puppy time

This weekend the Boy and I trekked up north to Kearney to visit some friends and watch dog sled racing. This was my first year watching, and it was so great! The only bad part was not being able to pet any of the dogs, as they are obviously very focused (and cute and fluffy) athletes.

It was sunny, but don't be fooled - it was not warm! It was real winter, something we have not seen too much of around here. Some hot chocolate with marshmallows was required to get through the day. We watched the start of the 4-dog 4 mile race. It's like a time-trial, with each team going off at 2min intervals. At the start, those dogs really can't wait to just start running!

They also ran a small snow-bike race. They are hoping to develop it into a bigger event for the weekend, and from what I've seen, there are more and more of these snow bikes popping up all the time! I did a little spin in the parking lot on one. Fun! Luckily, there doesn't seem to be enough snow in Toronto to justify wanting one...

The best event had to be the "Kids and Mutts" race. Small children that don't know what they're doing plus dogs that don't normally race equals good time. A few dogs and kids seemed to do ok. Some parents were obviously really into racing themselves, and were so happy to see Junior's first race. Some dogs were easily distracted, running off course to the first crowd of people.

This guy was awesome - so fluffy, and so excited to race, he was bouncing up and down. Wanted to take him home, but wasn't sure his owner would have liked that (or the cats, for that matter).