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Ramey
Smyth into Nome in 9th place
8 Days 10 Hours 17 Minutes 52 Seconds
Welcome to Nome!
Welcome
to
Homestretch Kennel
Hello! Many of you have emailed asking for a few new photos
and some updates on what has been happening at the kennel
this summer. Thanks for writing and I hope you like the
photos.
This past summer was very productive and it certainly flew
by. Early spring we took advantage of the lingering snow
in the mountains and I did a little camping and training
trip with the young dogs. I think it paid off because they
are doing really well to date with their fall training efforts.
I had 24 dogs on the week long trip. The snow was a bit
soft and the days were warm but the dogs received a lot
of benefit from the runs.
The calendar also included
autograph signings and rides.
- Ramey was invited to
the new super Wal-Mart’s grand opening to make
an appearance and sign photos.
- Ramey was invited to
the Wasilla Chamber of Commerce Luncheon and was presented
with a plaque from Outdoors and More Sporting Goods
listing his achievements.
- Ramey was invited to
the Division of Forestry’s Open House. Babe and
Scott also attended and enjoyed all the petting and
attention.
- Ramey and I attended
the Wal-Mart Employee Appreciation picnic and gave a
ride to the lucky winner!
- Ramey was also one of
the panel speakers at the 1st Annual Sled Dog Mini-Symposium
held in Willow.
DOG
TRUCK GETS A MUCH NEEDED PAINT JOB
We spruced up the dog box this summer with a new coat of
paint!
Thank
you's
We want to thank Nancy’s Yogurt, Dr. Barbara Doty,
Ricardo Diez and Don Teed for sponsoring us last season!!
Thank you so much!
Ava picking up harnesses |
TRAINING...
We took advantage of the cool mornings of late summer.
The dogs were well rested and ready to start getting serious
again. We were all ready to get started again! Ava became
the official harness picker-upper which proved quite helpful
after running dogs all day. There are many age groups
currently in training. We have all the veterans from last
year’s teams (ages 4 to 11) plus the addition of
many two year olds. The new group is fitting in quite
well with the running styles of the older dogs. They are
a super enthusiastic group of very hard workers. It will
be nice to get on snow and start running with sleds so
we can start really traveling again with the dogs. Our
kennel is very very lucky to have Pam Aviza, She has been
handling for us on her days off for over a year now. She
takes care of the kennel when we’re away, helps
with food drop, picks up dropped dogs, has been helping
with fall training (very muddy, gritty, wet days), and
will be running some puppies this winter. She will also
be handling on the Quest this winter.
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Carrot
and Thea ready to
lead the team |
Tight
tugs! |
Pam
helping hook up a team |
 Ava
shows off her new Homestretch Kennel shirt that
she got from our good friends and super sponsors
Steve Ripp and Carol Spicuzza.
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So far so good. It looks
like winter has arrived. Now let’s hope the temperature
stay nice and cold. We’re all excited for a good
season. Ramey is signed up for Iditarod 2009 and I’m
signed up for the Yukon Quest. We plan on getting in some
mid-distance races too.
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