Koyukuk Alaskan Malamutes and Australian Shepherds

May 2010

WPDA Hike - New Forest National Park - 15th & 16th May
I took the youngest two (Amano and Zeph) hiking in the New Forest. Zeph hiked for 20.2 miles over the two days, carrying just over 31 % of his bodyweight so he has now done 44.5 miles towards his WPDA.

WPD Hike - Wye Valley - 1st May
Zeph and I participated in the AMWA backpacking hike in the Wye valley. Zeph had the delight of being introduced to a suspension bridge (which I didn't like the look of!) and he also had his first ride on a small boat. Very steep climbs in places, but an extremely enjoyable 11.6 mile hike.

April 2010

WTD title
We received confirmation that Zeph has been awarded his WTD title, so he is now Snowolf Ice Cold Sunbear of Koyukuk (A.I.) WTD. He completed the requirements in three separate treks, each ranging from 10.2 to 16.9 miles.

Working results
We are very pleased with Finn and Zephs working performance this season - they came 6th overall in the ABSA DF Championship and joint 10th in the AMCUK Working Mal of the Year awards. We also want to give a special mention to Inca and Amano - both of whom ran their little hearts out for me but since Inca runs with Man she isn't eligible for MOYA points, however it still doesn't detract from the fact they had a fantastic season too x Well done guys x

March 2010

Australian Shepherd Health Seminar - 27th and 28th March
I attended the Aussie Health & Genetics weekend, a very interesting couple of days! Many thanks to CA Sharp for sharing her extensive knowledge, to ASCUK for holding the event and also to all the breeders who took the time to share and discuss health issues within the breed - it was heartening to see that there are people who are willing to openly talk about the health problems in their lines

February 2010

Weightpull and Trek - Allerton Park - Yorkshire - 13th and 14th February
We attended the AMCUK weightpull on the Saturday and were pleased with how the dogs pulled. On the Sunday we completed a 10.94 mile trek where I ran all 4 together - some of it was tough going over the mud but the dogs thoroughly enjoyed it

Rondy-By-Night - Sled Dog Rally - 6th February
We had a lovely time at the Rondy by Night rally, coming 3rd in DO with Inca & Amano and 6th in DF with Finn & Zeph. All of them ran very well. It was a slightly different trail to last year (due to logging) and in places rather 'sticky' - but a good night in good company

January 2010

Forest of Dean Sled Dog rally - 17th and 18th January
We had a great time at the Forest of Dean rally this weekend. I came 3rd in DO and 6th in DF, te dogs enjoyed the trail conditions on Saturday night even though I got completely soaked! (It was snow, slush and wet!). The second day had to be cancelled due to heavy ice on the trail - a good decision by the organisers. Everyone had a good time though

AMWA Long distance Trek - Salisbury Plain - 3rd January
We had a fantastic time on Salisbury Plain trekking with the dogs, I ran Amano & Zeph and Phil ran Inca & Finn. We all did the longer trek (14 miles), then I added on an extra 2.9 mile loop with Man and Zeph to bring them up to a total of 16.9 miles. A lot of it was on rough, unmarked trails but the dogs all loved it! Zeph only needed a further 15.8 miles for his WTD title which he did easily today

December 2009

New Forest Trek - 19th December
I took Amano and Zeph down to the New Forest to meet up with some friends for a trek. We did 14 miles, from South Oakley enclosure to High Corner then back again. It took us 1 hr 57 mins (moving time), max speed 18.1 mph and avg speed 7.1 mph.

Sherwood Forest Sled Dog Rally - 6th and 7th December
We had a great time at the ABSA Sherwood rally. Both teams ran really well on the first day so unfortunately this meant that my starting times were too close on the second day and I had to scratch from DO :( I still ran Finn and Zeph in DF on the second day though and they ran really well, they were the 5th fastest team in their class on the second day, coming in at 6th overall for the weekend. Very pleased with all of them x

November 2009

Kennel Club Breeder Symposium - 29th November
I attended the KC Breeders' Symposium, it was a very interesting day. The topics this year were Patella luxation and cruciate ligament problems, Cancer in dogs, Canine dentistry (Occlusion and Malocclusion) and an update on DNA testing for inherited disease (which as usual ended up in a discussion about the ABS). It was very well run and all the speakers were excellent

