Barbary Coast Samoyed Club, Inc

January 2008 Snow Day
Article by Sherry Howard
Sunday January 13th we had about 11 people and 10 dogs turn out for our Fun Snow Day in Hope Valley.
We had Don Moradian's new traditional wooden sled brought out for its maiden voyage (she was a beauty). Gail Speiker and Keith Mason each brought their aluminum collapsible single seater sleds (which I liked because they could be packed in just about any size car) and Julie brought her pint sized wooden sled that the kids had fun playing with so we had plenty of equipment to work with.
All the dogs had an opportunity to be placed in harness and hooked up to a sled independently.
We advanced the "first timer" dogs slowly by letting them walk on leash pulling an empty sled which they all did easily. We then gradually added pressure to the sled to increase the drag and again most did very well.
We rounded out the day with a great picnic in the snow. We had homemade Hot soup, chili, baked potatoes, hot chocolate, coffee, chips and dips, cookies, homemade fudge, biscuits and a variety of other munchies.
The temperature gage in the car read 35 degrees but there was absolutely no wind and the sun was shining brightly the entire time. I am normally a freezy cat, but I didn't even need my gloves or jacket on. It felt like it was about 50 something while we were working the dogs and we were very comfortable.
We had a great time together enjoying what comes naturally for our dogs. Sorry many of you didn’t make it. It was a great introduction to sledding for many of our Novice dogs and Novice sledders. Maybe we can get another day in before the snow season if over. A big thank you goes to Don Moradian for finding the location and organizing the day and to Cindy for getting the information out to the membership with directions and updates to the event and thanks to all who came out to make it so fun.

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Central Valley - California

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