WARM!!!

Wow it is warm here now.
This is the warmest April in more than 30 years. It is usually possible to continue training well into late april here. Hopefully, this warm weather now will translate into a long and cold winter next year.

The dogs are getting restless, and I am already itching to start training again.

We have two litters planned for this summer.
The first (probably), is a to breed Soka, my top leader (Below winter), to Langbein (below summer) from Robert Sørlie.
Soka comes from Ketil Reitan, and has run Finnmarksløpet two times, Femund two times, LGO once, Gausdal Maraton, Amundsen Race, and the Arctic Barents Pilot.
Langbein needs no introduction for Norwegians. He has run 5 Iditarods with team Norway, including the two winning years with Robert Sørlie. He has also run assorted other races like Finnmarksløpet and Femundløpet. We are really excited for this breeding.




















The second is dependent on which female comes into heat next.

This time last year we already had 11 puppies... So it is a little strange to be without any at the moment.

Updates as events warrant...

Sprint

Hey Everyone

Well it has been a fun few weeks. Kaia has been off on Easter Vacation for a week, and the dogs have been enjoying unseasonably warm temperatures.

The training season is totally over for now. We will take a few months off and start on truck training again in August.

We said goodbye to Harry last week. Not to worry though, he is back leading tourist trips with Ketil Reitan. We tried Harry for an entire winter and decided that, even though he was a good dog with a lot of heart, he just didn't suit. We had a lot of fun with Harry and we are glad that he is enjoying himself back on his home turf.

While one dog went, another came back! Sprint (See right and up) came beack to us from the previous kennel we worked at. He was one of my main guys while I was there, running through the Gausdal Maraton race with me two years in a row. That Kennel is selling out of dogs, and Sprint was taken as a trade for Barry posting the dogs up for sale in the US. Sprint has a lot of history. Not just with me but here in Norway. Sprint has run (and won) the Femundløpet, Norwegian Sprint Championships, European Sprint championships, Swedish Sprint Championships, Pirena Race, and Finnmarksløpet. He ran the Femund and Finnmark with Robert Sørlie. So this is a dog with a nice resumè! It is good to have the old guy back! He will stand as a stud at Ropphaugen Huskies. Price for breeding? 10,000,000,000,000,000 dollars. (worth a try)


The rest of the dogs are doing great. the girls with the longest coats, Soline and Moon (see below) are rather too warm, but are all in all quite content to sleep and bark the days away.

Ridderrenet and Spring Time

Hey Everyone,

So spring is officially here. It is sunny, and very warm. The dogs are asleep on their houses, and the kennel is almost entirely empty of snow. I have been in Beitosølen for the last week together with The Vom og Hundemat Team, we have been giving rides to people with handicaps. We had two amazing groups that the people came from. One was a youth group and the other was a newly injured group. I was impressed by their positive outlooks and real strength.

All together it was me, Marte Heilemann, Sigrid Ekran, Robert Sørlie, Elin Pedersen, Marit Stratton, Gunnar Martinsen, Hans-Petter Ruud, and Roy Storli giving rides. Roy was a part of the military that helped organize the entire week. It was a beautifull place and a wonderfull event.

We took all of Sigrids puppies with us to Beitostølen so that she could try them out and take them back to Folldall with her when we were done. We kept one of the puppies, Soline (see Right). The rest are off to her kennel to train for big races and big goals. I hope Sigrid has as much fun with them as we did while they were here.

We are really excited to have Soline, in the beginning she was not one of my favorites because she was loud and acted like kind of a bitch sometimes! She has matured into a great dog with a ton of guts. I am really excited to have her and i think she will grow up to great things!

When we were not training or running trips, the entire gang in Beitostølen sat around talking about dogs and racing and training and everything else that came up. It was a great experience to get to know the group and I hope to see them all again soon! At the very least next year at the same time and place.

Thanks to Marte Heilemann and Roy Storli for the invite. Thanks to Gunnar Martinsen for cooking dinner almost every night. Thanks to Robert Sørlie, Ellen Pedersen, Marit Stratton and Hans Petter Ruud for great conversation and company. And a Special thanks to Sigrid for letting me drive up with her and for the last year of puppy training. We are proud of these pups and thrilled to see what they become under her capable guidence.

Check out the Ridderrenet website here