Crazy for Canines

The big excitement since the last post has been the sighting of an Arctic fox, and a trip to Bluesky Dogsledding.

Check out the thickness of this fox's tail!

What perfect camouflage!

Here is a look at the trail he left. He was only using three legs when running.

It was just after lunch on Thursday, when I looked out the dining room window and saw an Arctic fox looking back at me. I was stunned, as we did not see a single one last year. As you can see from the photos, he looked like a white puff ball, with an extremely thick tail. There was a tiny black tip on the end, but I am not sure if you can see that in the photos. He was favoring one of his hind legs whenever he ran, which explains the unique track pattern. At least I do not think that this is normal! We grabbed our little cameras, and raced outside in our T-shirts (at -30 windchill) to snap a few shots. I hope he will pass this way again. When I told our director Mike Goodyear, about it, he said that the Arctic fox is about the size of a cat, once you get underneath all that fur. Speaking of the fur, Mike said that the Arctic fox has the most insulating fur of any mammal, with the exception being the otter, a marine mammal. Hope I have remembered that information correctly! Anyway, he was beautiful, and we hope he will pay us a return visit.

Friday afternoon, Brian and I were treated to an afternoon dogsledding excursion at Blue Sky Dogsleds.These dogs are just beautiful and so well behaved. When we went into the warming tent, there were three sled dogs inside, one relaxing on a moose hide on the couch! Gerald and Jenafor, the owners of the dog yard, told us that these three were practicing their house manners.

There are a couple of things I want to mention. First, many of the dogs had some special beadwork on their collars or harnesses. Gerald has First Nation heritage, and there may be more on that later on. You'll see this beadwork on the gorgeous, warm mittens they use and share.

Also, just before we arrived in Churchill, they had had a blizzard with 100 kph winds- not sure how that translates to mph, but it is a very very strong wind. In the dog yard, every house had a large stone on top of the roof to keep the roof from blowing off. Visibility was about 20 feet, and the people in town tell me that they felt their homes were vibrating and swaying.

Check out the heavy duty rock on top of the roof.

Do these dogs really think it is a warm day?

All of the dogs were fine, and even on the extremely cold day when we were there, Jenafor assured us that this was a balmy day for the dogs. Many of them push the straw out of their doghouses because they are just too warm. Hard to believe.

Brian and I had the last ride of the day. It was the sunset cruise, so it was a bit dark. Gerald was the musher, and it was once again a moment in time to remember and treasure. Our dogs were Raven and Ultra, Via and Sound, Pepsi and Jet, Samsung and Chinook. We learned from one of the other volunteers last year, that litters of dogsled pups are named from a category like soft drinks, candy bars, constellations, cameras, etc. Nikon was out in the dogyard!

Here I am in front of the dog yard.

If you look at our goggles, you can see the sunset reflection. That sounds better than frost!

Gerald and Jenafor are such wonderful people and gracious hosts. There was a warm wood stove in the tent, and delicious bannock with cranberries and blueberries which they had harvested last fall. Most important of all, they are passionate about their dogs and love them dearly. They also adopt many dogs with problems, and give them a new chance. Two of the dogs on our team were puppies from last year with issues that made it unclear whether they would be able to serve as sled dogs. Gerald and Jenafor gave them a chance. They have done fine! As usual, it was day we will remember for a long, long time.