000 miles! Due to the remoteness of Alaska and northern Canada, North America is one of the few areas where large migrations still occur unobstructed by humans (although this is rapidly changing). Caribou are browsers, eating mostly willows, flowering tundra plants, sedges, and mushrooms in the summer and lichens (reindeer moss), dried sedges, and small shrubs in the fall and winter.
Reindeer Rangifer tarandus tarandus
Reindeer domestication began almost 3,000 years ago in Russia. Most of the reindeer in North America are descendants of herds from Siberia brought to Alaska in the late 1800s. Reindeer are typically stockier and smaller than their caribou cousins and have less of an urge to migrate. They enjoy similar foods to caribou and are also fed specialized pellets comprised of barley, oats, alfalfa, soybean, vitamins and minerals.
Similarities
Both male and female caribou and reindeer grow antlers. The males grow large, thick antlers, whereas females grow small, thin antlers. Males typically shed their antlers shortly after the fall breeding season while females shed theirs after giving birth in the spring; however, it is not uncommon for there to be variations. Caribou and reindeer have hooves that act like snow shovels, allowing them to dig through the snow. Their coats are comprised of fur with a hollow core, enhancing insulation and making them good swimmers. Their nasal cavity is filled with cartilaginous structures so that cold inhaled air passes over the warm mucosal membrane and is heated to body temperature before reaching the lungs. They can eat snow for hydration in the winter, so a water source isn’t necessary.
Reindeer and Blueberries
/Liz and I took Pilot and Sailor on their first adventure off the property. The deer were amazing! We hiked around looking for blueberries while Sailor and Pilot munched on lichen, willow leaves, and the occasional blueberry.
Pup-date
/This summer is a summer of puppies! Some of you might be thinking- but wait, it’s a global pandemic! Shouldn’t you be hunkering down due to the uncertainty of the future. And you’re probably right. But I try to live optimistically, and in order to keep diversity of ages and upcoming youth in the kennel, it was time we had a bigger puppy year. The last two summers, we welcomed four puppies each year to the kennel, but we didn’t have any litters ourselves. It was time to have another large class of pups born here at Ryno Kennel. I was planning for the 7-10 puppies range… but you know how that goes…
So there are the three from the Fire litter:
Spitfire, Foxfire, and Firefly
Whitney McLaren came out to the kennel last week and took photos of the puppies. Updated photos of the Fires will be here soon!
Then there were TEN from Dracula’s litter:
We’re working on names and leaning towards a cheese theme! Some of our favorites so far are Mozzarella (Mozzie), Feta, Cheddar, Swiss, Havarti, Halloumi, Gouda, Muenster, Colby, Monterey Jack, Curd, Goat, Pepper, Stinky Bishop, or Whizz. Since Dracula had such a big litter, we will be sharing the love with other kennels and friends. We plan on keeping four puppies (two boys and two girls) from Dracula’s litter. They’re now four weeks old and starting to eat soaked kibble and venture out of their house.
And finally we have one more litter! What?! Yeah!
Maple joined our kennel from Jason Campeau this year. She has very similar genetics to our retired all-star Jana and basically resembles a taller Jana! Maple recently had five beautiful puppies- three boys and two girls. We will be keeping this entire litter, bringing the total puppy class to twelve. It’s the largest puppy class we’ve ever had, and we are SO excited about the potential. Many of our main competitors are getting closer to retirement age (or have already retired by choice), so these pups will be the future core of the kennel!
I’ll have many more puppy photos to add to the page soon from Whitney’s photoshoot- so keep an eye out!
Puppies and Fish
/WELCOME DRACULA PUPPIES!
That’s right Dracula (a new recruit who joined the team this spring from Sven Haltmann) gave birth to a very large litter of TEN healthy puppies. With six girls and four boys, the Ryno team grew substantially on June 23rd when the pups were born. A handful of these pups will join other teams or homes, so most likely 5-6 puppies will stay here at the kennel. Their father is a dog named Crunch from Riley Dyche’s kennel. Originally, Crunch was born at Turning Heads Kennel owned by Travis Beals and Sarah Stokey. He was trained with Noah Pereira and has raced the Iditarod a couple times (last year with Riley and previously with Noah). Crunch’s entire litter is made up of leaders, so combined with Dracula’s leading skills, we’re hoping for a bunch of future leaders! In the meantime, they look like adorable little hamsters.
