Lots to report!

So, things have worked out very well. We are now living at the kennel of Asbjørn Erdal Aase in Mesnali, Norway. We have a big house all to our own, which Kaia has been working very hard to turn into a home for us. The kennel is called Lillehammer Husky Farm, and has just 34 dogs, so a very managable number for the two of us. They are sprint dogs so the training is very fast. We can train directly out of the kennel, which makes our lives much simpler, as we don´t need to drive with the dogs to train. The winter training trails will leave from the kennel and go straight out over Sørmesna, the lake near the house. So we are very comfortable and happy here!

Also! Asbjørn has given me the opportunity to take a team made up of my dogs and his dogs, and run a 600km dogsled race in February. So our training has taken a big step up, and we are training long miles and long hours. The dogs are doing great with the increased training. The sprint dogs are learning to trot and pull, and my pups are learning to do longer runs. So very exciting. Check out the race website at femundlopet.no

Jesse has gone to live with Mr. Ben Hoops, Mrs. Amy Hoops, and all of their doggies. It is a great situation for him. Kaia and I couldn´t have asked for a better home for one of our favorite dogs.

I will try and keep updating as we get closer to the race!
Cheers from Barry, Kaia, and the gang!

More new beginnings

So, our job in Tromso was not what we expected. So we moved down to south-eastern Norway, to train the dogs and regroup. We have been training the dogs a ton. We have nearly 200 miles on them so far this season. Mostly short stuff, we aren´t doing more than 16 miles yet. They are doing really well. Fenris and Freya have really settled down since we got to Sigdal, and have stopped running in huge teams. That seemed to be a little overwhelming for them, but longer runs with a smaller team seems to suit them very well. Kaia and I spent a bunch of time looking for new jobs and may have found something up in Lillehammer. I have not yet been to Lillehammer, we are going to check it all out tomorrow. They had the Winter Olympics there in 1994, so there are ski trails everywhere and the outdoor and dogsledding community is very big.
I have finally been able to attach pictures of our trip to Norway! So enjoy!

We made it!

Hey all,
we made it here to Norway! we have been here for just over one month and have not had any time to breath and eat let alone update the blog. Now (hopefully) things have slowed enough so that the blog will get the attention it deserves.

We started fall training as soon as we arrived and the dogs already have nearly 80 miles on them so far this fall season. Kaia and I, apart from running our own dogs, are doing the early season training for Tore Albrightson and Tove Sorensons race teams. They are quite a bunch of dogs and they have a ton of potential even though they are very young.

We have been up in the town of Nordreisa in Northern Norway. The temperatures have been hovering around 50F during the day, but dropping below freezing most nights.It has been raining pretty consistantly for several weeks, but that is supposed to stop soon. The training trails are really beautiful and the dogs are getting really strong. Running them is a lot of fun. We have around seventeen 14-dog teams that we are running and training.

The mountains around us are covered in snow, and the lake that we are next to is frozen most mornings. During the clear nights, the Northern Lights are truly fantastic, really the most amazing thing I have ever seen. They light up the whole sky and dance and spin across the mountains which is breathtaking. Even the dogs seem moved by the sight. They sit and stare up at the sky, howling sometimes, but mostly just sitting and looking. When the northern lighst are out is one of the few times we can walk into the kennel without any fanfair. Even the most excited dog is captivated, which increases the surreal feeling that comes from looking at the Nordlys.

The internet connection is very slow, but pictures will follow soon.

Cheers for now,
Barry

Final Tally!

Hey there everyone!
We are finally almost ready to go! The shipping was a major hassle. But we finally got it nailed down and we are leaving on the 30th and 31st out of Logan airport in Boston. Kaia is leaving first and I am leaving second. We are bringing 6 dogs with us this round with the possibility of bringing two more later next year.
The dogs that are coming are George, Jedi, Orion, Sub-chief, Freya, and Fenris.
We will start putting up photos of our trip as soon as we leave, and will add a running commentary as often as we can!
Cheers, Barry

Tough Choices

After much agonizing and looking it has become apparent that there is no company that will allow us to bring 11 dogs to Norway for less than $13,000. So we have unfortunately had to limit ourselves to 6 or 7 rather than the original 11 that we had planned on taking. This has meant that some incredibly hard decisions have had to be made about who stays and who comes.

The dogs that are coming for sure are: Freya and Fenris the pups. Orion, Sub-chief, Jedi, George, and possibly Ricki. It looks like we may have found some wonderfull homes for Jarvi, Casey, Koyuk, Yoda, Jesse, and Moses. These homes are really excellent and will take wonderful care of the dogs mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing. It makes it a little easier knowing that they will be in such good places.

The dogs we are bringing are just a few months away from a flight from Boston to Oslo, Norway. Then Kaia, the dogs and I will drive from Oslo to our new home in Tromso, a trip of 3-4 days. We are building a dog box for Kaia's fathers truck to transport the dogs there, and then we will take the box off the truck and send it on it's long journey back to southern Norway.

Once in Tromso, we are going to start fall training with our dogs after a few days of rest. We're hoping that starting a routine with the dogs quickly will aid in their adjustment to their new surroundings and give them some much needed outlet for any residual stress from the trip.

Updates as events Warrant.
Barry and Kaia

Micro Chipping and other stuff

We got an email from Home Again pet chipping company giving us all of the information that we would need for the dogs we microchipped to get into the Country. However, they got all the information wrong, my name was misspelled, and because of other clerical errors only eight of the dogs made it on the list of dogs that were microchipped under my information. The first of many hiccups!!!

We are waiting for emails back on that stuff.

We've had some great runs this week and the snow just keeps coming!

Mushing a Trip Prep

Kaia is out in the field with an adult OB group. They look great, I took the dogs and tracked the group down, bringing cookies. The dogs are doing great, Sub-chief ran with us yesterday, marking his first run back since getting munched by a bigger dog. Yesterdays was a short run, we found the group after 12 miles and then went another 3 before turning around. The trails were slick and grainy so the booties were getting shredded. The dogs looked great though.

We now have all the dogs that we are bringing to Norway with us Microchipped, and vaccinated to the strict standards of the Norwegian import authority. Now all we have left to do is Measure them to determine crate size for the trip over, and get a rabies titer done in June to make sure they have the appropriate level of the antibody in their systems.

Jedi was given the suspected diagnosis of testicular cancer last week. He is still running with me and the team, and has been continuing to do great. Interestingly, this solved a big dilema for me because I wanted to bring Jedi to Norway, but because of his age (10) I thought that it would make more sense to find him a pet home. Now, after his diagnosis and impending surgery, I want him with me and would not feel right about giving him to a friend knowing that he was ill. So maybe it was lucky, it earned him a spot to Norway! He'll make a lovely couch decoration in our cabin.

We are getting our tickets to Norway in a few weeks, once we know what our work schedule here in the states is for the summer.

Cheers, Barry

Hello

I created the Blog to help friends and family keep tabs on Kaia and myself while we are goofing around in Europe with The huskies. We'll be in Tromso, Norway, so if you are in the area, swing in.