One Week To Take-off

Just one week from today my team and I will embark on our 6th Iditarod.  Most of the work has been done but we still have to pick the team.  On Thursday Misha and I took 24 dogs into Fairbanks for the pre-race blood draw and ECG screening.  Providence Hospital in Anchorage sponsors Iditarod by processing full panels for all of the teams.  The results are then analyzed by Stu Nelson, Head Vet for the Iditarod.  Stu calls us shortly after advising us of any abnormal results and suggesting potential reasons.  If a dog is significantly out of the normal range for key measures such as Hematocrit on CK, he may suggest we don't take the dog on the race.  This year the results were pretty consistent with the exception of the Quest dogs who were lower on the Hematocrit as we would expect.  To reverse this we will add additional iron to their diet to bring them back to normal quicker.  The ECG's are also reviewed by a veterinarian who specializes in canine heart functions. Again, if anything is seen as abnormal Stu will let us know and the appropriate decision made regarding the dog's participation in the race.

So, today I will run the the 16 dogs I feel are most prepared and most likely to finish the race.  Some of the factors I will take into account are: attitude, overall health, weight and appetite, performance in prior races, age, past injuries, and leadership ability.  It is unusual for me to be able to run a team of 16 from the yard here in Fairbanks, but this year we have received (almost) too much snow in February!  During the past week we have had nearly two feet of Mother Nature's fluffy white material thus obliterating many of our trails.  We had intended to run the dogs pretty long this week but were unable to due to lack of trail so that is the drawback of too much snow.  The benefits are that I can run a large team safely and the dogs get the "snow" muscles tuned up since the first 150 miles of the Iditarod trail is generally much softer than our typically hard and fast trails here in the Interior.

Off I go then... time to run my test team.  Happy trails to all.  judy