Below is a video of Dracula giving birth to one of her puppies. The miracle of life is beautiful but also graphic! Just a fair warning :)
A couple days ago, I took part in a favorite Alaska past time: dipnetting. Many Alaskans harvest a year’s worth of fish during a salmon run by holding a large net in the water and waiting for the fish to swim up river into their net. Sound silly? It kind of is. After growing up in Colorado where the art of fly fishing is highly prized (I even took a high school class called Flyfishing and Literature), dipnetting seems rather raw. That being said, the skill comes in knowing where and when to put your net. Since I’ve only been dipnetting on the Copper River a couple times, I hired the help of a local charter company. They dropped me off on a little rock at the base of a massive cliff, pointed at some boils swirling around in the fast moving Copper River, and said “put your net there.” I did, and 12 hours of dipnetting later I had stringers packed with 19 fish. Many people hope to catch their limit of 25 fish for a head of household and 10 fish per member (so for Derek and I our limit is 35), but I was ecstatic with 19. After filleted, 19 salmon still fill an entire 48 quart cooler!
Along with the sockeye, I also caught one king salmon and one jack king. Neither are legal to keep, so I tossed them back into the raging Copper River. Interestingly, the king had a yellow tracker secured to its back- can you spot it?
With such a whirlwind trip (leave at 5:00 PM Tuesday, arrive at 10:30 PM in Chitina, sleep in the truck for a few hours, hop on the charter at 4:45 AM Wednesday, get picked up by the charter at 6:00 PM, fillet fish and drive home at 7:00 PM, hope to be home by 1:00 AM Thursday morning), I knew that odds are, something will disrupt the schedule. And sure enough, the truck had other plans than returning home. About 1.5 hours from home, the truck broke down and Derek had to come to the rescue. He’s in the middle of his firefighting season during which he has one day off every 21 days. So after driving out to pick me up at 5:00 AM, he managed to still make it to work on time that morning. The truck was towed to a shop in town, and I still made it home in time for half of the morning dog chores (thank you to Liz for watching the team while I was away)! Overall, it was a wonderful trip with beautiful weather and fish, fish, fish!
Thank You!
/Thanks to everyone who has purchased a Ryno Kennel t-shirt over the past week. We’ve had 11 shirts purchased, bringing the donation total to $300! There are still some t-shirts remaining, so be sure to hop on the gear page!
Here are some videos and photos from the past week. Dogs. Dogs. Dogs!
Liz (you may remember Liz- she handled at Ryno Kennel two winters ago) is here for the summer and has generously offered to help with projects! Most of the time, it’s just chores and walking dogs, but yesterday we started the process of pressure washing and re-painting each platform. Just a short nine hours later, we had platform one of three complete!
Time for Change
/I’ve always loved the outdoors. Some of my favorite early memories are playing with my brothers, cousins, and family at Yeilding Lake in Birmingham, Alabama. Launching off the rope swing. Catching bass. Learning to water ski. Skidding around corners on inner tubes pulled behind a jet boat. Catching frogs and turtles, running from snakes. Later on, I remember our backpacking trips in Colorado. My mom playing army with us to keep us moving down the trail. My dad teaching me to fish. Singing “the ants go marching” as we charged through afternoon storms in the mountains. In high school, my brother, two friends and I spent a summer hiking the entire 486-mile Colorado Trail. We were supported by our family and friends who resupplied us every week or so. I was taught to ski at a young age, both downhill and cross-country. Our garage was filled with outdoor gear, and I was encouraged by friends, family, the media, my community- literally everyone- to go outside. Be adventurous. So when people ask me how I got into the sport of mushing and pursued my dreams, I can look back on all those memories and think- how could I have not? I was surrounded by opportunity and support. Even today, generous people have sent donations during this pandemic helping us through this challenging time. And that’s not to say this lifestyle doesn’t require hard work, but there were/are role models, family, and friends along the way to help open doors and make my path easier.
But I realize that’s not the case for everyone. There are many people in this world who don’t have the same level of support. Who don’t see people who look like them in the media doing adventurous activities. Who don’t have the same opportunities. The outdoor community has little to no diversity. And in case you haven’t caught on yet, I’m trying to talk about racism. And truth be told, I’m not very good at it. While there is outwardly confrontational racism, there’s also more subtle ways. Access to opportunities. The subtle ques that society gives to tell you what you can or cannot do, what you can or cannot be. If you google search rock climbers, mountaineers, mushers, outdoor equipment ads, you’ll see a disturbing lack of diversity. We want to help change that. While it might not be much, Ryno Kennel will donate all the proceeds (less shipping) from the sale of our merchandise to the national non-profit: Outdoor Afro. We want to help diversify the face of outdoor adventure.
https://outdoorafro.com/about/
As described on their website, “Outdoor Afro has become the nation’s leading, cutting edge network that celebrates and inspires Black connections and leadership in nature. We help people take better care of themselves, our communities, and our planet! Outdoor Afro is a national non-profit organization with leadership networks around the country. With nearly 80 leaders in 30 states from around the country, we connect thousands of people to outdoor experiences, who are changing the face of conservation. So come out in nature with us, or be a partner to help us grow our work so that we can help lead the way for inclusion in outdoor recreation, nature, and conservation for all!”
