By Colin Spalding

We have had 4 training sessions this week, conditions have been very wet and on the warm side and humidity has been on the high side. Humidity is one of our main factors in deciding if we train or not, as it does affect the dogs’ performance, speed stamina and recovery. In my experience the hounds suffer more with high humidity than the Huskies do.

We trained Wednesday am, Thursday pm and Saturday and Sunday mornings. Gonzo and Dexter covered 24km over the 4 sessions. Two were speed sessions and 2 steady sessions, Diamond, Granite, Akiera and Sapphire covered 20k – again a mix of speed and steady sessions.

At the weekend we had visitors training with us and a total of 21 dogs there, which had the teams hyped up and we focused on passing and speed work and had two good sessions in muddy testing conditions.

Akeira

Each blog, we are going to do a biopic of one of the dogs, starting with Akiera who in January 2011 was our first husky. We naively purchased her over the internet, not really knowing what we were doing and joined in with people who were training Huskies locally and progressed from there.

She has always enjoyed running but is famous for not being fully focused and would much rather have a good nose at what’s going on round about her, while running at full speed, which leads to some interesting moments on the trail.

Even on Thursday evening’s session, chasing a rabbit into the trees resulted in me rolling about the trail in darkness. She has over the years had numerous wins and places as part of a 3 dog team with Kiera and Sapphire and at nearly 10 years old still loves her running, but most of all loves her roll about in the mud when she finishes her training.

She was the start of the amazing adventure we have had and will always be very special to us.

Dogs’ weights

Dogs’ weights this week:

Gonzo – 31.3k
Dexter – 24.8k
Cupar – 21.5k
Diamond- 17.6k
Granite – 18.6k
Akiera – 19k
Sapphire 18.1k
Kiera – 17.6k

We have been looking to add some weight to Gonzo and Dexter as they were feeling a bit light after the girls being in season so we have upped their feeds.

By Colin Spalding

Due to the current restrictions it looks unlikely SUCO Sled Dogs will have any further races in 2020. We have decided to set up a weekly blog to keep you updated on the teams training, nutrition and what’s all going on with them.  

Last weekend we all had a trip away to Aviemore with the dogs staying in the van loads of new bedding in for them.  We arrived in the Friday and after hydration and toilets and lots of attention on the stakeout line we ran Gonzo and Dexter round the Glenmore trail 4.2 miles at a steady pace and walked Cupar, Diamond, Granite, Akiera, Sapphire and Kiera in Glenmore forest around the stunning loch Morlich.  The dogs were then on the stake out for the rest of the day getting loads of attention before feeding more walks and bedding down for the night.  

We were up bright and early to walk and hydrate the dogs before running them back at Glenmore.   Gonzo ran biker with me and we did a fast run recording a time of 11.58 for a hilly trail, we then ran Dexter and Cupar bikejor round the trail at a good steady pace, Diamond and Granite ran together bikejor along with Akiera and Sapphire around a shorter 3mile trail all having good runs.  We then set up camp at loch morlich for the rest of the day.  

Sunday was more of the same Gonzo recording a time of 11.59 showing great consistency in his 3rd run in 3 days all the other dogs had good runs again showing a good level of fitness and another day camped out at loch morlich while I paddle boarded.  Monday we walked the dogs a final time round Glenmore forest before heading back home, Monday and Tue are rest days for all the dogs, we will be back out training on Wed morning at our regular training grounds. 

The dogs are all fed on CSJ perf 30 twice per day and are the following weight and get the amount of CSJ Perf 30 at each feed all bowls filled up with cold water to ensure they are hydrated Billy no mates are added to all feeds to keep ticks at bay, , bowls of water are always available for them.

• Gonzo weight 29.8k 2.5 metric cups at each feed
• Dexter 23.7k 1.5 metric cups at each feed
• Cupar 21.2k 1.25 metric cups at each feed
• Diamond 17.3k 1 metric cup at each feed
• Granite 18.5k 1 metric cup at each feed
• Akiera 18.4k 1 metric cup at each feed
• Sapphire 17.6k 1 metric cup at each feed

Dogs are all handled daily to check condition and how they feel and meals adjusted accordingly.  

The hounds stay in the house and the Huskies have kennels and a run outside but are in the house daily for cuddles.  

We are currently training 4 times per week with no racing imminent it is general conditioning, some hill and speed work and working on commands.