Uncategorized – Page 2 – Lappland Nature Dreams

08.08.2022

Puppy Names

Difficult task is done ✅ puppy names are decided 😊 This time it was not so easy because of the many girls in the litter and our goal to find names according to a topic.

Raffi wanted to have a little Maya since several years, so possible topics could have been names out of the Maya culture, names from indigenous groups in Central America and the dogs of the movie Antarctica. The latter was our favorite but in the film it’s one girl and seven boys. We have six girls and two boys 😬 so, we took time and thought more about the first two topics. But even if we found really nice names it felt wrong, maybe we have thought about Antarctica too long and in our hearts had decided for this already. But how to solve the gender problem? Ok, some names are not definite male names, one you can easily change into a female name and the last two we added names of persons in the film. Even here we took the name from a man for one of the girls, but again it’s a name that definitely is also used for women or female dogs 🐕

So, here comes our Antarctica litter:

Maya – Raffi’s girl, dark fur, white front legs, back tows and tail tip
Buck – the big boy, brown with a big white neck
Max – the small boy, completely brown
Shorty – the smallest girl, brown like Max with a little white blaze and some white on the neck
Shadow – one of the big females, dark fur with only white feet
Charlie – girl with more grey fur, one front leg is white, one only the foot is white
Katie – a special girl with fluffy fur and interesting white blaze and neck
Jackie – the biggest girl with really thick fur, white blaze, front legs and tail tip

Today they are four weeks old and no question, now the funny time with these cuties and new experiences every day starts 🥰

18.07.2022

Summertime

Summer is the time in the year when a lot of things happen within a short time period.

One week ago Ruby and Barolo‘s puppies were born 🐶 now we have some cuteness overload here 🥰 but it’s also work. Ruby is still nervous and doesn’t really know what to do. On the one side she doesn’t want to leave her puppies not even for eating so we feed her out of the hand. On the other side she has times where she seems very stressed even when puppies are not drinking. Anyway the puppies are growing. The smallest we try to feed a bit extra so that the difference to the siblings is not getting too big but like Simba in our last litter he prefers to drink from Ruby. If you are waiting for the names you have to be patient, we will wait until they are a bit older and you can see first signs of different personalities, so maybe two weeks from now…

But puppies are not the only project. We are also almost done with the new dog cages. Only some more stones on the outside of the cages but dogs can already move in. That gives us the possibility to change cages and refresh the painting of the old dog houses in the other ones.

Beside this summer is waiting with its food treasures. First mushrooms are ready, also the production of fireweed syrup can start. Cloudberries may take some more days or a week and blueberries a few weeks longer. We will pick all this so that you can experience the taste of Lapland when you join our tours 😋

Last but not least Zazu and Yvonne were checking some trails yesterday. Our summer and autumn training trail has – after heavy rain – more water than in late autumn. We also need to build a bridge over a mud/water hole because it’s now so big that you have difficulties to come through with the atv. But also everywhere around it’s wet, wet, wet. When the first two trekking trail options we had planned where not possible to hike we decided to just walk a round on our winter trail to come back to the kennel. Since we already had wet feet it was ok to walk through the swamps having your feet in water permanently. But when the water was almost as high as my hips it was not that funny anymore. Especially because there was so much high grass, bushes and other plants that you couldn’t see it and it got difficult for Zazu to pass it because the plants made it impossible to swim but walking was also not possible. I took of the leash and harness from Zazu that he can move freely and what happened? Instead of going forward he was just jumping around or on me enjoying the time together 😃 it’s so great to see how these dogs know the difference between work and leisure. Put him in a harness and on the line and he will immediately start pulling – by the way with so much power that it’s hard to stand on your feet – and if you take away harness and leash he is just cuddling and walking as close to you as possible. By the way, no chance not to think of Ranger who was exactly the same 😍

26.06.2022

Midsummer

This weekend midsummer was celebrated and indeed, summer is here.

