its a ruff life
so friends, I'm out in dog land now and I tell you it ain't easy being a dog handler. I definitely have new respect for these folks who call these 83 dogs their own. I pulled up the muddy driveway thinking that I didn't know if my car could handle it and at the top of the hill there they were: 83 pups sitting on their houses barking at this newcomer. Its hard to describe the setup here; basically, the human house sits looking over the dog yard where each pup has his or her house and they're each tied to a chain that's attached to a post which sticks in the ground next to the puphouse. There are a few dogs who live in pens, too. those that are in heat (biologically ready for breedin') and a few of the smallest pups who they don't want to intermingle with the big dogs. There's also one pen where a mum lives with her three new borns who barely walk yet. Its important to keep those away from the other dogs as they've been known to be too rough and can even kill them. Yes, these dogs are one step from wild, as a guy on the ferry put it. Imagine the work it takes to maintain these guys! And then there's just the love and the exercise they need. these dogs are used to doing thousand mile races in the winter time!!
To tell the truth, I am a bit overwhelmed by the magnitude by the task at hand. On my second day of a full day of chores on my own, I collapsed into bed, completely exhausted. I'm told chores get easier, but are known for kicking people's ass right in the beginning. Imagine scooping three five gallon buckets of poop a day. That's probably 15o lbs. of shit. I got some poop colored carharts for the job yesterday at fred meyer of fairbanks. One poopie thing about fairbanks is that all there is are huge chain stores like fred meyers and safeway, and there's not a single co-op or natural foods store. :( You have to prepare to go in a place like that my taking a deep breath (or a drag off a cigarette) and go in with a smile on your face. Its gotta be the size of a couple city blocks and you know how it works the loudspeakers are always blasting you about the great price on this or that thing you must have....
Life is a little different out here than what I'm used to being such a city girl. There's so much to learn, but a lot of what I have to do is just work. the boss asks me to be a little more handy than what I'm used to. Today, trying to work the damn power screw driver drove me to shout fuck repeatedly. I guess I need some schooling in that realm. I'm not painting too pretty of a picture out here, but honestly, I'm real happy to be here. I can't imagine there'd be a better place for me right now. I'm pretty much left to my own devices and can do what I please as long as I get "chores" done. Yesterday I watered (this involves hauling 50 lb buckets of water up and down the dog hill) the dogs in the morning and then blasted down to down into town to get some laundry done and run errands. I gotta say, it was a relief to go to town after just being up here for three full days of work. I spent the day with the dog handler that's training me at the place she's housesitting and we lounged about, I called a couple of people and sat in the hot tub there. After four days in the dog town, I couldn't believe how weird it was to go in a place with indoor plumbing and a television!
The dogs are really neat. I look forward to getting to take them out on runs myself, but for now, I gotta have supervision cause I'm not so good at averting potential disasters yet. Sometimes the dogs get into porcupines, and most of the time, they fight which according to the boss, is just them working out their hierarchies and the structure of ranks + who know what other problems await.I like watching the pups make progress. One of the little ones started to climb out of their cozy house and their mum's protection to see what the big deal is all about yesterday. There's the adventurous one and the other two seem to cry and whine when mommy leaves or when i try to bring them out of their little house. Its my job to socialize them a bit and get them used to being handled.
Something crazy happens everyday. Yesterday, when I came home, the mum of the tiny pups had escaped, and I thought I'd left her gate open inadvertently. It freaked me out bad, knowing that the others sometimes kill and eat the little ones! Fortunately, she'd just dug a hole out of the pen and the pups were safe and sound in their little house. On my first day doing the work on my own, I was sitting up on the porch reading a book when the dogs started to make a ruckus. I saw something going on down in the yard and when i got my wits about me, I went to check it out. Two of the pups had "tied." that means they were doin it. This is not good. Here at the kennel, the owners really try to do only intentional breedings and I didn't know what the fate of the pups would be. The boss came home and I told him the regretable news and he was pissed. Not at me, but they just can't have any more dogs. And unfortunately, these two had been fairly closely related and so it seems that inbred pups can't be kept because they might have some defects. This sucks! I'm supposed to watch all the dogs carefully and if they show any signs of being in heat, I'm supposed to seperate the dogs immediately. I didn't catch it in time.
