CHAROITE SIBERIANS

The weather at the weekend looks decent, yay. Cool and dry, I really don't ask for much. Hopefully get some nice long runs in at the forest with the guys.

This same weekend last year saw us down at the Quantock Quest and it was so cold then my hands froze to the handlebars. Well, not quite. But after the night run which was very fast and very icey I did have to prise my mitts off the brakes and got a serious case of what we used to call as kids "hot aches".  We had great fun at the race, glad to hear they've secured enough entries for it to happen again this year.

Brrrr, the guys racing into the finish at last year's Quest. Will we see this kind of weather at all this season?

Sunday morning at the Quantock Quest 2010 (Bruce Hall's van in the corner!)

It was driving back from the Quantocks the snow really began to fall and I drove into my village that night with the road rapidly disappearing.

The week that followed saw the most snowfall we've had for years and the most times people have said to me "I bet your dogs are loving this weather". The dogs did although they had to spend most of it playing in the garden in the deep deep white stuff as it took me five days to dig the van out of the drive and dare to go anywhere! I wasn't as keen although it was very cool walking down the main road into work, as there was no traffic for two days, and feeling even my eyelashes freeze!

Major downsides to the cold spell were driving on the point of hysteria in a white-out (there was blue sky when I set off), snapping three sets of windscreen wipers and having my van turn into a large white lump of ice. Sherwood was transformed into a skating rink - thank doG for ice-grips for boots and auto-socks for vans and I experienced for the first time the horrors of three feet of snow on the dog run roof and frozen poo with layers of ice to remove it from...Ice pick anyone? Peversely, was all kind of fun really but this year I'd prefer cold and dry, just a smattering of snow to look pretty!

But yes, my dogs WERE loving that weather!

Last weekend saw us make the long hike down to the lovely Rendlesham Forest for the first race in this season's BSHRA calendar.

I have a bit of history with Rendlesham. As BSHRA trails go, this is probably one of the more technical with lots of turns that tend to be a more than just a natural sweep of the trail. Two years ago, in quickly freezing snow, I badly misjudged one, broadsided the rig into a tree and had the horrible sight of watching my team head off down the trail without me. Fortunately they were grabbed by a marshall after about half a mile and I caught up on foot and we were able to finish the run. The dogs were fine, my rig had a tree shaped bend in the frame and my left hand was probably a bit fractured and my confidence was dented considerably.

The same turn was in this weekend's race so to say I was a bit nervous was an understatement. Some people take turns naturally. Some of us have the flex of a bit of 2x4 and the balance of someone who's just had cold water poured into their inner ear.

I did get to take our nice four dog team consisting of Daisy, Delta, Shadow and Tigerlily first who had a lovely lope around the forest and let me practice the turns at a less hectic pace than the three dogs to follow. Pyewacket, Brew and Spook were awesome as ever and didn't let the fact I did slow down quite a lot on some of the corners, squealed occasionally and shot out the odd tree-root induced expletive put them off from putting in a great time and bringing me home in 3rd place, tucked behind Reece and Richard, on the Saturday.

I enjoyed Sunday's runs even more. Once I convinced myself I was unlikely to kill us all, I actually managed to concentrate a bit more on where to put the rig on the turns rather than where to hang on to the brakes and knocked a good 14s off my time and moving up into 2nd place! Was great to see the boys run through the draggy Rendlesham sand as though it wasn't there and come over the line looking like they could have carried happily on.

Kev ran Raven, Zala, Hex and Chena in 4 dog. The girls came in highest placed all bitch team both days in the class, getting a 3rd place Saturday and an 8th place after a bit of a tangle on Sunday.

I borrowed Kev's camera on Saturday to film my run. You can watch it here. Have the sound on if you want to hear someone who talks waaaay too much to their dogs ("We're going to go gee in a minute boys...") but they're used to it. If I don't talk to them, they think I've fallen off or something silly. it's better watched without my contribution!

Some of the dogs enjoying a nice chill out in the winter sun:

Thought I'd share the critiques from my boy Charoite Witch's Brew's two shows this autumn.

South Wales Kennel Association, Andrew Grisbrooke (Azgard)

LD (9) 1 Hannam’s Charoite Witch’s Brew, gr/w, very solid & well muscled male, although he didn’t hold his ears for the best earset at all times. Good proportion to the head, correct eye shape, great angulation & length of bone. Good reach & drive, well balanced, the temperament of this dog as far as the Standard goes is fantastic, so I am seeing an animal here that fits its function very well both physically & mentally, which is why he made BOB. CC & BOB

City of Birmingham, Sheril Leich (Forstal)

LD (7) 1 Hannam’s Charoite Witch’s Brew, pale gr/w collar. Refined, attractive head. Correct sloping pasterns. Good arched loin. Very well angulated. Gives the impression of great strength & athleticism. Good length of leg. Nice reach of neck. Moved beautifully from the outset, really easy, ground covering gait from the side, true coming & going. CC.

Nice to see Brew's lovely nature got a mention too. His "radar ears" are the only tell he is actually a bit unsettled still with all the surrounding noise and chaos as otherwise he has been a total trooper and genuinely seems to have had fun at the three shows he's done this year, at least he likes the treats and getting a day out with me as he's a total mummy's boy.

Brew's "Gameface"

Brew and his litter brother Pyewacket leading a 6 dog team.

