It was a grey and damp day, the carpet in the chute was soaked through and slippery with mud and getting worse throughout the day. My jeans were doing their best to save North Yorkshire from floods as they soaked up water, being 5 feet tall, my jeans are all a bit too long... you'd think after 3 weight pull seasons, i would have learned my lesson and worn more appropriate clothing! So now, wet and muddy, i was glad i had all 3 of my dogs entered to keep me running between the truck and the chute and keep myself warm!

Little Slink (Hyteton Iggik For Luponooshka) was in Novice this time after a quite dramatic weight pull at the last event where she panicked and didn't enjoy herself. This time we took things slow and built her up gradually. In the Novice Class, the handler is allowed to leave a lead on the dog to guide them in the right direction and stand close to the dogs using treats to encourage them on. The pulls are not counted in competition and are treated to train young or inexperienced dogs, or those recovering from injury or time away from competition.

Slink did really well. Her first pull of 400lbs went really well with her "daddy" James hooking her up and me placing a treat under her nose and using the lead to pull her on, slowly walking backwards as she pulled the weight. The next pull, at 500lbs, again James hooked her up and this time I un-clipped her lead but kept hold of it but still used treats to guide her on. The next weight (600lbs), i again un-clipped her, and then stood 16 feet away and called her on with treats in my hand. At 700lbs, I left the lead with James and used no treats to call her. The 800lbs step was the biggest of all for Slink, as we had a "stranger" hook her up and hold her collar as I stood 16 feet away. She was unsure but decided that it was best to pull towards me for lots of praise and lots of cocktail sausages! Slink went on to pull 1000lbs (which is the maximum weight allowed in the Novice Class), showing more confidence than ever before and also very happy to run into the chute and get hooked up to pull. We're hoping next time she will be happy to go into full competition and build on the huge progress she has made with her confidence.

Mina (Hyteton Relu Silver Moon For Luponooshka WPD WTD* WWPD) equaled her personal best of 1800lbs, pulling 19.57 x her body weight. She attempted the 1900lbs pull, but she needs to work on getting her body low and pulling through her chest and shoulders to get the trolley moving. Mina, being part Malamute part Kangaroo, tends to bounce to get the cart moving which is incorrect and we have to be careful not to cause her injury. The will is there in her though and it is only a matter of training and conditioning and she'll be pulling some bigger weights.

Lucien (Hyteton Tombli for Luponooshka WPD WTD* WWPD WWPDA* WWPDX) had an outstanding day. Lucien won his class, and also won Most Weight Pulled of 2300lbs (22.33 x his body weight). Lucien challenged for the highest % to body weight pulled and for this he had to pull 2500lbs. The carpet by this stage was incredibly slippery and muddy. In perfectly dry conditions at the previous pull, Lucien had only managed to pull the 2500lbs to half way (8ft), so i was very doubtful about whether he would be able to get it going at all. My doubts we squashed when he got his head down and tried so hard to get the trolley going and it gradually moved faster and further down the chute. You could see him thinking and looking for the best place to be to get grip and keep the trolley moving. He pulled it to 15ft 11 inches where the trolley got stuck on a ridge and he ran out of time before he could get it moving again... just 1 inch short of the finish line. Am i disappointed... not one bit! It only fills me with excitement to see what this boy can do on a drier day and later in the season when he is fitter. 

This was Lucien's 11th class win and 11th Most Weight Pulled in a row. Yesterday Lucien also completed his Working Weight Pull Dog Excellent Title (WWPDX) for the 2nd time. For an Excellent title, a dog has to pull 21 x his body weight and finish in the top 3rd of the class, the dog has to do this on 5 separate events; Lucien has now pulled over 21 x his body weight on 10 separate events.

* Subject to confirmation by AMCA