This weekend, the Luponooshka pack were a dog down as Mina had to stay home. James stayed home with her whilst I took Lucien and Slink to the 4th round of the Allerton Park Weight Pull Championship. I arrived early, the car park was like sheet ice and i nearly slipped just getting out of the car. After paying the entry fees i took the dogs one at a time to weight in, this is usually a simple task where you walk the dog to the weigh in area, get them to stand on the scales and then walk them back to the car again. This task isn't so easy, when walking Lucien, on sheet ice, when all he wants to do is pull. I managed to walk him most of the way over to the scales, when he caught me off balance and dragged me on my knees whilst he said hello to another malamute. He is usually very good, but for some reason, he thought he could get away with being naughty, we got there eventually and got through weigh in without further drama.

There were a lot less dogs entered this week, with just 22 dogs entered in competition and 2 in novice. Selene was in the 81-100lbs class, and is gaining in confidence each time she competes. A huge acheivement for her was having someone other than James hook her up to the trolley. We have tried before to have a "stranger" hook her up and she was never comfortable having someone touch the harness near her bum. This time there were no issues and she went running into the chute with a huge smile on her face. Slink pulled a personal best of 1100lbs, 11.92 x her bodyweight. She is getting so much more confident and much closer to the 12 x bodyweight needed for the 1st leg of her Weight Pull Dog Title (WWPD). She finished 8th in her class. Selene borrowed Mina's harness made by Nordkyn.

We were warned before competition that we couldn't walk the dogs in our usual places as there was an organised shoot happenening on the estate and we were not to disturb the birds. The shoot went across the field at the end of the farm yard and the shots came closer, with 3 men standing in the field waiting for the pheasents to be flushed out by several of the gun dogs. Whilst this was happenning the pull was temporarirly stopped and dogs put away. Luckily both Lucien and Slink are not bothered by loud bangs and Slink was more interested in chasing the pheasents than the bangs going off around us. The horn sounded for the end of the shoot and competition started once again.

The temperature stayed a cool 4C all day and the ground eventually thawed out making running Lucien up to the chute safer for me. Lucien was in the 101lbs and over class, and after seeming quite pleased with himself for taking me ice skating at the weigh in, he couldn't wait to get going with his pulling. By 2100lbs only 2 dogs remained, Lucien, and Nanook, both in the over 101lbs class. By this point the carpet was getting wetter and mudier and was increadibly slippy. On the 2100lbs pull, Lucien's front right foot slipped and he fell on his chin. He got back up and found a dry patch on the carpet, dropped his shoulders and pulled. It was a tight faught match between the two boys until 2400lbs where Lucien pulled it in 15 seconds and Nanook not completing the pull. This meant that Lucien had won his class and Most Weight Pulled but could still compete for the highest percentage pulled.

He skipped 2500lbs (the record he set at the previous competition) and attempted the 2600lbs pull for the first time. He wowed us all, getting it going easily, i kept calling him and he dug deeper getting closer and closer. He had almost completed the pull when he stopped and the trolley got stuck on the final ridge in the concrete under the carpet. The weight pull is held in a farm yard with carpet placed over the concrete which is bumpy and uneven. There are two noticable ridges in the concrete which have been a sticking point in many pulls. The second of these ridges sits just 2 inches from the end of the 16 foot chute. Lucien has got stuck here before when attempting record pulls and has never broken it loose again. I heard everyone hold their breath when he stopped at the ridge. I called him on and he dug deep, pushing into his Nordkyn Weight Pull Harness, breaking the trolley from a stand still and edging it over that infamous ridge completing the pull in 38 seconds. Breaking his own record set at the previous weight pull, pulling a massive 2600lbs (1179.34kg), an impressive 24.30 x his bodyweight, pulling it the required distance of 16 feet in just 38 seconds. Lucien is the first Alaskan Malamute in the UK to pull 2600lbs. I gave him the biggest of hugs, not quite believing what he had just done on his first attempt at this weight.

1st in the 61-80lbs class and highest percentage pulled was Chena Forster pulling 1800lbs (24.32 x her bodyweight), 2nd was Indy Horsman-Phoenix pulling 1700lbs, 3rd was Lucie Blaney pulling 1500lbs. 1st in the 81-100lbs class was Valentino Smith (Lucien and Slink's brother) pulling 2000lbs, 2nd was Oakley Barstow and 3rd was Logan Howarth. 1st in the 101lbs+ class was Lucien Taylor pulling 2600lbs, 2nd was Nanook Benton-Browne pulling 2300lbs and 3rd was Kodi Sheehan pulling 1600lbs.

4 rounds down, 4 to go... and what a first half of the season it has been. See you all in January for round 5!