Sled / Rig Running

When we had just Summer and Thor we started training the dogs just for added fitness. As there was only the two of them and they were both new to it, we initially ran them in front of a modified push bike. This was before the days of using scooters! The bike weighed less than a rig and so made it much easier for the dogs. Phil fitted a brush bow to the bike to give the same level of protection that the dogs have from rigs and it all worked very well.


In the woods	and along the water line on the beach

When Kira was old enough to join the team, Phil made our first rig and we switched to mainly using that instead, with just the occasional run with the bike.


The three dog team Kira, Thor & Summer	The new rig

In the woods	and along the water line on the beach
This was taken at one of Kira, Thor & Summers first races. As you can see this is a sport where you all get muddy but this race was exceptionally so.

Thor and Kira really loved doing the running and their speeds were increasing too but Summer would sometimes just decide that no, she didn't feel like training today and so she would just run along by the side out of harness instead. One day we put her in the dog bag just for fun and she thought this was brilliant!

Gradually Summer became less and less interested in doing the training and racing and was starting to only pull when spectators could see her and be terribly impressed by her great speed and power! The rest of the time she would let her lines go loose and just coast along. So, we decided to drop her from the team and just run Thor and Kira in the two dog class instead. Summer didn't mind as she still came along to the races to watch.

Sadly we lost our lovely Thor to Juvenile Leukaemia in October 2002. This not only left us devastated but also put an end to our rig running for a while.

We are back running the dogs again now, with our current team now made up of Kira & Anika with occassional training run appearances from Taeus and Summer. Summer generally likes to join in on very cold, dry days when she doesn't end up getting too muddy!

Taeus is a cracking sled dog when he wants to be as his power is quite incredible but unfortunately he has become just too easily distracted by the scent of lady dogs and so keeps stopping to pee or sniff. This can be dangerous as he is so strong that when he stops the girls just can not shift him and so the whole team suddenly halts.

As Phil wanted to get back racing he decided to temporarily sack Taeus and concentrate on running Kira and Anika during the 2005/2006 season as a two dog team. We are hoping to get Taeus in training again now though, as when he does stay focussed he is so strong that it seems a shame not to have him in the team.

It is really hard to get photos of the Team Polarspirit training runs as we do most of the training in the dark so that we have the woods to ourselves. But, here are a few...


All four dogs on a training run	Kira, Anika & Taeus on a training run

Night time training...

Night time training in the snow...
OK, so we did still use the rig rather than a sled but unfortunately we just don't really get deep enough snow in this country for sleds!

At the races...