Northernmost

Hilary and I spent the day in the forest today, picking berries and mushroom together with my mother. Both blueberries and cloudberries are ripe right now and the golden chanterelles are just starting to show. Hilary liked the taste of cloudberries and it was almost difficult to get the berries into the bucket as she wanted to eat them straight from my hand

Princess Cloudberry in her summer costume.

A warm and windless day on the bog – and mosquitoes everywhere!

Ripe cloudberries and ice cream make a yummy dessert.

Lucky boy Tuisku has been out two nights in a row; yesterday with Thunder and Leia and tonight with Titan and Gem. This evening we decided to try a new trail that we have passed by a couple of times when driving to the airport. It turned out to be a nice track for carting as it provided a good mix of running surfaces – everything from deep, soft sand to hardpacked gravel. The sand is good for building muscles and the harder surfaces are good for toughening up the pads.

Tuisku, Titan and Gem practising sit/down-stay during a break.

Our Mals spend a lot of time on soft grass at home so we’re careful not to run them on hard surfaces like asphalt too much. If a dog has sore pads we let him/her rest from training while adding fish oil to the food, as this product works wonders for both skin, coat and pads. In our experience, feet problems are less likely to return when treated from the inside with a quality Omega-3 supplement, than when treated only from the outside with various ointments. Luckily none of our dogs have real “problem feet” but we always examine their pads after every run, just to be safe. A good advice about feet is that if you check your dog’s feet often, you’ll know what they look like healthy and it will be easier to recognize problems when they occur. If a dog has cracked pads we clean and dry the feet and apply olive oil on a daily basis. If the dog is keen to lick it off we put an elizabethan collar on for 1-2 hours per day, before applying the oil, and keep the dog indoors during this time. We never use booties on the trail as a preventative measure, as they often cause more problems than they solve.

Tuisku, Titan and Gem returning home after a good run!

The mosquitoes that have plagued us since midsummer are beginning to disappear and the cool evenings are once again perfect for running the dogs in front of the cart. We went out late this evening, thinking we’d have the quiet country road to ourselves. Apparently the equestrian folks in the area were thinking the same, as we encountered a woman riding a big horse, a man driving a sulky and a group of kids walking a pony together with their two dogs. Felt like an entire circus was on the road tonight!

A break halfway into the trail. We ran 12km (7.4 miles) on a sandy road.

Thistles in a meadow.

The sky was on fire…

…and so were the dogs!

Hi everyone, it’s been a busy month here at Northernmost as we’ve managed to cram in a major building project, a visit from Marit’s sister with family, evening working activities, organizing a two-day garage sale plus intense bathing and grooming of the dogs during their peak shedding season. Where did the holiday go?? Here are some new summer shots of part of the gang

Tuisku at 7 years of age – not much winter coat left now.

Pretty Lyra at 11 months.

Some mixed pics of part of the gang, hanging out at home.