May 13, 2005
transition time
OUR HOME-GROWN SUPER LEADER Tonya of Seppala is growing old; she will be ten years of age on the first of November 2005. It is transition time. New leaders must take over from old ones. We have lost a lot of our good leaders to old age in the past few years; the role of honour includes:
KIDRON OF SPIRIT WIND
XPACE OF SEPPALTA
ZIRCONIA OF SEPPALTA
SEPALLEO
SEPALLOP
SEPALLUNA
MARKOBOSCO.
All of them were good leaders. Three of them are still alive, but at age thirteen-plus they will lead no more. We counted heavily on the "performance outcross" H-litter to provide up-and-coming leaders for front-end continuity in our teams, and in the end, that litter let us down. Although it was out of our best leader bitch, TONYA herself, sired by one of the top producers of sprint-racing front-ends on the North American continent, we got only two leaders out of a litter of six. The male HOPPY died of seizures at age five. The female HAPPY is, at best, a competent co-leader only, not a main command leader. Then, to make matters worse, we lost a promising young command leader from Tonya's next litter to a health problem.
Luckily for us, the "L" litter out of Tonya's sister KOLYMA seems to have produced our next super-leader. LIZAVETA OF SEPPALA, whom we sometimes call "Little Lizzy Lineout" because she keeps the gangline so taut at hookup, seems to have come into her own this spring. At two and a half years old she has suddenly blossomed into mature glory, no longer a callow, timid youngster. Just this week Isa and I both tried her in solo bicycle runs, without Tonya to cover for her, and discovered that (despite the fact that little useful training got done the preceding winter) she has somehow managed to learn her commands impressively well for a youngster. What's more, she will demonstrate her leadership ability on the bike without another dog alongside her, something that dear old Tonya always refuses to do (she has to have someone to "race" or there is no point in running, I guess).
We do a lot of leader training using our mountain bicycles at a community trail complex about ten miles from the kennel, where there are rudimentary riding trails (one couldn't quite call them bridle paths). Running through a pine forest is a bewildering web of unmarked tracks with an abundance of trail intersections that offers unlimited possibilities for gee-haw leader work.
We decided to try our two recently-acquired Spanish import males out on the bicycles the other day. Results were gratifying. Cocú the older one was billed as a leader, and he obviously reacts as such. There's a language-and-voice problem at the moment, but time and familiarity will correct that; he listens up well, looks back at the driver for guidance, and wants to do the right thing. One can hardly ask more of a new dog making such a big transition. The younger guy, Ditko, also led out confidently on his first bike run with Isa. A pity that he's just the kind of dog we most prefer to have at wheel position; at the moment it's in doubt whether he'll be trained as a leader or kept next to the sled where he can do the most good.
Most gratifying, too, was the discovery that Lizzy's small sister LARA, who just finished whelping and rearing the "D" litter, now apparently wishes to become a leader, too! She has had two bike runs with Tonya, performing excellently in both, sticking close to the old, experienced leader and pulling strongly with no dogs ahead of her. As intelligent as she has proven herself to be, Lara should have little trouble learning directional commands.
The photo above shows Tonya (left) and Lara (right) just back from a run, Isa watering them as Ditko (behind Isa) and Cocú (right) watch.
Posted by jjeffrey at May 13, 2005 06:35 PM