Even if summer solstice is on 21st of June Swedish people celebrate midsummer on the weekend after. Saturday is midsummer but already Friday most companies doesn’t work so people have a free day and you can find midsummer parties all around. We also arranged midsummer celebration in our little village Moräng. So, people are coming, sitting in the sun, chatting, having fika (coffee and cake) and as a highlight they are dancing around the beautiful decorated midsummer pole. After a break of two years because of Corona it seemed that people were happy to celebrate tradition again. Unfortunately in all the hectic of preparation I forgot to take pictures 🙈

The rest of the weekend was full with work – what else 😉 we continued with the fence of the new dog cages. Not the easiest with 30° in the shadow – but since there are no trees in the future cages, it was only partly shadow at our working place – and millions of mosquitoes and knots (the small ones that are biting). We now have about 40m fence done, out of 90m and already about 700-800 cramps used… can you please order colder temperatures for the rest of the work??? The whole next week is promised to be as hot as this weekend 😬🥵

And the dogs🐕? They are relaxing and not moving more than necessary. But sometimes they are crazy, laying on the dog house in pure sun instead of taking the shadow places. Ok, there are also humans enjoying the sun at the beach 🏝 but we can’t wait to have winter back ❄️😂

17.06.2022

Human’s Love for Animals

This time we have an interesting post and a recommendation for you. The Headline is a free translation of the topic of the German TV-show Nachtcafé, a high quality talkshow shown in German TV since 35 years welcoming guests out of the „normal“ society to talk about their lives related to the topic chosen for the specified show.

On Friday, 17th June 2022 the show has the title „Wo die Tierliebe hinfällt“ or in free translation human‘s love for animals.

Ok, why do we post this? Especially if we don’t have TV at home 🤔 mmh, maybe because there are interesting guests in the show talking about their lives with elephants, reptiles and fish? Yes, a great mixture of guests 😊 but of course one animal is missing, isn‘t it? So, who is talking about dogs??? Yes, we are or to be precise: Yvonne was asked to be a guest and let people participate in her life with the dogs.

Honestly, it took me a short while to decide. First of all, I had to google the show because not watching TV means that I didn’t know it, even if I know Michael Steinbrecher from former years when he moderated the „Sportstudio“. Second and more important: I am really not the person that likes to stand in front of a camera, already to know that I will be photographed makes me nervous, so how should that work with TV then? 😬 But on the one side I watched some of the old shows on the internet and got the impression that it’s definitely not a kind of talkshow you know from trash TV but high quality with the focus on the guests in a very smart and honest way. And – most important – it’s our philosophy to show our guests our life with the dogs and bring them close together on tours so that they can experience a part of it. So, it‘s just consistent to also use the chance to bring a glimpse of this life to the TV audience.

The ones who follow our story for a while might know the basics of what I will be talking about, but also the other guests have interesting stories:

Patrick Meyer lives with hundreds of reptiles like spiders, lizards, iguanas, snakes and caimans. He joins the show with his tarantula Igittchen 🕷 and already this name is worth to hear what he is doing and where this name comes from. Patrick has a sanctuary for exotic animals and is an expert in the work with reptiles. For more info visit his homepage www.poeci1.de

Bodo Förster started working with elephants 🐘 in the Tierpark Berlin – remember where I have been as a child almost every time I visited Berlin 😃 Since more than 30 years Bodo is in Thailand working with these majestic animals. He has so much experience and it’s great to hear his stories but he also knows about the risks that are implied in his work. You can visit him and the elephants, check www.elephant-tours.de

Gertraud Baron is one of only very few women who has a great love for fish 🐟 Not on the table but in her spacious ponds. And it is a very special and also expensive one, it’s koi fish. Hear about how you can communicate with these animals and what makes them special.

Franziska Lüttich has dogs too but that is not her main topic in the show. When she posted obituaries for her dead dogs she got so much positive feedback and experienced that some people don’t know how to handle the death of their beloved animals. Therefore Franziska writes obituaries and help people express their grief. For more information visit www.beruehrende-reden.de

Dr. Carola Otterstedt is a cultural and behavior researcher and is participating in the show with comments on why the love for animals is so important for us humans. She is also very active in preventive animal welfare. You can read more here: www.buendnis-mensch-und-tier.de

You want to see the show? The Nachtcafé is on TV on SWR on Friday, 17th June 2022 at 10.20 p.m. (in German language), if you don’t have TV or no time you can watch the whole show in the media library of SWR from Saturday on. More information on the show: www.swrfernsehen.de/nachtcafe

Last but not least I want to say thank you to Michael Steinbrecher for great moderation and nice atmosphere, to Lisa Frieda Cossham for the invitation and to the whole Nachtcafé team for care taking and all work behind the scenes. It was great to be your guest 😃

03.06.2022

The Best Time for a Husky Tour

When people plan to book their vacation we are often asked what is the best time to go on a husky tour. And to be honest: we don’t have an answer. Or we have to say: „the whole winter“. Taking more time to answer in detail means to ask back what do you want to experience beside having a great time with the dogs.

