CHAROITE SIBERIANS

It's Autumn and our training is in full swing for the racing season. There are no newcomers to the team this Season and youngster Raven is now hitting her stride.

Raven made her rally debut last season and what a fantastic start, running in lead next to Beany at most of the races. This is one tough puppy that hit the ground running ! Raven is a hard-driving, very focussed little girl who doesn't appear to be fazed by anything, it will be exciting to see how she develops over the summer and into next season.

These dogs continue to amaze me. There is no better place to be than at the start line of a race, or watching giddy dogs get hooked up for a training run. If we could only learn to live our lives with this much joy...

This season we took part in a wide variety of races run by different organisations, on some very different trails. Some the dogs and me loved, some we weren't so keen on. We had a few hairy moments - including me going over the handlebars when my rig decided to play at being a sled in a couple of inches of snow... It continues to be a learning curve ! There's some tough competition out there but who knows how we'll do once I stop braking all the time ! Next season will probably see us stick to one series of races - not least because of spiralling cost of diesel which is turning this into a very expensive hobby !

Next winter we will start getting Beany's puppies in harness. It's going to be very exciting and fingers crossed they take after their parents !

Finding suitable places to train continues to be a challenge so if anyone is reading this who has land in North Lincolnshire, please give me a shout !!!