So, as usual, my expectations were totally off, and this is defintely more than I bargained for. but, the dogs, the dogs the dogs. They're little charmers and I don't know how I'll leave here without one of my own. I hope I'll get to see them in action. I'll be helping the boss out with his tourist operation at a place called alaska land (groan). There, the dogs will pull a wooden sled and cart the tourists around the park. That'll only be a taste, I realize, not even coming close to seeing the dogs realize their full potential in ice and snow and through incredible trials like the iditarod and the yukon quest. They don't know too many commands or tricks. Most don't know fetch, or even how to sit. What they do know is how to run and pull and work hard. The promise of seeing these dogs at work makes me think, maybe I could stay into the winter...
The bosses are like the dogs, they're such hard workers. They maintain 83 dogs plus a house and kennel that's completely off the grid (they use solar and gas generated power and haul in all their own water). Plus, the woman works full time at the local hotsprings where she oversees the first geo-thermal energy plant of its kind. Now, the bossman is starting this tourist operation at alaska land which happens every day from 11-9 at night and after that he gives slide presentations at a local hotel. On top of that they're building a new house and we all have to relocate to it within the next two weeks. Holy shit! I am in awe of their work ethic and drive and pretty intimidated by the work load. I like folks with a strong work ethic. There's this great quote I had hanging on my wall at home in SF, "every morning I awake torn between the desire to save the world and the desire to savor it." That about sums up my style. I really like to play and I spend a lot of time with friends and enjoying life. Sometimes the ol' work ethic suffers. But here, it looks like I'll have to step it up and work my little tooshie off. I think this is good for Chelsea Blake even though my whole body kills and I don't look forward to the afternoon's tasks; I gotta clean out the straaw from each dogs house which involves getting real low down and dirty and digging and scraping out half moldy and amonia smelling straw and shoveling it all into a sled which is then hauled down to "shit mountain" at the end of the yard to be dumped. Fun. I spoke with a friend yesterday who wants to come up and visit. She wanted to know if there was any work up here for her to do while she's staying to earn her keep and keep occupied (its not about the money for her). I think to myself, oh yes, dear, we could find something for you to do.... Anyone else interested?
so friends, I'm out in dog land now and I tell you it ain't easy being a dog handler. I definitely have new respect for these folks who call these 83 dogs their own. I pulled up the muddy driveway thinking that I didn't know if my car could handle it and at the top of the hill there they were: 83 pups sitting on their houses barking at this newcomer. Its hard to describe the setup here; basically, the human house sits looking over the dog yard where each pup has his or her house and they're each tied to a chain that's attached to a post which sticks in the ground next to the puphouse. There are a few dogs who live in pens, too. those that are in heat (biologically ready for breedin') and a few of the smallest pups who they don't want to intermingle with the big dogs. There's also one pen where a mum lives with her three new borns who barely walk yet. Its important to keep those away from the other dogs as they've been known to be too rough and can even kill them. Yes, these dogs are one step from wild, as a guy on the ferry put it. Imagine the work it takes to maintain these guys! And then there's just the love and the exercise they need. these dogs are used to doing thousand mile races in the winter time!!
To tell the truth, I am a bit overwhelmed by the magnitude by the task at hand. On my second day of a full day of chores on my own, I collapsed into bed, completely exhausted. I'm told chores get easier, but are known for kicking people's ass right in the beginning. Imagine scooping three five gallon buckets of poop a day. That's probably 15o lbs. of shit. I got some poop colored carharts for the job yesterday at fred meyer of fairbanks. One poopie thing about fairbanks is that all there is are huge chain stores like fred meyers and safeway, and there's not a single co-op or natural foods store. :( You have to prepare to go in a place like that my taking a deep breath (or a drag off a cigarette) and go in with a smile on your face. Its gotta be the size of a couple city blocks and you know how it works the loudspeakers are always blasting you about the great price on this or that thing you must have....