December: Do you want to escape the Christmas trouble and have a really quiet time out in the nature? Do you want to experience the darkest time of the year that leads to fantastic sky colors in light blue, pink and purple? Do you prefer an exploding sky with Northern Lights instead of loud and dirty fireworks? Then December is perfect for you! But keep in mind, Trails can be more difficult because of less snow and days (and nights) can be quite cold, feeling even colder because of long darkness.

January: Do you love adventures? January is maybe the most unpredictable month when telling guests something about weather conditions. Sometimes you have mild temperatures with heavy snowfall and deep or no trails for a whole week, sometimes it’s ice cold with clear sky all the time. From mid of the month the sun is coming up higher on the horizon and you really enjoy this after the darker period. Still it’s long hours of night with very good chances to see the Northern Lights.

February: Do you want to experience winter on its peak? In February we usually have a lot of snow and good trails, so don’t be fooled and go off the trail, you might need the dogs to pull you out from the snow, deeper than you are tall. Even if it still can be cold it already feels much warmer because of more daylight and often sunny days. Nevertheless the evenings and nights are still good for Aurora hunting.

March: You really would love to go on a sled dog tour but are a bit afraid of the cold? For all who haven’t experienced real winter yet or who freeze easily March is the perfect month. Days are long and relatively warm. Therefore we often drive our daily stage early in the morning, but that means you have even more time for cuddles with the dogs in the warmer afternoon. Trails are most often easy to drive and tours also suitable for younger guests.

April: You think winter should stay a bit longer? Come to Lapland and enjoy beautiful spring winter with lakes still frozen and snow around you while sun is shining and life is coming back. April is also a good time to see other animals on tour, especially birds in their mating season. And it can be a funny adventure to drive a narrow trail with snow while next to you plants and water start to take over.

So, now it’s your turn to decide. Our tours are updated and you are welcome to book your next adventure with us 😃🐕❄️

12.05.2022

Into the Mountains

Yes, again there is some delay in my post but I really owe you a report of my tour into the Swedish mountains.

First, it was planned to start the tour on 25th of April but due to some health issues we had to postpone it. I was close to cry fearing that we might have to cancel it. But no, my will was stronger 💪

On Thursday, 28th, our good friend Andy came to us, accompanied by the seven dogs he had chosen to take on the tour. By the way, two siblings of Stella and Luna were in his team and of course his main leader, Galena who is the mother of those two. But unfortunately neither Stella nor Luna made it in my team. Stella was safe on the list until she was injured before easter and Luna just had to stay home because I could only take seven dogs what was maybe the most difficult decision before the tour 🤔 In my team were Barolo, Ruby, Rafiki, Jade, Mose, Zazu and Pumba.

After preparation of all stuff we thought about start driving in the evening or in the next morning… and in this case Stella was decisive. Since she always wants to follow on tours and already managed to climb out of her jumping cage during tours here I was afraid that she might climb out after we have left when nobody is at home the next day. So, we decided to load the dogs and start while Stella could stay inside with Raffi and Joël 😉 We drove almost to our starting point that was directly at the Norwegian border, but since it’s not the best place for the dogs to sleep there we stopped a bit earlier where they had a nice spot under some trees before sleeping in the trailer. Friday morning we continued to the border and managed to get the absolutely last free space on the parking lot. It was completely full with snowmobile trailers 😬

We packed the sleds, prepared the dogs and started on our tour, following the winter trail to Mavas lake where there is a small shelter. We gave food to the dogs and set up the tent before it started snowing. With the shelter it was quite comfortable to cook without standing/sitting in the wind the whole time. During the night there came more fresh snow but in the morning the sun came out ☀️ After breakfast for the dogs and us we continued our tour.