We know it’s a small start, but we hope to be a part of the change. So hop on over to our Gear Page and buy some Ryno Kennel Gear!
Here We Go!
/And just like that…..we’ve signed up for the 2021 Iditarod Sled Dog Race!
All spring, we’ve been discussing the next race season. What races should we compete in? Iditarod? Yukon Quest? Both? Which mid-distance races? Will races even happen?
There has been so much uncertainty, but the one thing that has remained certain is that we have 43 Alaskans Huskies, with 24 potential racers, and we’re ALL amped for adventure. So here we go!
Our decision to enter the Iditarod was made easier by a few factors:
1- The Iditarod is providing a 50% discount for entries received in the month of June (that’s $2,000 off!).
2- The first 50 mushers to sign up for Iditarod will be awarded the Pike Veterinary Stimulus of $500 to apply towards veterinary expenses.
3- We haven’t been on the Iditarod trail since 2016, so it’s about time we go back for more exploration!
Beyond the Iditarod, we’re not sure of other racing plans, but we’ll be sure to keep you all informed as decisions are made. Kalyn will be returning for another season (YEAH KALYN!!!!), and we also have a new recruit - Mandy. More info soon to come.
In the meantime, here is a video from our 2016 Iditarod to get you all excited! Thank you to everyone for following along and being apart of the Ryno Team! We couldn’t do this without you all!
Daily Activities
/In the evenings, I often look back on the day and wonder- where did the day go? I feel like I’ve been running around and accomplishing tasks all day, but rarely are they the big sort of tasks. They’re often smaller and not something particularly noteworthy. In the winter, you can sum up a day with a simple statement. “We went on a 50-mile run” or “we packed Copper Basin drop bags.” In the summer it’s more rambling. “Well, we did chores and went for a walk with the reindeer, then a walk with the puppies, then a walk with a few adults, then worked on the fence, then answered some emails, then did chores, and now it’s 8:00 PM.” I always imagine finishing up big projects in the summer with all my seasonal free-time, but surprisingly the small tasks in the day quickly add up. Plus, I do try to take time for slower-paced activities like reading or playing games with friends. If this all sounds just dandy, it’s because it is. While I’m enthusiastically looking forward to the upcoming winter, the dogs and I all take advantage of the long days and warm summer weather.
This summer, we were hoping to open Chena Outdoor Collective summer tours, but due to travel restrictions and COVID-19, we’ve delayed opening. Instead, we’re finishing projects (the reindeer pen, dog pen, and making education videos). I’m also hoping to help a neighbor build a house (it’s always useful to learn carpentry skills from a professional). Derek is working long hours with the Alaska Fire Service. This year, Kalyn took a job working as a dispatcher with the Alaska Fire Service. She’ll be traveling to the small community of Galena to work for the summer although hopefully she’ll be able to return occasionally to visit with the dogs (and me). The past few weeks, Liz (she handled in 2017-2018 winter) has been using the kennel as home base while she works on her doctorate project studying ducks. It’s been fun having her back at the kennel to help walk dogs and work on the occasional project.
And now some photos to show the day-to-day activities of the kennel.
Kalyn and I have been training the reindeer to perform various tricks. We’ve been using the clicker training method. Basically we first associate the click noise with food, then when the reindeer are performing a movement that we hope to isolate, we click. The timing is key. The click noise allows us to better communicate exactly when the reindeer performed the desired behavior and that a treat is soon to follow. Eventually we add words to the desired movements. We’ve mostly been focusing on foundation movements that can be expanded on to make more elaborate tricks. Currently the reindeer know “touch” (bop my hand with their noise), “kiss” (give me a kiss), “step” (take a step forward), “back” (take a step back), “hoof” (paw in the air), and “up” (rear in the air). Pilot is also learning how to kick the ball. We’re very excited about their progress and have had so much fun working with them!
On rainy days, we try to get the dogs out in harness. We haven’t had many rainy days this spring, but when we do, the dogs are sure pumped about it.
The puppies are growing so quickly! Last night, Kalyn and I took them on a family walk with Mom and Dad (Loretta and Wingman), Uncle Crunch, Auntie Dolly, and then family friends Boone, Cartel, and Blue (Kalyn’s dog).
