My Life with Dogs

Today I went skijoring with Shelby for the first time ever.  For those who don’t know what Skijoring is – it is cross country skiing with your dog pulling you – kind of like dog sledding, but you are the sled!

Since Shelby is such an active dog, and I love him that way – I decided that our next adventure would be skijoring.  For those who know me, you know that I have been cross country skiing for many years.  I have taken many trips with the Nordic Fox Ski Club (www.nordicfox.org) including trips to Yellowstone National Park, Quebec, Glacier National Park, Northern Michigan, Minnesota and many more.  To include Shelby in a sport that I love was just too good to pass up!

Shelby in his skijoring harness after a day's ski

I had been reading up on skijoring, and decided to purchase skijoring equipment.  After much research, I decided to go with Aker Ski (www.akers-ski.com) where I had purchase much skiing equipment in the past.  So, I purchased the harness, the towline and the belt, along with the book “Ski Spot Run” by Matt Haakenstad and John Thompson.   After refitting Shelby with a new harness (the first was too small) we were ready to go.

I started out first getting Shelby comfortable with his harness.  Before the snows came, we did a little “canicross” which is jogging with your dog.  I used a belt, a shorter towline and the new harness.  We jogged along the Fox River Trail, and I could tell that Shelby was starting to get used to the harness.  You hook the dog up to the harness so that the connection is on his rear – you obviously don’t want this around his neck.  Since Shelby was used to pulling me around already, pulling on the harness was an easy transition.

Fast forward to today – snow on the ground, temps in the 20’s, so I decided to give it a go.  I took Shelby to Herrick Lake in Warrenville IL, a place where our ski club often goes, and a place that I was familiar with – it had nice wide trails and was basically flat!  I put him in the harness before we left, so once we got there and I got my boots on, we were ready to go.   I knew Shelby would want to sniff around – according to the literature, you are supposed to “drop” your dog before getting to your ski location – this means letting him do his business!   Well, we tried that, but I knew that during our day’s ski, he would still hit a few trees.

Shelby was a little afraid of the skis and poles at first, but he soon got used to them when he saw that we were outside and ready to run!   Things started off well – he did make a few tree stops, but I went slow and tried to get him out in front of me.  There are standard skijoring command, “gee” for right and “haw” for left, but I had taught Shelby the words “right” and “left” in the past, and we was pretty good at those, so we went with those! 

Our first foray on the trail went really well!  Though he didn’t pull me much, he stayed ahead of me, and I could feel him pulling a bit – especially when he met another dog on the trail….then he definitely pulled me, and I just went into a snowplow and let him go!   I did fall down once – when he went into the field to smell something I assume must have smelled wonderful….we got tangled and I fell.  He came over to me all excited – “What’s going on, Mom?  Why are you on the ground?”   We got untangled, and kept on, no worse for wear!

We met several skiers and dogs on the trail, and Shelby for the most part was good – he did go visit, but came back when I called.    Everyone seemed to get a kick out of seeing us on the trail, belt, towline and harness!

For being the first time for both of us, I thought it was a great start!   I am hoping to go again this week, while I am off work and while there are not too many folks on the trails!    Oh by the way, Shelby was pooped!

Shelby with bra

Yes, Shelby loves bras….he loves to steal them, to run around the house with them and to shake them furiously.   And, of course, to chew the straps and ruin the bra.   Shelby seems to prefer the expensive Victoria’s Secret bras to any other kind, though in a pinch, he will take any bra he can get.

This activity usually takes place when I am in the bathroom.   I hear rustling in my bedroom, and then Shelby’s cute little face appears in the bathroom door with bra in mouth.   He stops to look at me, and makes sure I see what he has.   Then, he takes off running, and our little game begins.   I yell “no Shelby,” and chase him into the living room.   He runs around, joyfully shaking the bra as he strategically avoids me as aI come after him.   He will stop, lay down and start chewing on the straps, one eye on the bra, the other on me, to make sure I don’t steal his prize.

The fun doesn’t last long.  I catch him pretty easily, and he gives it up, wagging his tail as if to say “That was fun, Mom!  Let’s do it again!”

With all the toys this dog has, I don’t know why he goes after my things.   Well, actually, I do.   He has me trained well, as he knows I will run after him and he loves the challenge and the chase.    Aussies are so smart – as my license plate holder says, “My Australian Shepherd is smarter than your honors student!”

Shelby with the dirty ball

It is amazing how dogs can recognize words…like “Dog Park.” When I ask the dogs if they want to go to the dog park, Shelby and Bandit will jump into the car, no questions asked! Shelby particularly, knows exactly when we are getting near Lincoln Dog Park in Aurora, our home park.

Today, we were going to the new dog park at Krepps Park in Morgantown, WV.   It is a beautiful park – wooded with rocks.   Not like Illinois terrain!   The boys ,  as usual, upon hearing the words “Do you want to go to the Dog Park?” were in the rental van instantly.   As I neared the park, I noticed the cars parked on both sides of the road near the colliseum…oh yeah, WVU Men’s Basketball game!   Cars had filled the parking lot of Krepps Park, but I was able to find a spot on the street directly across from the fenced in dog area.

The boys were so excited to get out of the van and into the park!  I let them in, and unfortunately, a woman with her dogs were just leaving, so no one was there to play with.  Bandit started running, and Shelby looked at me, waiting for the frisbee.  I did not bring it with, because I wanted him to run and play – and besides, I kept hitting the trees with the frisbee last time we were here!   But, with no other dogs at the park, a bored Shelby finally brought me a stick to throw.   We had a few exchanges before Shelby found the deflated basketball.   What a treat!   Shelby grabbed this wonderful thing and ran around, shaking it and bringing the dirty thing to me to throw!   My jeans and boots were covered in mud, but Shelby was focused on the ball and wanted nothing to do with other sticks or Bandit or anything else.

Bandit, on the other hand, had a look of total joy in his eyes as he ran around the park, nearly bowling me over as he usually does as he runs towards me.   Bandit has so much more energy than he used to have.   Now that he is relatively stable with his epilepsy meds, he has started to run more, and even tries to herd other dogs who come to the dog park.   When Brian with his dog Custer arrived, Bandit went into herding action, barking and trying to get Custer to run.   Custer would have nothing to do with it, and Bandit ended up running into him!

We were there about 45 minutes, and my gloves and jeans were already filthy from Shelby’s dirty ball.   I wanted to make sure that we got out of there before the basketball game ended – that would be a traffic nightmare!   But, the boys were not tired yet, so I decided to take them for a run offleash on the trails of Krepps Park outside the dog fence.   Shelby was in his element!   He loves to run, and he also gets the joy in his eyes as he runs ahead, but when I call him back, he is ears down, full speed ahead!   Bandit was much slower, running ahead a little, then waiting for me to catch up.   Shelby runs ahead, and started exploring off trail.   When I whistle, he returns, and when he is far ahead and I yell “Shelby, come!”  he runs, no holds barred, as fast as he can – really a beautiful sight.

They enjoy the run so much!   When running, I feel they are truly at one with their primevil selves.   They run, they are free, they run for the sake of running!   I love that look of joy in their eyes!