# 2 GSDs + 2 huskies + 3 kiddos + 1 toboggan = our SLED DOG TEAM in Thanksgiving snow!



## counter (Feb 20, 2009)

So we started off with "technical difficulties" because the dogs were SOOooo excited to finally be sled dogs again, that their extreme energy pulled the toboggan right out from under the kiddos. We always try to wear/slow the dogs down to begin with by adding the most weight, which was all 3 kids at one time. As you can see in the zoomed-in first photo, the 3 forward facing kiddos suddenly found themselves rear facing after the pups pulled the toboggan right out from under them!










And again, this time our 7-year old daughter trying to cling on by herself...FAIL!










Of course the soft snow padded their tumble and it was laughs all around!





































...to be continued (with the rest of the photos coming soon!)...


----------



## yuriy (Dec 23, 2012)

Awesome! More, more, more!


----------



## Black Kali (Aug 31, 2013)

I envy your kids  looks like a lot of fun (for everyone)!


----------



## dogma13 (Mar 8, 2014)

Looks like a great time!The dogs look so excited


----------



## Debanneball (Aug 28, 2014)

Too funny! More..more..more!


----------



## Stonevintage (Aug 26, 2014)

Perfect Holiday Photos! Shoot! we only have a dusting up in Coeur d' Alene


----------



## kaslkaos (Jan 15, 2003)

Those would make awesome Christmas cards.
That looks like soooo much fun.


----------



## lorihd (Nov 30, 2011)

beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## LuckyMe2G (Nov 19, 2015)

That looks like fun all around! Thanks for sharing!


----------



## counter (Feb 20, 2009)

As promised, here are the rest of the pics. Nara was unable to keep up with the boys, which I thought might happen. She attempted to slow down the team and tried to apply "the brakes" and her collar (which was connected to the gangline through her neckline) came off over her head. This effectively released the Nara Brake and the boys jumped to LUDICROUS SPEED. Nara got spun around and tangled and down she went. I was right there to WHOA the boys and stop the team before Nara got hurt. I dropped her from the team and let her get up and walk away, watching for any limping or damage. There was none. She's tough as nails for an old gal (she turned 8 four days ago)! Here's the aftermath:










Back on her feet and all is well! Our youngest daughter is being Nara's nurse and taking care of her:










8-year old wizard Nara The Gray:










My oldest daughter and I untangling the boys and removing Nara's lines to prepare for Round 2. I saw something special and different that I liked in each of these pics, so I felt the need to post them all as I couldn't narrow it down the just one:























































So with Nara now allowed to run off leash alongside us (she's the best motivater for the boys when she's up ahead of us though!), I decided to test the construction quality of the child-size toboggan by adding a lot of extra weight to slow the boys down until they're tired enough to be calm for the kiddos to try again, so off they go...










The All-Boy Sled Team! (sorry Nara, no offense intended) Weeeeeeeeeeeeee for meeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!










Being smarter than the dogs and Mother Nature: giving the kiddos rides now that I know my weight didn't break the toboggan, and seeing that the dogs still had plenty of energy left in their reserve tanks! This way I get to have fun too, and the kids get to ride without falling off.



















And finally, the dogs are worn down that the kids can ride one at a time by themselves:



















Never thought I'd see it, but after being the main workhorse, KING KAZE is finally worn out!










The dogs started eating snow to rehydrate since there was no access to water out here. Smart pups!










My Paw Paw-zer Manz! He's the sole reason I ever got involved with the Cascade Sled Dog Club in Oregon, started bikejoring, and am now dog scootering when there isn't snow. He's my "Original Sled Dog" and all of this is due to him being My Siberian as I call him! When we took this final break before heading home to thaw out, Paw Paw gave me tons of kisses. The kisses he gives me after sledding in the snow are unique, as I can tell the difference between normal kisses and these THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME DO WHAT I WAS BRED TO DO kisses. He did the same thing last year when I took just him and Beowulf out to pull the kids on the toboggan (pics are posted on this forum from Dec 28th, 2014). Dogs REALLY can communicate in more than one way, even giving different kinds of kisses based on the scenario. This bond between man and dog is insanely, yet beautifully, complicated and nothing else can come close!










Nara getting her breather.










And after all of the fun, one final run back home to our warm and comfy house to dry off and thaw and start preparing Thanksgiving Day dinner.










Thanks for viewing! Hope you had a wonderful day too!!


----------



## MineAreWorkingline (May 2, 2015)

That is so impressive! Looks like great family fun!


----------



## counter (Feb 20, 2009)

And finally, without knowing that my wife was testing out her new camera's video feature, when I uploaded all of the pics I came across this gem. This is a "behind the scenes" view of how I get the dogs running and then my attempt to get out of the frame for my wife to get action shots. I stay up with the dogs and kids in case I have to stop them from running for whatever reason, usually for safety. In this short video, our first, you can see me running from side to side to put some distance between the pups and myself, but wherever I go, they follow. Ha! This was us running out a ways, and then we'd stop and turn around to head directly back towards my awaiting wife with camera at the ready. I was directing the dogs to run up and down the hills, and all the way to the edge of the park where the thick 2-3' high sagebrush started (you can see the white snow turn to a green border way out there; that's how far out it was before we had to turn around). It was probably .25 of a mile out, and then we'd head back in. We did this over and over and over (you can see the multiple toboggan tracks out and back in the pics I think), so the dogs got a great workout, especially with the freshly soft and fluffy snowfall that would build up in front of the toboggan and act as resistance to slow them down a bit. Nara is running off leash alongside us to the right. This is our 7-year old daughter with her 4-year old brother clinging to her back. I didn't realize how fast the dogs were going. The kiddos were literally laughing uncontrollably all the way out and back. They were having so much fun, despite the cold weather and getting snow inside their clothes. You can see in certain pics and this video that I handed off my huge Daddy jacket to one of the girls (whoever was sitting up front) to help provide protection from the snow kicking up from in front of the toboggan and landing inside their jackets entering at their neck opening. That solved the problem and kept them happy.