New Forest Trek - 28th November
I took Man and Zeph down to the New Forest to meet up with some friends for a trek. We did just over 10 miles in the end – the 5 miles out were fast as it was mostly downhill (36 mins, avg of 8.3mph - at the start they reached 20.8mph!). The way back was a bit slower as it was uphill this time. The trek took us 1 hr 24 mins (mov time) with an avg speed of 7.2 mph. The dogs all did brilliantly

New Forest Rally - 22nd November
I had a good time at the rally today, the weather was interesting (it even hailed) but got a 5th with the boys in DF then a 4th with Inca and Man in DO. Very pleased with how they all went. I then took Man and Zeph back out in the reccy and had another good run

AMCUK Health & Genetics seminar - 21st November
I attended the AMCUK Breed Health Seminar on Genetics and eye diseases of the dog. The speakers were Professor Peter Bedford, a well known veterinary opthamolgist and Dr David Sargan, a genetisist. It was a very useful and informative day and I hope similar events are hosted in future and that the club are not put off by the low turnout.

October 2009

AMCUK weightpull - Allerton Park - Yorkshire - 18th October
We were really pleased with Finn - he came 3rd in the 81 - 100lbs class at the Allerton Park weightpull

Sheep Dog herding day - Norfolk - 10th October
Another early start - I got up at 4:45 to take Amano to a Sheep Dog training day up in Norfolk. Phil's parting words of reassurance were 'Make sure he doesn't eat anything'. Thanks hun! Amano was very good and worked rather well, I was really pleased with him. A very enjoyable day! Thanks to Tricia and NASA for organising it.

September 2009

WPDA Walk Three - New Forest - 19th and 20th September
This was our third and final WPDA walk with Inca and Finn. Again it was done around the New Forest National Park and over a two day period (well actually less than 24 hours!) we walked a total of 24.3 miles. The first hike was 12.4 miles and was an evening hike, we got back in the early hours of the next morning and set up camp. We set of the next day and walked a further 11.9 miles. This should (subject to AMCA confirmation) give Inca and Finn their WPDA titles. Zeph also completed his first leg towards his WPDA title on this trip.

WPD titles
We have just received Inca and Finn's WPD certificates in the post. This makes Finn the first tripled titled UK bred Malamute and the first UK Mal to hold working titles in all three disciplines. Not forgetting Inca's achievement of holding dual titles, one of only a handful of UK Mals that have achieved this. Well done guys, we are very proud of you.

August 2009

Climbing Snowdon
We decided to hike up Snowdon, we visited last year but Zeph was too young so we only had a short walk. This year we decided to walk to the top. We were camping at the foot of Snowdon, in Llanberis, so started up via the Llanberis path. As we ascended, the mist came down and a gale picked up. We spent a short while at the summit (as dogs aren't allowed inside) and then began our descent down the Ranger path. The visibility was very poor by this point, only about 30ft and we had never done the Ranger path before, but we all had a great time. All in all the walk was 11.7 miles long with just over 3000ft of elevation.

WTD titles
Inca and Finn have both been awarded their WTD titles from AMCA - we are very proud of them! Inca is now Arcticwolf Spirit World of Koyukuk WTD and Finn is Blaiddeira Cast No Shadow of Koyukuk WWPD WTD

July 2009

WWPD title
We have just received confirmation that Finn has gained his WWPD title from AMCA, this is a great achievement and we are very proud of our boy. Finn's official name is now Blaiddeira Cast No Shadow of Koyukuk WWPD.

June 2009

WPDA Walk Two - New Forest - 19th, 20th and 21st June
This weekend was our second WPDA campout. This time we were based near Brockenhurst and had three walks planned. We completed a 10.2 mile evening walk on the first day, gettng back to camp and putting our tents up just as the light was failing. We established a base camp so although the dogs had to start each walk at full weight, we had one day off wearing our packs which was rather nice. We walked for 12.4 miles the second day, part of which was along a lovely river which helped keep the dogs nice and cool. Once back at base camp we spent the rest of the day lazing around. Our third and final walk was to Beaulieu, over the heathland and was 12.5 miles. Inca and Finn once again did me really proud, it is amazing what they can do.

