Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Another fun and educational mushing weekend!

I am finally recuperated enough to take a few minutes to write about this weekend --- our 2009 Urban Mushing Clinic was a wonderful time well spent learning more about how to better work with our dogs!

This is the third year in a row that we've held this clinic, all thanks to Carmen Rasmussen who flew down here from Washington state and took the time off of her busy schedule (as a mom of two teenage kids, a Marysville City Council member, and the co-owner of Alpine Outfitters) to spend time, share her experiences, and impart her words of wisdom on our eager group of Southern California urban mushers.

We had about 50 people and their dogs show up on Saturday and Sunday at Fairview Park. Not only was Carmen impressed with how the group continues to grow but she was even more impressed by how we have "dramatically improved" every year she comes to visit. Our dogs run better and are more focused on the trails and she can also see how we, as individuals, are more knowledgeable and more in tune with how to work our dogs.

We also learned a little about the whys and hows of canine chiropractic medicine, thanks to a very informative session conducted by Dr. Rod Block, a certified member of the American Veterinary Chiropractic Association. And we were also paid a surprise visit by our friendly neighborhood, veteran Southern California musher Robert Stradley, who came by to tell us about the upcoming Spring Mush! weekend retreat that he will be hosting at the Harmony Pines campground at the beginning of May (more info on this later on).

The barbecue potluck on Saturday night was a fun time as well, as we feasted on a variety of foods (including the world famous chicken tenders) at the lovely hillside home of Arctis Carts' creator Henning Bartel. And we even got to meet and trade mushing stories with Susan Evenden, the Canadian "Mushing Mum" who is here on a Southern California vacation all the way from Kenora, Ontario.

Altogether it was a great weekend, not just for ourselves but for the dogs as well. We certainly came away from this with a little more knowledge and inspiration to help us train and communicate with our dogs better. Now if only I can "train and communicate with" Obi so that he's not such a loud mouth....

PIctures from the 2009 Urban Mushing Clinic

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Fairview Park undergoing construction and maintenance

Wow --- I am such a slacker! I haven't posted since July....what the heck have I been doing???

Oh well, let me try and get this going again and my first order of business is to let you guys know that there is construction and maintenance going on at Fairview Park. People who frequent our favorite dogscootering trails here in Orange County are aware of this as it has been ongoing since the beginning of this year.

This really does not affect our usage of the park since we pretty much stick to the major trails (which remain open) when we run our dogs. The map I've included here points out the different areas that are closed for construction and maintenance so please make sure to avoid these or any other areas that are marked CLOSED or OFF LIMITS. And as you can see, the primary trails (marked in yellow) are open for use.
BTW, no such construction projects are in progress at Talbert Nature Preserve.