Smile Brew, You're Got a Ticket!

After his brother got mentioned in both Sibe Breed notes and in the Group Roundup @ SWKA ("I always like to report dual purpose dogs and it was 2nd CC for Mel Hannam's Siberian Charoite Witch's Brew who has scarcely been shown as an adult as racing is his preferred option" ) Pyewacket wasn't to be left out! Pye featured pictorially in an article in online lifestyle magazine Countryside-LaVie. The article is about a charity dog sled adventure being undertaken by skin cancer fundraiser Amanda Halliday. Read it Here.

The Charoite dogs feature on Amanda's website (http://amandahalliday.com/) helping promote her trek and fundraising. Why not visit her site and find out about the trek and why she is supporting this great charity?

Charoite Witch’s Brew won his 2nd CC at SWKA Championship Show on Saturday, topped off with Best of Breed!

We had a fabulous (if tiring!) day. Brew’s litter brother Charoite Pyewacket was placed 2nd in Open Dog (earning his Stud Book Number) and Raven (Zima Chilkat of Charoite) was placed 2nd in Limit Bitch.

This was only Brew’s 3rd champ show as an adult. He gets extremely over-excited by the whole thing but seems to really enjoy the attention. Waiting for the Group judging, he spent his time trying to climb on everyone’s knees for a squeeze.

Come Sunday morning, Brew and his team-mates were back on the trail!

Brew in the Working Group

Is that Big Green Card for ME ?

Brew (Charoite Witch's Brew) won his first CC at City of Birmingham Championship Show at the weekend !

Brew has only been lightly shown. He did well as a puppy - even winning a Working Puppy Group - but started to find the whole showing thing a bit of a worry so had a long break to concentrate on doing things he liked better. He put his toe in the water at a few open shows last summer and seemed a lot more happier and relaxed. His first championship show as an adult was the SHCGB show earlier this year when he came third in limit and proved to be a bit of a handful as he found the whole experience a bit uber-exciting! I decided to give him another go at City of Birmingham under Sheryl Leich (Forstal) and Brew proved himself a star, showing his socks off in spite of the noisy and chaotic atmosphere in the hall!

Brew won his Limit class, earning his Stud Book Number. I was absolutely thrilled when the judge awarded him the dog ticket.

Not sure who has the biggest smile - me or the dog !

Brew with four feet on the floor in the Dog Challenge, next to our friends Benny (Rigrunner Slider who was awarded the reserve CC) and Helen.

Things have been a bit quiet for us this summer, just getting on with running the dogs early in the morning and getting the puppies used to being little sled dogs. Running, Spook and Hex seem to have got it covered :-) 

We've only ventured to a few shows this year as trying to save some money. I took Raven to Leeds at the weekend. She didn't get anywhere placing wise but really did enjoy her day out and was a very good girl. The bonus was some lovely photographs of her from Angie Johns and also Paul Robertson. There was also a professional photographer around the ring, taking pictures for the hosts Harewood House. David Oakes sent me this beautiful shot of Raven which I thought I'd share here. I LOVE this!

Spring is here with a flowery, lamby and (today definitely) sunshiney vengeance and this feels like a good time to restart our diary !

The last update was October. Everyone hates blogs that are fevered activity one minute then word droughts the next. This has been one of those, I’m afraid. Looking at the last update, Raven’s puppies were tiny mole-like bundles. They are now spectacularly gorgeous (ok, I’m biased, bite me), seven month old rookie sled dogs so that says something ! Yup, we’ve been a bit overly busy. Don’t worry, it’s not just the website that’s neglected. My drive looks like Onslow’s front garden and the house would need the combined genius of every extreme TV makeover show to make it look remotely civilised. So what’s been keeping me from doing anything the whatever % of the population who don’t have multiple dogs would define as useful ? Aside from my fabulous job, a brief foray into the festive season and two weddings, it’s all been largely husky-related. On that note I should add that if you’ve landed on Planet Charoite through a random link and you don’t do dog, then it’s sorry, folks, there’s nothing to see here.

We’ve raced A LOT this season. The race team dogs are young, loving life and I haven’t wanted to miss a minute of getting out and exploring some fantastic trails with them. As training requires a two-and-a-half hour round trip to the forest, driving a bit (sometimes a lot) further to enjoy some where different and spend a couple of days in good company makes a lot of sense to me. So home has been somewhere for weekdays and the van has been my weekend central. Winter officially came to a halt in March when we headed over to Dyfnant in Mid Wales for the last SHCGB rally of the season having clocked up something like 14 race weekends and many (I-hate-to-think-how-many) miles on the clock.

I’ve spent the last few weeks feeling pretty drained with assorted colds, stomach bugs and a knackered knee that feels on a bad day like two pieces of leg stuck together without any cushioning between. This is probably the health overdraft to shadow the dog musher’s annual post winter financial overdraft. Still, the sun is out now and while the bank account is far from healthy, I’m starting to feel a lot better at least !

I almost felt my first hedgehog rant of the year coming on the other day. I’m sure I can use the coming summer months to bore anyone who strays onto the site nicely with the fur-strewn minutiae of life with (as my big brother puts it) a whole herd of huskies. There are also some articles that I really want to write as a few things have happened to me over the past months that might be educational to share. Or just plain therapeutic (and doG knows I need therapy).

Talk to you soon.

Aroooo from Raven's little gang of monsters !