Nature's Kennel Sled Dog Racing & Adventures

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Saturday, May 18th, 2013

Nature's Kennel

PO Box 5
McMillan, MI 49853
Tel: 1-906-748-0513
Email: info@natureskennel.com

Dog Blog

Adventure Journals

Welcome to the Nature's Kennel Dog Blog! Check out the latest kennel news, stories of your favorite sled dogs, Iditarod training adventures, and more!

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009 Happy 13th Birthday Momo!!! Momo is our kennel matriarch, favorite dog of school kids, kennel visitors, and kennel dogs. She turns 13 years old today, and holds quite a legacy here at Nature’s Kennel. We purchased Momo from Amy Soule about 11 years ago. Amy purchased Mohawk, along with several other young dogs from Susan Butcher, but found out that after only having them a few months, she was unable to keep the dogs. Amy lived in Michigan, and knew Ed had sled dogs, and contacted him to see if he was interested in any of them. We were not really looking to purchase dogs at the time, but gathered all the money we had and, as it turns out, made the best $1,000 investment of our lives. Momo is the daughter of Pluto, a dog owned by Roxy Wright. Champaine, and one of the most famous record-holding sled dogs to have ever lived. Pluto has long since passed, and (due to her old age) Momo is now one of a handful of remaining Pluto children. Susan Butcher bred Pluto to Sissel (Momo’s mom) and one of Susan’s favorite females. I had the privilege of meeting Susan at her home in 2005 and just a few months before my arrival, Sissel had passed at Susan’s kennel at age 14. She told me Sissel had produced many offspring for her and was one of her all time favorites. Susan asked if we still had Momo, as she was such a memorable puppy with her pronounced mohawk standing up on her head. I was floored, that this woman, who had sold hundreds of dogs through her career, could remember where every one of the dogs still lived. Momo is now retired here, living between dog beds on the floor and occasionally sneaking onto the couch when no one is looking. She is the mother of 25 of our four-legged children, 72 grandchildren, 36 great grandchildren, and 4 great great grandchildren (and those were just the ones we could count on our records here!). She is still in excellent health, has free reign of the kennel and just about everything else in our lives. She never misses a car ride, a family vacation, or a snack of cheese. Happy Birthday, Mo. Posted by Tasha


Friday, August 21st, 2009 There’s a few minor “inconveniences” that come with living in the rural U.P. One is that our veterinarians, Dr. Hunt and Dr. Shevy, practice in Marquette, about 2 hours away. So, any trip to the vet tends to be an all day event, involving multiple dogs, with any amount of unexpected occurrences. Tuuli, a new (purposely pregnant) dog we purchased from Jon Little, had two puppies last Sunday, so I scheduled their appointment for Thursday to have their dew claws removed. I hate not to take advantage of my trip, so I also scheduled Prancer (age 4) to have her dew claws surgically removed (they had grown back). In addition, two of the eight week old Alaskan puppies have herniated belly buttons that needed to be looked at. So, at 7 am, I was headed out the driveway with Prancer in her “seatbelt” in the front seat, two puppies in a small kennel crate in the back seat, and Tuuli and newborns in the back of the station wagon with plenty of room to move around and nurse. Luckily, the kennel crated puppies fell sound asleep, Tuuli loved riding, and Prancer stopped panting about 45 minutes into the trip. While waiting for Prancer’s surgery, the rest of the crew and I did our monthly Marquette errands, which means lots of excitement at the “big” stores. We had the car fully loaded on our trip home. Tuuli’s puppies checked out great, the Alaskan puppies will wait until neutering at 5 months to have their belly buttons fixed, and is Prancer a house dog for a bit until her stitches heal. We’ve had a ton of rain the past few days, so Prancer thinks it’s great to be one of the indoor pups for a while. Posted by Tasha

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 I know, I know...I need to do a "real" update one of these days, but for some reason time keeps slipping away (isn't that a song?) Andrew arrived at 4:30 am on Monday from Alaska with 54 dogs and two litters of puppies. He was a bit earlier than expected (by about a month) but we are making do, and the dogs are thrilled to be home. Tuuli (a new dog from Jon Little) had two puppies born on Monday night as well, one boy and one girl. And, Ed is finally home from California, arriving at 2 am this morning. Needless to say, the house and kennel is filled back up. The only one a bit disgusted with it all is Tasha Canine, she would prefer Ed to stay away as she occupies his side of the bed when he's out of town. More later, I promise! Posted by Tasha

Friday, August 14th, 2009 "Do you listen to yourself when you talk?" Brian the talking dog from the show The Family Guy I am in Laguna Beach, California sitting by a pool as I write to you. This trip was planned over 6 months ago and has been titled "The U.N. Conference". The U.N. standing for "Uncles/Nephews" because I flew out here with my two nephews to visit my younger brother Chad at his home. This entire week was thought up by Chad and he even paid to fly us all out. The Nephews are 14 years old and 11 years old and are as low maintenance as they come. Activities for the week include a day at a water park, a day at an amusement park, pool time, game playing, and abusing nephews as uncles are supposed to. Even as much fun as I am having out here in sunny California, my mind is constantly drifting back to the whirl wind I will be returning to in a couple of days. The dogs will be coming back from Alaska, the winter guides will be arriving, summer projects will be finishing up, and dog training kicks into full swing. The fall is probably my favorite time of year for this reason. Busy, busy, busy, busy.......... Posted by Ed

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 I realized that I've been enjoying the cool and sunny weather too much to be working on the computer, so sorry for the delays in updates. Unfortunately the cool weather here has meant hot weather in Alaska. Jake and Andrew reported more 80-90 degree temperatures in Skagway, and more cancelled tours (the dog running part of the tour anyway, not the meet the dogs part). We've had a few visitors this week. Michele Seng came up for a short vacation and we put her to work staining the cabins and entertaining puppies. Krister is here now, to claim his new dogs, Hairy and Art. Yes, Hairy Potter is off to New Hampshire to be a house dog! The Pittsburgh Steelers had their 16 week shot this week so they got to make their first trip to the muck pond with Big Ben. They loved romping through the weeds and chasing the shaven-tail-wonder through the water. Take a close look at our poodle. Ben and his brother Starman has a bit of a brother spat a few weeks ago and resulted in Ben with a bit and shaven tail. Lovely. Today I put all the femals who are in heat into puppy pens so I could let the intact males in the kennel run around. Edison, Carver, Clark, and Big Ben and I headed out to pick raspberries. We've had a bumper raspberry crop this year, so I try to walk the trails with my bucket in hand each day. The five of us (me picking berries with four dogs trampling them down) were minding our own business when we were greeted by a large houndy bear dog who greeted us as he came bounding through the woods. None of the dog barked (I can see they are great protectors), they sniffed each other, shared a few stories (Edison and Carver were very impressed this guy was hunting bears and they were hunting berries), and then we each headed in our own direction. It's so funny to see these hunting dogs on the trail, as they just go about their business as we go about ours. It's a cool sunny evening so I'm off to walk some puppies with Ed and Krister. Posted by Tasha

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