Life is a little different out here than what I'm used to being such a city girl. There's so much to learn, but a lot of what I have to do is just work. the boss asks me to be a little more handy than what I'm used to. Today, trying to work the damn power screw driver drove me to shout fuck repeatedly. I guess I need some schooling in that realm. I'm not painting too pretty of a picture out here, but honestly, I'm real happy to be here. I can't imagine there'd be a better place for me right now. I'm pretty much left to my own devices and can do what I please as long as I get "chores" done. Yesterday I watered (this involves hauling 50 lb buckets of water up and down the dog hill) the dogs in the morning and then blasted down to down into town to get some laundry done and run errands. I gotta say, it was a relief to go to town after just being up here for three full days of work. I spent the day with the dog handler that's training me at the place she's housesitting and we lounged about, I called a couple of people and sat in the hot tub there. After four days in the dog town, I couldn't believe how weird it was to go in a place with indoor plumbing and a television!
The dogs are really neat. I look forward to getting to take them out on runs myself, but for now, I gotta have supervision cause I'm not so good at averting potential disasters yet. Sometimes the dogs get into porcupines, and most of the time, they fight which according to the boss, is just them working out their hierarchies and the structure of ranks + who know what other problems await.I like watching the pups make progress. One of the little ones started to climb out of their cozy house and their mum's protection to see what the big deal is all about yesterday. There's the adventurous one and the other two seem to cry and whine when mommy leaves or when i try to bring them out of their little house. Its my job to socialize them a bit and get them used to being handled.
Something crazy happens everyday. Yesterday, when I came home, the mum of the tiny pups had escaped, and I thought I'd left her gate open inadvertently. It freaked me out bad, knowing that the others sometimes kill and eat the little ones! Fortunately, she'd just dug a hole out of the pen and the pups were safe and sound in their little house. On my first day doing the work on my own, I was sitting up on the porch reading a book when the dogs started to make a ruckus. I saw something going on down in the yard and when i got my wits about me, I went to check it out. Two of the pups had "tied." that means they were doin it. This is not good. Here at the kennel, the owners really try to do only intentional breedings and I didn't know what the fate of the pups would be. The boss came home and I told him the regretable news and he was pissed. Not at me, but they just can't have any more dogs. And unfortunately, these two had been fairly closely related and so it seems that inbred pups can't be kept because they might have some defects. This sucks! I'm supposed to watch all the dogs carefully and if they show any signs of being in heat, I'm supposed to seperate the dogs immediately. I didn't catch it in time.
So, as usual, my expectations were totally off, and this is defintely more than I bargained for. but, the dogs, the dogs the dogs. They're little charmers and I don't know how I'll leave here without one of my own. I hope I'll get to see them in action. I'll be helping the boss out with his tourist operation at a place called alaska land (groan). There, the dogs will pull a wooden sled and cart the tourists around the park. That'll only be a taste, I realize, not even coming close to seeing the dogs realize their full potential in ice and snow and through incredible trials like the iditarod and the yukon quest. They don't know too many commands or tricks. Most don't know fetch, or even how to sit. What they do know is how to run and pull and work hard. The promise of seeing these dogs at work makes me think, maybe I could stay into the winter...
The bosses are like the dogs, they're such hard workers. They maintain 83 dogs plus a house and kennel that's completely off the grid (they use solar and gas generated power and haul in all their own water). Plus, the woman works full time at the local hotsprings where she oversees the first geo-thermal energy plant of its kind. Now, the bossman is starting this tourist operation at alaska land which happens every day from 11-9 at night and after that he gives slide presentations at a local hotel. On top of that they're building a new house and we all have to relocate to it within the next two weeks. Holy shit! I am in awe of their work ethic and drive and pretty intimidated by the work load. I like folks with a strong work ethic. There's this great quote I had hanging on my wall at home in SF, "every morning I awake torn between the desire to save the world and the desire to savor it." That about sums up my style. I really like to play and I spend a lot of time with friends and enjoying life. Sometimes the ol' work ethic suffers. But here, it looks like I'll have to step it up and work my little tooshie off. I think this is good for Chelsea Blake even though my whole body kills and I don't look forward to the afternoon's tasks; I gotta clean out the straaw from each dogs house which involves getting real low down and dirty and digging and scraping out half moldy and amonia smelling straw and shoveling it all into a sled which is then hauled down to "shit mountain" at the end of the yard to be dumped. Fun. I spoke with a friend yesterday who wants to come up and visit. She wanted to know if there was any work up here for her to do while she's staying to earn her keep and keep occupied (its not about the money for her). I think to myself, oh yes, dear, we could find something for you to do.... Anyone else interested?
posted by Hearts and Stars at 3:03 PM
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