----------



## counter (Feb 20, 2009)

Quick edit: this video is actually our 10-year old daughter wearing my jacket, with our 4-year old son clinging to her back like the little monkey he is. I asked him to sit down behind his sister, but he was more comfortable kneeling instead I guess. Our 7-year old is the one talking to her Mama near the end of the video. And if you hear me talking to the kids on the toboggan, I'm warning them of a little hill/drop-off coming up ahead so I wanted them to hang on tight due to the speed the dogs were going.


----------



## counter (Feb 20, 2009)

Sorry, had to post again because I noticed that the version of the video I posted above the "fullscreen" option didn't work. It works in this version. Sorry for the same video twice. I just wanted you to be able to see it full size if you wanted to while staying on this forum without having to go to youtube's site.


----------



## Jenny720 (Nov 21, 2014)

Incredible photos and gorgeous dogs! This is so much up our alley. We did hook up sled to max last year he was a pup and pulled some toys. I know what i want christmas a good camera a sledding harness for max. We live at a dead end with a private road a nice wide trail all through the woods. What would be the maximum weight a 83lb shepherd can pull. Which harness would you recommend. We just used a regular harness last year. Someone did this with ski's!!!!


----------



## Jenny720 (Nov 21, 2014)

My kids will want a whole sled team now!


----------



## counter (Feb 20, 2009)

Jenny720 said:


> Incredible photos and gorgeous dogs! This is so much up our alley. We did hook up sled to max last year he was a pup and pulled some toys. I know what i want christmas a good camera a sledding harness for max. We live at a dead end with a private road a nice wide trail all through the woods. What would be the maximum weight a 83lb shepherd can pull. Which harness would you recommend. We just used a regular harness last year. Someone did this with ski's!!!!


 Thank you so much! Kaze (90 lbs) is so strong that he's able to pull 360+ lbs on a bike. I was actually adding weight to help slow him down so the huskies and NarNar could keep up. On a sled, I'm not sure. I mean, he was pretty much pulling us by himself yesterday. Paw Paw was helping. Not sure about Beowulf. I use Beowulf more to pace Kaze and to help keep him focused due to Kaze's OCD. When Kaze was up front by himself, he would zig zag and stop short for no reason, always acting confused with a super short attention span. With Beowulf "competing in the race" against him, the two will motivate each other and run and run and run. Obey.Run.Pull. ORP! That is the order of priorities for my sled team. I tell them that all of the time. But yeah, Kaze and the fellas were able to pull me (180 lbs) plus the weight of the toboggan and 1 kiddo at a time (10-yr old, 7 yr-old, almost 5-yr old [Feb 2016!]). They were also able to pull all 3 kiddos, but I'm not sure if the 3 combined weigh more than me. Ha! I highly recommend the Alpine Outfitters custom-sized X-back harness. That's what you see all of our dogs wearing. We got the ones with the full length padding, since other X-back harnesses from other companies weren't as fleece-lined and caused blisters from chaffing. I also paid the extra money for the reflective tape. They embroider the name of your dog on the harness for free too, which is always a nice plus! Their website tells you how to measure your dog for a custom fit. 

www.alpineoutfitters.net 

And doing it with skis is a dog-powered sport called skijoring, very similar to bikejoring, which is what we do. I'm not a skier, and knowing what I know with the dogs requiring brakes, I'm not really sure how you'd brake them on skis when they're chasing a coyote. I guess just have super obedient dogs that know NOT to chase a coyote. Ha!


----------



## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

Love, love, love these pictures!!! It looks like everybody, dogs included, had a blast! I agree that these would make great Christmas cards. (I would use another exclamation point, but I think I am at my limit.)


----------



## Jenny720 (Nov 21, 2014)

Thanks so much for the info !!!yes was worrying about the chafing. Im will be checking out alpineoutfitters now. Who needs a quad? This looks so much fun and will chase the winter blahs away:dogsledding:


----------



## Albus (Sep 1, 2015)

Awesome pictures! Looks like a great way to start Thanksgiving!


----------



## Daisy&Lucky's Mom (Apr 24, 2011)

Love the pictures. everybody looks like tghey had a great time.


----------



## counter (Feb 20, 2009)

Here are last year's pics for comparison of snow levels, 2-dog team vs 4(ahem*3*ahem)-dog team, a year-older growing kiddos, etc.




































































































Our children's inspiration for all things SNOW DOG:










The only other book we have that's missing from the pic is this one:


----------



## Debanneball (Aug 28, 2014)

Counter, amazing! Tell your wife she take the best photo's, so clear and vivid! Happy Turkey Day!


----------



## counter (Feb 20, 2009)

Debanneball said:


> Counter, amazing! Tell your wife she take the best photo's, so clear and vivid! Happy Turkey Day!


 I told her! I tell her how amazing her photographs are all the time. If you notice in the early pics, I'm wearing my camera thinking I would get to take pics too. Well, after having to dive into the snow to catch the boys before they dragged a downed Nara, my camera got buried in the snow. That's when I realized that I'll leave the photo taking to the better photographer: my wife! Ha. All of the pics are from her. I didn't take any. I was too busy running with and chasing dogs and kiddos on toboggans! But I know we are in good hands when it comes to documenting our adventures as long as my wife is there with her camera!

Thanks again!!


----------



## ShepherdsAndPitbulls (Dec 9, 2015)

Amazing Pictures!


----------

