Some random sledding pics and video...

[elizabethann]

Those are such cool pictures....and beautiful too.

I actually thought of you & your pups the other day. Fenway & I saw our first musher. I had to hold Fenway back because he would have chased them. When the dogs came by us, they all barked. Then they came by us again and they all barked again. It was just cool to see.

But on the way home, I noticed blood in the snow. I guess that's normal, right? These dogs didn't have any boots on.

[Glacier]

But on the way home, I noticed blood in the snow. I guess that's normal, right? These dogs didn't have any boots on.

No, not normal. If the dogs' feet are that soft, they need booties. I never use booties except on Pingo in the fall. She runs on the side of her front paws and sometimes scrapes them up. Doesn't seem to happen once there is snow cover. Most of my dogs have great feet. Hound and GSP crosses tend to need booties much more often than dogs with more husky content.

Could be a trimmed too short or broken nail. That wouldn't hurt the dog but would bleed like crazy. I have a friend who had some fast talking to do in a race once when he crossed the finished line with a blood spattered lead dog. She had broken a nail during the race somehow. Never missed a step, never limped, but there was blood everywhere.

Pingo barks at people on the trail, especially if they have dogs with them. I think it's her way of saying "get out of my way". She's the only one who barks every time!