Since I had three yearlings in my team we had planned not to do too long stages per day, so the plan was to drive to Vaimok this day. The dogs did quite good, just on some steeper up hill parts and with still heavy sleds they were a little bit irritated what was happening 😉 During the day we met a lot of snowmobiles. Good training for Barolo who is still a little bit afraid. But so good that all snowmobile drivers acted respectfully and drove a bit to the side when they saw dog teams coming. In Vaimok the STF cabin was completely full with snow mobile drivers, of course, it was Saturday and the last day of the season the cabin was open. But good for us, because we were allowed to use the safety room in the smaller cabin of the STF guard what also meant that we could park the dogs a bit away from the main cabin with all the people and snowmobiles. The STF guard was really nice and told us that one of the snowmobile drivers planned to go into the same direction as we the next day. Not that it really helps when its windy – what it was – when you start half an hour later on the trail but anyway good to know…

So, the next day started with some more uphill parts before it started to get adventurous 🤪 first, it was just some icy steep slopes, but then we met a stone desert where there was partly not much snow to get through. After this it was going down into Tarradalen and there we had just a small snowy trail between green fields and later on no trail anymore, just bushes and mud holes – not the best idea to wear my beloved Lobbens (filt shoes) when you have to go from the runners at those spots 😅 we left the marked winter trail and tried to come further next to the river, but 100m before we reached the Njunjes cabin we had the choice to drive on pure rocks or through 50cm deep water on the river – that alternative was chosen by the snowmobile driver we met the day before. For us both options were no options, one would destroy the sleds and the other could lead to sick dogs or mushers. And it was also clear that we could not continue the way in direction to Kvikkjokk, so latest the next day we anyway had to go back where we came. So, we turned around and went back a few kilometers to the STF cabin Tarrekaise. And that was really a dream place for us and the dogs. Behind the cabin you have the impressive mountain Tarrekaise while next to the cabin the dogs could rest under the trees. By the way, even after the STF season is over you can always use the safety rooms what is really comfortable 😃

On day four we went back in direction to Vaimok, having a lot of fresh snow on the trail… or no trail, but this time just because of snow what is totally fine 😉 We passed Vaimok and continued to Pieskehaure where there was another cabin. And Barolo must have thought „now, it’s my time to get inside“, because when I parked the sled next to the cabin he immediately went to the door. But sorry, the dogs stayed outside at the stakeout. Behind a big snow drift they were protected from the heavy wind. Ok, one exception: Zazu had worked so hard this day – like always – that he got permission to sleep inside.

The next morning it was nice to see how fast the weather can change. I took one picture from the dogs at the stakeout with heavy wind and drifting snow and half an hour later it was nice sunshine. We started our tour and thought of doing a loop we haven’t done on the first part of the tour but since there was so much snow and no snowmobile trails an additional loop of 50km in such conditions would not have been reasonable. So, we followed the trail back to Mavas and there we decided not to take the shelter again but drive a bit in the opposite direction of the lake where we found a really nice camping spot. Just when you climbed up the hills it was windy but between the trees it was nice.

The last morning was perfect weather with sunshine and it was a bit sad that it was the last day of the tour. So we took a lot of time to enjoy this last day before we reached the car and drove back home.

One thing I have to add: do you know that you can survive without phone calls or internet six days? Except short before our turning point we had absolutely no phone connection the whole tour. That we both haven’t expected because usually you have some connection also on some spots in the mountains, so at least I send a short message to Raffi that we have no connection, not that he thinks we are lost 😉 but beside this it was really relaxing not to look at the phone every few minutes.

So, a big, big thank you to my dogs for this wonderful tour, to Andy and his dogs for accompanying me and to Raffi and Joël for letting me go for some days while caring for the others at home 🥰

Now we can go into details of next winter planning and of course welcome summer ☺️

19.04.2022

End of Season

Time flies. It feels like winter season has just started some days ago… and suddenly it’s already spring 😬

So, time to look back on our first winter tour season and look forward to what is coming…

As you may have realized we never found the time to write blog posts during the season and we really feel sorry for that but dog care is always first and now, we take the time to let you participate retrospectively 😉

