November 2022 – Lappland Nature Dreams

18.11.2022

Still No Snow

Winter is here with first time -20° this morning 🥶👏 and while most people turn around in their beds and take the blanket a bit closer around their bodies we go out and are happy. These temperatures mean that the lakes are freezing and also the swamps that usually safe a lot of warmth in the ground and hopefully also the smaller water steams that don’t appear that difficult like a big lake but in reality it needs more icy temperatures to freeze the running water to a safe level to cross it with the sleds.

But one part of winter is still missing: the snow ❄️ we had a bit of snow last week but on Friday and Saturday it was plus degrees and raining… and after that we have perfect conditions for ice skating but not for training. A huge part of our trails are pure ice so we are forced to do a break in the training. Maybe some parts would work, but of course you need to get there first and that’s the problem. Even if you put the dogs in the trailer and drive a bit, we still have icy forest roads or the trails are very short so that it doesn’t make sense to go there. And you have to keep in mind that the dogs are on a good training level, so you don’t win anything with bad training now but you risk serious injuries when you let them run on ice. Almost every autumn you have this time, when you have a week that you can’t train and you just need to be patient until the conditions are getting better… patience – not my strength 😂🙈 anyway, we do the best out of it, spend a lot of time in the free run or on walks and we even had time to catch the sunset over Glommersträsk 😊

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05.11.2022

Autumn Training Week

The last week we had our first guests for an autumn training week and this week had it all… except of snow 🙄❄️🙈

Our guests arrived on Friday afternoon and we started with a normal atv training run. Short after training and feeding the dogs got a bit nervous and a minute later we saw them… more visitors were on the yard. A female moose with her two calves and a huge male. But not enough with this, suddenly the sky exploded and we had great Northern Lights – ignoring our plan for the next evening 🤣 so, the dinner had to wait a while 😉 After dinner our guests went to bed but not we. The moose were still around and there was even one more young male. The dogs were not that loud but it seemed that the moose were right behind the kennel for a while. And indeed, suddenly you could hear a noice from the fence of the free run… we waited a bit and then took our head lights to check it. And… oh no, what we feared before had happened. The huge male had crashed into the fence and even took out the pole in the corner (with two side poles for stabilization) 😬 while we thought about how to fix it – we were not sure if we had enough fence left – the moose went to the fence behind the grill hut… but luckily this time they stayed outside. And we went to bed to get at least a few hours of sleep.

The next day another training run followed, partly with nice sunshine ☀️ and of course we repaired the free run. Beside this we walked and played with the puppies and explained a lot about growing up your own dog team, training and socialization. For the evening the Aurora forecast was quite good and we had planned a little Northern Lights tour. But even if the sky was clear and full of stars ✨ in the beginning we waited without success. But of course, nature is not always predictable and you must be patient to reach your goals. So, we changed location, left Glommersberget (the hill of the village) and went to Skogsträsk (a lake we cross with our winter trails) and guess what happened? Lady Aurora started dancing again 😃

On Sunday we did another training run and together with our guests we prepared a new sled for the coming winter season. So they could learn how to make the lines for the sled, and what equipment belongs to it. So, if sleds are ready, why do we still miss the snow ❄️❓

The next day we spent with dog care and puppies. Checked claws and cut where necessary what was mainly the puppies and Stella because most dogs are shortening their nails while training on sand and stones. So, in autumn you should not cut too much to not risk bloody nails in the next training. We also used the time to fill up wood chips in some dog houses and the dogs really enjoyed their new comfortable beds 😴

Tuesday was the only sunny day this week while the temperatures where a bit lower so that the water holes on our trail could freeze. But that didn’t last long… with rain and fog the next days they were open again and dogs look like they joined a mud party after training. Slowly they are getting tired of being that dirty all the time… at least their faces look like this 😏

The only good thing with this bad weather is: you have a good reason to take a puppy inside and relax on the sofa 😊

Additionally we also did some kickbike training to show our guests the variety of training and were happy about the fat tyres because meanwhile the trails are so muddy that it’s quite hard to ride a normal bike 🙃

Anyway, our guests were happy about all the new experiences and maybe the snow was missing to give a reason to come back in winter? 😆