The image below shows our three routes:

WPDA Walk One - New Forest - 7th and 8th June
We started working towards our WPDA award with Inca and Finn in June. For this title they have to carry a minimum of 30% of their bodyweight over 1 - 4 trips, each trip requiring an overnight camp and a minimum of 20 miles walking, an average of 10 miles per day. Our first walk was a night hike, we ended up walking 15.9 miles and got back to the camp in the dark. I had taken a pop up tent with me for which I was grateful when it started to rain. We broke down camp the next morning and were ready to start walking again around 7am. Having done a very long walk the previous day I opted to take a slightly shorter route on the Sunday and walked 10.9 miles. Carrying my own bag that weighed 15.4Kg gave me a real appreciation for the dogs achievement, I was very proud of them both.

May 2009

Alaskan Malamute Fun Day and Show - 30th and 31st May
We spent the weekend up in Leicestershire for the AMCUK Fun Day and Club Show. The Fun Day was on the Saturday and the club organised a day packed with different events and demo's. I was asked to do an agility demo with Inca and she did brilliantly. They were also holding the Kennel Club Good Citizen Award Scheme tests so I entered all the dogs. Finn and Zeph passed their Bronze and Inca, Amano and Zeph all passed their Silver. We were very pleased with all of them and had a lovely day. The AMCUK Show was held the next day and Zeph's sister Ruby took best bitch.

SKC Championship Show - 17th May
Zeph's mum Scarlet took her 3rd CC under breed specialist Jim Broadberry to become the UK's 6th Champion. Huge congratulations to Sharon and Mark, Scarlet is a lovely girl who thoroughly deserves it.

Agility training - 11th May
Inca and Amano again attended their regular Agility class. Inca's group took part in a mock 'Gambler's' event. For anyone not used to Gambler's, this is where you are given 30 seconds to run a course of your own choosing, whilst accruing points for each obstacle. Depending on the difficulty of the obstacle, you earn a different amounts of points. Inca loved the challenge and ended up with 37 points, the highest in her class! Well Done Inca.

WPD Walk Four - New Forest - 9th May
Our final WPD walk took part at night. We set off at 19:15 and walked a variation of the first route. The change in the performance of the dogs due to the drop in temperature was noticable and everyone really enjoyed walking at night. We finished the 10.3 mile walk at 23:45.

WPD Walk Three - New Forest - 3rd May
On the Sunday we made our way down to the New Forest for yet another hike. We left at 7:30 again, taking advantage of the early morning weather. We met at the Shatterford Car Park and walked a circular route of 12 miles, negotiating several bogs on route! This walk was probably my favourite thus far, the terrain was varied and we had a few entertaining moments (thankfully not all were captured on film!).

April 2009

Allerton Park Weightpull - 26th April
We made the trek up to North Yorkshire for the final pull of the season. This time they had scheduled a Novice class, so I decided to enter both Zeph and Inca in that, with Finn entered in the normal classes. We had a great day, Inca pulled 10x her own body weight in the Novice class which was a great achievement for her. Zeph wasn't so keen so I pulled him out after his second successful pull. However Finn really did us proud, he pulled 1500lbs which was over 16x his own body weight to earn his final leg for his WWPD title. Therefore subject to AMCA confirmation Finn is now Blaiddeira Cast No Shadow of Koyukuk WWPD. What a lovely way to end the season! Well Done Finn!

WPD Walk Two - New Forest - 18th April
The second of our backpacking walks again took place in the New Forest, this time in Linwood. The route was slightly shorter at 10.9 miles long however the terrain was harder, the ground underfoot was extremely boggy in places. Both Inca and Finn completed the walk with ease and as before, Amano and Zeph came along for the hike, Zeph carrying his own light backpack. We set out at 7:30am and the earlier start gave us a noticable drop in temperature which suited the dogs well.

WPD Walk One, New Forest - 13th April
We organised a walk as part of a small group in order to complete the first leg of our WPD titles. The walk took place in the New Forest and both Inca and Finn walked 11.9 miles, each carrying a backpack loaded with over 30% of their bodyweight. Amano and Zeph took part on the walk but Zeph is too young to undertake the titles yet, however he has started training and carried a very light backpack.

Allerton Park Weightpull - 12th April
Both Finn and Zeph took part in the Allerton Park weightpull event. Finn pulled 1200lbs before I withdrew him which earned him his third leg towards his WWPD title. It was a rather hot day and they both did very well so a huge well done to both the boys!

UKA Agility Show - 5th April
Inca and Amano both took part in the UKA Scrambles Agility show and did us proud. Amano jumped a clear round in the steeplechase to earn 2 points and Inca jumped a clear round in the Agility. Huge well done to the both of them!