The cold came early this winter but for the snow we had to wait long and even when it was snowing it was nothing compared to the last winter. But hey, that had the advantage that we didn’t need to shovel that much snow this year what was really good because with two full time jobs beside our tour business it can be hard sometimes to manage everything. It also got quite warm already in the middle of March, we even needed to cancel some tours because the trails were so soft that it was not possible for guests to drive the dogs. So, we were fearing not even to have snow until end of March. But luckily the cold came back and in April we even had some snow storms and got 30-50cm of fresh snow. So, in theory we could have done some nice tours. And, yes, we did but not as much as we would liked to have done, because Yvonne was sick for almost three weeks and had to stay home and mostly inside for that time cause her lungs couldn’t manage cold air. But in time for Easter everyone was fit again so that we could enjoy a great weekend with early morning tours in the rising sun and full moon camping nights. What a great final of this winter season 🥰 now it is really, really warm and the snow is melting rapidly, so there will be only few morning/evenings left to run the dogs at home. But Yvonne hopes that the snow in the mountains stay a week longer so that she can do one more tour there when she has completely recovered. Cross your fingers 🤞

Some words about the dogs: our dogs did great the whole winter. Barolo is our main leader and he always does a great job, ok sometimes he is a bit distracted when there are girls in heat 🤪 Ruby is his girl and both are very disappointed if they are not allowed to run together… what can happen because we regularly change teams and Ruby shall also learn to run with the others, especially the youngsters in the guest teams. The puppies have developed so much this winter. Some of them are great leaders in the guest teams, some are hard workers like their father and some are not caring about anything, just running, running, running. But all of them enjoys cuddles a lot 😍 We also have two new dogs in the team, Rubin and Jade who came in the beginning of March. They are fantastic dogs and have integrated in the family already after a few days. Now they all relax on their dog houses when sun is shining and wait to go out early in the morning or late in the evening.

And what are the plans for the future? As said, Yvonne would love to do a tour in the mountains next week. After that the construction work will start again. While there is still snow outside or at least wet ground we start with some dog houses inside and as soon as the snow is gone we can build more cages outside to have space when new puppies come 😉 beside this we are still working on a guest house solution. During summer it will be possible to do some outdoor adventures with and without dogs and next winter we will do some week tours also. We will put the whole description and dates on the web page a bit later but if you are interested you can already contact us, so maybe we can adjust dates according to your wishes 😃

Many thanks for a great winter season to our dogs, guests and partners. We are happy to welcome you back soon!

And now enjoy some pictures 🐕❄️☀️

06.01.2022

Our First Winter Season

Since the preparation of our first winter season took so much time there was unfortunately no time left to update the blog. But we hope you follow us on Instagram or Facebook to regularly see new photos and videos of our daily life.

Before we go on with an update about the start of the winter we would like to wish you all a happy new year. Take all the good memories from the past with you and go into new adventures and experiences with hope and happiness; so 2022 has no other chance than to become a good year 😃🎉🥳

As you may know Corona slowed down our plans of building up the kennel for adventurous longer tours with dogs and guests but anyway we wanted to start the business and decided to offer half day and day tours this winter.

While the snow ❄️ was waiting for the new year to come the cold 🥶 was present already in the early winter. From mid of November until first week of December we had low temperatures of -20°C, many days much colder with -30°C to -35°C at home what means even colder on the trail. Since there was not much snow isolating the ground we were a bit afraid of freezing pipes in the dog food kitchen the whole time. It looked quite good… until the last day of this freezing period. Coming out to prepare the dog food the bad surprise was waiting: no water 💦 in the dog food kitchen and guest toilet 😬 that meant a lot of work to defrost the pipes before they break. Since it was below -30°C and Raffi was working in the dog food kitchen while Yvonne had to go to Arvidsjaur we put on the electric heating in the main house and additional heaters in the dog food kitchen. While Raffi was trying all tricks you could find on the internet (beside a warming cable in the pipe) like putting salt or rödsprit into the pipe, the use of electricity seemed to reach the maximum amount of what was possible… and in the afternoon even all electricity ⚡️ was gone for some hours 😖 and that meant also that you couldn’t heat the main house anymore. These typical old heating systems in Sweden are possible to use with fire wood (what we do most of the time) or electricity. Sounds as if a lack of electricity is no problem. That was what I was thinking before we moved here and I learned that even when you are heating with wood you need electricity for the pump because otherwise the water is not transported trough the system. Ok, so take some blankets, let the water run to prevent it from freezing in the main house too and wait for the electricity to come back 😏 at least the electricity was back after a while and Raffi went on to defrost the pipe until half past ten in the evening… with no success so far. But the measures were taking effect over night and in the morning we had water again 😀 but this was just beginning of December and more cold days were supposed to come.

But you are probably more interested to hear something about the dogs 🐕 and tours. Already the first weekend in December we did our first tours with guests. The trails were bumpy and difficult to drive because there was so few snow that it was difficult at all to find trails you could already run on. But the guests were motivated, no question about the motivation of the dogs needed 😉 we had some nice tours with a glimpse of sun ☀️ and yes, cold temperatures most of the time. Since Christmas the high season is on and we have tours every day – except the resting days for the dogs of course. The dogs are doing a great job, always motivated and happy. One week ago our puppies had their first birthday, so officially they are no puppies anymore. And indeed, they are neither looking like puppies nor can you see a difference in the work. But they stay our „puppies“ until we have the next ones 😂

With the new year also the snow found its way to us. With snow and wind the trails were gone several times the last days. So, Raffi got up early in the morning to prepare the trails to make it a little easier for the dogs and me on tour. But I can just repeat: the dogs are so motivated that they also jump through deep snow like it’s nothing to search for the trail and pull a sled at the same time.

Today they have a resting day and beside taking care and cuddle dogs we have time to shovel some more snow out of the dog yards, from the roofs, etc. 😅 then we have some more busy days before it gets a bit less next week and we hopefully can prepare more trails and maybe do another private tour for us.

For all who are waiting for pictures… they follow now 😉 and if you want to join a tour, just take contact and we arrange it.

14.11.2021

R.i.p. Ranger

It could have been a great day. We had some good trainings on Friday and yesterday, all dogs were so happy. Today it is Sunday, in the morning it was crispy cold and sunshine was promised. But everything went different than expected.

Coming with the morning soup for the dogs Ranger was not waiting on the dog house. But that was not so special, sometimes he waited in the dog house until I reached his cage. Anyway, I had a strange feeling and I knew there must be something wrong when he didn’t came to the cage door when I was opening it…

When I checked the dog house he was already gone, absolutely unexpected.

The following text is my tribute to my “once-in-a-lifetime” dog

R.i.p. Ranger – my best friend, my motivation, my everything 💔😰💔 You left this world absolutely unexpected and much too early but you will stay in my heart forever. The happiest dog I ever met, unstoppable in front of the sled. Never tired, not even after a race. In your head you stayed a puppy. And, oh my god, how will I miss this crazy jumping and barking at the start or in every break. And who will help me cleaning the buckets after feeding? My world will not be the same without you but I know when I am driving under the stars you are watching me. Ranger, I love you ❤️

There are so many more stories to tell about Ranger. When I started working with sleddogs in 2014 he was two years old and it was his first year in the race team in Äkäskero. During the season he decided that I will be his human and it was not difficult to convince me about that. Ranger was a so happy dog, it’s not possible to be angry when he smiles at you. No matter if he is chewing on the new built dog house, “escaping” from the cage to lick out the food buckets, jumping and barking like crazy on the line before you start training… he is just my dog. During the years in Äkäskero he developed to one of the best race dogs in the team, never tired and – I have to repeat – always happy. Even after a race he was coming home and running around Gizmo like crazy just to play around. He learned from Gizmo to sleep on the sofa and both together waited patiently until food was ready… oh wait – that changed later on 😉

2017 we moved to Emil and Barbara to Norway and Ranger was not only the hero on the trampoline he also got the possibility to race with me. And, of course, he did great. We had so many great moments together with the other race dogs and on tours with Gizmo.

2018 we had been with Mats in Kiruna, more great experience for all of us. 2019 we spend almost a year in Germany, of course Ranger and Gizmo joined us. And you can’t imagine how many funny things they did together when you left them home alone or didn’t look at them for a while. From putting flour over the whole kitchen floor over getting the frying pan from the oven in perfect team work to eating to full boxes of dry food in probably under five minutes. Ranger was even suspected to had become a chicken hunter, mmh, should we believe this??? 🤣🙈

2020 we came back to Sweden, and in summer we found our place to stay and build up our own small sled dog kennel. Ranger was a big part of that, if not to say the most important. He will stay in our hearts and a little bit of his happy and crazy attitude lives on in his puppies.

Thank you, Ranger, for our life together. The moments we had will be never forgotten.

13.10.2021

Northern Lights

The last two nights “Lady Aurora” was dancing over the dog kennel. Take a moment and enjoy.

10.10.2021

New Family Member

While there was snow ❄️ a bit more in the north the last days our training plan was smashed because of very warm temperatures around 12° and high humidity in the air ☁️💦 of course, we are anyway very flexible with the plan because everything is adapted to the needs of our dogs, especially the puppies who are not completely grown up yet. But after two planned resting days we were looking forward to run them on the weekend. Ok, instead we enjoyed some time in the free run together.

And what you might have already seen on Instagram: we have a new family member. His name is Olaf. He is six years old and originally from a small race kennel in Norway. He has been in Sweden since this summer in a medium sized kennel but it turned out that he doesn’t feel comfortable with too many dogs around him. So, we were asked if we want to take him… and look at his nice body, special fur color, and best of all: his smile. Could you regret?

For the moment he stays together with Lumene who is not as crazy as the puppies and from the first step into the cage it seemed as he feels home 🥰 he can’t get enough cuddles, so he might probably be one of the favourite guest dogs in winter 😉

26.09.2021

Autumn Impressions

No words needed …

07.09.2021

Building Project

One of our biggest building projects this year – beside dog kennels and grill kota – was the upgrade of „Gammelgården“. That is a very old typical Swedish wood house where you could even find a bakery with a real stone oven. Of course, we haven’t touched this room but the rest was worked on to build a dog food kitchen and treatment room, food storage, equipment storage and a guest toilet.

You already heard about that when we were digging for the water 💦 and now it’s done ✅ almost. Some minor details will be made in the next days, also some more shelves for storage place. But everything is usable right now 😃

And guess what’s special? All wood we used for walls, ceiling, shelves, etc. is waste wood, planned to be thrown away or burned. Can you imagine what a pity that would have been? You can do so many great things out of it. And at the same time do a favor to nature and save the trees 🌲

We already put the shoes in place, the jackets and trousers will come later. The outdoor cooking equipment is waiting in a box until another „waste wood shelf“ is ready. And also some decoration will follow.

But here you can see pictures of the current status.

22.08.2021

Lapland’s Beautiful Nature

When we decided about the name of our company it was important not only to mention our dogs but also our close connection to the place we live and the beautiful nature around us.

Some weeks ago you already got the first impression of the berry season, now everything is full of blueberries and also lingonberries are almost ready.

Do you remember the young golden eagle 🦅 that lives in the area? Today after berry picking we saw him again. Not in the nest but flying through the forest. Very impressive how eagles manage to fly between narrow trees 🌲 unfortunately he was much too fast to make a picture 📷

But another one was much more patient… a reindeer with great antlers stopped for us to be photographed 😉

And a few days ago “our” moose mum and one year old moose child came for an evening visit…

Last but not least some photos of our dogs, showing there emotions short before start of the training run: 8 year old Lumene is fully concentrated and waits for the starting command while puppies Rafiki, Zazu and Mufasa as well as two year old Mose are really excited and let you see and hear this 😂

27.07.2021

Holiday Part 2

You are probably already waiting for the report of our second week of vacation… so, here you are 😉

Of course, the water 💦 for the dog food kitchen was still a big part of the work. But finally all new pipes were in the ground and now our yard looks like a potato field 🥔 But who cares, soon it’s covered with snow ❄️ 😂

But there were also some easy tasks this week, berry picking for example 😋 the “Gold of Lapland” – the cloudberries are ready as well as my favorite beside strawberries – the blueberries.

Our new grill kota is obviously an interesting place, within 5 days it was two times visited by a moose even if it’s only a few meters from the dogs 🐕 what is he doing there? Barbecue? 🥓🍗🍔

On Friday I did a little journey to the Norwegian border to pick up our new family member “Mose” – that means moss. Before that I did several phone calls because it’s still not so easy to enter Norway when you live in Norrbotten. But if the former owner or any other person brings the dog over the border you have to follow a lot of new and quite complicated rules. After all these calls it was still not sure if it will work but we decided to just try it. And in fact, the border was the smallest problem 😉 Sometimes it seems to be better not to ask or think too much 🙈

On the next day it was cold enough to do a short training run, so Mose could stretch out her legs after the journey. Now, it’s unfortunately again very hot 🥵 but in two days it will be better.

After all the work during the last two weeks we did a short hiking trip 🥾 on Sunday, exploring a potential husky trekking trail. While we were walking we heard an eagle crying… and shortly after we found the nest with a young golden eagle 🦅 almost ready to fly out. What a nice end of the week 😊